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A SIMPLIFIED GRAMMAR OF THE

JAPANESE LANGUAGE

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

THE BAKER AND TAYLOR COMPANY
NEW YORK

KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER AND COMPANY, LIMITED LONDON

THE MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA

TOKYO, OSAKA, KYOTO, FUKUOKA, SENDAI

THE MISSION BOOK COMPANY
SHANGHAI

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COPYRIGHT 1924 BY

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

All Rights Reserved

Published August 1924

Composed and Printed By
The University of Chicago Press
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.

5-18-25 11856

PREFACE

This is a grammar of the modern Japanese written language. It is a revision of the Simplified Japanese Grammar by Basil Hall Chamberlain, published in 1881, and now out of print. During the several years in which I studied Japanese, Chamberlain's book was the only one which gave me any clear idea of the written language. After a thorough study of his work I saw where it could be enlarged and improved so as to be of much more value to the student of today. In this revision, my constant aim has been simplicity and practicability.

The most important variation from the original edition is the use of the general rule by which the written verb can be quickly separated into its stem and its inflection (§ 266). Based on this rule an alphabetically arranged list of verb and adjective inflections of the Japanese written language is given in this edition for reference (p. 113). The addition of this list and the index of Japanese words and phrases will make this book a grammatical dictionary for the student's or translator's desk.

The student or translator should at once make himself thoroughly familiar with chapter xi, so that the inflected list can be used without delay.

A debt of gratitude is due Mr. Chamberlain for permitting the unqualified use and modification of his excellent work. Also, I wish here to express my appreciation of the many helpful suggestions received from Messrs. Edwin L. Neville, Renkei Tsuda, and W. Koseki.

J. G. MCILROY

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