Yamada Yoshio

Yamada, 1953

Yamada Yoshio ( Japanese 山田孝雄 ; born 10. May 1873 in Toyama ( Toyama Prefecture ), died 20th November 1958 ) was a Japanese linguist .

Live and act

Yamada Yoshio graduated from Toyama Junior High School and became a teacher. He worked in elementary and middle schools in various places. He acquired his specialist knowledge of the Japanese language in self-study. He worked as vice chairman of the "Japanese Language Survey Committee" (国語 調査 委員会, Kokugo chōsa iinkai), as a lecturer at Nihon University and as a professor at Tōhoku University . After his retirement he was president of the "Jingu Kōgakkan University" (神宮 皇 学 館 大学), member of the House of Lords and chairman of the "Committee on National History" (国史 編修 院, Kokushi henshū-in) of the Ministry of Culture.

Yamada's most important contribution to the study of the Japanese language was a long series of works on Japanese and European grammar. All of these works - they are called "Yamada grammar" - dealt primarily with the Japanese written language, as was common at the beginning of the 20th century. These include “Theory of Japanese grammar” (日本 文法 論, Nihon bumpō ron) 1928, “Lectures on Japanese grammar” (日本 文法 講義, Nihon bumpō kōgi) 1922, “Core questions about Japanese grammar” (日本 文 法学 要 論, Nihon bumpō yōron) 1931 and “Outline of Japanese grammar” (日本 文 法学 概論, Nihon bumpō gairon) 1936.

Other works deal with colloquial language, the historical development of Japanese grammar and studies on the history of linguistics in Japan.

In 1953 Yamada was honored as a person with special cultural merits , in 1957 he was awarded the Order of Culture . He was the first from Toyama Prefecture to be so highly honored and was made an honorary citizen of Toyama City in 1957.

Remarks

1. ↑ At home in his library.

literature

• S. Noma (Ed.): Yamada Yoshio . In: Japan. An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Kodansha, 1993. ISBN 4-06-205938-X , p. 1725.

Web links

• Yamada Yoshio's CV in the Kotobank, Japanese.

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Yamada is the family name, Yoshio the first name.