About this book
Diego Collado's Grammar of the Japanese Language is a groundbreaking historical linguistic work that offers unprecedented insight into 17th-century Japanese grammatical structure. Written by Spanish missionary Diego Collado and expertly edited and translated by Richard L. Spear, this scholarly resource deconstructs the complexities of Japanese through a detailed analysis of nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, and syntactic patterns that shaped language learning for centuries.
Originally composed as a comprehensive guide for Western scholars seeking to understand Japanese, Collado's grammar presents verb conjugations, declensions, and conditional structures with meticulous precision. The work covers affirmative and negative forms, irregular verbs, and honorific expressions—elements fundamental to authentic Japanese communication. This edition includes extensive editorial apparatus and comparative analysis that contextualizes Collado's groundbreaking methodology within the broader field of East Asian linguistic studies.
Perfect for language historians, linguists, Japanese studies scholars, and anyone fascinated by the evolution of language documentation, this audiobook reveals how early Western missionaries approached non-European languages. Whether you're researching historical linguistics, exploring the foundations of Japanese grammar instruction, or simply curious about how language was analyzed before modern methods emerged, Collado's seminal work provides invaluable context and detailed grammatical frameworks that remain relevant to contemporary language study.
