Linguistic Theory and the Japanese Language
MIT OpenCourseWare offers this detailed study of Japanese grammar and sentence structure, focusing on how its patterns diverge from English and what that reveals about linguistic universals. The course draws on comparative data from a broad set of languages to test theoretical claims against Japanese constructions such as case marking, verb morphology, and word order. It assumes prior familiarity with linguistic theory, so the material moves quickly into technical argumentation rather than introductory concepts. Materials include lecture notes, readings, and problem sets typical of MIT's Linguistics and Philosophy department, made freely available with no certificate attached. The course suits students who already have grounding in syntax and semantics and want to apply that framework to a language whose grammar departs sharply from familiar Indo-European patterns.