was a Japanese

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

who started his career lecturing at Juntendo University, and went on to become full professor at Kyoto Sangyo University. One of the world’s foremost authorities on the

Altaic languages The Altaic () languages are a group of languages comprising the Turkic languages, Turkic, Mongolic languages, Mongolic and Tungusic languages, Tungusic language families, with some linguists including the Koreanic languages, Koreanic and Japon ...

, he later made important contributions to the mixed-language theory of the origins of Japanese. Denis Sinor regarded him, together with Shirō Hattori, Samuel E. Martin, and Osada Natsuki as one of the four scholars who have done the most to throw light on the origins of the Japanese language. Alexander Vovin, Osada Toshiki (長田俊樹) (eds.) ''Nihongo keitōron no genzai'', Kokusai Nihon Bunka Kenkyū Sentā, 2003

Career

Murayama spent much of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

from 1942 to 1945 in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, completing post-graduate studies at Berlin University on

Comparative linguistics Comparative linguistics is a branch of historical linguistics that is concerned with comparing languages to establish their historical relatedness. Genetic relatedness implies a common origin or proto-language and comparative linguistics aim ...

and Altai languages under the supervision of Nikolaus Poppe with particular attention to written materials in the

Mongolian language Mongolian is the Prestige (sociolinguistics), principal language of the Mongolic languages, Mongolic language family that originated in the Mongolian Plateau. It is spoken by ethnic Mongols and other closely related Mongolic peoples who are nati ...

References

Publications

* with Ōbayashi Taryō, ''Nihongo no kigen'', Kōbundō, Tokyo 1973 *''Nihongo no kenkyū-hōhō'', Kōbundō, Tokyo 1974 *''Nihongo no gogen'', Kōbundō, Tokyo 1974 *''Nihongo no genkai'', Kōbundō, Tokyo 1975 *''Nihongo keitō no tankyū'', Taishūkan Shoten, Tokyo 1978 *''Nihongo no tanjō'', Chikuma Shobō, Tokyo 1979 *with Kokubu Naoichi,''Genshi nihongo to minzoku bunka'', San'ichi Shobō,1979 *''Ryūkyūgo no himitsu'', Kōbundō, Tokyo 1981 *''Nihongo no kigen to gogen'', San'ichi Shobō, Tokyo 1981 *''Nihongo Tamirugo kigensetsu hihan'', San'ichi Shobō, Tokyo 1982 *''Ainugo no kigen'', San'ichi Shobō, Tokyo 1992

Career

References

Publications

See also