Review of the hardback: 'This book provides a ready resource on pre-modern Japanese for linguists throughout the world.' Satoshi Kinsui, Osaka University Review of the hardback: '... monumental ... it is likely to have an impact for decades to come ...' John Whitman, Cornell University 'The field ... owes a great debt of gratitude to Bjarke Frellesvig for producing this comprehensive, well-organized, and eminently useful monograph. It not only does the job splendidly but also sweeps away cobwebs and introduces some fresh perspectives on the premodern language ... His history will, I think, be the standard textbook for the next generation of students, a stimulus to researchers, and the first place for linguists not specializing in Japanese to check when they have diachronic queries about Japanese. It is a solid contribution to the field.' Language