query : japanese hist / lx content - length : 1277 dear colleagues , i ' m writing on behalf of a friend who is an amateur ( but highly competent ) historical linguist . he 's looking for a list of good historical works on japanese ( including both work on the development of the language , especially its phonology , throughout the written period and work on reconstructing its prior unrecorded form ( s ) and history ) written in either english or german . can you help me compile such a list ? i ' ll post a summary in a fortnight . gratefully , - - ivan a derzhanski ( iad @ cogsci . ed . ac . uk )