Rhetoric Creates Grammar: JoÃ£o Rodrigues the Japanese Grammarian Seen from Nineteenth-Century France

Aiko Okamoto-MacPhail

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Chapter 20 Rhetoric Creates Grammar: JoÃ£o Rodrigues the Japanese Grammarian Seen from Nineteenth-Century France

In: Jesuit Rhetoric across Space and Time

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Aiko Okamoto-MacPhail

Aiko Okamoto-MacPhail
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 448â470

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004744516_022

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Abstract

JoÃ£o Rodrigues, S.J. wrote two books of Japanese grammar: the Arte Grande (large grammar) in 1604 and its abridged version the Arte Breve (short grammar) in 1620, both to comply with the Jesuit mission goal set by the Visitor of India Alessandro Valignano, S.J. Our topic is the Arte Breve. To conform to the Jesuit mission goal, Rodriguesâ grammar was more than a simple compilation of the rules of language. We propose to study the significance of Romance languages to achieve this mission goal in Japan. Rodrigues wrote his Arte Breve in Portuguese, and Ernest Augustin Xavier Clerc de Landresse translated it in 1825, not from the printed book of the Arte Breve, but from the manuscript copy preserved in the French kingâs library. We propose to look at the specificity of Japanese verbs in relation to the optative, which is a type of subjunctive, and argue how the optative and its Japanese equivalent are meaningful to achieve the goal set by Valignano for the Jesuit mission in Japan.

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Jesuit Rhetoric across Space and Time

Local and Global Perspectives

Series:Â Jesuit Studies, Volume: 49

Cover Jesuit Rhetoric across Space and Time

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004744516

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 06 Jan 2026

Subjects
- History
  - Early Modern History

Front Matter

Part 1 Rhetorical Theory and Education

Part 2 Jesuit Rhetoric in Practice: Esthetics, Politics and Theology

Part 3 Influences, Dialogues, and Missions

Back Matter

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Chapter 20 Rhetoric Creates Grammar: JoÃ£o Rodrigues the Japanese Grammarian Seen from Nineteenth-Century France

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Jesuit Rhetoric across Space and Time

Local and Global Perspectives

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