Chinese: A Linguistic Introduction

by Chaofen Sun

• ISBN13: 9780521530828
• ISBN10: 0521530822
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-09-11
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Chinese is spoken by more people than any other language in the world, and has a rich social, cultural and historical background. This is a comprehensive guide to the linguistic structure of Chinese, providing an accessible introduction to each of the key areas. It describes the fundamentals of its writing system, its pronunciation and tonal sound system, its morphology (how words are structured), and its syntax (how sentences are formed) - as well as its historical development, and the diverse ways in which it interacts with other languages. Setting the discussion of all aspects of Chinese firmly within the context of the language in use, Chinese: A Linguistic Introduction will be of great benefit to learners wishing to extend their knowledge and competence in the language, and their teachers. It will also be a useful starting point for students of linguistics beginning work on the structure of this major world language.

Author Biography

Chaofen Sun is Associate Professor of Chinese in the Department of Asian Languages, Stanford University, and Adjunct Professor at East China Normal University, Shanghai

Table of Contents

List of maps	viii
List of tables	ix
List of figures	x
Preface	xi
Major chronological divisions of Chinese history	xiii
Major periods of the Chinese language	xiv
Introduction	1	(12)
1 Historical background of the language	13	(21)
1.1 Prehistoric time	13	(1)
1.2 Oracle-bone and bronze scripts	14	(1)
1.3 Old Chinese (771 BCE to 220 CE)	15	(2)
1.4 Middle Chinese (220 CE to 960)	17	(1)
1.5 Early modern Chinese (960 to 1900)	18	(2)
1.6 Modern Chinese (1900 to present)	20	(3)
1.7 Modern Chinese grammar and its lexicon	23	(3)
1.8 Simplification of Chinese script	26	(2)
1.9 Formation of Chinese dialects	28	(6)
1.9.1 Northern Chinese (Mandarin)	29	(1)
1.9.2 Southern dialects	30	(4)
2 Phonetics of standard Chinese	34	(11)
2.1 Initials	35	(1)
2.2 Finals	36	(2)
2.2.1 Medials (on-glide)	37	(1)
2.2.2 Main vowels	37	(1)
2.2.3 Syllabic terminals (off-glide)	38	(1)
2.3 Rhotacization	38	(1)
2.4 Tones	39	(1)
2.5 Tone-sandhi	40	(5)
3 Chinese morphology 1	45	(30)
3.1 Compounding	49	(7)
3.2 Derivation-like affixes	56	(8)
3.2.1 Prefixes	56	(2)
3.2.2 Suffixes	58	(2)
3.2.3 Potential markers -de- and -bu- as infixes	60	(4)
3.3 Inflection-like affixes	64	(9)
3.3.1 Perfective marker -le	64	(4)
3.3.2 Experiential marker -guo	68	(2)
3.3.3 Imperfective marker -zhe	70	(3)
3.4 Summary	73	(2)
4 Chinese morphology 2	75	(26)
4.1 Clitics	75	(13)
4.1.1 Sentence-final particles	75	(6)
4.1.2 Locative particles	81	(7)
4.2 Reduplication	88	(7)
4.2.1 Classifiers	88	(1)
4.2.2 Informal kinship terms	89	(1)
4.2.3 Adjectives	90	(2)
4.2.4 Verbs	92	(3)
4.3 Beyond morphology	95	(4)
4.4 Summary	99	(2)
5 Chinese writing	101	(14)
5.1 Chinese characters	101	(2)
5.2 The history of Chinese script	103	(4)
5.3 The strokes of Chinese writing	107	(3)
5.4 Simplified standard script	110	(5)
6 Chinese language and culture	115	(32)
6.1 Cultural beliefs and Chinese expressions	116	(17)
6.1.1 Philosophical beliefs and Chinese expressions	116	(6)
6.1.2 Metaphors the Chinese live by	122	(4)
6.1.3 Politeness	126	(7)
6.2 Language contacts and borrowings	133	(8)
6.3 Neologisms and morpheme-syllable script	141	(4)
6.4 Summary	145	(2)
7 Chinese syntax 1	147	(37)
7.1 Linear order, lexical categories. subcategorization, and semantic roles	148	(5)
7.2 Other lexical categories	153	(5)
7.3 Constituency	158	(6)
7.4 Selectional restrictions	164	(2)
7.5 Chinese pronouns and demonstratives	166	(4)
7.6 Negation	170	(2)
7.7 Sentence types	172	(12)
7.7.1 Interrogative	172	(9)
7.7.2 Imperative	181	(3)
8 Chinese syntax 2	184	(36)
8.1 Nominalization	186	(2)
8.2 Relative clauses	188	(1)
8.3 Cleft sentences	189	(2)
8.4 Adverbials	191	(9)
8.4.1 The word order and semantics of some common Chinese adverbs	191	(6)
8.4.2 Adverbial clauses	197	(3)
8.5 Serial-verb constructions	200	(6)
8.5.1 Three types of serial-verb constructions	200	(5)
8.5.2 Causative construction	205	(1)
8.6 Prepositions	206	(12)
8.6.1 Flexible prepositional phrases	206	(3)
8.6.2 The comparative, passive, and ba constructions	209	(9)
8.6.2.1 Comparative	209	(2)
8.6.2.2 Passive	211	(1)
8.6.2.3 The ba construction	212	(6)
8.7 Summary	218	(2)
Appendix 1 Phonetic symbols	220	(3)
Appendix 2 Capitalized abbreviations	223	(2)
References	225	(4)
Index	229