Download or read book Ethnic History and Language Typology in Western China written by Nathan Loggins and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The following dissertation examines the language history of areas historically lying along the China-Tibet frontier, namely Amdo, Kham and the Dali region of northwest Yunnan. It draws from a wide and diverse literature related to descriptive and theoretical linguistics, ethnology of the many peoples in the region and historical scholarship concerning their settlement and encounters with the Chinese State and Han from roughly the Han era to the early 20th century. More specifically, this dissertation takes at its core three case studies on local languages: the Xining dialect of Chinese in Qinghai, the Daohua language of Yajiang County in western Sichuan, and the Bai language spoken by the Bai people in Dali. Besides being spoken in geographically adjacent regions, along the largely autonomous borders of the Chinese empire, these languages have in common that they draw a majority of their lexicon from Sinitic, and all have been variously described as creoles, mixed languages, or as varieties of Sinitic by different linguists examining their lexicons and grammatical structures. This study attempts to reconcile those differing viewpoints, while at the same time compiling the relevant descriptive information about each language’s historical, ethnic, and linguistic environment. All three are a product of their specific settings, and what gives each language its particular flavor is precisely the way it has incorporated non-Sinitic elements (or been constituted from them) into its phonological, morphosyntactic and lexical profile. Judging from the accumulated evidence, the conclusions here are that Xining appears to be one of several regional Sinitic varieties, restructured via contact by its multilingual setting, while Daohua appears more like a classic mixed language, and Bai a historically Tibeto-Burman language. More generally, this dissertation broadly examines several linguistic questions relevant to hypothesizing the origins, development and classification of each language, including those related to the formation of language areas, the typology of contact-based languages and their relationship to genetic language families, and issues of relative complexity in language contact settings. It also pursues historical questions concerning possible avenues for language contact to have occurred in Amdo, Kham and Dali, and how potential conclusions are complicated by historically shifting and fluid ethnic affiliations. To this end, drawing together a broad range of published sources, the text provides historical overviews, linguistic descriptions of over a dozen Sino-Tibetan and Altaic languages, and contextualized accounts of the focal languages in the case study chapters. In calling for more holistic treatments of language history couched in ethno-historical reality, the ultimate conclusions and analyses presented here bear on the nature and applicability of typological and genetic classification, the goals of historical linguistic methodology, and the implication for using linguistics in other disciplines, such as historical and ethnological studies.
Download or read book The Tangwang Language written by Dan Xu and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-08-23 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book studies the Tangwang language, providing the first comprehensive grammar in English of this Chinese variety, with detailed analysis of its phonology, morphology, and syntax. This fills a gap in the literature, as previously only a few articles on this language were available. The book takes an interdisciplinary approach, examining genetic data to determine historical patterns of population migration, as well as linguistic data that focus on the influence of the Dongxiang (Santa) language as a consequence of language contact on the Silk Road. The concluding chapter argues that Tangwang has not yet become a mixed language, and that syntactic borrowing has a stronger impact than lexical borrowing on languages.
Download or read book Western Mandarin written by Adam Grainger and published by . This book was released on 1900 with total page 824 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Typology of Motion Events written by Carine Yuk-man Yiu and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2013-12-13 with total page 426 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This comprehensive study concentrates particularly on the use of a closed set of motion verbs in five of the major dialects, including Mandarin, Wú, Hakka, Min and Cantonese. The author shows that these dialects form a continuum with some exhibiting more characteristics of a verb-framed language than the others. The phenomenon reflects the various stages of typological transformation and grammaticalization that the dialects have undergone.
Download or read book The Chinese Language written by John DeFrancis and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 1986-03-01 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "DeFrancis's book is first rate. It entertains. It teaches. It demystifies. It counteracts popular ignorance as well as sophisticated (cocktail party) ignorance. Who could ask for anything more? There is no other book like it. ... It is one of a kind, a first, and I would not only buy it but I would recommend it to friends and colleagues, many of whom are visiting China now and are adding 'two-week-expert' ignorance to the two kinds that existed before. This is a book for everyone." --Joshua A. Fishman, research professor of social sciences, Yeshiva University, New York "Professor De Francis has produced a work of great effectiveness that should appeal to a wide-ranging audience. It is at once instructive and entertaining. While being delighted by the flair of his novel approach, the reader will also be led to ponder on some of the most fundamental problems concerning the relations between written languages and spoken languages. Specifically, he will be served a variety of information on the languages of East Asia, not as dry pedantic facts, but as appealing tidbits that whet the intellectual appetite. The expert will find much to reflect on in this book, for Professor DeFrancis takes nothing for granted." --William S.Y. Wang, professor of linguistics, University of California at Berkeley
Download or read book Typological Change in Chinese Syntax written by Dan Xu and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2006 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This new interpretation of the early history of Chinese argues that Old Chinese was typologically a 'mixed' language. It shows that, though its dominant word order was subject-verb-object, this coexisted with subject-object-verb. Professor Xu demonstrates that Old Chinese was not the analytic language it has usually been assumed to be, and that it employed morphological and lexical devices as well as syntactic means. She describes the typological changes that have taken place sincethe Han period and shows how Chinese evolved into a more analytic language, supporting her exposition with abundant examples. She draws where possible on archaeological findings in order to distinguish between versions of texts transmitted and sometimes modified through the hands of generations ofcopyists.The author focusses on syntactic issues, including word order, verbs, causative structures, resultative compounds, and negation, but also pays close attention to what she demonstrates are closely related changes in phonology and the writing system.The book will interest scholars and graduate students of Chinese linguistics, philology, classical literature as well as general linguists interested in word-order typology and language universals. It may be also be used as a text for advanced courses in Classical Chinese and Chinese diachronic syntax.
Download or read book History Ethnicity and Place in a Small Town in Western China written by Zhenzhen Lu and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Languages of China written by S. Robert Ramsey and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2024-05-21 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An incredible source of information about the Chinese language and China’s minority languages In this accessible and informative book, S. Robert Ramsey lucidly explains what the Chinese language is—its social and geographical situation, its history, its range of dialects, the structure of the modern standard language, and the writing system. He goes on to describe the languages of China’s national minorities, showing how they interrelate with each other and with Chinese. Readers learn about the peoples who speak the languages of China, what China is like linguistically, and the cultural and historical settings of the country’s languages. For those who want more linguistic detail, Ramsey provides lists, maps, charts, and descriptions along with technical references in notes at the end of the book. Invaluable to general linguists and Sinologists alike, The Languages of China is an excellent introduction to Chinese and East Asian linguistics.
Download or read book Sinography The Borrowing and Adaptation of the Chinese Script written by Zev Handel and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2019-05-07 with total page 383 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Sinography, Zev Handel provides a comprehensive comparative analysis of the ways in which the Chinese-character script evolved as it was adapted to write other languages of Asia, including Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese, Zhuang, Khitan, and Jurchen.
Download or read book Dialect and Nationalism in China 1860 1960 written by Gina Anne Tam and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-05 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Analyzes how fangyan (local Chinese languages or dialects) were central to the creation of modern Chinese nationalism.
Download or read book A History of the Chinese Language written by Hongyuan Dong and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-04-16 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A History of the Chinese Language provides a comprehensive introduction to the historical development of the Chinese language from its proto Sino-Tibetan roots in prehistoric times to Modern Standard Chinese. Taking a highly accessible and balanced approach, it presents a chronological survey of the various stages of Chinese language development, covering crucial aspects such as phonology, syntax and semantics. Features include: Coverage of the key historical stages in Chinese language development, such as Old Chinese, Middle Chinese, Early Modern Chinese, Classical Chinese and Modern Standard Chinese Treatment of core linguistic aspects of the Chinese language including phonological changes, grammatical development, lexical evolution, vernacular writing, Chinese characters and Modern Chinese dialects Inclusion of many authentic Chinese legends and texts throughout the book, presented through a rigorous framework of linguistic analysis to help students to build up strong critical and evaluative skills and acquire valuable cultural knowledge Integration of materials from different disciplines, such as archaeology, anthropology, history and sociolinguistics, to highlight the cultural and social background of each period of the language Helpful appendices to aid students with no prior knowledge of linguistics or the Chinese language Companion website at www.routledge.com/cw/dong offering a wealth of supplementary resources such as additional exercises, answer keys and audio recordings of the sounds of Middle and Old Chinese. Written by a highly experienced instructor, A History of the Chinese Language will be an essential resource for beginning students of Chinese Language and Linguistics and for anyone interested in the history and culture of China.
Download or read book CHINESE DIALECTS AND CULTURE written by ZHENHE ZHOU and published by American Academic Press. This book was released on 2017-09-08 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book mainly focuses on the close relationship between Chinese dialects and Chinese culture. It reveals,on the one hand, a long, rich and splendid Chinese culture from the perspective of Chinese dialects; on the other hand, it unveils the evolution, the development of Chinese dialects as well as their diversity and charm at the cultural angle. By combining the study of Chinese dialects with that of the history of Chinese culture, the author attempts to explore the cultural background of Chinese dialects’ formation and evolution,and at the same time, the author attempts to view Chinese dialects as the key access to find solutions to related questions appeared in the history of Chinese culture. Thus, it not only opens a new research scope for the Chinese dialectology, but it also finds a new path for the study of cultural history. The book is the first of its kind to create the concept of cultural linguistics, which leads to a new era of combined research on both language and culture.
Download or read book The Word Order Typology of Minority Languages in Southern China written by Yunbing Li and published by Springer. This book was released on 2024-05-24 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a comprehensive cross-linguistic account of 98 typologically diverse minority languages in Southern China. A number of important parameters are analyzed based on rich case studies ranging from the Tibeto-Burman languages, Kam-Dai languages, Hmong-Mien languages, and Austroasiatic languages to the Austronesian Languages. Adopting a descriptive approach, Professor Li seeks to testify theories and principles underlying word order typology and generally considers how word order patterns relate to contact-induced variations. The book is of interest to scholars of linguistic typology as well as to researchers and students involved in ethnolinguistics, syntax, and sociolinguistics.
Download or read book Western Mandarin Or the Spoken Language of Western China written by Adam Grainger and published by Palala Press. This book was released on 2015-08-31 with total page 824 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Download or read book The Languages of China Before the Chinese written by Terrien de Lacouperie and published by . This book was released on 1887 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Linguistics written by William S.-Y. Wang and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 793 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Linguistics offers a broad and comprehensive coverage of the entire field from a multi-disciplinary perspective. All chapters are contributed by leading scholars in their respective areas. This Handbook contains eight sections: history, languages and dialects, language contact, morphology, syntax, phonetics and phonology, socio-cultural aspects and neuro-psychological aspects. It provides not only a diachronic view of how languages evolve, but also a synchronic view of how languages in contact enrich each other by borrowing new words, calquing loan translation and even developing new syntactic structures. It also accompanies traditional linguistic studies of grammar and phonology with empirical evidence from psychology and neurocognitive sciences. In addition to research on the Chinese language and its major dialect groups, this handbook covers studies on sign languages and non-Chinese languages, such as the Austronesian languages spoken in Taiwan.
Download or read book WESTERN MANDARIN OR THE SPOKEN written by Adam Grainger and published by Wentworth Press. This book was released on 2016-08-27 with total page 822 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
