Download or read book New Perspectives on Aspect and Modality in Chinese Historical Linguistics written by Barbara Meisterernst and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-12-28 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents new perspectives on the study of Aspect and Modality in Chinese Historical Linguistics. Based on the international Workshop on Aspect and Modality in Chinese, the book includes the latest research findings in the field to make them available not only to specialists in Classical and Buddhist Chinese, but also to researchers and students of general linguistics and of the universals of language. It also discusses different aspects of the AM (Aspect-Modality) and the TAM (Tense-Aspect-Modality) system of Chinese. It provides a comprehensive overview of both of the universally related systems of aspect and modality. The first part of the book focuses on aspectual features of Chinese; these include basic studies on the syntactic representation of the aspectual structure of the verb phrase in Archaic Chinese, the aspectual function of different object constructions and their development, temporal features of the verb phrase, and the aspectual functions of no minalization processes. The second part includes articles highlighting different aspects of the modal system or the interplay between tense, aspect and modality in Chinese, including a survey on the history of studies on modality in Chinese and the modal and temporal aspectual/markers indicating future meanings, a specialized study on modal deontic verbs in the Buddhist Vinaya texts, the modal function of rhetorical questions in Buddhist Chinese, and a study on the diachronic development of the aspectual and modal system in Chinese.

Download or read book A Typological Approach to Grammaticalization and Lexicalization written by Janet Zhiqun Xing and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2020-01-20 with total page 476 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Based on comparative analyses of diachronic data, the articles in this volume address both theoretical and methodological issues in the study of grammaticalization and lexicalization in both Eastern and Western languages. The central question raised and discussed in this volume is how, if any, typological properties of the two genetically unrelated language families interact with the processes of grammaticalization and lexicalization."--

Download or read book New Perspectives on Chinese Syntax written by Waltraud Paul and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2014-12-12 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mandarin Chinese has become indispensable for crosslinguistic comparison and syntactic theorizing. It is nevertheless still difficult to obtain comprehensive answers to research questions, because Chinese is often presented as an "exotic" language defying the analytical tools standardly used for other languages. This book sets out to demystify Chinese. It places controversial issues in the context of current syntactic theories and offers precise analyses based on a large array of representative data. Although the focus is on Modern Mandarin, earlier stages of Chinese are occasionally referred to in order to highlight striking continuities in its history. VO order is one such constant factor, thus invalidating the idea that Chinese went through a major word order change from OV to VO and back to OV. Another claim often made for Chinese as an isolating language, viz. the existence of an impoverished inventory of parts of speech, is likewise refuted. Other long debated issues addressed here include the relevance of the dichotomy topic vs subject prominence and the role of Chinese as a recurring exception to crosscategorial harmonies posited in typological studies.

Download or read book Grammaticalization and Language Change in Chinese written by Xiu-Zhi Zoe Wu and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2004-08-02 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This innovative study on the phenomenon of 'grammaticalization' and its manifestation in Chinese provides new insights into language change in Chinese and a large number of grammatical topics. Grammaticalization occurs in all of the world's languages. Xiu-Zhi Zoe Wu demonstrates general linguistic principles present and active in the phenomenon of grammaticalization whilst also describing the modelling of language in formal theoretical approaches to syntax; so this book fills two major gaps in the current study of linguistics. Grammaticalization and Language Change in Chinese illuminates how studies of language development and change provide special insights into the understanding of current, synchronic systems of language. Using patters from Chinese, the author establishes cross-linguistic generalizations about language change and grammaticalization. This book should be of great interest to Chinese linguists and readers interested in language change in different languages.

Download or read book Modality in English and Chinese written by Renzhi Li and published by Universal-Publishers. This book was released on 2004 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Modality is a grammatical, or semantic-grammatical, category. It is an important component of human languages. This is at least the case in most European languages. To what extent is it a near-universal? This thesis is to contribute to the question. It focuses on modal verbs in English and Chinese, two genetically and geographically unrelated languages, and analyzes what these two languages have in common and how they differ in their systems of modality. To achieve the aim, the thesis adopts the theoretical framework proposed by van der Auwera (1996, 1998 with Plungian, 2001) for the typological study of modality. Its language-specific descriptions involve the morphosyntactic features, notional functions, modal logic, and diachronic development. With these descriptions, it constructs a cross-linguistic database in a uniform, parallel structure. Then on the basis of this database, it deals with the cross-linguistic issues about modality in English and Chinese. Like many of the studies in this area, this research makes use of the well-sampled data in the relevant literature, thereby assuring the same degree of representativeness. When the data do not meet this need, it resorts to computer-based corpora. In the diachronic study of Chinese modality, quantitative analysis is adopted in proposing a development path for the senses of a modal. English translation is given particular attention in the description of Chinese modality and cross-linguistic analyses. One can only know one's own language only if one compares it with other languages. The present study is conducive to a better understanding of English and Chinese. It contributes not only to the investigation of language universals, but also to the study of human cognition and other linguistic or applied linguistic issues.

Download or read book New Horizons in Chinese Linguistics written by C-T James Huang and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The past decade and a half has witnessed a great deal of renewed interest in the study of Chinese linguistics, not only in the traditional areas of philological studies and in theoretically oriented areas of syn chronic grammar and language change but also in the cultivation of new frontiers in related areas of the cognitive sciences. There is a significant increase in the number of students studying one area or another of the linguistic structure of Chinese in various linguistic programs in the United States, Europe, Australia and in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and other parts of Asia. Several new academic departments devoted to the study of linguistics have been established in Taiwan and Hong Kong in the past few years. The increasing research and study activities have also resulted in a number of national and international conferences, including the North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics (NACCL), which has been held annually in the United States; the International Symposium on Chinese Languages and Linguistics (IsCLL), which has had its fourth meeting since it was launched by Academia Sinica in Taiwan in 1990; the International Association of Chinese Linguistics (lACL), created in Singapore in 1992 and now incorporated in Irvine, California, which has held its annual meetings at major institutions in Asia, Europe, and the US.

Download or read book Tense and Aspect in Han Period Chinese written by Barbara Meisterernst and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2014-12-12 with total page 538 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many grammatical issues of Archaic and Medieval Chinese still lack a comprehensive analysis. The book provides the first thorough investigation of the syntactic and semantic constraints of the linguistic categories tense and aspect and their relation with the lexical aspect of the verb in Han period Chinese. The author uncovers fascinating details of a language with a highly restricted verbal morphology.

Download or read book The Establishment of Modern Chinese Grammar written by Yuzhi Shi and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2002-01-01 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book investigates historical motivations for the emergence of the resultative construction in Chinese from the following four aspects: (a) disyllabification, (b)adjacent context, (c) semantic integrity, and (d) frequency of co-occurence of a pair of verb and resultative. The author also addresses a series of grammatical changes and innovations caused by the formation of this resultative construction, such as the development of aspect, mood, verb reduplication, the new predicate structure, the disposal construction, the passive construction, the verb copying construction, and the new topicalization construction, all of which together shape the grammatical system of Modern Chinese. The present analysis raises and discusses a number of theoretical issues that are meaningful to various linguistic disciplines like pragmatics, discourse analysis, grammaticalization, and general historical linguistics.

Download or read book A History of the Chinese Language written by Hongyuan Dong and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-12-30 with total page 230 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 the Chinese language, covering key aspects such as phonology, syntax, and semantics. The second edition presents a revised and updated version that reflects recent scholarship in Chinese historical linguistics and new developments in related disciplines. Features include: Coverage of the major historical stages in Chinese language development, such as Old Chinese, Middle Chinese, Early Modern Chinese, and Modern Standard Chinese. Treatment of core linguistic aspects of the Chinese language, including phonological changes, grammatical development, lexical evolution, vernacular writing, the Chinese writing system, and Chinese dialects. Inclusion of authentic Chinese texts throughout the book, presented within a rigorous framework of linguistic analysis to help students to build up critical and evaluative skills and acquire valuable cultural knowledge. Integration of materials from different disciplines, such as archaeology, genetics, history, and sociolinguistics, to highlight the cultural and social background of each period of the language. Written by a highly experienced instructor, A History of the Chinese Language will be an essential resource for students of Chinese language and linguistics and for anyone interested in the history and culture of China.

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Tense and Aspect written by Robert I. Binnick and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-06-14 with total page 1128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Handbook is a comprehensive, authoritative, and accessible guide to the topics and theories that current form the front line of research into tense, aspect, and related areas.

Download or read book The Routledge Handbook of Chinese Applied Linguistics written by Chu-Ren Huang and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-03-11 with total page 963 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Routledge Handbook of Chinese Applied Linguistics is written for those wanting to acquire comprehensive knowledge of China, the diaspora and the Sino-sphere communities through Chinese language. It examines how Chinese language is used in different contexts, and how the use of Chinese language affects culture, society, expression of self and persuasion of others; as well as how neurophysiological aspects of language disorder affect how we function and how the advance of technology changes the way the Chinese language is used and perceived. The Handbook concentrates on the cultural, societal and communicative characteristics of the Chinese language environment. Focusing on language use in action, in context and in vivo, this book intends to lay empirical grounds for collaboration and synergy among different fields.

Download or read book Aspect in Mandarin Chinese written by Richard Xiao and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2004-01-01 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chinese, as an aspect language, has played an important role in the development of aspect theory. This book is a systematic and structured exploration of the linguistic devices that Mandarin Chinese employs to express aspectual meanings. The work presented here is the first corpus-based account of aspect in Chinese, encompassing both situation aspect and viewpoint aspect. In using corpus data, the book seeks to achieve a marriage between theory-driven and corpus-based approaches to linguistics. The corpus-based model presented explores aspect at both the semantic and grammatical levels. At the semantic level a two-level model of situation aspect is proposed, which covers both the lexical and sentential levels, thus giving a better account of the compositional nature of situation aspect. At the grammatical level four perfective and four imperfective aspects in Chinese are explored in detail. This exploration corrects many intuition-based misconceptions, and associated misleading conclusions, about aspect in Chinese common in the literature.

Download or read book Chinese Grammar written by Hilary Chappell and published by Oxford University Press on Demand. This book was released on 2004-01 with total page 397 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents pioneering accounts by leading scholars of twelve central aspects of the grammar of Chinese languages. Deploying a combination of historical and typological approaches it shows the variety and diversity of Chinese languages as well as the extent to which these and their dialects differ from Mandarin. Each author provides full background information on the language or dialect under consideration including its historical and contemporary context. In her introduction Dr Chappell describes the history and geography of Chinese languages. "A must-read... a vital reassessment of the field which shows there is much to be learned by integrating historical study with dialectal investigation." Journal of Linguistics "Chappell combines typological observations of Sinitic and non-Sinitic languages with general linguistic theory in a most satisfying fashion... A very welcome, refeshing and exciting contribution." Cahiers de Linguistique Hilary Chappell is senior lecturer in linguistics at La Trobe University. Her published work includes The Grammar of Inalienability (with William McGregor, Amsterdam, 1995). She is currently writing a book on the typology of Chinese languages,

Download or read book New Approaches to Chinese Word Formation written by Jerome L. Packard and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2011-07-22 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS is a series of books that open new perspectives in our understanding of language. The series publishes state-of-the-art work on core areas of linguistics across theoretical frameworks as well as studies that provide new insights by building bridges to neighbouring fields such as neuroscience and cognitive science. TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS considers itself a forum for cutting-edge research based on solid empirical data on language in its various manifestations, including sign languages. It regards linguistic variation in its synchronic and diachronic dimensions as well as in its social contexts as important sources of insight for a better understanding of the design of linguistic systems and the ecology and evolution of language. TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS publishes monographs and outstanding dissertations as well as edited volumes, which provide the opportunity to address controversial topics from different empirical and theoretical viewpoints. High quality standards are ensured through anonymous reviewing.

Download or read book New Explorations in Chinese Theoretical Syntax written by Andrew Simpson and published by John Benjamins Publishing Company. This book was released on 2022-04-15 with total page 585 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume brings together 19 cutting edge studies written by some of the most prominent linguists working on Chinese formal syntax, as a Festschrift volume dedicated to Yen-Hui Audrey Li. The contributions to the volume address a wide range of issues currently developing in the field of Chinese syntax, grouped into five thematic sections on the structure of lexical and functional projections, modal verb syntax, syntax-semantics interactions, the syntax and interpretation of particles, and the acquisition of syntactic structures. With its rich descriptive content sourced from different varieties of Chinese, and its theoretical orientation and analyses, the book provides an important new resource both for researchers with a primary interest in Chinese and other linguists interested in discovering how properties of Chinese can inform the analysis of other languages.

Download or read book Papers in Chinese Linguistics and Epigraphy written by Fagao Zhou and published by Chinese University Press. This book was released on 1986 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Historical Linguistics 2003 written by Michael D. Fortescue and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2005 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume consists of 19 papers presented at the 16th International Conference on Historical Linguistics, which was held in August 2003 in Copenhagen and drew the largest number of participants and the widest array of languages that this important biannual conference has ever had. As with previous volumes, the papers selected cover a wide range of subjects besides the core areas of historical linguistics, and this time include studies on ethnolinguistics, grammaticalisation, language contact, sociolinguistics, and typology. The individual languages treated include Brazilian Portuguese, Chukchi, Korean, Danish, English, German, Greek, Japanese, Kok-Paponk, Latin, Newar, Old Norse, Romanian, Seneca, Spanish, and Swedish. The volume reflects the state of the art both empirical and theoretical - in Historical Linguistics today, and shows the discipline to be as flourishing and capable of new advances as ever.