Volume 23, No 1
Article 文章
Abstract 摘要
Summarizing the research achievement on the Yue dialects so far, this article presents three major topics as urgent tasks for current research: gathering as much dialectal materials as possible, comprehensive comparative study and historical research. Since the spread of the Common Language is gradually encroaching upon and may eventually replace the dialects, gathering dialectal materials is of utmost urgency, especially in the field of dialectal syntax which lags behind phonology and lexicon. For it is only with sufficient data that accurate, general and profound observations and conclusions on linguistic phenomena can be made. Through comparative dialectal studies, not only can linguistic phenomena be given proper explanation, loci of linguistic history can also be reconstructed. Through derivation of change in the consonantal endings of the Yue dialects, the important role of these dialects in explicating the process of change across Chinese dialects was emphasized, since the Yue dialects are relatively conservative in this respect and such process can be observed in its initiative stage. The study of the history of the Yue dialect has barely begun. The value of early historical documents of the C19 compiled mostly by missionaries is emphasized, through demonstration of using such materials in tracing the early syntactic characteristics of Cantonese in such structures as the negative potential form and the attributive construction.
Abstract 摘要
“This paper centers around trisyllabic tone sandhi in the Changting Hakka dialect. Many potential solutions will be shown to be unable to explain the data, including modes of rule application, rule relations, and polysyllabic tone sandhi rules. Instead, the complex tone sandhi phenomena in Changting result from the satisfaction and interaction of four constraints, namely the One Step Principle, Tonotactics, Temporal Sequence, and Set Consistency. The One Step Principle prohibits further change of a derived tone. Tonotactics is a well-formedness condition filtering out surface structures with a possible input to tone sandhi. Both the One Step Principle and Tonotactics can predict the directionality of rule application. If there is a conflict, the One Step Principle wins out. Temporal Sequence, which indicates that the default mode of rule application is iterative from left to right, comes into play in cases where the One Step Principle and Tonotactics do not get involved. Set Consistency specifies that trisyllabic strings with the same first two underlying tones share one directionality of rule application. The One Step Principle as a derivational constraint finds a piece of supporting evidence from the Huojia dialect. More interestingly, there exists a discrepancy between tonal and segmental derivation with respect to the One Step Principle in that a segment can undergo phonological rules again and again as long as their structural description is met. This discrepancy invokes some further questions, such as the theoretical motivation behind the difference between tonal and segmental derivation, and the possible cognitive basis for the One Step Principle. As well-known, African tone languages behave quite differently from Chinese dialects in the nature of tone sandhi. The issue of whether the One Step Principle holds in African tone languages is left open for future research.”
Abstract 摘要
This article examines the system of situational reference associated with the Mandarin verb suffix V-le. It demonstrates that while V-le marks perfective aspectual distinctions, it also possesses the anchoring properties of a marker of past tense. It shows that the anchoring properties of V-le are obscured by differences between Mandarin and English in the reference point that serves as the axis of orientation for past tense marking and in the range of verb types that accept the past tense morpheme. Finally, it demonstrates an overlap in the systems of aspect and tense in Mandarin in which the system of tense incorporates basic aspectual distinctions.
Abstract 摘要
The invention of fǎnqiè 反切 is an important event in Chinese phonology. Two possible sources, the indigenous tradition and the outside influence, are discussed. Arguments are put forward to support the thesis that fǎnqiè was invented under the influence of Indian script. The parallel between fǎnqiè and the spelling method of Kharohī script is new evidence strengthening the thesis. By studying the specifics of fǎnqiè’s origin, this paper aims to fill a gap in the history of Chinese linguistics.
Abstract 摘要
This paper tries to account for the correlations between the Mandarin BA construction and its distributional properties in terms of transitivity. First, with a BA construction, the nominal immediately following BA cannot have a non-specific reading. Second, no monosyllabic verb can co-occur with the BA construction without an aspect marker, a verbal quantifier, reduplicating the verb, etc. It is hypothesized that these properties simply follow from the fact that BA functions to mark a high degree of transitivity. Cross-linguistic evidence will be given to show that word order, referential properties of the syntactic object, and the temporal structure of a sentence all have a bearing on the notion of transitivity. They co-vary to indicate a higher or lower degree of transitivity (Hopper & Thompson 1980). The second part of the paper gives a brief review of the history of BA and attempts to show that it was about the turn of this century that BA became totally grammaticalized into a preposition-like marker of high transitivity from its original verbal uses and its derived use in Middle Chinese as a patient marker.
Announcement 消息
Memoriam 缅怀
Volume 23, No 2
Article 文章
Abstract 摘要
Quantification and classification/qualification each have been called the main function of numeral classifiers in different scientific approaches. This study introduces new evidence for this debate by comparing the Chinese numeral classifiers with the radicals of the Chinese script showing that the quantifying function clearly determines the qualifying categories of the numeral classifiers. The two systems are both examples of prototypical classification developed in the course of Chinese history. Some of the differences found can be accounted for by different times of origin and the fact that radicals belong to the script while classifiers belong to the spoken language. But only the lack of a quantifying function in the radical system can explain, why some important categories of the classifier system such as “shape” and “part of object” are not employed in the radical system, while the criterion of “material” –not useful for individualization–is used in the radical system, but not in the classifier system.
Abstract 摘要
Bushi, the negative form of the focus marker shi, is generally considered to appear in an instance of anaphiric negation, in which the negative element signals an objection to a prior utterance. This paper sets out to argue that other than rejecting a previous utterance, bushi is a negative focus marker since it has to refer to an aspect of the utterance in question. A clause of rejection when coupled with a clause of rectification constitutes a construction of contrastive negation, of which the archetype is bushi X shi Y or shi Y bushi X. A construction of contrastive negation often lends itself to the use of metalinguistic negation, which is about the appropriate use of word(s). Both Metalinguistic Negation and different forms of Contrastive Negation have been studied in this paper. Finally, the study shows that the negative focus marker is insensitive to certain syntactic constraints which are observed by the negative operators bu and mei(you).
广东话声调理解的年龄影响
Rosemary Varley 华莉莉; Lydia K.H. So 苏周简开
Abstract 摘要
Subjects drawn from three age bands completed a lexical comprehension test for Cantonese. The test required subjects to select a target word from three distractors. Age effects emerged on the test. Factors which had to be considered in the interpretation of this effect included, in addition to age, educational and occupational level, and language history. Older subjects had particular difficulty in making tonal discriminations. Tonal confusions occurred when tone pairs had similar heights, contours or both. The possibility that older subjects have difficulty in making tonal discriminations when words are presented in isolation is discussed. The importance of placing a lexical item in a linguistic context in order to provide relative tonal information for older subjects is considered.
Abstract 摘要
This paper attempts at a unified analysis of the properties of the sentence-final ba in relation to Gricean general principles of human communication. The results of the analyses presented in the paper indicate that the presence of the sentence-final particle ba in an expression disturbs the neustic of the sentence. More specifically, ba weakens the neustic in declaratives and imperatives, and the combination of ba and non-particle interrogatives gives rise to a reinforced neustic. It is assumed that all sentence-final particles disturb the neustic, and this paper further compares the sentences ending in particles such as a, ma and ne with the ba-ending ones. It is concluded that depending on the type of the main clause and the degree of disturbance, final particles give rise to a variety of nuanced expressions appropriate to different talk exchange circumstances. As a by-product, the result of the analyses suggests that there exist hierarchies in the classification of illocutionary forces on the basis of the combination of the neustic and tropic.
Abstract 摘要
The present paper deals with the word nong (侬) in the dialects of southeast China. First, we examine the geographical distribution of nong in southeast China and the phonetic/semantic development of nong. We point out that the original meaning of nong is the clan name and the ethnonym of the Baiyue nationality. Nong as a substratum word, still remains in some modern southeast dialects. Its meaning has developed to “person”, “ethnonym” and “the first person pronoun” after the Baiyue nationality was assimilated by the Han nationality. Second, in some southeast dialects nong (Dong 冬 final) is spelled as the Deng 登 final, which reflects the fact that there was an unrounding of the Dong final in some early period and the unrounded sound of the southeast dialects was eroded by pressure from the more prestigious rounded sound further north, resulting in survival of the unrounded sound only in relic forms in the colloquial layers of the modern southeast dialects. This conclusion demonstrates that an understanding of historical layering in the history of Chinese dialects can correct inadequacies in the classical comparative method. Third, there are very complicated personal pronoun systems in the modern Wu dialects. The major reasons are: 1) The ancient Wu dialects had their own system of personal pronouns which was different from the Mandarin. Later on, however, the Wu dialects were gradually eroded by the more standard dialects from the north, and the northern forms of personal pronouns became prevalent in Wu step by step. So the two levels of personal pronouns overlap each other. 2) When the new forms of personal pronouns from the north entered the Wu dialects, there was competition between the old forms and new forms in the same dialects, and the two forms influenced each other. As a result of the competition, the system of the personal pronouns in some Wu dialects is irregular. 3) As personal pronouns constitute one kind of function words, their pronunciations have undergone an unusual change which makes the system of the personal pronouns in the Wu dialects more and more complicated. 4) Combining shi 是 with the personal pronouns yields the stressed case of the personal pronouns.
北部吴语的 “侬”用于第二人称，可说是最具有吴语特色的语词。可是，凡是熟悉中国古典作品的人都会知道，古代的吴地是以“侬”作为第一人称的。为什么“侬”字会从古代的第一 人称变作现代的第二人称呢？
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