Overview
This book is an anthology on topics in the grammar of Chinese (Sinitic) languages. The aim of the book is to meld historical and typological approaches in the examination of grammatical phenomena in order to show the extent to which both earlier stages of Chinese, as well as the modern dialects, differ from standard Mandarin. With this purpose in mind, each author has provided important background information on the Chinese language or dialect under investigation-or on the historical period as the case may be. Similarly, the introduction to the book provides an up-to-date description of Sinitic languages in terms of history and geography, placing the goals of the volume into perspective. A dialect map of China and a summary of each chapter is provided in this same introductory chapter to further facilitate use of the book. General readers, curious about Sinitic languages-or Chinese dialects-should find this collection equally accessible as specialists in the fields of Chinese linguistics; typology; historical and diachronic linguistics; grammaticalization; and empirical, descriptive linguistics. Topics covered include aspect, evidentials, locatives, verb complementation, reduplication, modal verbs, markers of predication, affixation, prepositions, relative clauses, interrogatives, and stratification. Language data from most of the ten main Chinese dialect groups are presented, the specific dialect studies being on Xiang, Cantonese Yue, and Taiwanese Southern Min. Earlier stages of Chinese examined include the Pre-Archaic Shang bone inscriptions, Archaic and Medieval Chinese, and the written genre of Classical Chinese.
Full Product Details
Author: Hilary Chappell (Senior Lecturer in the Department of Linguistics, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Linguistics, La Trobe University, Melbourne)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 16.30cm
, Height: 2.70cm
, Length: 24.30cm
Weight: 0.753kg
ISBN: 9780198299776
ISBN 10: 019829977
Pages: 425
Publication Date: 29 November 2001
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: To order
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Reviews
The thirteen papers in this volume were written by prominent researchers in Chinese linguistics and cover a remarkably wide range of data ... this book is definitely a must-read, since it provides significant insights into the historical development of Chinese dialects. It is a vital reassessment of the field, which shows that 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 ... This is the first serious attempt to put several non-Mandarin varieties on the menu of the linguist-gourmand ... Chappell's volume is a very welcome, refreshing and exciting contribution. Cahiers de Linguistique Asie Orientale The first book in English to present cutting edge analyses on the grammar of little-explored Chinese languages and dialects ... the book is made accessible to a general readership in addition to specialists within the field. Folia Linguistica
The thirteen papers in this volume were written by prominent researchers in Chinese linguistics and cover a remarkably wide range of data ... this book is definitely a must-read, since it provides significant insights into the historical development of Chinese dialects. It is a vital reassessment of the field, which shows that 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 ... This is the first serious attempt to put several non-Mandarin varieties on the menu of the linguist-gourmand ... Chappell's volume is a very welcome, refreshing and exciting contribution. Cahiers de Linguistique Asie Orientale The first book in English to present cutting edge analyses on the grammar of little-explored Chinese languages and dialects ... the book is made accessible to a general readership in addition to specialists within the field. Folia Linguistica
Author Information
Hilary Chappell is a senior lecturer in the Department of Linguistics at La Trobe University, Melbourne. During the last six years, she has embarked upon the first large scale typological study of grammatical diversity in Sinitic (Chinese) languages. She has carried out field work and research in China (2 years) and Taiwan (1 year), initially studying at Beijing University. Her publications include a jointly edited volume with William McGregor entitled 'The Grammar of Inalienability' (Mouton de Gruyter, 1995) which has become a standard reference in typology on the topic of grammatical possession. She has also published over 30 book chapters and articles on topics in the grammar of Chinese languages.
