A Grammar of Mandarin Chinese
Published in 2001
Book
Paperback/Softback
210 pages
978-3-89586-642-5 (ISBN)
Description
Mandarin Chinese is the official language in China, Taiwan and Singapore, and the language with the largest number of native speakers. In recent years, Mandarin usage has spread even further: it is now taught in most schools in Hong Kong, and with the influx of immigrants to the West from China and Taiwan, many parts of the world including Canada, the United States, Australia, and Europe have seen a steady increase in the number of speakers. Mandarin is not a homogeneous language; any grammar that tries to describe it needs to select one region as its focus. In this book, the focus will be on Mandarin as is spoken in its motherland of Northern China, especially the Chinese capital of Beijing.
The book will begin by an introduction to the geographic characteristics, dialects and historical development of the language. This will be followed by Mandarin phonetics and phonology. Topics covered include the syllable, tones, the consonants, the vowels, the glides and, more importantly, how these interact to create the sound structure of the language. A description of the morphology will follow, addressing special features of the language in terms of compounding, reduplication, word stress, and disyllabicity. The remainder of the book will be devoted to Mandarin syntax. It will first outline the major parts of speech and the major types of phrases; then it will focus on some salient syntactic features, including the topic-comment structure, the serial-verb construction, and the de construction. The book will end with two sample texts, each accompanied by interlinear translation and free translation.
The book will begin by an introduction to the geographic characteristics, dialects and historical development of the language. This will be followed by Mandarin phonetics and phonology. Topics covered include the syllable, tones, the consonants, the vowels, the glides and, more importantly, how these interact to create the sound structure of the language. A description of the morphology will follow, addressing special features of the language in terms of compounding, reduplication, word stress, and disyllabicity. The remainder of the book will be devoted to Mandarin syntax. It will first outline the major parts of speech and the major types of phrases; then it will focus on some salient syntactic features, including the topic-comment structure, the serial-verb construction, and the de construction. The book will end with two sample texts, each accompanied by interlinear translation and free translation.
More details
Person
Hua Lin, University of Victoria
Content
Introduction
1.1 A Brief History
1.2 The Chinese Dialects
1.2.1 The Northern Dialect
1.2.2 Yue
1.2.3 Min
1.2.4 Kejia
1.2.5 Wu
2 Phonetcs and Phonology
2.1 The Sounds
2.1.1 Consonants
2.1.2 Vowels
2.2 The SyllableE
2.2.1 The Initial And the Final
2.2.2 Phonotactic Constraints
2.2.2.1 Syllabic Consonants
2.2.2.2 Syllable Gaps
2.3 The Processes
2.3.1 Consonants
2.3.2 Vowels
2.3.3 Pinyin and IPA
2.4 THE TONES
2.4.1 Basic Tones
2.4.2 Neutral Tone
3 Morphology
3.1 The Morpheme
3.1.1 Monosyllabicity
3.1.2 Free and Bound
3.2 The Word
3.3 Word Structure
3.3.1 Affixation
3.3.1.1 Suffixes
3.3.1.2 Prefixes
3.3.2 Compounding
3.3.2.1 Coordinative Compounds
3.3.2.2 Endocentric Compounds
3.3.2.3 Verb-Object Compounds
3.3.2.4 Verb-Complement Compounds
3.3.2.5 Subject-Predicate Compounds
3.3.2.6 Noun-Classifier Compounds
3.3.2.7 Multisyllabic Compounds
3.3.2.8 Newer Compounds
3.3.3 Reduplication
3.3.3.1 Noun and Classifier Reduplication
3.3.3.2 Verb and Adjective Reduplication
3.3.3.3 Two Syllable Reduplication
3.3.3.4 Simplex or Complex?
3.3.3.5 Affixation or Compounding?
3.3.4 Abbreviations
3.3.5 Disyllabicity
3.4 Homophones
3.4.1 Lucky and Taboo Expressions
3.5 Word Stress
3.5.1 Meaningful Stress
3.6 Transliteration of Foreign Words
3.6.1 Sound Route
3.6.2 Meaning Route
3.6.3 Sound and Meaning Combined
3.6.4 From Cantonese
4 Parts of Speech
4.1.1 Nouns
4.1.1.1 Types of Nouns
4.1.1.2 Syntactic Properties
4.1.2 Verbs
4.1.2.1 Types of Verbs
4.1.2.2 Syntactic Properties
4.1.2.2.1 Action and Stative
4.1.2.2.2 Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
4.1.2.2.3 Auxiliary Verbs
4.1.3 Adjectives
4.1.3.1 Types of Adjectives
4.1.3.2 Syntactic Properties
4.1.4 Numbers
4.1.4.1 Types of Numbers
4.1.4.1.1 Whole Numbers
4.1.4.1.2 Fractions, Decimals, Multiples and Ordinal Numbers
4.1.4.1.3 Approximate Numbers
4.1.4.2 Syntactic Properties
4.1.5 Classifiers
4.1.5.1 Types of Classifiers
4.1.5.2 Syntactic Propertie
4.1.6 Pronouns
4.1.6.1 Types of Pronouns
4.1.6.2 Syntactic Properties
4.1.7 Adverbs
4.1.7.1 Types of Adverbs
4.1.7.2 Syntactic Properties
4.1.8 Prepositions
4.1.8.1 Types of Prepositions
4.1.8.2 Syntactic Properties
4.1.9 Conjunctions
4.1.9.1 Types of Conjunctions
4.1.9.2 Syntactic Properties
4.1.10 Auxiliary Particles
4.1.10.1 Types of Auxiliary Particles
4.1.10.2 Syntactic Properties
5 Syntax
5.1 General Characteristics
5.2 Phrases
5.2.1 Noun Phrases
5.2.1.1 Coordinate NP
5.2.1.2 Endocentric NP
5.2.2 Verb Phrases
5.2.2.1 Coordinate VP
5.2.2.2 Endocentric VP
5.2.2.3 Verb-Object VP
5.2.2.4 Verb-Complement VP
5.2.2.5 Serial-Verb VP
5.2.3 Adjective Phrases
5.2.3.1 Coordinate AP
5.2.3.2 Endocentric AP
5.2.3.3 Adjective-Complement AP
5.2.4 Prepositional Phrase
5.2.4.1 With Nominal Objects
5.2.4.2 With Verbal Objects
5.2.4.3 Ba PP
5.2.4.4 Bei PP
5.3 Functional Components
5.3.1 Subjects
5.3.2 Predicates
5.3.3 Objects
5.3.4 Attributives
5.3.5 Adverbials
5.3.6 Complements
5.3.7 Functional Usage of Various Words and Phrases
5.3.7.1 Nominals
5.3.7.2 Verbs and VPs
5.3.7.3 Adjectives and APs
5.3.7.4 PPs
5.3.7.5 Adverbs
5.3.7.6 Numbers
5.4 Aspects and Negation
5.4.1 The Perfective Aspect
5.4.2 The Experiential Aspect
5.4.3 The Progressive Aspect
5.4.4 Negation
5.5 Interrogative Sentences
5.5.1 Yes-or-No Questions
5.5.2 Wh-Questions
5.5.3 Choice and Counterfactual Questions
5.6 Complex Sentences
5.6.1 Coordinate Complex Sentences
5.6.2 Endocentric Complex Sentences
1.1 A Brief History
1.2 The Chinese Dialects
1.2.1 The Northern Dialect
1.2.2 Yue
1.2.3 Min
1.2.4 Kejia
1.2.5 Wu
2 Phonetcs and Phonology
2.1 The Sounds
2.1.1 Consonants
2.1.2 Vowels
2.2 The SyllableE
2.2.1 The Initial And the Final
2.2.2 Phonotactic Constraints
2.2.2.1 Syllabic Consonants
2.2.2.2 Syllable Gaps
2.3 The Processes
2.3.1 Consonants
2.3.2 Vowels
2.3.3 Pinyin and IPA
2.4 THE TONES
2.4.1 Basic Tones
2.4.2 Neutral Tone
3 Morphology
3.1 The Morpheme
3.1.1 Monosyllabicity
3.1.2 Free and Bound
3.2 The Word
3.3 Word Structure
3.3.1 Affixation
3.3.1.1 Suffixes
3.3.1.2 Prefixes
3.3.2 Compounding
3.3.2.1 Coordinative Compounds
3.3.2.2 Endocentric Compounds
3.3.2.3 Verb-Object Compounds
3.3.2.4 Verb-Complement Compounds
3.3.2.5 Subject-Predicate Compounds
3.3.2.6 Noun-Classifier Compounds
3.3.2.7 Multisyllabic Compounds
3.3.2.8 Newer Compounds
3.3.3 Reduplication
3.3.3.1 Noun and Classifier Reduplication
3.3.3.2 Verb and Adjective Reduplication
3.3.3.3 Two Syllable Reduplication
3.3.3.4 Simplex or Complex?
3.3.3.5 Affixation or Compounding?
3.3.4 Abbreviations
3.3.5 Disyllabicity
3.4 Homophones
3.4.1 Lucky and Taboo Expressions
3.5 Word Stress
3.5.1 Meaningful Stress
3.6 Transliteration of Foreign Words
3.6.1 Sound Route
3.6.2 Meaning Route
3.6.3 Sound and Meaning Combined
3.6.4 From Cantonese
4 Parts of Speech
4.1.1 Nouns
4.1.1.1 Types of Nouns
4.1.1.2 Syntactic Properties
4.1.2 Verbs
4.1.2.1 Types of Verbs
4.1.2.2 Syntactic Properties
4.1.2.2.1 Action and Stative
4.1.2.2.2 Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
4.1.2.2.3 Auxiliary Verbs
4.1.3 Adjectives
4.1.3.1 Types of Adjectives
4.1.3.2 Syntactic Properties
4.1.4 Numbers
4.1.4.1 Types of Numbers
4.1.4.1.1 Whole Numbers
4.1.4.1.2 Fractions, Decimals, Multiples and Ordinal Numbers
4.1.4.1.3 Approximate Numbers
4.1.4.2 Syntactic Properties
4.1.5 Classifiers
4.1.5.1 Types of Classifiers
4.1.5.2 Syntactic Propertie
4.1.6 Pronouns
4.1.6.1 Types of Pronouns
4.1.6.2 Syntactic Properties
4.1.7 Adverbs
4.1.7.1 Types of Adverbs
4.1.7.2 Syntactic Properties
4.1.8 Prepositions
4.1.8.1 Types of Prepositions
4.1.8.2 Syntactic Properties
4.1.9 Conjunctions
4.1.9.1 Types of Conjunctions
4.1.9.2 Syntactic Properties
4.1.10 Auxiliary Particles
4.1.10.1 Types of Auxiliary Particles
4.1.10.2 Syntactic Properties
5 Syntax
5.1 General Characteristics
5.2 Phrases
5.2.1 Noun Phrases
5.2.1.1 Coordinate NP
5.2.1.2 Endocentric NP
5.2.2 Verb Phrases
5.2.2.1 Coordinate VP
5.2.2.2 Endocentric VP
5.2.2.3 Verb-Object VP
5.2.2.4 Verb-Complement VP
5.2.2.5 Serial-Verb VP
5.2.3 Adjective Phrases
5.2.3.1 Coordinate AP
5.2.3.2 Endocentric AP
5.2.3.3 Adjective-Complement AP
5.2.4 Prepositional Phrase
5.2.4.1 With Nominal Objects
5.2.4.2 With Verbal Objects
5.2.4.3 Ba PP
5.2.4.4 Bei PP
5.3 Functional Components
5.3.1 Subjects
5.3.2 Predicates
5.3.3 Objects
5.3.4 Attributives
5.3.5 Adverbials
5.3.6 Complements
5.3.7 Functional Usage of Various Words and Phrases
5.3.7.1 Nominals
5.3.7.2 Verbs and VPs
5.3.7.3 Adjectives and APs
5.3.7.4 PPs
5.3.7.5 Adverbs
5.3.7.6 Numbers
5.4 Aspects and Negation
5.4.1 The Perfective Aspect
5.4.2 The Experiential Aspect
5.4.3 The Progressive Aspect
5.4.4 Negation
5.5 Interrogative Sentences
5.5.1 Yes-or-No Questions
5.5.2 Wh-Questions
5.5.3 Choice and Counterfactual Questions
5.6 Complex Sentences
5.6.1 Coordinate Complex Sentences
5.6.2 Endocentric Complex Sentences