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Topics in Chinese Grammar

Topics in Chinese Grammar. Huma300k http://teaching.ust.hk/~huma300k. 1. Introduction. 1.1 A Cognition-based Functional Approach Target: The grammar of Chinese (including Mandarin and Cantonese) Not a comprehensive survey of Chinese grammar Course description --

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Topics in Chinese Grammar

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  1. Topics in Chinese Grammar Huma300k http://teaching.ust.hk/~huma300k

  2. 1.Introduction • 1.1 A Cognition-based Functional Approach • Target: The grammar of Chinese (including Mandarin and Cantonese) • Not a comprehensive survey of Chinese grammar • Course description -- • “A study of selective topics in Chinese grammar, with emphasis on understanding the structural principles of Chinese in terms of basic human cognitive abilities and conventional imageries in conjunction with general principles of communication.”

  3. 1.Introduction • A study of Chinese grammar in a cognition-based functional approach • “Functional” – • The fundamental function of language is to communicate ideas. • Linguistic structure should be explained primarily in terms of linguistic function. • “Cognition-based” – • look at grammar from the perspective of “expressing ideas and thoughts”.

  4. 1.Introduction • language is part of a cognitive system which comprises perception, emotions, categorization, abstraction processes, and reasoning. • All these cognitive abilities interact with language, and are influenced by language. • The study of the way we conceive, express and exchange ideas and thoughts. • 1.2 A Cross-linguistic Comparative Approach • Differences and similarities • beyond mere descriptions • explanations of the differences and similarities

  5. 1.Introduction • 1.3 Sample Questions • 1.3.1 Differences (Language Particulars) • [1] Making mistakes • Situation: A girl has married a man. The marriage is a mistake. • (1) 她嫁錯了人。[S(ubject) V(erb)-wrong O(bject)] • (2) She has married the wrong guy. [S(ubject) V(erb)wrong-O(bject)] • “expressing ideas and thoughts” • two different conceptual systems

  6. 1.Introduction • Chinese : the mistake -- the action which the subject performs; • English: a discrepancy between the person she set out to marry and the person she has actually married. • [2] The word order of ‘yesterday’ • Situation: Somebody did something yesterday. • (3) 昨天他買了一本書。 • (4) 他昨天買了一本書。 • (5) *他買了一本書昨天。 • (6) Yesterday he bought a book. • (7) He bought a book yesterday.

  7. 1.Introduction • The order of temporal words: 今天、星期五、today, Friday … … • Why? Explain the difference. • 1.3.2. Commonalities (Language Universals) • Language variation seems to be unlimited. • “Languages could differ from each other without limit, and in unpredictable ways.” (Martin Joos 1957) • [3] Relative order of Subject, Verb, and Object • (8) 張三打李四。(Subject (S) – Verb (V) – Object (O)) • (9) John hit Smith. (SVO) • SVO langs: Chinese, English, French, Igbo, Vietnamese, …

  8. 1.Introduction • (10) (Japanese) Taroo ga ringo o tabeta. ‘Taroo-apple-ate’ (SOV) • SOV langs: Japanese, Navajo, Basque, Turkish, ASL, German and Old English (to certain extent) … … • (11) (Scottish) Chunnaic an gille an cu dubh. ‘saw-the-boy-the-dog-black’ (VSO) • VSO langs: Tagolog, Bulgarian, Arabic, Welsh, Scottish, … • Possible combinations: SVO, SOV, VSO, VOS, OSV, OVS • Actual combinations:

  9. 1.Introduction • Syntactic universal: Preference for word order types • SVO < SOV < VSO < VOS < OVS • (13) (11) (6) (2) (1) • (The numbers give the frequencies of the word order types in 30 languages.) • Greenberg (1966) • How to explain? • The subject precedes the object. • There is a conceptual priority in the energy flow from an Agent to a Patient. • reflected in the great majority of preferred word orders in the world’s languages

  10. [4] Word order in a complex noun phrase • The relative word order of D (demonstrative, determiner), Q (numeral), A (adjective) and N (head noun) in a noun phrase • D-Q-A-N • The ten pretty balloons (English) • 那十個漂亮的氣球 (Chinese) • D-Q-N-A (French, Italian, etc.) • Q-N-A-D (Vietnamese, Indonesian, etc.) • Possible combinations • P4 = 4．3．2．1 = 24 • D-Q-A-N; D-Q-N-A; D-A-Q-N; D-N-A-Q; D-N-Q-A; Q-A-N-D; Q-A-D-N; … …

  11. 6 actual combinations • (1) D-Q-A-N (German, English, Chinese, Finnish, Hindi, Hungarian, etc.) • (2) N-A-Q-D (Diegueno, Swahili, Kikuyu, etc.) • (3) N-D-Q-A (Kikuyu [less popular variant], etc.) • (4) D-Q-N-A (French, Italian, etc.) • (5) D-N-A-Q (Kabardian, Warao, etc.) • (6) Q-N-A-D (Basque, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Welsh, etc.) • (a) DQAN（那 三件 漂亮的 衣服） • (b) DQNA（那 三件 衣服 漂亮的） • (c) DNAQ（那 衣服 漂亮的 三件） • (d) QNAD（三件 衣服 漂亮的 那） • (e) NAQD（衣服 漂亮的 三件 那）

  12. When any or all of the items (demonstrative, numeral, and descriptive adjective) precede the noun, they are always found in that order. If they follow, the order is either the same or its exact opposite. (J. Greenberg’s [1963, 1966] ‘Universal’) • (1) (2) (3) • Chinese – English – German (updated: May 02) • Chinese: (1) 我的 (2)十個 (3)漂亮的 (4)紅 (5)木 球 • English: (1) the (2) ten (3) pretty (4) red (5) wooden balls of (1’) mine • German: (1) meine (2) zehn (3) schonen (4) roten (5) holzernen Kugeln • Chinese: (1)所有 (2)這 (3)十位 (4)漂亮的 (5)年輕 (6)美國孩子 的 (7)二十個 (8)小小的 (9)舊 (10)瓷 娃娃 • English: (1) all (2) the (3) ten (4) pretty (5) young (6) American children's (7) twenty (8) little (9) old (10) china dolls

  13. (1) Head-final languages: • English: (a) beautiful big red ball • German: (ein) schoner grosser roter Ball • Hungarian: (egy) szep nagy piros labda • Polish: piekna duza czerwona pilka • Turkish: (bir) guzel buyuk kimizi top • Hindi: (ek) mudar besa lal ged • (2) Head-initial languages: • Persian: (yek) tupe qermeze bozorge qasangi • Indonesian bola merah besar jang tjantik • ‘a ball red big beautiful’ • Basque: etxe zuri txiki polit bat • ‘house white little pretty a’ • soineko gorri zar motz bat • ‘dress red old ugly a’

  14. (4)(5)(6)? • “Orbit Structure”

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