The Mandarin VP

The Mandarin VP PDF Author: Rint Sybesma
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9401591636
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
The Mandarin VP deals with a number of constructions in Mandarin Chinese which involve the main verb and the material following it, like the object NPs, resultative phrases, durative expressions and other elements. The basis claim defended in this book is that all elements that follow the main verb in a Mandarin sentence form one single constituent which functions as the complement of the verb. The Mandarin VP offers new and original analyses of such hot issues as resultative constructions, the ba-construction and verb-le. In addition, the conclusions drawn from the research into Mandarin syntax are discussed in more general theoretic terms, which leads to original proposals regarding the internal make-up of accomplishments and the status of Theta Theory. The research reported on in this book was concluded within the bounds of mainstream generative theorizing. The Mandarin VP is of interest to all syntacticians, especially those interested in Chinese.

The Mandarin VP

The Mandarin VP PDF Author: Rint Sybesma
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9401591636
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 241

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Mandarin VP deals with a number of constructions in Mandarin Chinese which involve the main verb and the material following it, like the object NPs, resultative phrases, durative expressions and other elements. The basis claim defended in this book is that all elements that follow the main verb in a Mandarin sentence form one single constituent which functions as the complement of the verb. The Mandarin VP offers new and original analyses of such hot issues as resultative constructions, the ba-construction and verb-le. In addition, the conclusions drawn from the research into Mandarin syntax are discussed in more general theoretic terms, which leads to original proposals regarding the internal make-up of accomplishments and the status of Theta Theory. The research reported on in this book was concluded within the bounds of mainstream generative theorizing. The Mandarin VP is of interest to all syntacticians, especially those interested in Chinese.

The Grammar–Pragmatics Interface

The Grammar–Pragmatics Interface PDF Author: Nancy Hedberg
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027292434
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 362

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Book Description
This collection of papers celebrates the work of Jeanette K. Gundel, who has contributed to the field of the grammar-pragmatics interface through her publications on the syntactic realization of topic and comment and the cognitive status of referring expressions, as well as by inspiring colleagues to make contributions to the overall field of pragmatics. This volume collects together papers from colleagues and former students on pragmatics and syntax, pragmatics and reference, and pragmatics and social variables. The volume includes papers devoted to explicating the grammar-pragmatics interface, with the focus of the papers ranging from Gricean and post-Gricean pragmatics, construction grammar, and genre theory to formal semantics, as well as papers devoted to expanding on Gundel's own original approach to factors such as the cognitive status decisions underlying speakers' choice of referring expression and the topic and focus decisions underlying speakers' choice of syntactic construction.

Control and Restructuring

Control and Restructuring PDF Author: Thomas Grano
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191008923
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
This book investigates the phenomenon of control structures, configurations in which the subject of the embedded clause is missing and is construed as coreferential with the subject of the embedding clause (e.g. John wanted to leave). It draws on data from English, Mandarin Chinese, and Modern Greek to investigate the relationship that control bears both to restructuring - the phenomenon whereby some apparently biclausal structures behave as though they constitute just one clause - and to the meanings of the embedding predicates that participate in these structures. Thomas Grano argues that restructuring is cross-linguistically pervasive and that, by virtue of its co-occurrence with some control predicates but not others, it serves as evidence for a basic division within the class of complement control structures. This division is connected to how the semantics of the control predicate interacts with general principles of clausal architecture and of the syntax-semantics interface. His findings have general implications both for clausal structure and for the relationship between form and meaning in natural language.

Grammaticalization and Language Change in Chinese

Grammaticalization and Language Change in Chinese PDF Author: Xiu-Zhi Zoe Wu
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134307268
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
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.

Explorations of Chinese Theoretical and Applied Linguistics

Explorations of Chinese Theoretical and Applied Linguistics PDF Author: Dongyan Chen
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1527559947
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
This volume explores the implications of Chinese for linguistic theory building and for the field of second language acquisition. Bringing together selected papers from the first International Symposium on Chinese Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, it sheds light upon under-documented topics in a variety of areas within theoretical and applied research. The topics covered here include competing approaches within optimality theory to phonological opacity, formal solutions to puzzles in Shanghainese morphosyntax, and different approaches to polarity items and presentational sentences in Chinese. With regard to applied linguistics, the contributions in this volume address challenges in the acquisition of Chinese phonology by L1 Danish speakers as well as the acquisition of the Mandarin ba construction by Cantonese learners, and the expression of social judgements in the L1 and L2. Taken together, the papers in this volume contribute to the empirical documentation of aspects of the Chinese language and its acquisition, as well as helping to unpack the significance of Chinese for mainstream linguistic theory.

Diachronic Clues to Synchronic Grammar

Diachronic Clues to Synchronic Grammar PDF Author: Eric Fuß
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027295204
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 238

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Book Description
This volume emphasizes a new line of thinking in generative grammar which acknowledges that certain synchronic properties of languages can only be fully understood if diachronic data is taken into consideration. The central topics addressed in this collection of papers are (1) a critical assessment of the hypothesis that certain apparently synchronic generalizations are actually the result of the mechanisms of language change, (2) an inquiry into how diachronic data can be used to evaluate and shape formal analyses of particular synchronic phenomena. Reviving the interest in diachronic explanations for synchronic data, the contributions provide novel and original diachronic accounts of phenomena that up to now have escaped a deeper synchronic explanation, including the nature of EPP features, gaps in the distribution of complementizer agreement, and counterexamples to the generalization that rich verbal inflection correlates with verb movement.

The Handbook of Chinese Linguistics

The Handbook of Chinese Linguistics PDF Author: C. T. James Huang
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119457076
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 694

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Book Description
The Handbook of Chinese Linguistics is the first comprehensive introduction to Chinese linguistics from the perspective of modern theoretical and formal linguistics. Containing twenty-five chapters, the book offers a balanced, accessible and thoughtfully organized introduction to some of the most important results of research into Chinese linguistics carried out by theoretical linguists during the last thirty years. Presenting critical overviews of a wide range of major topics, it is the first to meet the great demand for an overview volume on core areas of Chinese linguistics. Authoritative contributions describe and assess the major achievements and controversies of research undertaken in each area, and provide bibliographies for further reading. The contributors refer both to their own work in relevant fields, and objectively present a range of competitor theories and analyses, resulting in a volume that is fully comprehensive in its coverage of theoretical research into Chinese linguistics in recent years. This unique Handbook is suitable both as a primary reader for structured, taught courses on Chinese linguistics at university level, and for individual study by graduates and other professional linguists.

The Routledge Encyclopedia of the Chinese Language

The Routledge Encyclopedia of the Chinese Language PDF Author: Chan Sin-Wai
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317382498
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 829

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Book Description
The Routledge Encyclopedia of the Chinese Language is an invaluable resource for language learners and linguists of Chinese worldwide, those interested readers of Chinese literature and cultures, and scholars in Chinese studies. Featuring the research on the changing landscape of the Chinese language by a number of eminent academics in the field, this volume will meet the academic, linguistic and pedagogical needs of anyone interested in the Chinese language: from Sinologists to Chinese linguists, as well as teachers and learners of Chinese as a second language. The encyclopedia explores a range of topics: from research on oracle bone and bronze inscriptions, to Chinese language acquisition, to the language of the mass media. This reference offers a guide to shifts over time in thinking about the Chinese language as well as providing an overview of contemporary themes, debates and research interests. The editors and contributors are assisted by an editorial board comprised of the best and most experienced sinologists world-wide. The reference includes an introduction, written by the editor, which places the assembled texts in their historical and intellectual context. The Encyclopedia of the Chinese Language is destined to be valued by scholars and students as a vital research resource.

Enriched Composition and Inference in the Argument Structure of Chinese

Enriched Composition and Inference in the Argument Structure of Chinese PDF Author: Ren Zhang
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113587641X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 229

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Book Description
As with many other languages, Mandarin Chinese exhibits a rich variety of ways in expressing the arguments of the predicator in a sentence. Unlike other languages, such variation is typically devoid of any formal marking. Previous attempts in explaining such phenomena usually focus on the syntax as an explanatory tool. This book argues that a large majority of such argument structure phenomena are better accounted for by recourse to enriched representations in lexical semantics. Drawing insights from conceptual semantics, cognitive semantics, Generative Lexicon, construction grammar and formal syntax, this book constitutes the first attempt at a comprehensive account of lexical semantic issues in Mandarin Chinese.

Dramatized Discourse

Dramatized Discourse PDF Author: Zhuo Jing-Schmidt
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027294283
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 362

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Book Description
Language is a symbolic system of meanings evoked by linguistic forms. The choice of forms in communication is non-arbitrary. Rather, speakers pick those forms whose meanings best convey their discourse intention. The meaning of the Mandarin ba-construction, argues Jing-Schmidt, is discourse dramaticity, a concept that includes high conceptual salience and subjectivity. The ba-construction and its "syntactic variations" are never interchangeable because contrast in their meanings determines difference in their functions. Quantitative analyses based on authentic data validate the postulation of discourse dramaticity. By taking discourse pragmatics seriously, the dramaticity hypothesis enables a unitary explanation that transcends sentence grammar. The diachronic treatment reveals the syntactic change of the ba-construction as an adaptive process of pragmatization, which raises the issue of linguistic evolution as a result of socio-cultural development. This book will be of particular value to readers interested in the interaction between grammar and pragmatics and to teachers confronting the controversy of the ba-construction in foreign language pedagogy.