Chinese Version

CHINESE LANGUAGES AND WRITINGS ( Volume 274-279, 2000)

ZHONGGUO YUWEN

Contents

ZHONGGUO YUWEN, January, 2000,  NO.1(Volume 274)

The editorial, The new millennium in perspective(2)

Articles

Zhang, Yisheng, On grammaticalizational mechanisms of Chinese adverbs(3)

This paper studies the causes and mechanisms of grammaticalization of Chinese adverbs from four different perspectives. In virtue of the study, and explanation of some fundamental issues covering the nature and classification and the range of Chinese adverbs is proposed.
Keywords: Adverbs, Grammaticalization, Grammaticalizational mechanisms, Grammaticalizational causes

Xing, Fuyi, Multiple individuals in the rank of "Zui X" (16)

"Zui" (the most), an adverb of degree, is very frequently used in modern Chinese. It is generally assumed that anything that can be regarded as "zui" must be unique in number and take the leading place undoubtedly. Actually, "zui X" represents a gradient rank of "zui". What is more, what is covered in the rank can be multiple or plural as well as singular or unique in number. The paper begins with an examination of "zui X" in all dimensions, followed by a specific description of the paradigm of (1) quantifications, (2) co-ordinations and (3) covert generalizations of multiple individuals contained in the rank. A discussion of "zui ┄ zhi yi" (one of the most), "zui zui"(most most) and "di er zui X" (the second most) is in the fourth section of the paper.
Keywords: Zui rank, Multiple individuals

Li, Yuming, Copied quantifiers and their status in the development of Sino-Tibetan quantifiers(27)

The copied quantifiers are individual quantifiers formed by copying nouns. The types of copying are full copying and semi-copying. The copied quantifiers are distributed mainly in some languages of the Yi-Burmese cluster. The traces can be also discerned in the Chinese, which used before the Qin Dynasty, and in some languages of the Dong-Tai group. The emergence and development of quantifiers are processes of grammaticalization. The copied quantifier is the first grammaticalized individual quantifier. The individual quantifiers replacing the copied quantifiers consummates the nominal quantifiers system. The grammaticalization of the copied quantifiers is motivated by three factors: a) analogues changes of other nominal quantifiers; b) the analogues changes of the semi-copied quantifiers and nouns; c) the grammaticalization and generalization of the copied quantifiers. This paper specially emphasizes on the function of the semi-copying and proposes that "N1+N2" is an abbreviation of "N1+Num+N2". Finally, a postulation of the process of the emergence and the development of the nominal quantifiers in Sino-Tibetan languages is proposed.
Keywords: Sino-Tibetan, Quantifiers, Copy, Postulate

Wu, Doreen Dongying & Hui, Himman, Dialect or register variation?-Variation in textual dimensions across Hong Kong and Mainland China entertainment news discourse(35)

The paper compares and contrasts Hong Kong and inland China entertainment news discourse based on a sample of ninety-six news texts drawn from the CBS corpus in the Hong Kong Polytechnic University which represent newspapers in Hong Kong and inland China. It is found that two dimensions of textual variation exist in news reporting between the two regions: 1) variation in the dimension of integration versus fragmentation, and 2) variation in the dimension of involvement versus detachment. The paper also argues for the importance of contextual variables that govern language use and proposes that register variation, which is concerned with variation due to the situation of language use, is more basic and fundamental than dialect variation in the study of linguistic variation. It argues that the differences across Hong Kong and inland China news discourse be attributed as register variation and that dialect variation be taken as derived and subsumed under register variation.
Keywords: Dialect variation, Register variation, Contrastive linguistics, Discourse analysis, Hong Kong and inland China

Zhang, Zhengbiao, Notes on the importance of linguistic resources in western China (42)

Lee, Tae Soo, A comparative study of post subordinate-clause particles in the four different editions of Lao Ch'i-ta(47)

A dynamically comparative study of the sentence-end particles in subordinate clauses in the four different editions of Lao Ch'i-ta. The fundamental function of the particles is modal pause. Pause expresses hypothetical modality too. An oldest edition of Lao Ch'i-ta which discovered in Korea is used in this research for the first time. The comparative study gives us a clear picture of the development of this kind of particles in Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. "De" is found as another equivalent of "dehua" adding to the list of "he ", "shi", "me" and "ne" which may offer an important point of view of the further research on the source of "dehua" and the intra-sentence; "de" in current Chinese. The changes of the clause patterns in Yuan and Qing editions reflect the influence of the Altaic languages on Chinese. The grammaticalization of "shi" is also examined specifically.
Keywords: Subordinate-clause-end particles, dehua, Grammaticalization

Yang, Rongxiang, The decline of yi and the rise of ye as adverbs of similarity in Modern Chinese(57)

Sun, Liangming, Bo in Zhengbo does not mean earl(65)

Xie, Zhibin, First evidences of buting meaning not allowed(67)

Lexicography

Tan, Jingchun, Word meaning, structure meaning, and dictionary notation(69)

The article consists of two parts. Firstly, it discusses the word meaning and the meaning of a word in a combination. Secondly, it introduces two ways of treatment of the meaning of a word in a combination followed by a discussion of how it is treated in dictionary notations. There are three dimensions should be taken into consideration in treating the meaning of a word in a combination: 1) whether it can be derived by analogy, 2) whether it is idiomatic use, 3) what the type of the dictionary.
Keywords: Word meaning, Structure, Structure meaning, Analogy

Issues

Jizodo, Teiji, On the authorship of An Unorthodoxical History of Confucian Scholars(Rulin Waishi):A linguistic perspective(79)

It argues that only one writes Rulin Waishi. The discussion of the grammatical features of the novel shows minimal possibility of additions to the novel by someone else other than the author (Wu Jingzi) himself.
Keywords: Distribution, Wu dialect, Additions

Book Review

Mao, Yuanming, Problems in citations in Hanyu Da Cidian (A Large-sized Chinese Dictionary)(85)

Notes

Zhang Wenguo, A slip in punctuation in Introducing Ma's Grammar(64)

March, 2000

Articles
Yuan, Yulin, Negative sentence: its focus, presupposition and scope_ambiguity(99)

This paper discusses the focus, presupposition and scope ambiguity of negative sentences. It is argued that negation is a linear grammatical category on the surface syntactic structure and that its scope and focus cannot be independent of its sentential context, contrary to Xu and Li's (1993) view. It is further argued that the position of the negative word bears a special word order effect. From the point of view of non_monotonic logic in natural language, it attempts to prove that the presupposition of negative sentences is not defeasible, and that the so_called external paraphraseof negative sentences is a theoretical fiction. It reaches the conclusion that denies the existence of the scope ambiguity and the semantic vagueness in negative sentences.
Keywords: negation, focus, presupposition, scope_ambiguity, non_monotonic logic

Yang, Yuerong, On the interchangeability of the clause coordinators danshi and que(109)

Clause coordinators danshi (but) and que (yet) are often used to express transition. It is generally assumed that they are absolute equivalents. This paper attempts to show that in many cases they are not interchangeable at all without affecting the meaning or stylistic coloring of the sentence. Que can be used to convey five different transitional meanings and fulfils a function of stressing the transitional focus. Danshi, on the other hand, expresses not only the transition of meaning, but that of tone. It can be used in much wider a context than que.
Keywords: Danshi (but), que (yet), transition of meaning, transition of tone

Yang, Yiming, On the ambiguity of the ye sentence(114)

The sentence containing ye carries the implication that the sentence meaning is analogous to that of the preceding overt or covert sentence. Since the analogical relation is free, the focus of the ye sentence varies, and ye has acquired various uses. As a result, one and the same sentence with ye may fulfil multiple discoursal functions, or carry different presuppositions. The scope of values of the ye sentence canbe captured by the formula: q>p≤2n-F-1. Its ambiguity is essentially at the level of pragmatics other than syntax. The ambiguity can be disambiguated by confirming the discoursal center via the intonation center in speech and via presupposition of reality and thought inwriting.
Keywords: ye sentence, ambiguity, scope of values, pragmatic level, intonation center, discoursal center

Zhan, Zhiyi & Zhan,Qingyun, Fresh observations on the signification theories since Plato(126)

This paper first presents a historical overview of the signification theories over the past 2000 years since Plato. Then from the perspective of contemporary philosophy of language and linguistic semantics, it examines such theories as referential theory, use theory, relation theory, causality theory, conceptual theory, reflection theory,four_angle theory and five_factor theory. It concludes by presenting a fresh thinking of ours on the issue.
Keywords: Plato, signification theories, referential theory, seven_factor theory

Li, Xiaomei, Issues concerning the phonetic change of the duplicate suffix of mono_syllabic adjectives(137)

Chen, Hailun, Measuring the degree of the similarities between the final systems of dialects(139)

One of the important features of a synchronic study of dialects is the measuring of the extent to which the phonetic systems of dialects are similar to one another.This paper argues that phonetic quantitative differences between two non_continuous phonetic features and those between two neighboring standard vowels can both be regarded as the basic measurement for judging phonetic similarities. A method is proposed on how to measure the phonetic similarities of two phones under the condition that the ratio of the quantity of common shared features to that of total is taken into account. Also touched upon are ways of measuring quantitative similarities between two finals by obtaining the average one of corresponding factors, of finals composed of different elements, and of quantitative similarities among final systems. The quantitative similarities of final systems of 20 main Chinese dialects are provided.
Keywords: Dialect, final systems, similarity

Chen, Zeping, Differentiating Chinese dialect paronyms (146)

It is found that in Fuzhou dialect, some words are closely connected with one another in both pronunciation and meaning. This phenomenon is of the same natureas sisheng bieyi (distinguish meanings by different tones) in classical Chinese. It is argued that there was in history an etymon that evolved in different dialects. The phonetic differentiation of paronyms is shown to be due to the dialectal mix_up or internal borrowings in later periods. They exist complementarily, and share the same written forms.
Keywords: Fuzhou dialect, etymon, paronym, internal loan

Xing, Xiangdong, Wozan and nizan in some dialects (151)

Luo, Zengxiu, Peculiarities of some kinship terms in Beijing dialect (153)

Wang, Weihui, Notes on some words in Shishuo Xinyu(《世说新语》)(154)

Dong, Zhinqiao, Five case studies of lexical items in the literatureof Tang and Five Dynasties (159)

Guo, Pengfei, Notes on pin(拼) and  peng(抨) in Erya(《尔雅》) (164)

Pei, Yinhan, The Shang tone sandhi in Ming Dynasty revisited(167)

Zhang, Ru, A fresh examination of the question tag wei (为) (168)

Wang, Ke, Two opposite meanings of the word xia (下) (171)

Lexicography

Su, Xinchun, An analysis of obsolete terms in the second and third editions of  A Dictionary of Modern Chinese (174)

In A Dictionary of Modern Chinese (Second Edition), 944 words and expressions carry the labels such as "old term", "old use", "used in the Old Society" and so on, to mark their obsoleteness. The present paper first analyses the distribution features and causes for their obsoleteness, and then proceeds to compare the second edition of the dictionary with the third edition which came out years later. Various changes in Contemporary Chinese are identified. The second edition is found excessively generalizing in determining obsolete terms. Three principles for defining historical properties of lexical items are put forward, and are argued to be more appropriate than the present alternative ones.
Keywords: Contemporary Chinese, modern Chinese dictionary, obsolete terms

Issues

Zhang, Baosheng, The use of adj + dian (点) as adverbial revisited (182)

This paper discusses the syntactic and semantic properties of adj + dian as adverbial. It first presents a critical review of Xiao's (1998) treatment of the syntactic properties of adj + dian in three aspects: (1) stylistic property; (2) non_perfective property; and (3) readjusting property. It is followed by a detailed discussion of the semantic interpretation of the structure. It carries the implication of "exert yourself" when the speaker believes that the action_V it modifies is beneficial. However, it has the overtone of "somehow" when the speaker believes that the action_V it modifies is unfavourable.
Keywords: syntactic property, adj + dian, semantic interpretation

Ma, Guoqiang, Dating the first use of the word yufa (grammar)(188)

May, 2000
Contents

Articles

Guo, Xiliang, The development of Chinese nouns, verbs and adjectives in the pre-Qin days(195)

Chinese nouns, verbs and adjectives underwent great changes during the over one thousand years from the Yin Dynasty to the Qin Dynasty, marked by , first of all, their great increase in number with the emergence of some sub_classes; secondly, formation of a complete system of nouns denoting weights and measures and emergence of nouns denoting natural units which were increasing in number; and finally, growth of abstract monosyllabic adjectives with appearance of a great number of disyllabic adjectives. In terms of grammar, the changes were characterized by diversification and complication of their grammatical functions and development with their compatibilities, which led to the development of the phenomena of one word belonging to different parts of speech and with different functions.
Key words: unit nouns, adjectives, syntactic function, one word belonging to different parts of speech

Chen, Kejiong, Predication analysis of negative psychological verbs in the pre_Qin days(205)

Among verbs of feelings and attitudes, some denote sorrow, anxiety, hatred and fear such as ai (哀), lian ( 怜), xu (恤), wu (恶) , zeng (憎), wei (畏), ju (惧) etc , which reflect negative mental activities and are called negative psychological verbs. Based on such classic works as Shangshu, the Book of Poetry, the Annals, Zuozhuan, Mozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, and Hanfeizi, the paper presents a comprehensive predication analysis of more than 20 common negative psychological verbs.
Key words:negative psychological verb,predication analysis

Yu, Liming, Non_adverbial negative bu in Taipingjing （太平经）(212)

Fu, Jinbi, Two reading notes in history(215)

Chen, Zhangcan, A new perspective on misused characters in epigraphy in the Six Dynasties(218)

Fu, Huaiqing, Some problems in the study of synonyms(221)

The paper argues that in spite of great achievements in the study of synonyms since the founding of the People's Republic of China, there is still much to be desired in theoretical explanation as well as in micro analysis. Conclusions from the argument are (1) that synonyms can be meticulously analysed and words are synonymous in that they have the same sense, (2) that it is important to analyse synonyms in their syntagmatic relation, and (3)that there are three types of study of synonyms in line with different purposes.
Key words: synonyms, sense, expressions, lexical system

Wang, Canlong, On the anaphoric function of the personal pronoun ta （他）(228)

The paper studies both the intra_ and inter_sentential anaphoric function of personal pronoun ta. Based on the analysis of the distribution of ta,anaphoric rules are revealed and are explained from the cognitive or syntactic point of view . Finally the author discusses the factors constraining the use of “ta” in discourse: 1) semantic hierarchy, 2)number of referents, 3) time expressions and conjunctions, 4) raising of the topic, 5) change of tenses, 6)structure of phrase.
Key words: personal pronouns, anaphoric reference, antecedent, explanation, constraint

Wang, Wei, Semantic representation of Mandarin modal neng (能) in communications(238)

This research takes semantic polysemy of neng as its major point of interest, with awareness that its interrelated as well as mutually independent semantic potentials create no difficulties for native speakers in gaining correct semantic representation in communications. A frequency distribution with high regularity in affirmative /negative /interrogative usage is exhibited in an exhaustive statistical analysis of the modal's use in a medium_sized corpus of contemporary Chinese. Through the abstraction of a unified notion and the establishment of a semantic network schema, this paper shows a brief yet unitary interpretation for the aforesaid regularity.
Key words: neng, semantic representation, frequency distribution, semantic network

Dai, Zhaoming, Historical phonetic changes and the origin of the plural forms of personal pronouns in Wu dialect(247)

This paper traces the development of the plural forms of personal pronouns in Wu dialect by virtue of comparative and retrospective methods in historic linguistics with the plural forms of Tiantai dialect as clues. It is argued that suffixes like “-拉 /伲” come from “两” while suffixes like “笃” derive from “等”, and that variants of the personal pronouns are the results of phonetic changes via sound stream developing into historical phonetic changes.
Key words: phonetic changes, origin, “拉 /伲” type suffixes, “笃”type suffixes

Liu, Xiangbo, Chinese aspectual particles and quantitative analysis(257)

The paper argues for the importance of quantitative description and analysis in aspectual particle studies in Chinese dialects through an exemplary analysis of the northern dialect as spoken in Dingji, Lu'an of Jianghuai. A dialect corpus and a lexicon of predication words were drawn upon to give a comprehensive and quantitative discussion of the grammatical function and meanings of the particles, which were determined according to the distribution of the aspectual particles in different structures of semantic features and phrases of the verbs and in some grammatical slots.
Key words: Jianghuai dialect, aspectual particles , corpus, quantitative analysis, semantic features

Sha, Ping, Grammatical and semantic function of the character tao （掏）
in the Fuzhou dialect(267)

Ni, Baoyuan, Modern expressions borrowed in description of historical things(273)

Lexicography:

Su, Peicheng, Standard dictionaries and principles of standardization(276)

Issues:

Zhou, Yimin, Jin(gold) and yin(silver) can be nouns(281)

Wang, Kuiwei, Does the particle ma(吗) exist prior to Dream of Red Chamber? (284)

Jia, Caizhu, Notes on kousou(抠搜)(285)

Wang, Sen, Definition of qiang (抢)to be improved(227)

Notes:

Su, Jie, From Anjie　(按揭) to jie (揭) and jie （借）(256)

Song, Wenhui, The preposition zhe （着） in the Zhengding dialect(220)

July, 2000,  Special Issue For the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Institute of Linguistics, CASS

Articles:

Shen, Jiaxuan, Valency and sentence patterns (291)

Problems in current valency grammars are examined according to three evaluation criteria of grammar, with particular reference to two common sentence patterns in Mandarin Chinese. To solve the problems a new approach which combines bottom-up and top-down analysesis suggested: the number and type of arguments of a sentence be determined by the sentence pattern as a whole, and meaning of the verb be described with Idealized Cognitive Models.
Key words: sentence pattern, valency, cognitive

Wen, Lian & Hu, Fu, Some problems in classification of words (298)

Traditional grammar requires that each word fall under a definite word class, and that each word class have its special connection with a sentential constituent. In classification of Chinese words, we can not take care of both of these at the same time because the Chinese language is free from inflexion. Therefore, we have to look for more subclasses and adjunctive classes. Even then, we are still faced with problems. However, if we deal with the classification ofwords from perspectives of semantics and pragmatics, which are connected to syntax, these problems may loom less formidable.
Key words: word class, corresponding relation, subclass, adjunctive classes, syntactic feature, semantic interpretation

Lu, Jingguang, Postposed sentential constituents as post-completion devices in conversational turn-taking(303)

This paper puts forward a new perspective on 'inverted sentences ' in Chinese, i.e. sentences with constituents postposed to the end. It is found that the postponing of sentence constituents can be partly explained in terms of conversational turn-taking. In particular, postposed constituents often have the function of extending a turn beyond a transition relevance place. As such they are 'post-completion devices'. From a corpus of spoken Cantonese 250 sentences were studied in their sequential contexts. It was found that 78% of the time postposed sentential constituents co-occurred with , or was closely followed by, a turn-transition relevance place. This provides evidence for a strong relationship between word order as a grammatical phenomenon and the structure of conversational turn-taking.
Key words: postposed sentential constituents, post_completion devices, conversational turn-taking

Peyraube, Alain & Wu, Fuxiang, Development and evolution of interrogative pronouns in Archaic Chinese (311)

(1) From the Western Zou dynasty to the Eastern Han dynasty, the development and evolution of interrogative pronouns in Archaic Chinese are mainly reflected in two dimensions: one is the alteration of frequency of words, the functional evolutions and the lexical changes, and the other is the structural change of the system interrogative pronouns. (2) The system of interrogative pronouns has been adapted and simplified with the gradual disappearance of the original interrogative pronouns in the spoken language toward the end of the period. (3) The three essential mechanisms accounting for the appearance of interrogative pronouns in Archaic Chinese are borrowing, functional evolutions, and lexicalization.
Key words: interrogative pronouns, grammatical evolution, Archaic Chinese

Yau, Shun-chiu, The common origin of the Chinese words for deaf and blind (327)

Based on zoological and paleographical evidence I supported, in an article (1994), probably the suborder serpents. Subsequently, I argued that its choice as phonic indicator in the ideogram long 'deaf' was motivated by the deafness of the reptiles. Conversely, this graphical etymology reinforces the hypothesis that the legendary creature indeed belongs to this group of 'hard of hearing' animals. Now, with the help of phonological data and semantic evidence, I think it is possible to trace back further the history of the word long 'deaf'by postulating that it is cognate with meng 'blurred' and eventually with mang 'blind', all probably resulting from the splitting up of the initial consonant *ml- cluster of their source word: *mlVng. Similar cases are frequently found in Chinese, for example, the cognate pair ming 'fate' and ling 'decree' is generally considered as having been derived in the same manner, giving the present day ming, and ling which still share their source meaning. What is of particular interest in the case of the group mang-meng-long 'blind-blurred-deaf' is that the first and the third cognates in the group are assigned to signify respectively visual and auditory deficiencies, both of which are physiological features observed among certain reptiles. Thus it seems that thanks are due to the legendary dragon for providing us with a better understanding of the semantic branching around the core notion of 'blurred-ness' in Chinese.
Key words: cognate pair,semantic branch, initial consonant clusters

Shan Zhouyao, Some problems in annotations in Hanyu Dazidian(333)

Hanyu Dazidian is a large lexicographic tool aiming to elucidate the form, phonology and semantics of Chinese characters, with special emphasis on the integration of these three aspects and their development throughout the history of Chinese. Apart from the modern kaishu script, the dictionary also includes representative forms in the oracle bone inscriptions, bronze inscriptions, small seal script and clerical script to illustrate their structural evolution. The editors have made good use of the results from recent paleographic researches by Wang Guowei, Lo Zhenyu, Guo Moruo, Zhu Fangpu, Yu Xingwu, Shang Chengzuo, Yang Shuda and Rong Geng, and on top of these added some precise and concise commentaries with very high academic and practical value. Yet in a dictionary of such a grand scale errors are somewhat inevitable. The present paper attempts to point out a number of contentious issues concerning the way Hanyu Dazidian handles the etymology of archaic scripts. It is hoped that these suggestions will aid
future revisions of the dictionary.
Keywords: Chinese language, lexicography, dictionary, oracle bone inscriptions, paleography, etymology

Chen, Baoya, Relative rank analysis of core corresponding words in Sino-Tai(338)

The language contact between Dai and Chinese results in Dai-Chinese and Chinese-Dai. Dai-Chinese is used to speak with Chinese; Chinese-Dai is used to speak with Dai. Usually, this kind of discourse situation remains unchanged. This is the condition for identification of diachronical homogeneity in language contact. In discourse situation, the more nuclear the corresponding words are, the higher the percentage of corresponding words is. This is the prerequisite for rank analysis of corresponding words. The problem of rank analysis now is how to find the corresponding words in the earliest possible time. To do this, corresponding words are limited first to 100 core words, and then to 35 core words. Results of analysis shows that corresponding words found now are not the evidence supporting the genetic relationship between Chinese and Tai.
Key Words: contact relationship, genetic relationship, rank distribution, discourse situation

Guo, Xiaowu, Toward vowel inflection of the particle  le-la, ne-na, de-da with a discussion of the duality of the pronunciation of mood particles, interjections and onomatopoeic words(349)

This paper studies a kind of vowel inflection of mood particles, interjections and onomatopoeic words in modern Chinese mandarin. The vowel inflection here is characterized by a systematical opposition of a-vowel against e-vowel under the condition of stronger tone. It can be described as a kind of change from e-vowel into a-vowel along with the sounds intensified. The paper studies a-vowel pronunciation in la, na, da 了, 呢, 的 (three extremely high frequency words) in stress state, which have only been notated as e-vowel pronunciation le , ne , de in all reference books. As for 啦, 哪(呐) , their la, na pronunciation were generally misunderstood as some crasis words. In my opinion, the real causation of 啦, 哪(呐) should simplybe 了, 呢, although the former have stronger tones and different written forms. This paper also supplies lists of the vowel inflection words, and discusses their implications for the emotive function of language, dictionary compilation, etc.
Key words: tongue, mood, mood particles, interjections, onomatopoeic words, vowel inflection, synaeresis, le-la, ne-na, de-da

Feng, Zhiwei, On positional planning and noumenal planning of language(363)

Language planning is the linguistic basic for the language works in a country. In this paper, the properties and scales of language planning are discussed. Language planning can be divided into two parts: language positional planning and language noumenal planning (language-in-self planning). Language positional planning includes two aspects: ① determination of the position of a language in social communication, ② determination of the position of a writing system in social communication. Language noumenal planning includes three aspects: ① popularization and normalization of the common language, ② formulation of the norms and standards of a writing system, ③ standardization of the scientific and technical terminology. A preliminary theoretical system for language planning is put forward in this paper.
Key Words: language planning, language positional planning, language noumenal planning, language-in-self planning.

Guest editors, Fifty years of the Institute of Linguistics, CASS(378)

September, 2000， Special Issue For the 50th Anniversary of the Institute of Linguistics, CASS

Jiang, Lansheng, For the 50th anniversary of the Institute of Linguistics, CASS (387)

The speech reviewed on the good tradition of the Institute of Linguistics since its foundation in 1950,and emphasized that the tradition of patriotism,academic creation,research preciseness and scientific application should be inherited and developed. As for the future of the Institute,the speech pointed out that more attention should be paid on the theoretical construction and academic freedom.
Key words:academic tradition,theoretical construction

Dai, Qingxia & Fu, Ailan, Yes_or_no questions in Tibetan_Burman languages(390)

This paper sums up the characteristics of the five forms of yes_or_no questions of Tibetan_Burman languages and tries to explore their law of development on the basis of a description and comparison of 15 Tibetan_Burman languages and dialects.
Key words:Tibetan_Burman languages, yes_or_no questions, co_occurrence

Chen, Hsin-Hsiun, Zeng Yunqian's Archaic Chinese phonology(399)

Zeng Yunqian and Huang Kan were contemporaries, and both studied archaic Chinese phonology. Their respective theories as well as their methods of study were very similar. For sound, both had 19 archaic Chinese initials; for rhyme, both had 30 archaic Chinese rhyme categories. However, despite these similarities, there are a number of distinct, though subtle, differences in their theories that will be explained in this paper.
Key words: Zeng Yunqian, Huang Kan, the 19 archaic Chinese initials, the 30 archaic Chinese rhyme categories

Zhou, Youguang, On the study of comparative scriptology(407)

Answering the question: “what is comparative scriptoloy?”, the paper comes up with a new perspective on the typology of writing systems: picto_ideoscripts, ideo_phonoscripts, phonoscripts. In addition, the author presents experiences about the study of comparative scriptology in terms of the law of development of writing systems (from picto_writing to ideo_writing to phono_writing), the origin of alphabets, simplification and complexification of writing characters, the classification of character writing features, and the quantity and standardization of writing characters.
Key words: comparative scriptology, typology of writing systems, picto_ideoscripts, ideo_phonoscripts, phonoscripts

Hirayama, Hisao, A diachronic study of a type of Pekinese tone_sandhi co_ocurring with retroflexation(410)

The paper presents a diachronic explanation of the tone_sandhi rule in some Pekinese two_syllabic words with retroflexation by which the non_third tones of the second syllable change to the third tone, ex. ɡｕòｄǎｏｒ (过道儿). This rule of tone_sandhi might be the result of the fusion of a neutral tone syllable and the morpheme er which also might have the neutral tone. The tone_sandhi rule in the reduplicated forms of mono_syllabic adjectives with retroflexation, ex. ｈǎｏｈāｏｒ (好好儿)，might also be formed by a similar process, but influenced by the phonetic circumstances, the result of the fusion was the first tone.
Key words: Beijing dialect, tone_sandhi, retroflexation, neutral tone, reduplication of adjectives

Akitani, Hiloyuki, The Dong (东) and the Dong (冬) Rhymes in the Chuqu subgroup of the Wu dialect: Referring to the date of the inherent Chuqu phonological stratum(415)

In the Chuqu subgroup of the Wu dialect, the Dong (东) rhyme (division I) and the Dong (冬) rhyme are separate. Study of the Tong (通) rhyme group and two other phonological evidences shows that the phonological stratum that distinguishes the Dong (东) rhyme (division I) and the Dong (冬) rhyme reflects the Chinese phonology before the Liu Song period.
Keywords: Chuqu subgroup of the Wu dialect, phonological stratum, Dong (东) and the Dong (冬) rhymes

Liu, Shuxue, The [uau] rhyme in Hebei dialect(418)

Xing, Fuyi, Notes on “V Yi V”(420)

It contains five parts: Part 1 gives a description of “VV”. Part 2 analyses the syntactic structures of “V Yi V” and “VV”. Part 3 differentiates “V Yi V” and “VV” according to their meanings. Part 4 discusses the accomplishment and no_accomplishment of “V Yi V”. Part 5 focuses on their pragmatic values. The paper points out that: “VV” expresses that the time quantity of action is shortened, that the weight of action is lightened, and that the key is casual. Being synonymous forms, “V Yi V” and “VV” have no difference in time quantity and weight. However, in addition to some different tendencies in syntactic structure and semantic relation, their main shades consist in their pragmatic values: “VV” is a casual form, but “V Yi V” is a serious form.
Key words: verb reduplication, embedding “Yi”, pragmatic value

Tao, Hongyin & Zhang, Bojiang, The status of indefinite Ba(把)_constructions in Modern and Contemporary Chinese and its implications(433)

Descriptive and formal approaches to the Ba_construction in Chinese generally make a distinction between two kinds of Ba_constructions, based on the semantic relationship of the object noun phrase of Ba with the main verb(s) of the utterance: 1) those in which the object is a patient， and 2) those in which the object is an agent. In the latter case, very often the noun phrase denoting the agent takes an indefinite grammatical form, usually marked with yi_ge `one + CLASSIFIER' or simply ge `CLASSIFIER'. One of the problems with previous studies is that these types of Ba_constructions are treated implicitly or explicitly as two varieties of equal status. In this paper we investigate the status of the indefinite, agentive Ba_constructions based on large corpora of modern (over two million words) and contemporary (over twelve million words) Chinese. We show that indefinite, agentive Ba_constructions are actually a minor type in contemporary Chinese, with restricted grammatical functions (marking a generic proposition or introducing a trivial referent into discourse). A comparison with modern (14th-19th century) Chinese shows that there is profound historical change from modern Chinese to contemporary Chinese. These findings are taken as significant and in support of a theoretical proposal that structural analysis must be aided with contextualized, quantitative evidence.
Key words: definiteness, identifiability, double grammaticalization, discourse taxonomy and grammar

Zhang, Guoxian, Typical features of Modern Chinese adjectives(447)

The category of Chinese adjectives is problematic. Grammarians disagree on whether it is a self_sufficient lexical category. Foreign scholars like Schachter (1985) believe that Chinese is a language typical of using adjectives as predicates. Most native researchers like Ma Jianzhong (1898), on the other hand, insist that Chinese adjectives be defined as an independent lexical category, although they hold different schemas of its subcategories. This thesis tries to relocate the categorical status of Chinese adjectives by revealing its typical features, facilitating the clarification of the essential features of adjectives and the establishment of a lexical system fitting the reality of Chinese.
Key words: typical features, prosodic feature

Fang, Mei, Reduced conjunctions as discourse markers(459)

Traditionally, conjunctions are always issued as a device to show the logical relation or the temporal sequence presented between clauses. As a writing language study, it is absolutely true. But in the real occurred spontaneous conversations, the various uses emerge largely and hardly to be explained with the `truth value' criterion.In this paper, we distinguish two perspectives for Chinese conjunction analysis: Truth value expression and non_truth value expression. A truth value expression plays as a connector with its lexical meaning to show logical relation or temporal sequence between clauses. A non_truth value expression occurs as a pure discourse marker with its reduced lexical meaning. From this point of view, we discuss conjunctions with non_truth value expressions by three points as following. 1) Semantic reduction; 2) Conjunctions as discourse markers; 3) Asymmetrical distribution and cognitive motivation. We suggest that, in Chinese, the iconicity of the nature conceptual sequence works not only on the word order (cf. Tai 1985), but also maps on the discourse devices.
Key words: non_truth value expression， discourse marker， asymmetrical distribution， iconicity

The composers, Review on Wang Li Ancient Chinese dictionary(471)

November, 2000， Special Issue For the 50th Anniversary of the Institute of Linguistics, CASS

Ting, Pang-Hsin, An analytical review of the theories that study the generic relationship among Sino_Tibetan languages(483)

This paper attempts to review different theories that study the generic relationship among Sino-Tibetan languages.The thoeries under review are: (1)"Rank analysis", which claims that language contacts have rank difference but no boundary, (2)"Deep-layer correspondence", which asserts that a language would not borrow homophonous words with different meanings from another language, and (3)"language influence", which assumes a language would change to a complete different one through long-term and full-dimensional contact. The discussion will conlude by
noting several possible approaches to the study of the generic relationship among Sino-Tibetan languages.
Key words: Sino-Tibetan languages, cognates, language contact

Xu, Jialu, On the relationship between Chinese information processing and Modern Chinese research(490)

Hashimoto, Anne Yue, A historical study of the Yue dialect: The Book of Documents Translated into Colloquial Cantonese by Mo Shizhi(497)

The Book of Documents Translated into Colloquial Cantonese by Mo Shizhi is an invaluable document for the study of the history of the Yue dialect in the C19. While it shares many syntactic and lexical features of documents of the same period, there are several such features not found in other documents and others that furnish a missing link in understanding the history of Cantonese. This 185-page volume was written by Mo Shizhi of the Nanhai county and published in the Guisi year (probably 1893) of the last century with the purpose of explicating in the colloquial language the difficult classical text of the Book of Documents, so that youths and females and males who were minimally literate could comprehend this text on their own. Indeed, this volume shows at least as colloquial a style as, if not more so than, texts compiled in the same period. On the other hand, just like its contemporaneous texts, it also contains literary elements. This paper will discuss the outstanding features of the lexicon, the word formation as well as the syntax of this volume, including the duplicative use of synonymous lexical expressions, the reduplication of stative verbs to indicate intensive degree, the rich array of markers used in the double-object construction, and the form of the attributive structure.
Key words:history of Cantonese,lexicon,word formation,syntax

Hu, Mingyang, Single variable contrastive analysis: An attempt to formulate a procedure for tackling the evasive meanings of Chinese particles and function words(508)

The paper aims at finding a workable method of eliminating all possible irrelevant semantic factors of other linguistic items in the sentence, lexical, syntactic or prosodic, etc., that might influence the correct interpretation of the function and meaning of the particle or function word under observation, and in such a way, isolating the particle or function word as the single variable, the presence or absence of which is solely responsible for the functional or semantic variation of the related sentence. A contrastive study of the particle or function words in isolation and the relevant variations of the related sentences in function or meaning may make it easier to grasp the otherwise extremely evasive meanings of particles or function words. The shortcomings of such an attempt can be corrected by others ,and its failure might serve as a lesson for others trying to do the same. The author of this paper is of the opinion that it is time for Chinese linguists developing their own methods of analysis to meet the special need of the study of Chinese.
Key words: single variable, contrastive analysis, procedure

Lu, Jianming, Researches of applied linguistics in 21th century of China: Three key domains(516)

The paper first forecasts the features of 21th century. And then suggests that attention should be paid to the following three aspects in applied linguistics in line with the features of the 21th century: (1) Chinese Information Processing, (2) Chinese Teaching for Native Speakers in primary school and middle school, (3) Teaching of Chinese as a foreign language. The paper also develops specific approach to the three aspects mentioned above.
Key words:applied linguistics,information processing,Chinese teaching

Wang, Hongjun, The prosodic word and prosodic phrase of Chinese(525)

We proposed in this paper that the distinctions between Chinese Prosodic Word (PW) and Prosodic Phrase (PPh) are: PW is always a single foot which tone sandhi applied only in the same direction as speech or a concretely compound bi-foot, whereas PPh is multi-footed or optional multi-footed and their tone sandhi applied contra the direction of speech optionally. We also argued that Chinese PPh should be divided into two classes ---Word-like Phrase (PWPh) and Free Phrase (PFPh). PWPhs are "Left Stressed" and their interior pauses or protractions (P or P) are always shorter than the exterior ones, whereas PFPhs are "Right Stressed" or "Coordinately Stressed" and their interior P or P may be longer than the exterior ones.
Key words: prosodic word, prosodic phrase, foot, pause or protraction

Hirata, Shoji, Standard pronunciation of the Court of State Ceremonial (Honglu_si) in the Qing Dynasty(537)

Early in the eighteenth century, the Qing government adopted the Ushers (xuban) of the Court of State Ceremonial (Honglu-si) from the government students (shengyuan) in Zhili, Shandong, Shanxi, Henan. But since 1752, only the government students in Zhili qualified for the Usher for the reason of their pronunciation met the strict standard of the Court. After that, the Zhili Mandarin obtained the exclusionary status of the officially authorized pronunciation. People of the Lower Yangtze area did not approve the authority of this "northern pronunciation," and still supported the "southern pronunciation (Southern Mandarin)" as their own standard language. Missionaries in the late imperial China, such as Matteo Ricci and Nicolas Trigault, regarded the "Nanjing" dialect as the standard Chinese, probably their evaluation was deeply affected by the viewpoint of the educated classes in the Lower Yangtze. The Zhili (Beijing) Mandarin maintained dignity in the Court through the late Qing Dynasty, but it had not established its status as the uniformed pronunciation of the nation.
Keywords: Court of State Ceremonial, the Qing Dynasty, standard pronunciation, Beijing dialect, Mandarin

Yuan, Bin, Dating of Da Tang Sanzang Qujing Shihua with an inquiry into its dialectal basis(545)

From the point of view of linguistics, this paper tries to date Da Tang Sanzang Qujing Shihua and makes an inquiry into its dialectal basis. The focus is on passive sentences: a lot of passive sentences introduced by bei (被) from literature in different eras and in different dialects are examined with their diachronical evolution and differences between different dialects in the structures of these bei sentences quantitified into comparable values, which are then contrasted with those abstracted of bei sentences from Qujing Shihua. On the basis of this it is estimated that book was finalized around the Yuan Dynasty(about 13c to 14c) and it was based on the northern dialects.
Key words: dating, dialectal basis, bei sentence, quantitifization

Cao, Guangshun & Yu, Hsiao-jung, The disposal construction of translated Middle Chinese buddhist sutras(555)

In translated Middle Chinese Buddhist sutras, we found examples of the disposal construction marked by qu. There are three ways to formulate the narrow disposal construction: qu + Object + Verb + zhi, qu + Verb + zhi, and qu + Object + Verb. The latter two ways are derived from the first way with one object deleted. Based on our study, we think that the appearance of the form qu + Object + Verb might be related to the grammatical construction of the mother tongue of the Buddhist sutra translators of the time. In our data, there are very few examples using jiang to mark the disposal construction.
Keywords: Translated Middle Chinese Buddhist sutras, The Disposal Construction, qu, language contact

Yao, Zhenwu, On the compatibility of designation with assertion and its function in extension(564)

This article explains reasons for derivation of one structure from another and extends the explanation to nouns used as verbs through the compatibility of the two structuresand the social identity of the compatibility.
Key words: designation, assertion, compatibility, extension

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