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Historical Phonology of Chinese
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 339

Historical Phonology of Chinese

As an important introduction to the phonological history of Chinese, this title explores the phonological systems of the Chinese language and explains basic concepts, materials and methodologies. Unlike many historical accounts, this book adopts a reverse chronological sequence – starting with the phonology of Modern Mandarin and modern Chinese dialects, then looking back on Early Mandarin and Middle Chinese, and ultimately ending with Old Chinese phonology. This arrangement makes the book reasonably approachable to both professionals and general readers, building up knowledge along an ascending order of difficulty, from familiar, observable facts to theoretical, speculative hypotheses. Ba...

The History of Modern Chinese Grammar Studies
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 212

The History of Modern Chinese Grammar Studies

  • Type: Book
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  • Published: 2015-03-23
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  • Publisher: Springer

This book discusses the way Chinese scholars developed a national grammar. Chinese didn’t develop grammar until China’s contact with Western grammar books in the 19th Century. The first indigenous grammar was published in 1889. It included some traditional notions, but mainly imitated European grammar. It was followed by a number of other similar works. To move away from this imitation, a group of grammarians started to look into the Chinese tradition of commenting on classics. This led to a variety of alternative grammars. After the war, Western linguistics started to gain influence in China. With the establishment of the PRC in 1949, efforts began to have a standard grammar adopted nat...

The History of Chinese Phonology
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 425

The History of Chinese Phonology

As the first volume of a two-volume set on the history of Chinese phonology, this book introduces the basics of the discipline and charts the history of phonology from the pre-Qin period to the Song dynasty. Based on abundant phonological materials, the author divides the history of Chinese phonology into nine historical periods, which helps illuminate its evolutions and principles. The first part of the book explains the fundamental concepts of the history and studies of Chinese phonology, including the rhyme dictionary, the rhyme table, dialect, and methodology, as well as fanqie, rhyme sets, division, and articulation. The second part discusses Chinese phonology across the first six periods, from the pre-Qin era (before 206 BCE) to the Song dynasty (960–1279), elucidating the phonological development and characteristics in terms of initials, rhyme groups, and tones. This title will be of great value for scholars and students studying Chinese phonology, Chinese linguistics, and readers interested in the essence of rhyming behind classic Chinese lyrics, poetry, drama, and other forms of verse.

Chinese Annals in the Western Observatory
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 520

Chinese Annals in the Western Observatory

Since the beginning of the twentieth century, hundreds of thousands of documents of all sorts have been unearthed in China, opening whole new fields of study and transforming our modern understanding of ancient China. While these discoveries have necessarily taken place in China, Western scholars have also contributed to the study of these documents throughout this entire period. This book provides a comprehensive survey of the contributions of these Western scholars to the field of Chinese paleography, and especially to study of oracle-bone inscriptions, bronze and stone inscriptions, and manuscripts written on bamboo and silk. Each of these topics is provided with a comprehensive narrative...

The Kitan Language and Script
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 321

The Kitan Language and Script

  • Type: Book
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  • Published: 2009
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  • Publisher: BRILL

The Kitans established the Liao dynasty in northern China, which lasted for over two centuries (916-1125). In this survey the reader will find what is currently known about the Kitan language and scripts. The language was very likely distantly related to Mongolian, with two quite different scripts in use. A few generations after their state was defeated, almost all trace of the Kitan spoken and written languages disappeared, except a few words in Chinese texts. Over the past few decades, however, inscriptions from the tombs of the Liao emperors and the Kitan aristocracy have been at least partially deciphered, resulting in a significant increase of our knowledge of the Kitan lexicon, morphology and syntax.

Chinese Language(s)
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 297

Chinese Language(s)

The major aim of the book is to trace the current structuring of the Chinese language(s) on the ground of Chinese linguistics. The research presented is based on the newest and most renowned sources, namely The Great Dictionary of Modern Chinese Dialects, and the Language Atlas of China. The author discusses the role The Great Dictionary plays in analyzing the spectrum of linguistic differentiation in China and gives a detailed account of the kind of information the dictionary provides. As background, she sketches the development and current state of Chinese dialectology and dialect research. One of the author's aims is to show respect for the grand achievement the Dictionary undoubtedly is,...

Diversity in Sinitic Languages
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 334

Diversity in Sinitic Languages

This book presents new research into the great structural diversity found in Sinitic languages. While many studies focus principally on Standard Mandarin, this work draws on extensive empirical data from lesser-known languages, and seeks to dispel many recurrent linguistic myths about the Sinitic language family. Part I presents findings that show the important interplay of research into diachronic linguistics and typology in China, beginning with a discussion of how to tackle the issue of linguistic diversity in Sinitic languages. Chapters in Part II examine the Sinitic languages from a crosslinguistic perspective with pan-Sinitic explorations of demonstrative paradigms; bare classifier phrases in relation to the coding of definiteness; and of the diachronic development of two main structures for comparatives of inequality with respect to issues in language contact. Part III is devoted to individual studies of linguistic micro-areas in China: Pinghua and the Guangxi Autonomous Region in the far South of China; Shaowu Min in the northwestern corner of Fujian province; the Wu dialect of Fuyang; and the Hui'an Southern Min dialect in the South of Fujian province.

The Writing System of Scribe Zhou
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 312

The Writing System of Scribe Zhou

This book investigates the nature of regional variation in the early Chinese writing system through bamboo manuscripts and inscriptions dating from the late pre-imperial China (5th-3rd centuries BCE). Diachronic and synchronic comparisons of graphic details show that none of the well-recognized regional varieties developed independently from one another. Furthermore, differences in graphic components can be accounted for as alternations of graphs that are compatible in their semantic or phonetic values. The phonological systems underlying various regional orthographies unanimously point to a single coherent sound system with some mixture of dialect pronunciations. This strongly suggests that...

Language Policy and National Unity
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 264

Language Policy and National Unity

The central focus of each chapter is language policy and how it accomplishes-or fails to accomplish-the task of maintaining national unity in the face of linguistic diversity. Included among the nations considered are examples of postcolonial cultures, as well as nations that have sheltered linguistic minorities within their borders throughout their history, countries fragmented into tribal groups, and those divided by a plethora of local dialects.

Historical Linguistics
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 420

Historical Linguistics

  • Type: Book
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  • Published: 2014-02-04
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  • Publisher: Routledge

The contributors to this volume cover the international range of scholarship in the field of Historical Linguistics, as well as some of its major themes. The work and ideas they discuss are relevant not only to other aspects of Historical Linguistics but also to more general developments in linguistic theory. Along with Professor Jones' Introduction, their comments provide a major overview of Historical Linguistics that will be the reference point for its development for many years to come and form an important contribution to general theories of linguistic behaviour.