Table of contents
List of abbreviations
ix
Preface
xiii
Structure of the book
xiii
Readership
xiv
To the Chinese language teacher
xv
To the Chinese language student
xvi
To the Chinese linguistics teacher
xvi
Acknowledgements
xix
Chapter 1.Introduction to linguistics and Chinese language
1
1.1Basic concepts of general linguistics
1
1.1.1What is language
1
1.1.2What is linguistics
5
1.1.2.1Some basic distinctions in linguistics
5
1.1.2.2The scope of linguistics
6
1.2Second language acquisition
7
1.2.1Linguistics and language teaching
7
1.2.2Interlanguage
8
1.2.3First language transfer
9
1.2.4L2 developmental errors
10
1.2.5Universal constraints and individual differences
10
1.3The Chinese language and dialects
11
1.3.1The terms
12
1.3.2The seven major dialects
13
1.3.2.1Mandarin (Northern dialects)
14
1.3.2.2Southern dialects
15
1.3.3Lingua franca
16
1.4The creation of the Mandarin Standard Chinese
17
Further readings
21
Exercises
21
Chapter 2.Phonetics and phonology (I): Segmental features
25
2.1Basic concepts of phonetics and phonology
26
2.2Chinese syllables and segmental phonemes
27
2.2.1Initials
29
2.2.2Finals
31
2.2.2.1Medial and the sìhū (四呼)
classification system
32
2.2.2.2Main vowels
34
2.2.2.3Syllabic terminals
35
2.2.2.4Rhotacization
36
2.2.3Discrepancies between Pinyin spelling and pronunciation
37
2.2.4English-Chinese transliteration
38
2.3A historical view of Chinese sound annotation systems
40
2.3.1
fănqiè (反切)
40
2.3.2
zhùyīn zìmŭ/fúhào (注音字母/符号)
40
2.3.3Wade-giles system (威妥玛拼音)
41
2.3.4National romanization (Gwoyeu Romatzyh
国语罗马字)
42
2.3.5
hànyŭ Pīnyīn (汉语拼音)
43
2.4Second language acquisition of Chinese segments
44
2.4.1L2 acquisition of vowels
44
2.4.2L2 acquisition of consonants
45
2.4.3Use of sound annotation systems in L2 acquisition of Mandarin
pronunciation
46
Further reading
47
Exercises
48
Chapter 3.Phonetics and phonology (II): Suprasegmental features
55
3.1Introduction
55
3.1.1What is a tone language?
55
3.1.2Pitch
56
3.2Four Chinese phonemic tones: Citation Form
57
3.2.1Phonetic properties and phonological representations of four
tones
57
3.2.2Neutral tone
59
3.3Tones in context: Tone variations in connected speech
60
3.3.1The variants of Tone 3 and the tone 3 Sandhi
61
3.3.1.1The Short-T3 and Long-T3
61
3.3.1.2The T3 Sandhi
63
3.3.2Required Tone Sandhi: yī (一) and
bù (不)
67
3.3.3Other tone-change processes
67
3.4Stress and intonation in Mandarin Chinese
69
3.4.1Word-level stress
69
3.4.2Sentence-level stress and sentence-final intonation
69
3.4.2.1Contrastive stress in sentences
70
3.4.2.2Unstress Chinese syllables
71
3.4.2.3Sentence final intonation patterns
71
3.5The acquisition of Mandarin Chinese tones
72
3.5.1Second language perception of Mandarin tones
73
3.5.2Four common difficulties in L2 tone production
74
3.5.2.1Issues related to the pitch range
74
3.5.2.2The Tone 3
75
3.5.2.3The tone pairs
76
3.5.2.4The production of Tone 2 in sequences T2-T1 and T2-T4
77
3.5.3General pedagogical suggestions on L2 Chinese prosody
training
78
Further readings
80
Exercises
81
Chapter 4.Chinese morphology
87
4.1Basic concepts in morphology
87
4.1.1Knowledge of words
87
4.1.2Morphemes: The minimal units of meaning
88
4.2Morphological process: Compounding
90
4.2.1Common types of compounds
92
4.2.2Difficulties in learning Verb-Object compounds
96
4.2.2.1Taking a direct object
97
4.2.2.2Separation of V-O constituents
100
4.3Morphological process: Affixation
101
4.3.1Derivational affixes
102
4.3.1.1Prefixes
102
4.3.1.2Infixes
103
4.3.1.3Suffixes
104
4.3.2Inflection-like morphemes
106
4.4Morphological process: Reduplication
109
4.4.1Reduplication of volitional verbs
109
4.4.2Reduplication of adjectives
110
4.4.3Reduplication of measure words (Classifiers) and kinship
terms
112
4.5Second language acquisition of Chinese vocabulary
113
4.5.1Approaches of L2 vocabulary development
114
4.5.1.1Aspects of vocabulary for L2 acquisition
114
4.5.1.2Several issues in the L2 Chinese vocabulary development
116
4.5.2Teaching Chinese vocabulary
118
4.5.3Learning strategies of vocabulary
119
Further readings
121
Exercises
122
Chapter 5.Chinese syntax I
129
5.1Lexical categories, linear order, and constituency
129
5.2Chinese noun phrase
134
5.2.1Classifiers and Mass vs. Count
134
5.2.2Definiteness and referentiality
136
5.2.3Nominal modifiers
138
5.3Chinese verb phrase
143
5.3.1Post-verbal constituents
143
5.3.1.1Objects and transitivity of verbs
143
5.3.1.2V-de structure
146
5.3.1.3Frequency and duration phrases
147
5.3.1.4Locative and directional phrases following certain verbs
150
5.3.2Pre-verbal constituents
152
5.3.2.1Manner and negation adverbs, and adverbs expressing a speaker’s
judgement
152
5.3.2.2Modals
156
5.3.2.3Prepositional phrases
157
5.3.3Aspect markers
158
5.3.3.1Perfective aspect marker -le
了
160
5.3.3.2Experiential aspect marker -guò
过
162
5.3.3.3Progressive aspect marker zài
在
163
5.3.3.4Durative aspect marker -zhe
着
164
5.4Acquisition of Chinese noun phrases, verb complements and aspect marker
-le 了
166
5.4.1Acquisition of Chinese noun phrases
166
5.4.1.1Acquisition of Chinese classifiers
167
5.4.1.2Acquisition of Chinese relative clauses
168
5.4.2Acquisition of verb complements
169
5.4.3Acquisition of aspect marker -le
了
171
Further readings
173
Exercises
173
Chapter 6.Chinese syntax II
179
6.1Sentence types
179
6.1.1Declarative sentences
179
6.1.1.1Subject, predicate, topic and comment
179
6.1.1.2Sentence final particles in declarative sentences
184
6.1.2Interrogative sentences
187
6.1.3Imperative sentences
190
6.1.4Complex and compound sentences
192
6.2Serial verb constructions
194
6.2.1Type one: Simultaneous or consecutive actions
194
6.2.2Type two: Causative construction
195
6.3Verb copying construction
197
6.4The bǎ
把 construction
201
6.4.1Characteristics of the NPs following bǎ
把
202
6.4.2Characteristics of the VPs in the bǎ
把 construction
204
6.4.3Discourse function of the bǎ
把
construction
205
6.5The bèi
被 passive
construction
207
6.6Acquisition of the Chinese bǎ
把 and
bèi
被 constructions
209
6.6.1Acquisition of the bǎ
把
construction
209
6.6.2Acquisition of the bèi
被 passive
construction
211
Further readings
212
Exercises
213
Chapter 7.Chinese writing system
217
7.1History of Chinese script
217
7.2Formation of Chinese characters
219
7.3Strokes, components and radicals of Chinese characters
223
7.4Chinese script reforms
226
7.5Learning and teaching of Chinese characters
228
7.5.1Structural awareness in character learning
228
7.5.2Learners’ strategies
229
7.5.3Pedagogical implications
230
7.5.4Handwriting and Pinyin-typing
231
Further reading
232
Exercises
233
Chapter 8.Chinese language in its social context
237
8.1Introduction to Chinese pragmatics
237
8.1.1Context and direct/indirect speech acts
237
8.1.2Speech acts in Chinese
239
8.1.2.1Expressing gratitude
239
8.1.2.2Making requests
241
8.1.2.3Making apologies
243
8.2Chinese language variation
246
8.2.1Introduction to Chinese language variation
246
8.2.2Gender and Chinese language
247
8.2.2.1Gender differentiation in Chinese language
247
8.2.2.2Gender differences in Chinese language use
247
8.3Chinese Language contact
249
8.4Chinese Internet language
251
8.4.1Chinese internet lexicon
253
8.4.2Features of Chinese Internet language
255
8.5Chinese pragmatics acquisition and second language socialization
256
8.5.1Factors affecting the acquisition of Chinese pragmatic skills
257
8.5.2Research of Chinese socialization by learners
259
8.5.3Pedagogical implications
260
Further reading
261
Exercises
261
References
265
Index
277
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