1. Topics in Chinese Grammar Huma300khttp://teaching.ust.hk/~huma300k

2. 1. Introduction w1.1 A Cognition-based Functional Approach wTarget: The grammar of Chinese (including Mandarin and Cantonese) wNot a comprehensive survey of Chinese grammar wCourse description -- w“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 wA study of Chinese grammar in a cognition-based functional approach w“Functional” – wThe fundamental function of language is to communicate ideas. wLinguistic structure should be explained primarily in terms of linguistic function. w“Cognition-based” – wlook at grammar from the perspective of “expressing ideas and thoughts”.

4. 1. Introduction wlanguage is part of a cognitive system which comprises perception, emotions, categorization, abstraction processes, and reasoning. wAll these cognitive abilities interact with language, and are influenced by language. wThe study of the way we conceive, express and exchange ideas and thoughts. w1.2 A Cross-linguistic Comparative Approach wDifferences and similarities wbeyond mere descriptions wexplanations of the differences and similarities

5. 1. Introduction w1.3 Sample Questions w1.3.1 Differences (Language Particulars) w[1] Making mistakes wSituation: A girl has married a man. The marriage is a mistake. w(1) 她嫁錯了人。 [S(ubject) V(erb)-wrong O(bject)] w(2) She has married the wrong guy. [S(ubject) V(erb) wrong-O(bject)] w“expressing ideas and thoughts” wtwo different conceptual systems

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

7. 1. Introduction wThe order of temporal words: 今天、星期五、 today, Friday … … wWhy? Explain the difference. w1.3.2. Commonalities (Language Universals) wLanguage variation seems to be unlimited. w“Languages could differ from each other without limit, and in unpredictable ways.” (Martin Joos 1957) w[3] Relative order of Subject, Verb, and Object w(8) 張三打李四。 (Subject (S) – Verb (V) – Object (O)) w(9) John hit Smith. (SVO) wSVO langs: Chinese, English, French, Igbo, Vietnamese, …

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

9. 1. Introduction wSyntactic universal: Preference for word order types wSVO < SOV < VSO < VOS < OVS w (13) (11) (6) (2) (1) w(The numbers give the frequencies of the word order types in 30 languages.) wGreenberg (1966) wHow to explain? wThe subject precedes the object. wThere is a conceptual priority in the energy flow from an Agent to a Patient. wreflected in the great majority of preferred word orders in the world’s languages

10. w[4] Word order in a complex noun phrase wThe relative word order of D (demonstrative, determiner), Q (numeral), A (adjective) and N (head noun) in a noun phrase wD-Q-A-N wThe ten pretty balloons (English) w 那十個漂亮的氣球 (Chinese) wD-Q-N-A (French, Italian, etc.) wQ-N-A-D (Vietnamese, Indonesian, etc.) wPossible combinations wP 4 = 4 ． 3 ． 2 ． 1 = 24 wD-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. w6 actual combinations w(1) D-Q-A-N (German, English, Chinese, Finnish, Hindi, Hungarian, etc.) w(2) N-A-Q-D (Diegueno, Swahili, Kikuyu, etc.) w(3) N-D-Q-A (Kikuyu [less popular variant], etc.) w(4) D-Q-N-A (French, Italian, etc.) w(5) D-N-A-Q (Kabardian, Warao, etc.) w(6) Q-N-A-D (Basque, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Welsh, etc.) w(a) DQAN （那 三件 漂亮的 衣服） w(b) DQNA （那 三件 衣服 漂亮的） w(c) DNAQ （那 衣服 漂亮的 三件） w(d) QNAD （三件 衣服 漂亮的 那） w(e) NAQD （衣服 漂亮的 三件 那）

12. wWhen 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’) w(1) (2) (3) wChinese – English – German (updated: May 02) wChinese: (1) 我的 (2) 十個 (3) 漂亮的 (4) 紅 (5) 木 球 wEnglish: (1) the (2) ten (3) pretty (4) red (5) wooden balls of (1’) mine wGerman: (1) meine (2) zehn (3) schonen (4) roten (5) holzernen Kugeln wChinese: (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 wEnglish: (1) all (2) the (3) ten (4) pretty (5) young (6) American children's (7) twenty (8) little (9) old (10) china dolls

13. w(1) Head-final languages: wEnglish: (a) beautiful big red ball wGerman: (ein) schoner grosser roter Ball wHungarian: (egy) szep nagy piros labda wPolish: piekna duza czerwona pilka wTurkish: (bir) guzel buyuk kimizi top wHindi: (ek) mudar besa lal ged w(2) Head-initial languages: wPersian: (yek) tupe qermeze bozorge qasangi wIndonesianbola merah besar jang tjantik w ‘a ball red big beautiful’ wBasque:etxezuri txiki polit bat w ‘house white little pretty a’ w soineko gorri zar motz bat w ‘dress red old ugly a’

14. w(4)(5)(6)? w“Orbit Structure”