A Synchronic and Diachronic Study of the Grammar of the Chinese Xiang Dialects

This is the first book in Chinese linguistics which discusses the grammar of a dialect group, in this case the Xiang dialect spoken in Hunan, from both a synchronic and diachronic prespective. The author uses new data and new frameworks to present her analysis. The synchronic part covers contemporary grammar across localities within the Xiang-speaking area by using the methods and theories of comparative and typological linguistics. The diachronic analysis reconstructs earlier grammatical systems based mainly on modern data but also on historical written records, and analyses the development of the syntactic systems of the Xiang dialects, adopting the methods and theories of historical linguistics and grammaticalization.

The discussions in this book raise new issues on dialect research which have not yet been fully acknowledged by Chinese dialectologists. The author shows, for example, how the earlier layers of grammar may be reconstructed on the basis of modern data, and how the path of grammaticalization of functional words may be traced. The discussions reveal that the Xiang dialect group forms a transitional zone between northern and southern dialects. The syntactic constructions in these two areas often co-exist or are mingled in Xiang. Thus, the grammatical constructions in different localities of the Xiang dialect group often provide a bridge connecting the constructions of northern and southern Chinese, or Modern Chinese and Chinese of earlier periods.

This book is of interest to scholars and students who are working on grammar, dialectology, historical linguistics, comparative linguistics, typological linguistics, and grammaticalization, as well as those researchers focusing on language policy, language acquisition, and education.

Auteur

Yunji Wu is Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Asian Languages and Societies at the University of Melbourne, Australia.

Contenu

Introduction

1. The strategic value of the Xiang dialect group
2. The linguistic approach of this book
3. The framework and the arrangement of this book
4. Date used in the book
5. Structural outline and main grammatical features of the Xiang dialects

Chapter One: The Spoken Language of the Xiang Dialects

1. The Phonological Features of the Xiang Dialects
2. Development of the Phonological System of the Changsha Dialect

Chapter Two: Written Language of the Xiang Dialects

1. The Use of Characters in A Dictionary of the Changsha Dialect
2. The use of characters for local words in the novel Great Changes in a Mountain Village
3. The use of characters in local operatic texts

Chapter Three: Morphology and its Development in the Xiang Dialects

1. The lexicon of the Xiang dialects
2. Affixations and their development in the Xiang dialects
3. The diminutive suffixes and their development
4. The development of gender markers in the Xiang dialects

Chapter Four: Pronouns and their Development in the Xiang Dialects

1. The pronouns of the Changsha dialect and the functional differences in pronouns across the Xiang dialects
2. The development of plural forms in the Xiang dialect
3. The development of personal and demonstrative pronouns in the Xiang dialects

Chapter Five: Adverbs and their Development in the Xiang Dialects

1. The adverbial system in the Changsha dialect
2. The development of negative adverbs in the Xiang dialects

Chapter Six: The Prepositional Constructions and Their Developments in the Xiang Dialects

1. The prepositional markers and their construction in the Changsha dialect
2. The disposal and passive constructions and their development in the Xiang dialects
3. The locative markers and their development in the Xiang dialects

Chapter Seven: Aspectual Markers and their Development in the Xiang Dialects

1. Aspectual markers in the Changsha and Xiangxiang dialects

2. The path of grammaticalization of aspectual markers in the Xiang dialects

Chapter Eight: The Structural Particles and their Development in the Xiang Dialects

1. The development of attributive and nominalised particles in the Xiang dialects
2. The usage of adverbial particles and its development in the Xiang dialects
3. The usages of complement particles and their development in the Xiang dialects

Chapter Nine: The Modal Particles in the Xiang Dialects and their Development

1. The modal particles in the Changsha dialect
2. The development of modal particles in Yes/No interrogative sentences

Chapter Ten: Word order and its development in the Xiang dialects

1. Word order in the Changsha dialect
2. The word order of double-object constructions and their development
3. Development of the [? de + V] and [V + ?de] construction