Diversity in Sinitic Languages

Erscheinungsjahr 2016
ISBN: 978-0-19-872379-0
Verlag: Oxford University Press(UK)

Buch, Englisch, 334 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 666 g

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.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Chappell, Hilary M

Chappell, Hilary M.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Grammatik, Syntax, Morphologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Historische & Vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft, Sprachtypologie

Über Autor(innen)

Hilary M. Chappell holds the Chair in Linguistic Typology of East Asia at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris. Her main research is on the typology of Sinitic languages (or Chinese dialects) with the goal of investigating the extent of their linguistic diversity. To this end, she has been carrying out fieldwork over the past seven years in Hunan province, China, on the Xianghua language. A second, related research area pertains
to the diachronic syntax of Southern Min (Hokkien), making use of a corpus of late 16th and early 17th century materials. Her publications include Sinitic Grammar: Synchronic and Diachronic Perspectives (OUP, 2001), Chinese Grammar: Synchronic and Diachronic Perspectives (OUP, 2004), and, with Christine
Lamarre, A Grammar and Lexicon of Hakka (EHESS, 2005).