Investigating dayue: An LFG-OT approach to its subcategorization and structure Yu-Ching Tseng ABSTRACT: This paper investigates the subcategorization and structure of dayue, taking a Lexical Functional Grammar–Optimality Theory (LFG-OT) approach to account for the different uses of this word. It argues that dayue can be identified in the category of either an adverb or a preposition, depending on the function it takes and the structure it has. As an adverb, dayue modifies the clausal element or the quantifier phrase directly following it. As a preposition, dayue takes a noun phrase (NP) or an adpositional phrase as the complement, occurring in the adjunctive position. There may be

Word frequency modulates the selection of semantic access pathways of spoken words in the second language Hao Yan,  Yingying Huang,  Yanqin Feng,  Limin Zhang,  Yanlong Zhang,  Anna Zhen amd Jie Dong ABSTRACT: Most second language (L2) learners comprehend words more difficult in its spoken form than the written form (Bekleyen 2009). Based on the findings of previous studies, we assumed that word frequency and language proficiency may be two critical factors in spoken word identification. To investigate how these two factors modulate L2 spoken word identification, we recruited Chinese-English bilinguals with different English proficiency levels, and manipulated words’ orthographic consistency, and word frequency. Our results supported

Y. R. Chao’s fāngyīn diàochá biǎogé and its role in the evolution of Chinese dialect research methodology Richard VanNess Simmons ABSTRACT: The present study compares and contrasts the phonologies of the Y. R. Chao’s Fāngyīn diàochá biǎogé 方音調查表格 and Jerry Norman’s Common Dialectal Chinese Hànyǔ fāngyán tōngyīn 漢語方言通音, also with reference to the Fāngyán diàochá zìbiǎo 方言調查字表, for what they reveal about their compilers’ approaches to Chinese dialect phonology and it’s applicability in dialect fieldwork and related research. We find that both were designed as tools to help shed light on the diachronic relationships between dialects. A significant feature that separates the two is how they

The origin of the adjectival and adverbial "mulaolao" in Wu Chinese Huayun Wang,  Jianguo Xiong and  Cenhong Luo ABSTRACT: The word mulaolao (木佬佬) in Wu Chinese first appeared in written documents published during the period of the former Republic of China. It originated in Hangzhou dialect and spread to other regions such as Ningbo, Taizhou, Jinhua, and Shanghai. In Hangzhou dialect, mulaolao serves both adjectival and adverbial purposes, and it is believed to have derived from the expressive adjective manlaolao (蛮老老). In manlaolao, the suffix -laolao (老老) intensifies the degree of a state or property and is written as “佬佬” due to its uncertain etymology. The

Historical phonological explanation of the mutual connection between the *et and *it rhyme groups: a study on the phonetic Tiangang Bian ABSTRACT: The interaction between the *et and *it rhyme groups, originally distinct rhyme groups, later being able to cross boundaries, is a result and reflection of historical phonetic changes. The germination of their mutual connection can be traced back to the Western Han period but became significant during the Eastern Han, primarily concentrated in the Division III and IV rhyme categories. The mutual connection of the two rhyme groups in the entering-tone(入声) of the Division IV(四等韵) signifies the merger of the *eet>eet(月2屑) and *iit>ᵉiit>eet(质屑) subgroups,

From analogies to negativity: Pragmatic functions and stance expression of subjective counterfactual Ruguo sentence Zengwen Song  and  Xiaoli Wan ABSTRACT: The “Ruguo(如果)” sentence refers to a conditional complex sentence connected by the hypothetical association word “Ruguo(如果)”. The counterfactual “Ruguo(如果)” sentence includes subjective and objective counterfactual sentence. The judgment of subjective counterfactuality depends on semantic recognition and logical derivation. According to the objective truth and falsehood of the previous and last clause, we can divide the subjective counterfactual “Ruguo(如果)” sentence into 4 categories: A true B false, A true B true or false, A true or false B true, A true or false B false. The pragmatic

The resumptive of the Cantonese dummy keoi5 revisited Jackie Yan-Ki Lai,  Lawrence Yam-Leung Cheung  and  Yenan Sun ABSTRACT：This article compares the resumptive and expletive views on an understudied use of the Cantonese pronoun keoi5. We demonstrate that the resumptive view as recently proposed in Yip and Ahenkorah (2022) raises a number of complications, and the so-called dummy keoi5 is better analyzed as a non-subject expletive, in line with traditional descriptions in Matthews and Yip (1994/2011).

A prosodic and perceptional study on the Chinese interrogative pronoun “shen me” when indicating inquiry, free reference and negation Ping Wang, Xiaowen Wang ABSTRACT: This paper makes a comprehensive investigation and comparison of the prosodic and perceptual performance of the interrogative pronoun “shen me” when indicating question, free reference and negation. The results show that the prosodic performance of the sentence using “shen me” to indicate a question is similar to the prosody of an interrogative sentence; the sentence using “shen me” to indicate free reference has the intonation of a declarative sentence with the focus stress on “dou”; and the sentence using “shen me” to

A sentence-medial clause-typing intoneme in Mandarin A-NOT-A questions Chi Wang ABSTRACT: A sentence-medial intoneme is argued to be responsible for typing Mandarin A-NOT-A questions. In narrow syntax, it is merged higher than deontic modals and lower than Tense; after spell-out, it is realized phonetically as a high-low intonation starting from the left edge of the A-NOT-A predicate. This proposal is supported by a sentence-medial segmental particle in Chinese dialects, which further corroborates the Intonation-Particle Hypothesis by showing that typing particles in non-sentence-final positions are also variants of intonations. Besides, the Mandarin nuclear stress rule derives two prosodic features of A-NOT-A questions: No intonational breaks within the

On the distribution and origin of sortal classifiers in Altaic languages Shen-An Chen, Marc Allassonière-Tang, Yung-Ping Liang and One-Soon Her ABSTRACT: The grammatical feature of sortal classifiers, common in East and Southeast Asian languages, is also found in 15 of the 65 Altaic languages we have examined, though the classifiers are far fewer and used optionally. These observations suggest that the Altaic classifier systems are not indigenous. Based on the Single Origin Hypothesis that Chinese is the only language with an indigenous classifier system in Eurasia, we propose that the rise of classifiers in Altaic is due to the influence of neighboring classifier languages. Having first confirmed