Challenging Issues in Cantonese-English Lexicography Robert S. Bauer Abstract: At the outset of writing a bilingual Cantonese-English dictionary that is comprehensive in scope, the lexicographer confronts a series of challenging issues that are fundamental to the successful creation of such an ambitious dictionary. Among the crucial questions to be satisfactorily resolved are at least the following eight: 1) What are the principal criteria that guide the lexicographer’s selection of the Cantonese lexical items that form the contents of the bilingual dictionary? Further, what is the scope of the lexical contents? Broad, by encompassing all lexical items that occur in the speech of Hong Kong Cantonese speakers, even

Tracing variation in Old Chinese: What, if anything, was “Yǎyán 雅言”? Wolfgang Behr Abstract:Based on the single pre-Qin attestation of the compound yǎyán 雅言 in the Confucian Analects (Lúnyǔ 論語 7.18) the idea of a normative spoken standard language is often projected back by early modern and modern authors into remote pre-imperial antiquity. An overview of the conceptual history of the term and of the competing etymologies of yǎ in early Chinese texts is offered in order to problematize this “invented tradition” and its ideological baggage. Four types of evidence (uniformity of phonology and syntax in excavated texts, ode citation practices, phonophoric repair by double phonophoric

Guttural Fricatives and Initial *w- in Common Mǐn W. South Coblin Abstract :In his earlier Proto-Mǐn reconstructed phonological system the late Professor Jerry Norman posited three guttural fricative initials, i.e., *x-, *h-, and *-h-. In early unpublished manuscripts dealing with this system, *x- was classed as velar, while *h- and *-h- were described as laryngeals. Initial *x- was characterized as voiceless and *h- and *-h- as voiced. In Norman (1974), however, *h- was transcribed as phonetic [ɣ], a voiced velar (rather than laryngeal) fricative, while *-h- was interpreted as [ɦ], a voiced laryngeal. In his much more recent Common Mǐn system, as represented in certain of

The Idea of an Indigenous Chinese Grammar Hsin-I Hsieh Abstract:As Chinese linguistics encounters a more developed general linguistics, two opposite reactions emerged. One is to learn and imitate, while the other is to learn and innovate. As a visionary, William S-Y. Wang (1999) innovates. He rejected purely formal theories such as the Generative Grammar and envisioned an Indigenous Chinese Grammar (ICG) that takes culture into consideration. Echoing Wang’s seminal vision, we offer a possible ICG. We focus on the perplexing pair of cai2 才 (‘necessary’) and jiu4 就 (‘sufficient’). Both cai2 and jiu4 have divergent meanings that may be closely related, well related, remotely related, or

Understanding the Qieyun Rhymes Zhongwei Shen Abstract:This article shows that the Qieyun rhymes are not necessarily different VC units (VC = vowel and ending), as initially defined by Karlgren in his work Études sur la phonologie chinoise (1915–1926). Karlgren’s mistake creates a serious problem in the reconstruction of the vowel system of Middle Chinese. In the proposed reconstructions so far, excessive vocalic distinctions are required. This problem is well acknowledged but no explanations and solutions have been convincingly provided. Based on the information from the poetry rhyming before and at the same time of the Qieyun, our analyses of the Qieyun rhymes with the -ŋ ending

Chinese Finiteness: Changeability, Actuality, Durationality and Telicity Chaofen Sun Abstract: This paper focuses on declarative sentences to demonstrate how four major concepts: changeability, actuality, durationality and telicity, work together in shaping Chinese finite clauses. In the Chinese lexicon there are changeable and unchangeable verbs distinguished by the latter’s inability to co-occur with aspect particles in a finite clause. The changeable declaratives are further divided into two kinds: durational and nondurational, as the latter cannot occur alone without either the perfective le1 in realis, or a modal auxiliary. Moreover, the durational declaratives can occur in either irrealis modality negated by bù or realis modality negated by měi(yǒu). The

Insight Article Exploring the Low Applicative Yafei Li and Zhe Chen 摘要：Pylkkäne把施用结构分为高低两层，为处理施用论元的跨语言语法行为提供了新的视角和分析方法。然而，其对低层施用词素ApplL的处理方法存在多重根本性问题，其中最显著的问题是在语义上把ApplL 当作VP的论元，但在句法上却当作VP的内部成分。这显然与论元关系所呈现出的句法-语义高度一致性相违背。针对这些问题，本文提出了新的解决方案，设定了ApplL的两个功能：1)引进施用论元，并界定施用论元和受事论元之间的所有者和被所有者关系；2)核查V所指称的事件是否允准所有者关系的转移。这两大功能决定了ApplL和V之间不可能存在论元关系或修饰关系，而只能把两种独立的语法信息直接叠加，共同构成相关句法成分的核心内容。令ApplL类比φ特征，V类比T，两者组合构成V-ApplL。在句法语义规则限制下，组合结果既能解释低层施用论元的语法语义行为，又能避免Pylkkänen理论的弊病。