PARALLEL DEVELOPMENT OF NUMERALS AND NUMERAL CLASSIFIERS IN CHILDREN’S ACQUISITION OF MANDARIN CHINESE Yupin Chen and One-Soon Her Abstract In light of the view that numeral classifiers and numeral bases function as multiplicands (Greenberg 1990: 293; Her 2012a; Her et al. 2017, 2018), this study investigates Mandarin-speaking children’s acquisition of numerals (Num) and numeral classifiers, which consist of sortal classifiers (C) and mensural classifiers (M), in the construction of [Num C/M N]. We conducted four elicitation experiments with four age groups, from 2 to 5. In line with previous studies, the results show that Cs appeared before Ms, and before the children were able to use

LENITION IN TAIWANESE SOUTHERN MIN AT THE SYNTAX-PHONOLOGY INTERFACE Feng-fan Hsieh Abstract This paper examines the phonetics and phonology of lenition in Taiwanese Southern Min, focusing on intervocalic voicing as a crucial manifestation. To systematically explore the phonetic realizations of intervocalic voicing, recognized widely as a typical instantiation of lenition, an electroglottography (EGG) study was conducted. This study manipulated (i) morphosyntactic junctures (word-internal, phrase-internal, and cross-phrasal), (ii) places of articulation (labial, coronal, and dorsal), and (iii) speaking rates (slow and fast) to derive insights into the phenomenon in question. Our findings reveal a robust lexical-functional asymmetry: Intervocalic voicing predominantly occurs in functional elements while being systematically

THE COMPETING SOUND CHANGES IN THE DIALECTS OF MIGRANT COMMUNITIES OF LINYI CITY Junling Zhu Abstract The migrant villages Hongqi, Dongfeng and Xiangyang in Linyi City, Shandong Province, China were formed in the 1960s as part of community relocation from Mengyin County due to the building of the Andi Reservoir. Drawing on the theory of lexical diffusion, this paper provides a comprehensive description of the sound changes in the Hongqi, Dongfeng, and Xiangyang dialects, and explores the spreading patterns of the sound changes from the perspectives of competing changes and residues. This paper argues that the sound changes in Hongqi, Dongfeng, and Xiangyang over a span

CONTACT OR COGNATE: A CASE STUDY OF THE SOUND CORRESPONDENCES BETWEEN CUN AND HLAI IN HAINAN Chuntao Liu and Boyang Ni Abstract Chinese and Hlai serve as two main sources of Cun vocabulary. The coronal initials of Cun’s Chinese-sourced words have undergone the chain shift *t>ɗ→*s>tθ, in which the involved sound classes of Middle Chinese are different from the surrounding Chinese dialects, indicating Cun’s independent evolution in the language contact. Though Cun being defined as a vernacular of Hlai by previous studies, regular correspondences of coronal initials cannot be established between Cun and Hlai dialects. This paper proposes that Chinese-sourced words are inherent, whereas the Hlai-sourced

ON TWO TYPES OF VOLITIONAL MODAL PARTICLES IN CHINESE DIALECTS Xiaoxue Huang Abstract In Chinese dialects, there is a kind of volitional modal particles used at the end of volitional sentences (including imperative sentences and volitional sentences) to enhance language force. Volitional modal particles are partly derived from the resumptive pronouns used at the end of the sentence such as “ta 他/它”, “qu 渠/佢” and “yi 伊” while part of them come from the directional verbs meaning “go” and “come” like “qu 去” and “lai 来”. The syntactic context in which the resumptive pronoun and the directional verbs “qu去/lai来” grammaticalize into volitional modal particles is used

VERBAL COMPLEMENTATION IN DGEBSHES HORPA Qianzi Tian and Jackson T.-S. Sun Abstract This paper analyzes the structures and typology of verbal complementation in the Dgebshes variety of Central Horpa (Sino-Tibetan). Dgebshes employs multiple types of complement clauses and complementation strategies to relate a primary state of affairs with a secondary state of affairs. Selection of complementation structures is determined to a large extent by the degree of semantic integration between the predicates of the two associated states of affairs. The tighter the semantic integration, the more likely the occurrence of deranked complement clauses and monoclausal complement strategies. Comparative evidence suggests that the two salient traits of

LINGUISTIC STRATA OF CONTACT AND METHOD OF REFERENCE Shenqing Guo, Xiajun Liu, Shanshan Yan and Qi Cai Abstract Only noticing the external performances, Method of Comparison (historical-comparative linguistics) ignores the main cause, heterogeneous contact, during the reconstruction of the linguistic history of pedigree of homogeneous differentiation through language comparison. Partly recognizing the function of contact and introducing the idea of strata(layering) in language evolution, Method of Strata Analysis (the historical analytic hierarchy method) takes it as written-spoken layers from superficial borrowing. But in linguistic strata (layering) of contact there are two basic forms: visible superimposition and invisible superimposition, which are essentially different. The former, visible superimposition,

Response to Ho Dah-an William H. Baxter and Laurent Sagart Abstract: Ho Dah-an’s 2016 review of our book Old Chinese: A New Reconstruction (2014) contains little discussion of the book’s main themes or proposals: he focuses instead on “errors” which, according to him, “reflect the outdated concepts of the authors and the insufficiency of their basic training.” In this response to Ho’s review, we consider his discussion of these “errors.” On two points (discussed below), he has actually found errors (a faulty interpretation of an entry in the Shuōwén jiězì and one incorrect citation), which we are glad to be able to correct. Neither materially affects our conclusions. The other

Probing the evolution history of Naish languages with reference to Tibetan, Burmese and rGyalrong: The open-syllable rhymes Zihe Li Abstract: This paper reconstructs the Proto-Naish open-syllable rhyme system. Data from 3 Naish languages—Lijiangba, Malimasa, and Yongning—are employed in the reconstruction. Rhyme correspondences revealed by comparing the three languages are interpreted by referring to conservative languages of the Sino-Tibetan family, in particular Tibetan, Burmese and rGyalrong. Other related languages, such as Tangut, and other Naic languages, such as Namuyi and Xumi, are taken as references. Five open-syllable rhymes, *-a, *-e, *-i, *-u, *-o, are reconstructed to Proto-Naish. Some general tendencies of the sound changes of the Naish languages are summarized, and their

Do new words propagate like memes? An internet usage-based two-stage model of the life cycle of neologisms Menghan Jiang, Kathleen Ahrens, Xiangying Shen, Sophia Yat Mei Lee and Chu-Ren Huang Abstract: Neologisms reflect new ideas or new concepts in our life and play an important role in cultural transmission and the vitality of human language. The explosion of neologisms, especially in the past two decades, can also be ascribed to the popularity and accessibility of digital content and social media. In this paper, we focus on the issue of how neologisms arise by looking at the trajectory of developments in terms of their usage over time, i.e., their life