Sinitic Languages Research Articles

Postnominal flagging and OV in Sinitic

Abstract Sinitic languages are known for their SVO order and mostly isolating morphology. This study addresses eleven languages of four different areas in Hunan, Yunnan, Sichuan, and Qinghai/Gansu provinces in China that possess SOV order and developed a postnominal flagging system. This study presents a synchronic description as well as a diachronic analysis of the flagging systems in these languages, focusing on typological properties (ergative or secundative alignment) and the role of language contact. The existence of four separate areas with limited mutual contact allows a contrastive approach and inferences on the role of different contact languages (Tibetic, Mongolic, Tujia) or different types of language contact (borrowing of flags, shared grammaticalization). The study argues against OV order and postnominal flagging as defining features of the “Amdo Sprachbund”, showing that these are universally present in all four areas and are better understood as the result of contact between two Eurasian macro areas.

Speaker judgments alone cannot diagnose syllable structure

Abstract The ease and consistency with which speakers of many languages provide direct judgments about syllable structure has been taken by scholars as evidence that these judgments are accurate and sufficient argumentation for an analysis of syllable structure in descriptive works. This paper questions whether the results of direct elicitation tasks reliably indicate a prosodic domain that is meaningful in the language’s phonology and provides alternative forms of evidence for syllable structure from intonation. This is done through a case study of Budai Rukai, a Formosan language whose contact relationship with Sinitic languages affects how speakers respond to syllable judgment tasks.

The Dative Markers and Their Developments in Hunan Sinitic Languages

This study is based on a sample of 30 Sinitic languages spoken in the Hunan Province. Its first objective is to explore the types of dative markers, comparing the form of the dative with allative, passive, benefactive, and differential object markers in these languages. Five patterns are identified: (I) DAT = ALL (II) DAT = GIVE = OM ≠ PASS; (III) DAT = GIVE = OM = PASS; (VI) DAT = GIVE = PASS ≠ OM; (V) DAT = BEN. Then, we reveal three main possible grammaticalization pathways that motivate the five synchronic patterns: (a) Allative > Dative; (b) (TAKE >) GIVE > Dative; (c) Benefactive > Dative. It concerns two distinct developments for the second pathway. Based on the areal distribution of the various types of dative markers, we can observe how the dative markers are developed in Hunan Sinitic languages.

Suffixation in Zhangzhou

Abstract This study is the first to comprehensively describe suffixing morphology in Zhangzhou Southern Min, an under-described Sinitic language spoken in southern China. Suffixation can be derivational in this language to create new lexemes and expand local vocabulary but can be inflectional to convey grammatical information. It can also induce special tone sandhi patterns on either the lexical bases or the suffix itself. The bases that can undergo suffixation are cross-categorical, ranging from nouns, verbs, adjectives, classifiers, noun phrases, verb phrases to adjective phrases. However, the occurrences of suffixes, lexical bases, and derived items are subject to severe constraints from diverse factors of semantics, word class, syntax, phonology, and pragmatics. These reflect that the suffixing is not an isolated morphological event but rather involves systematic and complex interfaces among different linguistic levels. This study is a breakthrough to fill the research gap, while substantially broadening and deepening our knowledge of suffixation as an important morphological device in Sinitic languages. The study also contributes well-attested empirical data to the typology of suffixation in the world’s natural languages while shedding important light on how Sinitic languages and other so-called isolating languages should be better defined from a modern linguistic perspective.

Tonal Phonotactics in Southern Min

AbstractThis paper is the first to explore tonal phonotactics in the world's natural languages. Zhangzhou Southern Min is theoretically assumed to have 7320 possible syllables but more than 71% of them are not empirically attested. Each lexical tone is logically possible to generate 915 syllables; however, the attested number only ranges from 98 syllables under tone 8 to 392 under tone 1. This study bases on a large corpus to explore how individual tones behave in the formation of attestable syllables, in what way tonal phonotactics occur and what mechanisms have trigged phonotactic constraints from both synchronic and diachronic factors. This study substantially stretches and advances our knowledge of tonal phonotactics as an important phonology phenomenon in this language. The exploration is supposed to serve as a model for thorough investigations of tonal phonotactics in Sinitic languages, shedding important light on the generalization of areal characteristics in Asia that possess rich and complex tonal contrasts. The study also contributes vital linguistics data to the typology of phonotactics in human languages, while enlightening a research direction of using experimental methods to model phonotactic restrictions in speakers' mental grammar and language practice.

Diagnosing dominance: Problematic sandhi types in the Chinese Wu dialect of Jinshan

The concept of phonological dominance plays an important role in typologizing tone sandhi behavior in Sinitic languages. We confront the diagnostic criteria for dominance with data from Jinshan, a northern Wu dialect with complex disyllabic lexical tone sandhi. Auditory and acoustic data for the seven Jinshan tones in monosyllabic words are presented and compared with their realization in several different types of disyllabic word tone. It is argued that the current criteria for deciding the dominance of tone sandhi require refinement, which, when applied, reveal examples of both left and right dominance within the same lexical tone sandhi system.

Kazakhstani Gansu Dungan as a Contact Language: An Analysis of Russian Influence

This paper discusses extensive language contact and its results in Kazakhstani Gansu Dungan, a divergent variety of Mandarin Chinese. Based primarily on recorded conversational source materials, this study offers a contact linguistic overview of the language, introducing both phonological and morphosyntactic contact phenomena. It is shown that Kazakhstani Gansu Dungan is currently under extensive Russian influence. The influence permeates all layers of the language and exceeds lexical borrowing mentioned in earlier Dungan studies. For instance, clause combining and complex clauses in Dungan have shifted to the direction of a Russian model, which makes the language stand out among other Sinitic varieties. This study demonstrates that, in addition to introducing new structures, extensive Russian influence on Dungan also reinforces earlier development that has led the language further away from the Sinitic prototype. In all, Kazakhstani Gansu Dungan forms its own kind of divergent Russianized Sinitic variety and thus offers a contribution to both researching language contact in the Russophone world and to understanding the typological diversity of Sinitic languages.

East Asian languages in Lord’s Prayer collections, ca. 1600–1900

This paper provides a survey of versions of the Lord’s Prayer translated into several East Asian languages as they are attested in collections since the end of the 16th century. This is when the first relevant example appeared in print, namely a Literary Chinese version provided by a Jesuit missionary. The various versions are contextualized with a view on their creation and dissemination, often but not always involving Christian missionaries, and their textual interrelations are considered. The languages covered here are chiefly Literary Chinese (as well as other Sinitic languages later on), Japanese (and later Ryukyuan) and Korean.

Conceptual metaphor in areal perspective: time, space, and contact in the Sinosphere

AbstractThis paper discusses spatio-temporal metaphors in three regions in and around China from the perspective of language contact, looking for evidence of areal convergence or transfer of the conceptual metaphors. The approach fits broadly within the framework of Cognitive Contact Linguistics. After a review of spatio-temporal metaphors in the Sinitic languages, I sketch out the relevant metaphors in languages spoken in northwest China (Xinjiang and the Qinghai-Gansu Sprachbund), in and near northeast China, and in south China and Taiwan – many of which have not been discussed previously in the literature on conceptual metaphor. The study reveals evidence for metaphor transfer involving the up-down spatial dimension from Sinitic to Japanese and Korean, contact-facilitated extension of metaphor involving the front-back dimension in Tsou, and possible transfer of front-back metaphor to other languages of Taiwan. Several of the lexical items used in front-back metaphorical expressions in Santa, two Hmong varieties, Japanese, and Korean are borrowed from Sinitic, but these do not clearly represent transfer of the conceptual mapping.

Polyfunctionality of ‘Give’ in Hui Varieties of Chinese: A Typological and Areal Perspective

The morpheme ‘give’ is among the most well-studied lexical items in the realm of grammaticalization. This study sets out to provide a typological and areal analysis of the distinct forms and multiple functions of ‘give’ in 27 varieties of Hui Chinese, a lesser-known group of Sinitic languages. Making use of both primary and secondary data, we have identified ten different functions of GIVE, namely (i) lexical verb ‘give’, (ii) recipient marker ‘to’, (iii) benefactive marker ‘for’, (iv) purpose marker, (v) permissive marker, (vi) passive marker, (vii) pretransitive disposal marker, (viii) allative marker, (ix) locative marker ‘at/in’, and (x) temporal marker ‘till’. The Hui varieties covered in this study generally showcase the syncretism of a minimum of five of the functions above simultaneously. Semantic extension, polygrammaticalization, and cooptation are shown to be the major mechanisms behind the polyfunctionality or polysemy sharing of the morpheme ‘give’. Our study contributes to the understanding of the role that grammaticalization, especially contact-induced grammaticalization, plays in forming linguistic areas. In addition, it casts doubt on the basicness of ‘give’ in assessing the genetic relatedness of languages in the world.

Tone Morphemes in Sinitic: Where Prosody Meets Morphology

Tone morphemes are used in the coding of a variety of grammatical functions in Sinitic languages: These include plural formation of personal pronouns, the diminutive forms of nouns, as well as different kinds of perfective and completive aspect marking, reported for dialects located in non-contiguous areas of China in the north and the south. With respect to verbal morphology, we first examine the different processes and stages of morphologization between the Yue and Hakka dialects, on the one hand, and Northern Sinitic on the other. Second, we propose the pathway of evolution that leads to the pluralization of Sinitic pronouns by tone morphemes, as well as the pathway that leads to tone morphemes coding perfective aspect in Yue and Hakka.

Affectation in the Affect Nation: The Re-arrival of Singapore's Affective Laborers

Abstract: Notorious for its ever-changing urban landscape, Singapore has seen plenty of projects in recent years to archive disappearing sites and the stories people have about them. While archival work and collective memory formations are commendable, the affective labor that goes into these projects risks uncritically reproducing existing structures of feeling that fuel the nation's postcolonial triumphalist narrative. This narrative is characteristically dependent on the planned obsolescence of these sites and the nostalgia that neoliberal industries then eagerly monetize. Through a close literary analysis of Charmaine Leung's 2017 memoir 17A Keong Saik Road , this essay builds on Raymond Williams' concept of structures of feeling and Sara Ahmed's notion of affect aliens to make sense of Singapore's affective regimes and interventions. I argue that place-based literature may reclaim the affects that are foundational to Singapore's postcolonial triumphalist narrative from the state's affective determinations. By highlighting the intergenerational, gendered, affective labors of those involved in the sex industry, Leung's recounting of her childhood in this historical red-light district frees the titular Keong Saik Road, the sex workers who formerly inhabited this site, and Cantonese—one of the undermined non-Mandarin Sinitic languages of Singapore—from the existing scripted affective discourses of the postcolonial nation.

Tonal Behavior as of Areal and Typological Concerns: Centering on the Sinitic and Kam-Tai Languages in Lingnan

From the perspective of areal linguistics, this paper examines the similarities in tonal behavior between Sinitic and Kam-Tai, the two most populous language groups in Lingnan. By relying on some frameworks for investigating tone systems, i.e., tone-box theories, which largely involve the evolution of tones, the following duplicating patterns and paths of diffusion of areal features are identified. (1) The secondary tonal split conditioned by vowel length on checked syllables, as well as the secondary tonal split of the upper-register tones conditioned by the laryngeal features of initial consonants, both originated in Kam-Tai languages and have diffused into some neighboring Sinitic languages. (2) The pattern of the secondary tonal split of the lower-register tones conditioned by laryngeal features of the initial consonants originated in northern authoritative Sinitic languages and spread widely among different subgroups of Sinitic languages; its diffusion into the Kam-Tai languages is limited to the lexical category of loanwords. (3) The upper-register tones associated with sonorant initials found in Lingnan Sinitic languages are suggested to be of a Kam-Tai origin trait. Further, their underlying areal typological rules are also summarized, concentrating on different upper limits for the possible secondary tonal split in the Sinitic and Kam-Tai languages, which were determined by the historically distinct laryngeal features of the initial consonants of the two language groups.

Tense as a Grammatical Category in Sinitic: A Critical Overview

Sinitic languages are very often described as tenseless, since they are generally seen as lacking ‘true’ grammatical markers of tense: thus, the interpretation of time reference relies on other factors, such as aspect, modal verbs, and the use of time expressions. However, the debate concerning the tenseless nature of Chinese has not been settled yet: several types of items in Sinitic have been analyzed as expressing both aspect and tense, tense and modality, or even tense only. In this paper, we offer a critical analysis of the proposals made in the description of Standard Mandarin Chinese and (so-called) Chinese dialects concerning grammatical exponents of tense. We shall show that there appears to be a very broad degree of variation within Sinitic in the type and nature of tense(-like) meanings expressed, with different degrees of overlap between tense and other TAM categories (i.e., aspect and modality), and different degrees of grammaticalisation of alleged tense markers. Furthermore, the most grammaticalised tense markers are located in subregions within northern China: we shall thus discuss the relevance of our data for the areal typology of Sinitic.

From oblique to core case in the Southern Min languages

Abstract This study sets out to discuss the evolution from oblique to core case as a manifestation of overtly-marked nominative-accusative alignment in Sinitic languages. This is due to the emergence of a type of ‘optional’ marking on preverbal direct objects in a construction type that has become widespread in Sinitic (Chappell & Verstraete 2019). In particular, I examine spoken discourse data from Taiwanese Southern Min whose comitative preposition, ka7 , has grammaticalized into an optional object marker. It is argued that this marker is undergoing morphologization into a direct object index (doi) on the main verb in the predicate, subsequent to the omission of the resumptive pronoun it governs. The new index takes over this function of cross-referencing the lexical direct object, typically located in the immediately preceding discourse, if not in clause-initial position. In an epilogue, I also briefly treat the evolution of local cases such as the allative and the perlative to optional object markers in the Southern Min languages of Shantou and Jieyang, situated in Guangdong Province, China. Both of these are extremely rare sources in the Sinitic family, yet common in Tibeto-Burman and Romance languages. The approach adopted is in harmony with recent diachronic studies which target source morphosyntax in order to explain the emergence of a variety of synchronic patterns, all bearing similar discourse and grammatical functions (Cristofaro & Zúñiga 2018).

Developmental language disorder in Chinese children: A systematic review of research from 1997 to 2022

Developmental language disorder (DLD) is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders. The influences of DLD on language development have been delineated in detail in English. The same is not true for Chinese, a group of Sinitic languages with distinct typological features that may modify the profile of DLD crosslinguistically. We conducted a systematic search of English and Chinese journal databases and reviewed 59 studies on the manifestations of DLD in Chinese. Methodological quality appraisal of the literature revealed several areas of improvement to enhance transparency and replicability. A bibliometric analysis indicated a steep growth trajectory of this literature. Examination of the participant selection and diagnostic criteria revealed limitations and calls for the development of assessment tools and increased knowledge of evidenced-based diagnostic practice. Areas of deficits demonstrated by Chinese children with DLD were synthesized qualitatively and discussed in light of the literature on clinical markers of DLD in English.

Nominalization in Wutun

AbstractIn this paper I discuss the various functions of nominalization in Wutun, a mixed Sinitic language spoken by ca. 4000 people in Qinghai Province, Northwest China. Nominalization in Wutun is expressed by the multi-purpose marker -de(cognate to Standard Mandarinde的), which functions on both the lexical and clausal levels. Lexical nominalization takes the verb as its domain to derive nouns or adjectives, while clausal nominalization takes the entire clause as its domain and allows the clause to be treated as a noun phrase. Clausal nominalization in Wutun is used to form nominal complement clauses, relative clauses and adverbial subordinate clauses. In addition, the multi-purpose marker -dein Wutun has functions that go beyond nominalization, including pronominal function, pre-nominal modification and stand-alone usage, which is related to aspect and emphasis and plays an important role in stance-taking.

KATA SERAPAN DARI BAHASA HAKKA DALAM LEKSIKON BAHASA INDONESIA

Indonesian language borrowed heavily from languages spoken inside Indonesian territory. The borrowing is caused by language contact between Malay (and now Indonesian) and other languages, including several Sinitic languages that have been spoken for centuries in Indonesia. Hakka Chinese is one of the largest Sinitic languages in Indonesia by the number of speakers, therefore borrowing from Hakka Chinese in Indonesian is bound to happen. The aim of this research is to find borrowings from Hakka Chinese in Indonesian lexicon, also to find semantic changes in those borrowings. Methods in finding the borrowings started from compiling all the possible Hakka loanwords from Hakka lexicons into a wordlist. The wordlist is verified by native Indonesian Hakka Chinese correspondent, and then compared to lemmas in the Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI) to find any semantic changes. We found that there are 44 loanwords from Hakka Chinese in Indonesian, of which 15 words had semantic changes and 29 others have not any semantic changes.

“It can do me1 (‘what’)?” — On the development of a Cantonese interrogative pronoun into a negative stance marker

Based on data obtained from Cantonese corpora and interactions in everyday contexts, this paper identifies and analyzes the range of pragmatic functions that the interrogative pronoun me1 has. Focusing on the subjective evaluative functions of me1 that go beyond interrogation, this present study attempts to suggest the development pathway of me1 becoming a negative stance marker. Derived from combining the interrogative pronoun mat1 ‘what’ and the general noun je5 ‘thing’ followed by phonological reduction, it is observed that me1 (<mat1je5) has gone a long way, from replacing an item of enquiry, to substituting for an unretrievable or unutterable item to avoid taboo and embarrassment, and further to a negative evaluative attitudinal marker that can occupy a range of syntactic positions (including the pre-nominal and clause-initial positions) to signal the speaker's disagreement and derogatory attitude, and finally to become an interrogative sentence-final particle which is essentially subjective and negatively biased. Adopting a broadly interactional linguistic perspective (Ochs et al., 1996; Selting and Couper-Kuhlen, 2001), our present study looks at how me1 can be used to negotiate interpersonal functions in the course of conversational interactions. Findings in this paper will have significant contributions to the study of wh-markers generally, and provide important insights into how extended functions of wh-markers can be developed in Sinitic languages specifically.

Phonological features of Caijia that are notable from a diachronic perspective

Abstract This study sets out several phonological features in Caijia that are notable from a diachronic point of view. The Caijia language is an endangered language spoken in northwestern Guìzhōu, China. It was first formally documented in the early 1980s and is generally viewed as a Sinitic language. Some aspects of Caijia phonology are noteworthy from the perspective of historical phonology. There exist features which cannot be accounted for in terms of Middle Chinese (MC), such as the retention of the contrast between Old Chinese (OC) T-type and L-type onsets in words with d- or dr- in Middle Chinese. Moreover, Caijia also demonstrates features which are observed or preserved in Middle Chinese, but absent in mainstream modern Sinitic varieties, including the retention of bilabial stops in words with initials Fēi/Fū/Fèng. This study will also explore the implications certain phonological features have for the classification of Caijia in the Sinitic clade and examine the relationship between Caijia and Bai.