Chris Shei - Understanding the Chinese Language: A Comprehensive Linguistic Introduction (English and Chinese Edition)

Understanding the Chinese Language

Understanding the Chinese Language provides a vibrant and comprehensive introduction to contemporary Chinese linguistics. Combining an accessible style with an in-depth treatment of the topics at hand, it uses clear, full descriptions and vivid, modern examples to systematically take students through the phonology, vocabulary, grammar, discourse structures and pragmatics of modern Chinese. No prior knowledge of Chinese or linguistics is required.

Features include:

Six detailed chapters covering the core linguistic aspects of the modern Chinese language, such as words, content units, sentences, speech acts, sentence-final particles and neologisms.

User-friendly comparisons and contrasts between English and Chinese throughout the text, helping to clearly explain important complexities and nuances of the Chinese language.

Clear, accessible explanations and insightful analysis of topics and linguistic devices, supported by many helpful examples, diagrams and tables. Lively and relevant examples drawn from real-life contemporary sources such as internet news reports, social networks like Sino Weibo, online forums and TV reality shows, offering fascinating perspectives on modern Chinese media, culture and society.

Pioneering coverage of new Chinese words and the social phenomena they reveal.

Additional exercises and four supplementary chapters covering Chinese syllables, idioms, discourse and culture are available for free download at www.routledge.com/9780415634885.

Written by a highly experienced instructor, researcher and linguist, Understanding the Chinese Language will be essential reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students taking courses in Chinese linguistics. It will also be of interest to anyone interested in learning more about Chinese language and culture.

Chris Shei is Associate Professor at Swansea University, UK.

Understanding the Chinese Language is an excellent introductory textbook for Chinese linguistics. This book provides a systematic, in-depth, and seminal explanation of Chinese linguistics and its efforts in comparing English and Chinese using vivid and authentic examples make it very accessible.

Han Luo, Northwestern University, USA

Teaching Chinese linguistics can be very challenging but this book has made the task a lot easier. Dr Sheis use of authentic data (language used on TV reality shows and messages on social networks) to illustrate how the Chinese language really works is highly effective. He skilfully adopts various linguistic frameworks to examine Chinese sentence types. He also proposes new approaches, which include using concepts to define Chinese lexical items (i.e. words). Anybody who is interested in understanding how the Chinese language works will benefit from reading this book.

Kan Qian, The Open University, UK

Understanding the Chinese Language

A comprehensive linguistic introduction

Chris Shei

First published 2014
by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge

711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2014 Chris Shei

The right of Chris Shei to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Shei, Chris, 1956

Understanding the Chinese language / Chris Shei.

pages cm

1. Chinese languageTextbooks for foreign speakersEnglish. 2. Chinese languageGrammar. 3. Chinese languageSyntax. 4. Chinese languageStudy and teachingEnglish speakers. I. Title.

PL1129.E5S54 2014

495.182421dc23

2014000294

ISBN: 978-0-415-63486-1 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-415-63488-5 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-76722-2 (ebk)

Typeset in Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk

by Graphicraft Limited, Hong Kong

Contents

This book aims to introduce the Chinese language in an understandable way. It uses simple English and abundant examples to explain Chinese phonology, vocabulary, grammar and discourse. Linguistic theories are kept in the background, guiding the development of knowledge about the language and familiarity with the use of the language.

The book is written with the following readers in mind:

university/college level students using the book as a Mandarin course/reference book

undergraduate or postgraduate students taking a course in Chinese linguistics

anyone interested in learning Mandarin and knowing how it works in society

researchers in arts and humanities requiring a working knowledge of Chinese

Chinese or English-speaking researchers looking for fresh ideas in Chinese linguistics or Chinese media and political studies.

This book takes a discourse functional approach and draws on the web for hundreds of examples to illustrate the contemporary usage of the Chinese language. Spoken language samples are transcribed from unscripted talks from current TV reality shows; written data are selected from online news reports and messages posted on social networks.

For convenience, the term Chinese or Chinese language used in this book refers exclusively to Mandarin that is, Putonghua () in China, Guoyu () in Taiwan, or the more general Hanyu () worldwide bearing in mind that there are at least seven major dialect groups in Chinese, each of which is worthy of a book-length introduction.

The book offers an accessible overview of the Chinese language and its functions in society (notably, in the TV media and the web)..

The key concepts in Chinese linguistics are introduced in relatively understandable ways, often using corresponding parts in English for comparison and contrast. The large number of authentic examples help establish the credibility of the theory, increase learning interest, and are valuable data for content studies in their own right.

Linguistic terms