The Phonology of Standard Chinese

Western Washington University Western CEDAR

Modern & Classical Languages Humanities

6-2003 Review of: The honologP y of Standard Chinese Edward J. Vajda Western Washington University, [email protected]

Follow this and additional works at: https://cedar.wwu.edu/mcl_facpubs Part of the Chinese Studies Commons, and the Modern Languages Commons

Recommended Citation Vajda, Edward J., "Review of: The honoP logy of Standard Chinese" (2003). Modern & Classical Languages. 40. https://cedar.wwu.edu/mcl_facpubs/40

This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Humanities at Western CEDAR. It has been accepted for inclusion in Modern & Classical Languages by an authorized administrator of Western CEDAR. For more information, please contact [email protected]. BOOK NOTICES 435 guistics' (3-19) by FREDERICKJ. NEWMEYER. The phorical uses signifying MEANSdraw on its first paper (23-34) in Section 2, which has lexical prototypicalspatial sense' (347). OLAFJAKEL'S con- semanticsand morphology as its focus, is contributed tribution (367-88) challenges the unidirectionality by MICHELAURNAGUE and LAUREVIEU, who argue hypothesis in the cognitive theory of metaphor. that geometrical, functional, and pragmaticaspects Eight chapters comprise the 'Syntax and seman- mustbe takeninto considerationin adopting'A mod- tics' section. KENNETHWILLIAM COOK (391-405) ar- ular approachto the semanticsof space in language'. gues that Samoanis an active zone language.NICOLE In 'Beer and semantics' (35-55), DIRKGEERAERTS DELBECQUE looks at 'Two transitive construction presentsan onomasiologicalaccount of Belgian beer frames in Spanish: The prepositionaland the non- names, illustratingimportant factors influencing the prepositional accusative' (407-24). LENAEKBERG selection of a name for a particulartype of beer. The (425-45), discussing Swedish abstract transitional next chapter(57-74), co-authoredby GABORGY6RI phrases, investigates an in-between phenomenonin the M. GARCIA-MIGUELdeals and IRENHEGEDOS, attempts to present 'a clarifica- linguistic system. Jose tion of the cognitive processes thatcould have under- with 'Grammatical relations in Spanish triactant lain seemingly contradictorysemantic development clauses'(447-69). Jose SANDERSexamines 'Degrees within groupsof etymologically relatedwords' (68). of subjectivity in epistemic modals and perspective In 'Categorizationand analogical change: The case representation' (471-89), and VICTORIAVAZQUES looks at the between of athematiclsg -m in the Slavic languages'(75-95), ROZAS(491-503) relationship clauses. In LAURAA. JANDAtouches upon exaptativeanalogical syntax and semantics in Spanish biactant VERSPOOR extension, trying to show that not all defunct mor- 'To infinitives' (505-25), MARJOLIJN ar- and deontic verbs take phology must wither and die. gues 'thatboth epistemic may infinitives and small clauses as their In 'Contrast and schemas: Antonymous adjec- that clauses, to tives' (97-112), ARTHURMETTINGER claims that the complement'(525). In the last chapterof this section, VIRTANENdiscusses 'Adverbial and characterizationof adjectival opposites is best per- TUIJA placement formed in terms of 'image schemas'. JOHNNEW- iconicity' (527-46). In the section about ALFONS and MAN's 'Figurative giving' (113-40) presents a pragmatics, MAES LEONOOROVERSTEEGEN deal with 'Nominal vs. tem- comparison of grammatical or semigrammatical in discourse' while functions of GIVEmorphemes. KIKI NIKIFORIDOU, in poral interpretation (549-66) WILLYVAN LANGENDONCK tackles 'Markednessand 'Nominalizations, metonymy and lexicographic attributes' In the last practice' (141-63), tries to identify some of the fac- prototypicalspeaker (567-76). entitled KEN- tors a semantic analysis of nominalizationsshould section, 'Computationallinguistics', NETH a 'Overview not overlook. In 'Langacker semantics for three HOLMQVISTpresents fairly good of the semantic and Coeur d'Alene prefixes glossed as "on" ' composition processes insights into the grammatical composition processes' (165-224), ROYH. OGAWAand GARYB. PALMER argue that the concept of networkof schemas devel- (579-600). As the editorsnote in theirintroduction, 'The vari- oped by Ronald Langackeris conducive to under- of the contributionsgive a clear indication of standingthe semanticsof threemorphemes of contact ety the diversity and vigour to be found in the cognitive in Coeur d'Alene. In 'Aspects of prepositions and linguisticparadigm' (v). Touchingupon a wide range prepositionalaspect' (225-47), SALLYA. RICEhigh- of currentlypursued issues in cognitive linguistics, lights the grammaticalizedrole of aspectualparticles from cognitive grammarto lexical semantics, from overlooked in catalogues of prepositionalfunction. markednessand grammaticalizationto metaphorand YOSHIKOTAGASHIRA's chapter deals with 'Some as- metonymy, this volume will certainly be of great pects of relationalnouns' (249-76). The last chapter value and interest to anyone interestedin cognitive of Section 2, contributedby ADGERWILLIAMS, is en- grammar,metaphor, language structure,or language titled 'Prototype markeror reflexive marker:Rus- use in general. [BINGYUNLI, Fujian Teachers Uni- sian -sja and categorical change' (277-95). versity.] The four chaptersin Section 3 are devotedto metaphor. ALANCIENKI, by way of diachronicand syn- chronic semantic analyses of the semantic development of the roots -lev- 'left' and -pray- The phonology of Standard Chinese. By 'right', demonstratesthe strengths and weaknesses SAN DUANMU.(The phonology of the of the left/right polarity in Russian (299-329). In world's languages.) Oxford & New '"Unnatural barriers": matters Why metaphor (or, York: Oxford University Press, 2000. meets the of law)' (331-45), linguistics geopolitics 300. $80.00. DAVIDDELANEY and MICHELEEMANATIAN apply 'a Pp. xv, metaphoranalysis to judicial reasoning about racial San Duanmu's eclectic, clearly written approach segregationand urbanchange' (332). JOSEPHHILFER- to the sound patternof StandardChinese (or putong- TY's paper (347-65) shows that 'through's meta- hua, China's official lingua francaused by hundreds

This content downloaded from 140.160.178.168 on Fri, 16 May 2014 15:09:41 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 436 LANGUAGE, VOLUME 79, NUMBER 2 (2003) of millions) could easily serve as an undergraduate domains and also touches upon other majorChinese text, yet his presentationis rich in theoretical pro- dialects, notably the spoken variety of SC prevalent posals. Explanationsare based on a variety of per- in Taiwan. spectives, from traditional views of the phoneme A useful appendix(268-78) gives basic monosyl- to feature geometry and optimality theory (OT), labic words in Pinyin with tonal number,phonemic each concisely introduced so that the discussion transcription,surface phonetic transcription, Chinese is easy to follow, even for the novice. The result is character,and finally English translation.This list a flowing, integratedapproach that addresses-and providesa handyreference illustrating the correlation solves-some of the thorniestperennial problems in between Pinyin and D's underlyingphonemic repre- Chinese phonology. sentation. The twelve chapters address issues of increasing Because this user-friendlyintroduction offers in- complexity. Ch. 1 (1-11), the introduction,covers novative new solutions to old problems,it enjoys the basic sociolinguistic matterssuch as the relationbe- rare distinction of succeeding both as an essential tween StandardChinese (SC) and other dialects; it textbook of SC phonology and as an importantnew also summarizesthe history of the study of Chinese theoretical advance in phonological analysis. [ED- sounds and syllables beginning with contributions WARDJ. VAJDA, WesternWashington University.] made by compilersof the so-called 'rhymingbooks'. Ch. 2 (12-50) identifies the number of basic phonemic contrastsin SC. D integratesphonemic analysis with syllable theory and feature geometry to Grammatical relations in Romani: The demonstratethat SC containsonly 19 consonantpho- noun phrase. Ed. by VIKTORELMSK and nemes and 5 vowel phonemes. The palatals (Pinyin YARON MATRAS.(With an introduction are as combinationsof dentalobs- j, q, x) interpreted FRANSPLANK.) (Current issues in lin- truentsand the Other variantsare by j-glide. allophonic Amsterdam& Phil- discussed in Ch. 3 (51-76) using the OT framework. guistic theory211.) Ch. 4 (77-95) covers syllable structure,arguing that adelphia:John Benjamins,2000. Pp. x, there are only two syllable types, strong vs. weak, 244. $86.00. and several phonological realizations of each. One The introduction (1-8) treats general themes of D's main innovationsis in accountingfor how the ratherthan discussing the individual papers in ex- various possible consonant, glide, and vowel pho- tenso, covering a wide range of noun-phrasephe- neme inputs are mapped onto the segmental timing nomena in Romani ranging from the nature of slots of each syllable type. His analysis explains Romanigenitive constructionsin crosslinguisticper- many seemingly unconnectedfacts such as the pres- spective (MARIAKOPTJEVSKAJA-TAMM, 123-49) to ence of syllabic fricatives, zero onsets, and, most the possibilityof whetherProto-Romani was ergative important,the absenceof numerouspotential syllable like otherIndic languages(a possibility stronglysug- rhymes (most are blocked by either rhyme harmony gested and well-exploredby VIT BUBENIK,205-28). or dissimilation).This is the first that study elegantly Four of the eight papers in the main body of the accounts for the SC as well missing syllable types collection were given at the Fourth International as for the of those that do occur. This phonetic shape Conferenceon Romani Linguisticsin Manchesterin for the D provides strong support system proposes. September 1998; the others are independently-pro- The remainingchapters are mostly devoted to pho- duced works. Romani is indeed a fruitfularea of re- of SC thanthe Ch. nological aspects greater syllable. searchfor studentsof NPs since it possesses a number 5 (96-124) discusses phonological aspects of the of unusual features. These include a dominantpos- Ch. 6 word Ch. 7 word, (125-44) stress, (145-72) sessor-possessedgenitival constructionin which the word length, and Ch. 8 (173-94) word order. D ar- relationof the possessor to its possessed is expressed gues that both word length and word orderare influ- adjectivallyand a long-recognizedtwo-tier noun case enced by stress, which is shown to play a key role system in which the secondarycases consist of post- in SC phonology. Ch. 9 (195-208) deals separately positions soldered onto oblique case-markers(even with the r-suffix. Ch. 10 (209-36) introduces the though Romani is otherwise prepositionaland the concept of tone, hithertomentioned only in passing. two featurescan coexist, inasmuchas certainpropo- As in his previous publications,D treatsSC contour sitions govern secondary cases). The first feature is tones as combinationsof high and low registertones. also found in other Indic languages whereasthe sec- His analysis uses both timing slots and moras, dem- ond is much more unusual. onstratingthat SC 'counts' both ratherthan only one Two of the papersare by the first-namededitor, the or the other.Ch. 11 (237-54) is a concise discussion first being an outline of paradigmaticnoun inflection of tonal sandhi patternsinvolving the third (rising/ (9-30) which serves to orient the reader to much falling) tone. Ch. 12 (255-67), entitled 'Furtheris- of what follows in later chapters,and the second a sues', makes a preliminaryforay into higherprosodic discussion (drawingupon the widest rangeof dialects

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