Western Washington University Western CEDAR

Modern & Classical Languages Humanities

6-2006 Review of: Chinese: A Comprehensive 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: Chinese: A Comprehensive Grammar" (2006). Modern & Classical Languages. 25. https://cedar.wwu.edu/mcl_facpubs/25

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]. 464 LANGUAGE, VOLUME 81, NUMBER 4 (2006) namely the possibility to relativize a vast range of (those that relate the speaker's judgment of a situa- argumentand nonargumentroles, has also been sta- tion), and expository sentences. The last category is ble throughoutthe language's history. defined as 'factual statements that offer some sort Part 5 provides a short overview of the grammati- ofexplanation for actual situations or experiences' calization of the relative markers (i.e. parti- (306) and includes sentences ending in the particlele, cles) in Chinese. Here the facts are not always which marks speaker awareness of a new situation. straightforward,but it becomes clear that most of the These four categories entail formal distinctions in markerswere derived from lexical or other morpho- syntactic arrangementunique to Chinese grammar, logically more independentmaterial. Some brief con- so that their explication is essential to a basic under- clusions follow in Part 6. standing of the language's syntax. This monographwas originally written as a doc- Another valuable featureis the book's clear expla- toral dissertation at the University of Mainz under nation of how prosodic factors interactwith syntactic the supervisionof the SoutheastAsian language spe- patterns.For example, because spoken Chinese tends cialist and typologist Walter Bisang. Typos and sty- to require a prosodic alternationof heavy vs. light listic errors are rare. The choice of the corpus emphasis on successive syllables, a Chinese sentence materialfor each historicalperiod is explained in the can end with a monosyllabic plus monosyllabic introductionto the respective subsections. Example or disyllabic , but not with a disyllabic verb sentences are given in with morphemeglosses plus monosyllabic object (385-87). This accounts and German translations.The Chinese script of the for the presence in the language of numerousmono- example sentences is provided as an appendix, fol- syllabic vs. disyllabic synonyms. For example, the lowed by a index and a name index. The sha and shaji, both meaning 'books', appear bindingis good, addingto a favorableoverall impres- in different rhythmic environments:kin shutor kin sion. [HEIKONARROG, Tohoku University,Japan.] shajf 'read books' but only lidtiln shdj( 'browse books' and not *lidldn sha. The rhythmic patternin Chinese sentence structureentails a 'phonosyntactic' that is in most other lan- Chinese: A layer completely lacking comprehensive grammar.By guages. This important feature of the grammar is YIP Po-CHING and DON RIMMINGTON. given full coverage here. (Routledge comprehensive .) Other highlights include clear, thorough discus- London: Routledge, 2004. Pp. xviii, sions of measure , passive constructions,tech- 418. ISBN 0415150329. $52.95. niques of conveying old vs. new information and definite vs. indefinite reference, and the use of parti- This concise yet detailed treatment of Standard cles, , adverbials, and postpositions. MandarinChinese focuses almost entirely upon di- The authors' theoretical approachis refreshingly verse aspects of phrase and sentence construction.It eclectic, with an almost complete lack of formalistic is not a basic learner's grammarwith a graduated jargon. Grammaticalterms and categories specific to presentationof material.Lacking any introductionto Chinese are clearly explained as they arise. I would the phonology or writing, this book is intended for highly recommend this book to any intermediateor those already familiar with some form of Chinese advanced student who hopes to master the patterns orthography.All examples appearin Pinyin as well used to generatephrases and sentences in contempo- as in the characters in the Peo- simplified employed rary StandardMandarin Chinese. [EDWARD J. VAJDA, ple's Republic of China since 1956. This makes the Western Washington University.] reference material easily accessible to native speak- ers as well as to general linguists or students who have already studied some Chinese. Each of the book's covers twenty-seven chapters Areal and factors in a specific facet of phraseor sentence structure,begin- genetic language ning with phrases and ending with an overview classification and description: Africa of stylistic considerations.Much attentionis paid to south of the Sahara.Ed. by PETRZIMA. describing how syntactic constructions are actually Munich: LINCOM Europa, 2000. Pp. The employed by contemporaryspeakers. coverage 162. ISBN 3895869384. $85.80 (Hb). of functional sentence perspective and other dis- course aspects of languages contains valuable in- As noted in Petr Zima's preface, this book collects sights not found in other references to Chinese a number of papers originating in lectures given by grammar.One useful featureis the book's functional various European Africanists at Charles University division of declarative sentence patterns into four in Prague from 1997 to 1998. The papers deal with basic types: narrative(those thatrecount past actions individual or groups of African languages for which in an epistemically neutral fashion), descriptive questions have been raised about genetic affinity, (those that portray ongoing actions), evaluative hence the title's hint at the familiarhistorical problem

This content downloaded from 140.160.178.168 on Fri, 16 May 2014 15:07:00 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions