SYNTACTIC PATTERNS OF mainly in Zhuang Autonomous ZHUANG IDIOMS Region and in Wenshan Zhuang-Miao Autonomous Prefecture in Province. In addition, there are Zhuang scattered Somsonge Burusphat1 throughout Lianshan Zhuang-Yao Qin Xiaohang2 Autonomous County in Province, Qiandongnan Miao-Dong Autonomous Prefecture in Abstract Province, and Jianhua Yao Autonomous County in Hunan Province. Moreover, the This paper describes idioms of the Zhuang language is also spoken by people northern Zhuang language. Zhuang idioms in the southern part of Guizhou and the are analyzed into two major types, based northern part of the Democratic Republic on syntactic structure: trisyllabic idioms of Vietnam. The Zhuang language belongs and polysyllabic idioms. Tri-syllabic to the Tai language group of the Tai-Kadai idioms are short, fixed common expressions language family. It is divided into two consisting of a single predicate. The main varieties, the northern variety and the polysyllabic idioms comprise tetrasyllabic southern variety. This paper describes idioms, pentasyllabic idioms, hexasyllabic idioms that occur in the northern variety of idioms, and heptasyllabic idioms. The the Zhuang language. polysyllabic idioms display four syntactic patterns, i.e., serial pattern, causative Methodology pattern, topicalized pattern, and condensed pattern. Semantically, the The first step was to define idioms. Crystal meanings of Zhuang idioms are not the (1985: 152) defines idiom as follows: sum of their component part but must be metaphorically interpreted as a whole. A sequence of words which is The function of Zhuang idioms is to semantically and often syntactically increase effectiveness and rhetorical force restricted, so that they function as a in oral and literary communication. single unit. From a semantic viewpoint, the meanings of the individual words Zhuang language cannot be summed to produce the meaning of the ‘idiomatic’ expression This paper describes idioms of the Zhuang as a whole. From a syntactic viewpoint, language spoken by the Zhuang people in the words often do not permit the usual .3 According to Qin (1995), the variability they display in other contexts. Zhuang comprise the largest ethnic minority in China, with a population of 17 millions Based on the definition above, a Zhuang as of 2001. The Zhuang people are found idiom is defined as a word group whose meaning cannot be predicted simply from the meanings of its constituent parts. 1 Professor, Research Institute of Languages Zhuang idioms are similar to Zhuang and Cultures of Asia, Mahidol University. proverbs. The difference lies in the syntactic 2 Professor, Central University for structure. That is, Zhuang idioms are a Nationalities, Beijing, PR China 3 single word group typically composed of An overview of the Zhuang language is given nouns, verbs, or adjectives, while Zhuang in Luo (2008).

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proverbs contain two or more compound typical of Zhuang idioms. The contrast sentences or clauses, most of which are between Zhuang idioms and Zhuang coordinate. Rhyme is a common feature proverbs is exemplified in Table 1. of Zhuang proverbs, whereas it is not

Table 1: Contrastive examples of Zhuang idioms and Zhuang proverbs Zhuang Idiom Zhuang Proverb 55 55 42 44 33 24 21 55 /dai ta:N vu:N tai hau /dei paN kja ndaej dangj vuengzdaeq haeux ndei baengh gyaj, can become emperor rice good rely on seedling, 55 55 24 21 55 21 21 Ti:N ta:N Ti:n lμk ma paN me sieng dangj sien lwg maj baengh meh. want become immortal son grow rely on mother ‘be unsatisfied’ ‘Child’s growth depends on excellent mother.’

The Zhuang idiom has two clauses symbols and Zhuang romanization. The construed as a single word group which word-by-word translation was based on the conveys a metaphorical meaning. The Northern Zhuang-Chinese-Thai-English Zhuang proverb has two compound Dictionary (Burushpat and Qin 2006). clauses which are coordinative without an Additionally, since Zhuang idioms evince overt conjunction. The last word of the fist constructions that are not susceptible to clause, [kja55] gyaj ‘seedling’, rhymes with regular or predictable semantic interpretation, the second word of the second clause, a non-literal semantic interpretation, or the [ma55] maj ‘grow’. meaning of the idiomatic expression as a whole, is provided. The final step was the

categorization of Zhuang idioms into types The second step consisted of data using the structuralist approach defined by compilation. The Zhuang data were drawn Trask (1993: 262) as “Any approach to from the second author who is a native linguistic description which views the speaker of the Zhuang dialect of Hawyiengz, grammar of a language primarily as a Mashan County, Guangxi Zhuang system of relations.” Autonomous Region. The data were checked with other native speakers from the same area. The third step involved transcribing the compiled Zhuang idioms in phonetic

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Idiom types

This study approaches Zhuang idiom formation from a synchronic perspective. Based on the internal syntactic structure, Zhuang idioms are analyzed into two major types, trisyllabic idioms and polysyllabic idioms. Trisyllabic idioms are distinguished from polysyllabic idioms in that the former have simple syntactic structures, that is, a verb and an object,

whereas the latter show more complex syntactic patterns.

Trisyllabic idioms

Tri-syllabic idioms are short, fixed common expressions used by Zhuang people in everyday life; thus they may be also designated customary phrases.4 Trisyllabic idioms consist of a single predicate, i.e., a verb and an object, that convey a figurative or metaphorical meaning. Customary phrases are terse and vivid, and their metaphors are appropriate, popular, and interesting, as exemplified in Table 2.

4 The term phrase as used in this paper refers to any string of words under consideration, regardless of its syntactic status. It is equivalent to the alternative term sequence.

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Table 2: Examples of trisyllabic idioms

Idiomatic expression Metaphorical meaning 55 42 55 ƒi:u ha:i ˛a:u ‘be an assistant of somebody’ riuj haiz cauj (carry straw sandals for somebody) carry shoes straw 55 33 33 kiN pom loN ‘boast, or brag about’ gingj boemx loengx (too strong or too powerful to roll roll bamboo basket bamboo basket)

Polysyllabic idioms can an element be added as [ma24 ta:i24 55 42 24 5 mat ˛ai ta:i lo] ma dai maet caez dai Polysyllabic idioms are expressions lo, nor can any part of it be replaced with consisting of four or more words which another word, such as in [mou24] mou ‘pig’ 24 55 42 24 are not interpreted literally, Semantically, [ta:i mat ˛ai ta:i ] dai maet caez dai. the meanings of polysyllabic idioms in Similarly, it cannot be reduced to Zhuang cannot be derived from the sum of [ma24ta:i24mat55 ta:i24] ma dai maet dai. their component parts; rather, they must be Polysyllabic idioms are also known as set interpreted as a whole. Every polysyllabic phrases. Polysyllabic idioms may be idiom has a surface meaning which is not grouped into four types based on the its real implication. Its real meaning lies number of syllables: tetrasyllabic idioms, inside the polysyllabic idiom. For example pentasyllabic idioms, hexasyllabic idioms, the literal meaning of the polysyllabic and heptasyllabic idioms, as shown in 24 24 55 42 24 idiom [ma ta:i mat ˛ai ta:i ] ma dai Table 3. maet caez dai ‘dog, die, flea, together, die’ is ‘if the dog dies, the flea on the dog dies’, but its metaphorical meaning is ‘we perish together’. Syntactically, polysyllabic idioms have a fixed inherent structure. That is, the structure of a Zhuang polysyllabic idiom is fixed, the order of the constituent elements cannot be arbitrarily changed, and its constituent elements cannot be arbitrarily replaced, added to, or deleted. The polysyllabic 24 24 55 42 24 idiom [ma ta:i mat ˛ai ta:i ] ma dai maet caez dai given above, for example, 55 24 cannot be recast with the order [mat ta:i 5 24 42 24 [lo] is a modal particle placed at the end ma ˛ai ta:i ] maet dai ma caez dai, nor of a sentence to indicate changed circumstances or affirmation.

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Table 3: Examples of polysyllabic idioms Number of syllable Idiomatic expression Metaphorical meaning 21 24 24 44 Four tup ku fo:N ƒe:k ‘resort to a stopgap measure syllables dub gu fong rek detrimental to long-term break pot mend pan interests’ 21 21 24 44 ku ˛ak Tim ti:u ‘have a guilty conscience’ guh caeg sim diuq do thief heart beat 24 55 55 24 pai na jaμ laN ‘be overcautious and bae naj yawj laeng indecisive’ go front look back 21 24 33 33 55 Five ˛uk ƒi:N ma to tik ‘incite one to fight the syllables cug rieng max doxdik other’ tie tail horse kick each other 55 42 55 55 21 Tai hum /bou /dai kau ‘have no way out’ saej humz mbouj ndaej gaeu intestines itch not can scratch 24 33 42 55 42 Six /bo:n hai va:i /bou pan ‘incompetent’ 21 syllables ˛o:N mbon haex vaiz mbouj baenz congh dig dung buffalo not become hole 55 55 55 /dok ˛ak /dok ‘a fool never becomes wise’ ndoek caek ndoek, catfish in pond just be catfish in pond 33 55 33 ha:u ˛ak ha:u haux caek haux catfish in river just be catfish in river Seven vun42 la:i24 tum44 kjau55 va:i42 ‘too many cooks spoil the syllables vunz lai dumq gyaeuj vaiz broth’ people many cook head buffalo 55 21 /bou ˛uk mbouj cug not done 55 55 42 44 /dai ta:N vu:N tai ‘be unsatisfied’ ndaej dangj vuengzdaeq can become emperor 55 55 24 Ti:N ta:N Ti:n siengj dang sien want become immortal

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The tetrasyllabic idioms occur most rhyme, and alliteration. Semantically, each frequently. Previous studies of other Tai four-word elaborate expression was split languages have focused on tetrasyllabic into two parallel semantic units, and the idioms, which are known variously as meaning of the whole elaborate expression four-syllable elaborate expressions or was idiomatic. Four-word elaborate four-word elaborate expressions. Amara expressions in Zhuang have characteristics (2008) studied four-word elaborate similar to those of Tai Lue. Though rhyming expressions in Yunnan Tai Lue. She found is not typical of tetrasyllabic idioms in that the four-word elaborate expressions Zhuang, reduplication and alliteration are were phonologically marked by repetition, also found, as seen in Table 4.

Table 4: Examples of reduplication and alliteration Phonological characteristic Idiomatic expression Metaphorical meaning 24 55 24 24 Reduplication te:m kjau te:m ƒi:N ‘embellish a story’ dem gyaeu dem rieng add head add tail 44 42 24 44 Alliteration /e:p me:u kμn mei ‘try to make somebody do ep meuz gwn meiq something which s/he won’t force cat eat vinegar or can’t do’

The first idiom shows a reduplication of can be left out, (3) the elaborate the word [te:m24] dem ‘add’. The second expression cannot be interrupted by any idiom has two words, [me:u42] meuz ‘cat’ word, and (4) the elaborate expression is and [mei44] meiq ‘vinegar’, which share used as a single word. This paper likewise the same initial sound [m]. considers Zhuang idioms as a single word for the same reasons. Another feature shared by Tai Lue and Zhuang is the figurative or metaphorical Luo (1999) studied four-syllable expressions meaning of four-word expressions. That is, in Tai Dehong. As is the case in Zhuang, the meanings of the expression must be some of these Dehong expressions had interpreted as a whole and have to be gained the status of set phrases, while learned as a whole through cultural others behaved more like freely combined transmission. items. Luo also found rhyme in the idioms. He noted that the rhyming “follows from Amara (2008) has also affirmed that, the traditional practice of Tai people syntactically speaking, four-word chanting folk songs or poems in which the elaborate expressions in Tai Lue are words, favored poetic form is ‘link rhymes’, a not phrases or clauses, for several reasons; practice which is still much preserved in (1) the positions of the four words cannot many Tai dialects today” (1999: xxiii). In be shifted, (2) none of the words addition to discussing Tai Dehong, Luo (2008) makes a brief statement concerning

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tetrasyllabic idiomatic expressions in the Han or Tang dynasties. The same Zhuang, explaining that such elaborate literary form is often found in Vietnamese expressions often carry rich cultural poems.” Tetrasyllabic idiomatic expressions connotations. The same can be said of the not only provide students of Vietnamese Zhuang elaborate expressions considered with more insight into the morphology and in the present study. syntax of the language but also give valuable information about Vietnamese Owing to the common occurrence of four- culture. syllable expressions in Tai languages, As tetrasyllabic idiomatic expressions are Amara (2008: 402) concludes that “the found in languages from different occurrence of four-word expressions is a language families, they may be considered common feature in Tai language and a regional linguistic feature of Southeast culture” and, as four-word expressions Asia. If areal diffusion of this feature has evince the typical characteristics of verse, occurred, it would be worth investigating idiomaticity, and redundancy, it can be its source. said that “Tai people value rhetoric ability, metaphor, and wordiness in their speech.” Syntactic patterns In addition to the Tai languages mentioned above, other languages in Trisyllabic idioms are distinguished from make use of such elaborate expressions. polysyllabic idioms by their internal Kanchana (1976) notes that four-word syntactic structures, as discussed below. expressions are commonly found in Khmer and Thai. Nguyen Dang Liem (1970) has also found that tetrasyllabic Syntactic pattern of trisyllabic idiomatic expressions are very frequent in Vietnamese. These tetrasyllabic idiomatic idioms expressions are often used in ordinary conversation as well as in sophisticated Trisyllabic idioms have a simple syntactic literary writing. Vietnamese elaborate pattern. They consist of a verb and an expressions are of either Chinese origin or object, as exemplified in Table 5. pure Vietnamese origin. It is well known that tetrasyllabic elaborate expressions have been a favored feature in Chinese writing since the beginning of Chinese literature. Nguyen Dang Liem (1970: 2) remarks that “In Chinese literature, four- syllable expressions, often constructed with parallelism and symbolism, can be traced to early times, as, for instance, to

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Table 5: Examples of the syntactic pattern of trisyllabic idioms

Syntactic pattern Metaphorical meaning Verb Object

55 42 42 jok ƒo:N tin ‘be greatly offended by’ yoek rongz dinz stir nest wasp

55 55 44 Tau ¯a:N ¯oN ‘flattery’ saeuj nyangj nyoengq shake straw mess

21 55 42 kμt kjau ƒo ‘be responsible for some charge’ gwed gyaeuj roz shoulder head thin

24 33 21 kμn hau ƒo:k ‘work somewhere away from home’ gwn haeux rog eat rice outside

44 33 42 pjoN ha:N Tai ‘dig up somebody’s unsavory past’ byoengq hangx saez open bottom fish trap po44 lo33 le42 ‘smoke the home-made roasted tobacco’6 boq lox lez blow suona horn

6 This trisyllabic idiom has the literal meaning ‘to blow a reed trumpet (suona horn)’ but its’ metaphorical meaning is ‘to smoke home-made roasted tobacco’ which has a shape similar to a reed trumpet’.

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Syntactic pattern of polysyllabic Serial pattern idioms The serial pattern consists of a sequence of Polysyllabic idioms in Zhuang have a juxtaposed separate verbs sharing the same more complex syntactic pattern than subject without the overt use of trisyllabic idioms. Based on their internal conjunctions. Table 6 provides examples syntactic patterns, polysyllabic idioms of polysyllabic idioms with serial may be analyzed as having four different construction. The underlined verbs syntactic patterns: serial, causative, constitute the serial pattern. topicalized, and condensed.

Table 6: Examples of the serial pattern Serial construction Metaphorical meaning 33 21 42 42 to tu:N ƒoN vaN ‘perish together’ doxduengh roengz vaengz drag each other down deep river 21 21 24 55 42 lo ka:N pai tμk tin ‘having plenty of guts’ lohgengh bae dwk dinz barebacked go attack wasp 24 42 55 55 24 42 /au jou tau ˛e:u ve va:i ‘the loss outweighs the gain’ aeu youz daeuj ceuj ve vaiz get oil come fry hoof buffalo

Causative pattern exemplified in Table 7. All examples in Table 7 have an agent which is left out but The causative pattern deals with the notion understood to be “someone”. The initial of making something happen. It consists of verbs are the causative verbs. These are a verb followed by an object which followed by their objects which then concurrently acts as the subject of a function as the subjects of the verbs that subsequent predicate word group, as follow.

Table 7: Examples of the causative pattern Causative pattern Metaphorical meaning 44 42 24 44 /e:p me:u kμn mei ‘try to make somebody do something which ep meuz gwn meiq s/he won’t or can’t do’ force cat eat vinegar 24 24 33 21 /a:u ma: to hap ‘incite one against the other’ au ma dox haeb call dog bite each other

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Causative pattern Metaphorical meaning 21 55 55 24 ¯ap mat hau /da:ŋ ‘look for trouble nyaeb maet haeuj ndang pick flea get in body 21 55 42 33 la:ŋ pit ƒoŋ ƒam ‘be just what one hopes for’ langh bit roengz raemx put duck down water

Topicalized pattern has the preposed topicalized words 24 42 [/daμ ho ] ‘inside throat’ as the topic, The topicalized pattern has a topic which whereas the following examples have 24 24 21 21 may be realized as a grammatical subject [/bon kju ] ‘jar of salt’ and [mok kjaŋ ] or a preposed topicalized element as ‘club’, which are simultaneously the exemplified in Table 8. The first example grammatical subjects and the topics of their respective sentences.

Table 8: Examples of the topicalized pattern Topicalized pattern Metaphorical meaning Topic Predicate word group 24 42 42 33 /daμ ho mi hai ‘somebody has a guilty conscience’ ndaw hoz miz haex inside throat have dung 24 24 44 24 /bon kju fa:t no:n ‘there is a secret enemy agent within mboen gyu fat non one’s ranks’ jar salt grow worm 21 21 55 42 42 mok kjaŋ /bou toŋ ƒum ‘know nothing about (a subject)’ moeggyaengh mbouj doengz rumz club not open wind

Complement pattern head.” The complement pattern consists of a verbal nucleus and its complement, as Complement is defined by Trask exemplified in Table 9. The first example has 24 33 21 (1993: 51) as “Any constituent which the verb [la:u ] ‘fear’ and [ƒam tum 24 forms part of the nucleus of a category /bμn ] ‘water flooded the sky’ as its with a lexical head and which is complement. The second example has the verb 55 33 33 55 subcategorized for by that lexical [jaμ ] ‘look’ and [ma to tik ] ‘horses kick each other’ as its complement.

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Table 9: Examples of the complement pattern Complement pattern Metaphorical meaning (Adverbial) Verb Complement 24 33 21 24 la:u ƒam tum /bμn ‘groundless fears’ lau raemx dumh mbwn fear water flood sky 42 42 55 33 33 55 kμn ˛i:ŋ jaμ ma to tik ‘watch in safety while others gwnz ciengz yawj max doxdik fight’ up wall look horse kick each other

Condensed pattern coordinative relation, or concessive relation, as seen in Table 10. In the three The condensed pattern is formed by examples below, the initial clause is reducing two or more full clauses into juxtaposed with the second clauses. Both fewer words. Semantically, the two clauses are reduced to a single condensed condensed clauses are related in various pattern. ways, such as conditional relation,

Table 10: Examples of the condensed pattern Condensed pattern Metaphorical meaning Clause 1 Clause 2 24 24 55 42 24 ma ta:i mat ˛ai ta:i ‘perish together’ ma dai maet caez dai [conditional relation] dog die flea together die 24 55 24 24 te:m kjau te:m ƒi:N ‘embellish a story’ dem gyaeuj dem rieng [coordinative relation] add head add tail 33 55 55 55 55 42 ma kan /bou /daj hau TiN ‘more haste, less speed’ max gaenj mbouj ndaej haeuj singz [concessive relation] horse rapid not can enter city

Function of Zhuang idioms idioms are used to increase the effectiveness and rhetorical force of an utterance. An example of this may be seen in the short Idioms in any language, including passage given below. The Zhuang idiom is Zhuang, are concise and vivid. Zhuang underlined.

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24 42 42 42 55 21 55 24 42 te kjai nau vun tak ˛o:i ha:u la:i vun de gyaez naeuz vunz, daekcoih haujlai vunz 3sg like criticize others offend many people 55 42 33 42 55 42 24 24 55 55 42 ki vun nei na:n /bou na:n /au ƒin vit hμn kμn gij vunz neix nanz mbouj nanz aeu rin vit hwnj gwnz these people this long not long get stone throw up above 33 24 24 21 21 24 44 44 33 33 42 24 va te pai me ja te /da:t hei ƒa:i ˛ai nau te vax de bae mehyah de ndatheiq raixcaix, naeuz de: tile 3sg to wife 3sg angry very criticize 3sg 24 55 42 42 21 55 55 24 ƒan /bou ˛aN mμN ¯ap mat hau /da:N lo “Raen mboujcaengz, mwngz nyaeb maet haeuj ndang lo.” see not yet you pick flea get into body modal particle ‘He liked criticizing others, which offended many people. These people often tossed stones on the tile roof of his house. His wife was very angry and blamed him, “Haven’t you seen that? You have invited fleas onto your body.”’

In this short excerpt, the author uses syntactic structure, Zhuang idioms are 21 55 42 24 the idiom [¯ap mat ƒoN /da:N ] analyzed into two major types, trisyllabic nyaeb maet haeuj ndang ‘ask for idioms and polysyllabic idioms. Trisyllabic trouble’ to express the anger and idioms are fixed and short common blame of the wife, depicting the expressions consisting of a single predicate. characteristic argumentativeness of her Polysyllabic idioms are grouped into four husband’s nature very tersely and types based on the number of syllables:, vividly and thereby achieving good tetrasyllabic idioms, pentasyllabic idioms, rhetorical results. hexasyllabic idioms, and heptasyllabic idioms. Syntactically, polysyllabic idioms comprise Conclusion four syntactic patterns: serial, causative, topicalized, and condensed. Zhuang idioms are

viewed as a single word group. Semantically, This paper7 describes Zhuang idioms the full meaning of a Zhuang idiom is found in the northern variety of the figurative or metaphorical. The function of Zhuang language. Based on their Zhuang idioms is to increase effectiveness and

7 This paper forms a part of the Northern rhetorical force in oral and literary Zhuang –Chinese–Thai–English communication. Dictionary (Qin and Somsonge 2006) which has been revised for journal References publication. We thank Richard Hiam for editing the first draft of the paper. We are Amara Prasithrathsint. 2008. Four-Word also grateful to Professor Wei Jingyun, a native speaker of Northern Zhuang , and Elaborate Expressions in Yunnan Tai Professor Zhou Guoyan for providing us Lue: A Pan-Tai Cultural Trait? In The with additional data. Tai-Kadai Languages, ed. by Anthony V. N. Diller, Jerold Edmondson, and

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