CHINESE 342/442 AUTUMN 2019

Dialect Fieldwork Project Written report and recordings: Due Friday, December 6

Project: Find a speaker of a non-Mandarin dialect that no one in your group can understand. Record your speaker speaking in his/her dialect. Transcribe the speech, analyze it, and write a report on the phonological, morphological, lexical, and syntactic features of the dialect. (Follow the detailed instructions below.) Hand in both the written report and the recording. Your report should be 8-15 pages in length, double-spaced. Chinese 342 students should work in groups of 3- 4; Chinese 442 students in groups of 2-3. Other size groups require permission of the instructor.

Finding a speaker: You should find a speaker whose native language is the dialect you wish to record, and who still speaks that dialect fluently. Inform the speaker that his/her name will not be associated with the recording.1 There are many speakers of Chinese dialects on campus and in the Seattle area. Use your classmates and Chinese student groups as resources to help find them.

Dividing the work: Your group should equitably divide up the work involved in this project. It is up to you how to do this. One way you could do this is for each group member to separately analyze of 2 or 3 sentences: transcriptions, inter-linear glosses, and discussion. Then the group as a whole can review these analyses to suggest revisions and ensure consistency. After this is done, divide up the work of preparing the introductory sections, list of abbreviations, etc.

Recording tips: If possible, make your recording at the Language Learning Center [LLC] in Denny Hall. Otherwise, try to make your recording in a quiet, echo-free room without ambient noise (like traffic, refrigerator hum, other people, etc.). Try to use a good microphone. Do not record over the telephone! Verify the quality of each sentence after it is recorded; if it is unclear or otherwise unsatisfactory, have your speaker record it again. If your recordings are unclear, you will have difficulty transcribing the sentences, and I will have difficulty grading your project. I will provide information separately about how to set up an appointment with an LLC staff person to make your recording using professional equipment in a sound booth. If possible, make a plan to go over the content with your speaker in advance of your recording session, and do a “dry run”. This will help your recording session go smoothly and quickly.

Content of the Recording: Record your speaker saying (1) the numbers 1-10 (use the sound file name: “numbers”) (2) the six personal pronouns I, you (singular), he/she, we, you (plural), they. If there is more than one word for a pronoun, record all of them. For example, Standard Mandarin has two words for we: wǒmen and zánmen. If your speaker’s pronouns sound suspiciously similar to Mandarin, ask if there are other (perhaps less formal) ways to say them. (file name: “pronouns”) (3) the demonstratives (this, that). First record the speaker saying “this person” and “that person”, then identify the words for “this” and “that”, and ask your speaker to record them

1 Most linguists who do fieldwork refer to their speakers as “language consultants” or “language informants”. Recently the term “informant” has fallen out of favor; “consultant” or simply “speaker” is now preferred. CHINESE 342/442 DIALECT PROJECT ASSIGNMENT 1 separately. Be aware that there will probably be a measure word (classifier) present in these phrases. (file name: “demonstratives”)

(4) negatives (is not, do not, did not, and have not yet). First record your speaker saying (a) [copular:] “I am a student”, “I am not a student” (b) [habitual:] “I eat breakfast every day”, “I do not eat breakfast every day” (c) [perfective:] “I did not eat breakfast yesterday.” (d) [imperfective:] “I have not yet eaten breakfast today” [implication: I will eat it soon.] Then identify the negatives (corresponding to the underlined parts in the English sentences above) and have your speaker record these negative words separately.2 (file name: “negatives”) (5) nine sentences: The first eight sentences are given for you below; some will be familiar from class. You will create the ninth sentence yourself, as described below. Make sure the speaker says each sentence three times: once at normal speed and at least once slowly, so that you can hear the individual syllables clearly.3 Remind your speaker that you want natural, informal speech, as free of Mandarin influence as possible, such as would be used talking casually to family members or friends. (If your speaker tells you there is an “educated/formal” and an “uneducated/informal” way of speaking, you want the latter.) It is preferable to have your speaker translate directly from English rather than from Mandarin, to avoid unwanted Mandarin influence. Use the Mandarin sentences only if your speaker’s English isn’t good enough to understand the English precisely. (file names: “sentence 1”, “sentence 2” … “sentence 9”) Format: Please submit your recording as digitized sound files (on CD, USB thumb drive; link to DropBox, Google Drive, or other cloud server; or send as attachments by email) in any standard format (WAV, AIFF, MP3, etc.). I prefer compressed file formats (smaller files) like MP3 to uncompressed WAV files. Please use the file names indicated above (modifying them as necessary if you have multiple files, e.g. “negatives 1”, “sentence 1 version b”, etc.). Divide digital recordings so that each sentence (together with all its repetitions) is a separate file or track. This will make the sentences easier to play when you give your in-class presentation, and easier for me to listen to when I grade the written project. If you hand in a recording on a CD, make sure to write your names clearly on the CD (and on the case if there is one), so that I can identify it if it gets separated from the written report.

Format of the Written Report: Your report should include the following six parts:

I. Introduction (1) Identify the dialect you are analyzing, and where it is spoken. If your dialect is from an area that is not well known, please provide with the place name, and give as precise an indication as you can of its location (e.g. “130 km southwest of Guǎngzhōu”).

2 Every dialect has several negatives. Keep in mind that your dialect may have even more than these four. Some dialects have special forms for “probably will not” (bú huì). If you discover in the course of recording your sentences that other negatives exist, try to include them here. 3 This is important. If you ask an English speaker to say “Did you go?” at conversational speed, he might say [dÔ˙gou]. A little slower, and it’s [dÈdÔ˙ gou]. Only at very slow speed do you hear [dÈd ju gou]. Ideally, each syllable should be distinct with a small amount of silence between each one. CHINESE 342/442 DIALECT PROJECT ASSIGNMENT 2 (2) Say which of the seven major dialect groups the dialect belongs to, and where that group as a whole is spoken. (3) Describe your speaker’s age, sex, language ability, and residence history. For example: “The speaker is a 57-year-old woman. She was born and raised in , Province. At age 18 she moved to Beijing where she lived for 15 years. Since then she has lived in the United States. Changsha dialect is her first language. She is fluent in Standard Mandarin and also speaks good English.” Note that it is customary NOT to give your speaker’s name in the written report, in order to protect his or her privacy.4 (4) After reading the Norman and Ramsey sections on your dialect group, describe the general features of the group, and, if possible, of your particular dialect. This will help give you and the reader an idea of what features are likely to be found in your dialect. Of course, your speaker’s dialect will not necessarily completely agree with these descriptions. You should indicate any notable points of disagreement that you have discovered. Please be careful to cite any references you use.5 For example: “Yuè dialects generally preserve all endings including -p, -t, -k (Norman 1988:212); however, in the Yuè dialect that we recorded it appears that -k has become glottal stop.” You may also cite our Course Packet as a reference. A full bibliographic reference of any cited sources should be given either in footnotes or in a separate bibliography at the end of the paper. For example: Norman, Jerry. 1988. Chinese. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Handel, Zev. 2019. Unpublished course packet for Chinese 342/442 “The ”, Autumn 2019. University of Washington, Seattle.

II. Phonology Describe the phonological features you noticed about the dialect. For example: What kinds of nasal and stop endings does it have? What kinds of initials? (Tones are optional.) Illustrate these features by citing specific words that you have recorded. Your recording of the numbers 1-10 is a good place to start in identifying some of these features. How do these features compare with the features of other representatives of the dialect group that we discussed in class?

III. Basic vocabulary - transcriptions and analysis Transcribe in IPA the recordings you made of the numbers from 1 to 10, the six personal pronouns, the demonstratives, and the negatives. (You needn’t transcribe the full sentences containing the demonstratives and negatives.) Compare the numbers with the chart in the Course Packet to identify which features of Middle Chinese are preserved in your dialect. If possible, identify the plural morpheme in the personal pronouns. (For example, in Mandarin the plural morpheme is -men.)

IV. Sentences - transcriptions and analysis List the nine sentences in interlinear format under the English meaning, including (1) IPA transcription; (2) morpheme-by-morpheme English gloss; (3) characters for Mandarin cognates

4 This can be extremely important when doing fieldwork in politically sensitive areas, where speakers can get in trouble either for what they say in a recording or for simply agreeing to work with a foreign linguist. But even in less sensitive situations, anonymity is a courtesy to your speaker. 5 I take plagiarism very seriously. Do not appropriate the words of others as if you they were your own. If you have any doubts about proper citation, consult me or http://depts.washington.edu/pswrite/plag.html . CHINESE 342/442 DIALECT PROJECT ASSIGNMENT 3 (you may also write non-cognate characters with equivalent meaning in square brackets). Be sure you understand the difference between Mandarin cognates and Mandarin equivalents. Note that your speaker may not understand this distinction, so you will have to interpret carefully what your speaker tells you. You may use either simplified or traditional characters. Your speaker may not say the sentence the same way in each of the three repetitions. You should transcribe the version that you think is most clear and that most accurately translates the English sentence. Usually, this will be the slowest repetition. Your transcription need not be in perfect IPA; do the best you can to get what you hear down on paper in your best approximation of IPA. (You may omit tones in your transcription without penalty.) The most important thing is that you try to be accurate and consistent, and that your transcription helps you to remember what the utterances sound like. Here’s an example of the format you should use:

1. He gave us two ducks. (1) i pəʔ ala liã tsaʔ aʔ tsɿ (2) 3sg give 1pl two MW duck (3) 两 只？ 鸭子 you may use either format for line 3; (3) [他] [给] [我们] 两 只？ 鸭子 both options are shown here Notice that you should carefully arrange each line so that corresponding elements line up vertically. Line (3) indicates that the dialect words for ‘two’ and ‘duck’ are cognate to the Mandarin words liǎng and yāzi written 两 and 鸭子; and that you think the measure word is probably cognate to the Mandarin morpheme zhī written 只. The square brackets indicate that the words for the third person singular pronoun, ‘give’, and the first person plural pronoun mean the same as the Mandarin words written 他, 给, and 我们 but are not cognate to them. If you are unable to determine if a word is cognate, you may use a question mark and discuss the word in your analysis.

Analysis Following the interlinear transcription of each sentence, discuss any lexical, syntactic, and morphological features that are different from those of Standard Mandarin and/or from those of one of the representative dialects in your dialect group. (If you like, you may give the Standard Mandarin version of the sentence as well to facilitate comparison.) There will certainly be some morphemes or syntactic structures which you don’t recognize or can’t figure out. You should be sure to ask your speaker to help you with the identification of morphemes and with your analysis. For example, if your speaker says [hɑk4 jɔn44] for ‘guest’, you may want to ask “How do you say ‘person’?” to see if your speaker says [jɔn44]. This would demonstrate whether the second morpheme of ‘guest’ is in fact ‘person’ or not. (This is more reliable than asking how your speaker writes the word in characters, since their answer may have more to do with —a form of Standard Mandarin—than with their spoken dialect.) You can also consult the Hànyǔ Fāngyīn Zìhuì 汉语方音字汇 to look up a character reading and see if it matches your speaker’s pronunciation. Most likely there will be some things in each sentence that you just can’t figure out; if so, just provide your best guess as to what might be going on. In terms of lexicon and morphology, indicate which morphemes in your dialect are not cognate to their equivalents in Mandarin. Can you find another Mandarin morpheme which is cognate? Can you determine the meaning of the dialectal morpheme by asking your speaker what other words or phrases it occurs in? You will also want to point out when compound words have morphemes in a different order from the Mandarin equivalent.

CHINESE 342/442 DIALECT PROJECT ASSIGNMENT 4 Some particular syntactic issues you may want to consider are: What is the word order of direct object (THEME) and indirect object (GOAL) following the verb ‘to give’? How many different kinds of negatives are there in your dialect, and what are the differences in usage/meaning? (In regard to the last question, be sure to compare “did not come” in Sentence #2 with “have not arrived yet” in Sentence #3 and with “do not have” in Sentence #5.) How are questions formed in your dialect? Is the passive marker (in Sentence #6) related to the verb ‘to give’ (in Sentence #1?) What is the word order in comparative sentences (in Sentence #8)? After you start doing your analysis, you may find you have questions you can’t answer. Your speaker may be able to help you. When you do your recording, ask your speaker if you can contact him/her again later with questions. You will also have a chance to learn more when you give your in-class presentation and listen to the presentations of your fellow students. These are the eight sentences you should record:

1. He gave us two ducks. 2. -- Did they come yesterday? -- No, they didn’t come. 3. -- Have the guests arrived yet? -- No, they haven’t arrived yet. [Make sure your speaker is aware of the “yet” here.] 4. -- Is that hen yours? -- No, it’s not mine, it’s his. [Make sure your speaker says “hen” (i.e. a female chicken), not just “chicken”.] 5. -- Do you have any money? -- No, I don’t. 6. My wallet has been stolen! 7. You walk first. [a polite expression] 8. He eats faster than I do. For comparison, here are Standard Mandarin translations. Do not show these to your speaker unless necessary! These are for you to consult when you compare your dialect with Mandarin.

1. 他給我們兩隻鴨子。 / 他给我们两只鸭子。 Tā gěi wǒmen liǎng zhī yāzi. 2. 他們昨天來了沒有？。沒有，他們沒（有）來。 / 他们昨天来了没有？。没有，他们没（有） 来。 Tāmen zuótiān lái le méiyou? Méiyou, tāmen méi(you) lái. 3. 客人到了沒有？。沒有，他們還沒到呢。 / 客人到了没有？。没有，他们还没到呢。 Kèrén dào le méiyou? Méiyou, tāmen hái méi dào ne. 4. 那個母雞是你的嗎？不是，不是我的，是他的。 / 那个母鸡是你的吗？不是，不是我的，是他 的。 Nàge mǔjī shì nǐde ma? Búshì, búshì wǒde, shì tāde. 5. 你有沒有錢？沒有，我沒有。 / 你有没有钱？没有，我没有。 Nǐ yǒu méiyou qián / Nǐ yǒu qián ma? Méiyou, wǒ méiyou. 6. 我的皮夾／錢包被偷走了。 / 我的皮夹／钱包被偷走了。 Wǒde píjiā/qiánbāo bèi tōuzǒu le. 7. 你先走。 Nǐ xiān zǒu. 8. 他吃（飯吃）得比我快。 / 他吃（饭吃）得比我快。 Tā chī (fàn chī) de bǐ wǒ kuài.

CHINESE 342/442 DIALECT PROJECT ASSIGNMENT 5 V. The ninth sentence. Devise one English sentence for your speaker to translate, which explores a question you have about the dialect. (It might be a question that came up in your analysis of the other eight sentences.) Explain why you chose this sentence, and then analyze it as you did the other eight sentences. Don’t choose a sentence that is too long or complicated.

VI. Abbreviations. Provide a list of any abbreviations which you have used (e.g. POSS = possessive particle).

Some tips on writing your report: Please double-space so that I have room to write comments. Use hyphens to indicate whether sounds you refer to are initials or endings. For example, write n- to indicate an initial and -n to indicate an ending, as in: “Middle Chinese -n has disappeared in this dialect, leaving a nasalized , as in [tsẽ] ‘money’. In addition to nasal initials n- and m-, this dialect also has the velar nasal initial ŋ-, as in [ŋu] ‘five’.” You may handwrite your transcriptions and Chinese characters, but typing them is preferable. There are free IPA fonts available on the web for both Macintosh and Windows. The course web site’s “Resources: Fonts/Input” page has links to IPA and pīnyīn fonts, and to web sites with “IPA keyboards”. If you do install any special fonts on your home computer, be aware that these fonts may not display properly if you print your paper on campus. Please turn in an electronic copy of your paper to Canvas. You can send me your recording files by email.

Grading criteria 1) Introduction: Should provide background on the dialect group with complete citations of all the sources you consulted; describe the linguistic background of your language consultant; and indicate in what major respects your dialect differs from, or is identical to, the representative dialects of the dialect group which have been discussed in class or in the textbooks. 1-2 pages. 2) Transcriptions: Should be accurate and consistent, indicating that you have listened carefully and with effort to your recordings. You are not expected to use IPA perfectly, but you are expected to hear and record all the sounds (such as initial ŋ-, final -ʔ, etc.) You need not transcribe tones. Be sure to place square brackets around characters which represent equivalent Mandarin morphemes that are not cognate to the morphemes found in your dialect. 3) Analysis: Should be thoughtful, indicating you have applied your knowledge from class to your recordings. The analysis should cover phonology, syntax, morphology, and lexicon, and be thorough (i.e. cover all the interesting aspects of your data). You should give a separate analysis for each of your sentences; usually one paragraph will be sufficient. Generally, your analysis will focus on differences between your dialect and Standard Mandarin, but it may also discuss differences between your dialect and other dialects in the same dialect group, or differences between your speaker and the speakers we heard in class. 4) Writing: Your introduction and analysis should be written in a clear and logical style, reflecting your understanding of the concepts and facts involved.

CHINESE 342/442 DIALECT PROJECT ASSIGNMENT 6