The [有 yǒu + vp] construction in Singapore Mandarin

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming Chew Teo
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Text ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Southern Chinese

Abstract As a result of contact between mutually unintelligible Southern Chinese varieties like Hokkien and Cantonese, Colloquial Singapore Mandarin (csm) 有 yǒu ‘have’ has extended its semantic functions to include that of realis modality marker. This paper will demonstrate how a framework of ambiguity and semantic continuity can allow us to determine the associative links between different synchronous functions of the 有 yǒu ‘have’ construction. The ambiguous context that links the existential and realis modality functions of 有 yǒu ‘have’ is [没有 méi yǒu ‘not have’ + vp]. This ambiguous context allows 有 yǒu ‘have’ to be reanalyzed as a realis modality marker with méi ‘not’ as the negator. Additionally, the semantic continuity between the existential and realis modality marker functions further confirms such an association. While [yǒu + np] affirms the existence of someone or something, [yǒu + vp] affirms the existence of an event.

A Chinese ancient book digital humanities research platform to support digital humanities research

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 314-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chih-Ming Chen ◽  
Chung Chang
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
Chinese Text ◽  
Digital Humanities ◽  
Word Segmentation ◽  
Digital Archives ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Text Annotation ◽  
Research Platform ◽  
Ancient Texts

PurposeWith the rapid development of digital humanities, some digital humanities platforms have been successfully developed to support digital humanities research for humanists. However, most of them have still not provided a friendly digital reading environment and practicable social network analysis tool to support humanists on interpreting texts and exploring characters’ social network relationships. Moreover, the advancement of digitization technologies for the retrieval and use of Chinese ancient books is arising an unprecedented challenge and opportunity. For these reasons, this paper aims to present a Chinese ancient books digital humanities research platform (CABDHRP) to support historical China studies. In addition to providing digital archives, digital reading, basic search and advanced search functions for Chinese ancient books, this platform still provides two novel functions that can more effectively support digital humanities research, including an automatic text annotation system (ATAS) for interpreting texts and a character social network relationship map tool (CSNRMT) for exploring characters’ social network relationships.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopted DSpace, an open-source institutional repository system, to serve as a digital archives system for archiving scanned images, metadata, and full texts to develop the CABDHRP for supporting digital humanities (DH) research. Moreover, the ATAS developed in the CABDHRP used the Node.js framework to implement the system’s front- and back-end services, as well as application programming interfaces (APIs) provided by different databases, such as China Biographical Database (CBDB) and TGAZ, used to retrieve the useful linked data (LD) sources for interpreting ancient texts. Also, Neo4j which is an open-source graph database management system was used to implement the CSNRMT of the CABDHRP. Finally, JavaScript and jQuery were applied to develop a monitoring program embedded in the CABDHRP to record the use processes from humanists based on xAPI (experience API). To understand the research participants’ perception when interpreting the historical texts and characters’ social network relationships with the support of ATAS and CSNRMT, semi-structured interviews with 21 research participants were conducted.FindingsAn ATAS embedded in the reading interface of CABDHRP can collect resources from different databases through LD for automatically annotating ancient texts to support digital humanities research. It allows the humanists to refer to resources from diverse databases when interpreting ancient texts, as well as provides a friendly text annotation reader for humanists to interpret ancient text through reading. Additionally, the CSNRMT provided by the CABDHRP can semi-automatically identify characters’ names based on Chinese word segmentation technology and humanists’ support to confirm and analyze characters’ social network relationships from Chinese ancient books based on visualizing characters’ social networks as a knowledge graph. The CABDHRP not only can stimulate humanists to explore new viewpoints in a humanistic research, but also can promote the public to emerge the learning interest and awareness of Chinese ancient books.Originality/valueThis study proposed a novel CABDHRP that provides the advanced features, including the automatic word segmentation of Chinese text, automatic Chinese text annotation, semi-automatic character social network analysis and user behavior analysis, that are different from other existed digital humanities platforms. Currently, there is no this kind of digital humanities platform developed for humanists to support digital humanities research.

Usage, media, and grammaticalization

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-83
Author(s):  
Liang Tao
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Chinese Text ◽  
Language Variation ◽  
Language Variation And Change ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Rhetorical Question ◽  
Beijing Mandarin ◽  
Grammatical Change ◽  
The Impact

Abstract This report presents a case study on a current grammatical change in a rhetorical question 不是…吗 (isn’t it the case…?) and its spreading from spoken Beijing Mandarin to Mandarin Chinese in general. The study addresses three interrelated issues that concern the development and spreading of this new pattern: (1) usage-based language variation and change in spoken Beijing Mandarin; (2) Socio-cultural factors that may have promoted the adaptation of the new pattern in Mandarin Chinese; and (3) the impact of media, which may enhance the rapid spreading of the pattern in China. The report offers another instance of usage as the main driving force leading to language variation and grammaticalization.

Clitic pronouns in Archaic Chinese

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Redouane Djamouri ◽  
Waltraud Paul
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Text ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Archaic Chinese ◽  
History Of ◽  
Adjacent Position ◽  
Null Pronoun

Abstract This article provides evidence for the so far neglected existence of two clitic pronouns, yǐ 以 and yǔ 與, in Archaic Chinese (10th c. – 3th c. bc) in immediately verb-adjacent position: ‘yǐ/yǔ-V’. While yǔ only encodes the comitative/associative, yǐ encodes all kinds of (argument and adjunct) roles, depending on the semantics of the verb involved. We argue that the clitic pronouns yǐ and yǔ can neither be analysed as stranded prepositions left behind after extraction of their complement (as, e.g., in English) nor as orphan prepositions, i.e., PPs with an in situ null pronoun as complement (as, e.g., in French). This ties in with the general ban against prepositions lacking an overt complement, observed throughout the history of Chinese.

The translator as cartographer

Target ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Leonora Min Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Text ◽  
Mental Representation ◽  
English Translation ◽  
Cognitive Maps ◽  
Systematic Investigation ◽  
Spatial Layout ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Spatial Cues ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The World

Abstract The concept of a cognitive map has been borrowed from psychology by literary scholars to denote the mental representation of the spatial layout of (a) storyworld(s). The classic Chinese novel 紅樓夢 Hongloumeng ‘The Story of the Stone’ (also known as The Dream of the Red Chamber) is particularly well-known for its topographic representation of a storyworld of self-contained totality and detailed veracity. Using David Hawkes’s English translation of the novel and various materials from his notebooks, this article demonstrates the translator’s (mental) cartographic effort to conjure up ‘maps in mind’ in response to the textual spatial cues. I argue that Hawkes’s cognitive maps offer explanations to some translational performances that have been too readily glossed over as insignificant. The article also aims to chart a new path forward for systematic investigation into the significance of the translator’s imaginative participation in ‘the world inside the text’, for the sake of an enriched understanding of translation, both as a product and a process.

Joint patronage in translating Chinese literature into English

Babel ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 765-779
Author(s):  
Liping Bai
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Text ◽  
Chinese Culture ◽  
Chinese Literature ◽  
Western World ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Book Series ◽  
University Of Oklahoma ◽  
Successful Launch ◽  
Normal University ◽  
The University

Abstract There has been a change in the form of patronage in translating Chinese culture/literature into English since the 1990s, that is, from sole patronage to joint patronage. This article discusses joint patronage in translating Chinese literature from Chinese into English through the case of the Chinese Literature Overseas Dissemination Project (中國文學海外傳播工程), which is under the joint patronage of Beijing Normal University, the Confucius Institute at University of Oklahoma, and the University of Oklahoma Press. The goals of this project have been well achieved with the successful launch of the journal Chinese Literature Today (CLT) and the publication of the CLT book series. The success of this project demonstrates that joint patronage is an ideal form of translating Chinese literature into English, and the Chinese Literature Overseas Dissemination Project has set a good example for the introduction of Chinese literature to the Western world.

Delimiting durative events with manner

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chu-Ren Huang ◽  
Siaw-Fong Chung
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Text ◽  
Semantic Representation ◽  
Original Activity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Lexical Meaning ◽  
Limited Availability ◽  
Lexical Semantic ◽  
Temporal Concepts ◽  
Generative Lexicon ◽  
Activity Verb

Abstract Durative events by default are atelic. However, temporal targets are typically required for durative verbs with a rushing manner, such as ‘We are catching the 3:30 flight’ and ‘The farmer rushed to harvest before the storm’. Why and how does manner introduce delimiting temporal concepts to durative verbs? This puzzle is addressed by our current study of two near-synonymous Mandarin durative verbs describing events carried out in a rushing manner: 赶 gǎn and 抢 qiǎng. Our event-base account will examine both their compositional meanings and their constructional patterns. We will show that 赶 gǎn and 抢 qiǎng not only coerce eventive readings from their nominal objects, but also require certain delineating temporal targets. The verb 赶 gǎn requires an understood deadline, while the verb 抢 qiǎng requires the presupposition of the limited availability of the object. As neither temporal targets mark the time of the actual activities, these are exceptional cases of aktionsart. We will show that the different ways to delineate event meanings of the constructions [gǎn/qiǎng+ noun] can be predicted from the lexical meaning of the two verbs and can in turn predict the event types represented by the object with the MARVS theory. Based on this lexical semantic representation, we further show that the Generative Lexicon theory predicts the coercions of the rushing meaning from the original activity verb senses, and that the Construction Grammar theory accounts for their sharing of the same syntactic configuration.

Smallholder farmers’ engagement in non-certified organic farming: a case from Southern China

2019 ◽  
Vol 122 (2) ◽  
pp. 465-481
Author(s):  
Bing Zhu ◽  
André Habisch
Keyword(s):  
Organic Farming ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Southern China ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Southern Chinese ◽  
Single Region ◽  
Confirmatory Factor ◽  
Certified Organic

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influences of smallholder farmers’ motivations, opportunities and abilities on their satisfactions of non-certified organic farming practices in Southern China based on the motivation–opportunity–ability (MOA) model. Design/methodology/approach The sample covers 314 smallholders from Nanning region in Southern China who have engaged in non-certified organic farming. Judgmental and convenient sampling are applied to collect data. Data analysis consists of confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modelling and mediation test. Findings The results show opportunity as dominant impact factor of smallholder farmers’ satisfaction followed by motivation and ability. Also, their commitment to further non-certified organic farming is positively influenced by their satisfactory level. Mediation test reveals that satisfaction partially mediates the relationships between motivation, ability and commitment. Research limitations/implications First, due to the limited sample size in a single region, the findings cannot represent even Southern Chinese farmers as an entirety. Second, the study only limited itself in the scope of the MOA model. Practical implications Apart from providing updated empirical results for existing studies, this study also highlights the importance of farmer association, supporting scheme as well as the relevant training for the smallholder farmers to size the opportunities, promote their motivations and strengthen their abilities. Originality/value As little attention has been given to small-scale farmer who are involved in organic farming practice in China, this paper presents findings based on the MOA framework.

Devices of alignment

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hua Gao
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Text ◽  
Analytical Approach ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
Conversational Analysis ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Tv News ◽  
And Function ◽  
Do So ◽  
News Interviews

Abstract This study draws on a conversational analysis (CA)-oriented micro-analytical approach and examines the form, placement and function of interviewer (IR) questions prefaced by turn-initial 所以 suoyi ‘so’ and 但(是) dan(shi) ‘but’ in Chinese TV news interviews. It is found that IRs often employ the resultative connective suoyi as the first item of their turn immediately after a question-answer (QA) sequence. They do so to preface a declarative, alone or followed by a question tag that invokes an interviewee (IE) opinion on, or the gist of, IE prior talk. While such a design can be a device that IRs use to signal the closing of the ongoing topic, the recipient may orient to it as eliciting confirmation or agreement. By contrast, the adversative connective dan(shi) in the turn-initial position prefaces either a wh-question or a yes/no question and brings forth a point of contrast and transition for questioning. As a practice with which IRs re-direct the IE’s response to a previous unaddressed concern with the agenda tightened, the dan(shi)-prefaced questions do not convey opposition or disagreement. Rather, they function to deal with the resumption in a way that renders it unproblematic. I argue that both types of connective-prefaced questions together with the responses they elicit demonstrate a particular kind of alignment between IRs and IEs in Chinese TV news interviews.

Aspectual particles and event types in TSM

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 270-296
Author(s):  
Chinfa Lien
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Text ◽  
Common Element ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Semantic Constraints ◽  
Southern Min ◽  
The Common ◽  
Syntactic Behavior ◽  
The One ◽  
Language Universal

Abstract The paper investigates the syntactic behavior and semantic constraints of four types of aspectual particles (1) 夭 iau2 / 夭故 iau2koh4 ‘still’, (2) 已經 i2king1 ‘already’, (3) 夭未 iau2be7 ‘not…yet’, and (4) 毋 m7 /無 bo5 /勿 mai3 /免 bien2 故 koh4 ‘not…any more’ in Taiwanese Southern Min (TSM). In line with Löbner (1989) it examines the interaction between aspectual particles and event types. The four types of aspectual particles can be better captured in terms of the notion of two consecutive event types: event 1 (Ev1) and event 2 (Ev2) coupled with the value of existence and non-existence of a situation symbolized by [+] and [−]. Type 1 and 3 share the common element 夭 iau2 and Type 1 and 4, the common element 故 koh4 . Whereas not…yet and still in English show no lexical relationship, such a relationship is tangible in TSM and German, as in 夭未 iau2be7 still not ‘not…yet’ and 夭 iau2 ‘still’, on the one hand, and noch nicht still not ‘not…yet’ and noch ‘still’, on the other. Parametric variation matters in dealing with language universal. Like still in English, 夭 iau2 or its compound kin 夭故 iau2koh4 ‘still’ develops the non-aspectual additive and even concessive sense.

The pragmatic use of ‘sort of’ in TV forums

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grace Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Chinese Text ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Linguistic Competence ◽  
Pragmatic Competence ◽  
Linguistic Communication ◽  
Strong Bond ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Pragmatic Markers

Abstract This study discusses the pragmatic functions of four Chinese equivalents of the English ‘sort of’ based on a Chinese TV forum corpus: youdian (有点), yidian (一点), youyidian (有一点), keyishuo (可以说). It finds that the Chinese ‘sort of’ tends to cluster with verbs or adjectives rather than nouns. ‘Sort of’ is infrequent in the formal setting of this study and serves three pragmatic functions: mitigation, approximation and evasion, with the first two functions being much more frequent than the last one. ‘Sort of’ performs more of an interpersonal than an informational function. This study highlights the elasticity of ‘sort of’ in Mandarin Chinese in the form of fluidity, stretchability and strategy, contributing a fresh account of pragmatic markers. This study implies that elastic language use is a natural part of linguistic competence (particularly pragmatic competence) and forms a strong bond with effective linguistic communication.

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