Structure of numerals and classifiers in Chinese

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
One-Soon Her
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Multiplicative Function ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
Modern Chinese ◽  
Classifier Languages ◽  
Numeral Systems ◽  
History Of ◽  
Measure Word ◽  
Head Parameter

Abstract It is controversial whether a classifier (C) or measure word (M) in Chinese forms a constituent first with Num (numeral) or N in a [Num C/M N] phrase. This paper reviews evidence for the [Num C/M] constituency from modern Chinese and then provides evidence from historical and typological perspectives. Under the [Num C/M] constituency, not only the C/M word orders attested in Chinese history, but also all those attested elsewhere, can be straightforwardly accounted for by the head parameter, while such simplicity is unattainable under the [C/M N] constituency. In addition, fresh evidence is obtained from the internal word order within a complex numeral; e.g. san-shi ‘30’ is base-final, with n (3) and base (10) entering into a multiplicative function, 3×10. The same multiplicative function exists between Num and C/M, e.g. san-duo hua ‘3 C flower’ = 3×1 flower, and san-da hua ‘3 dozen flower’ = 3×12 flower. C/M and bases are thus unified as multiplicands, an insight further supported by the consistent correlation between the base-final order and the C/M-final order throughout the history of Chinese. A closer examination of the 103 classifier languages in Greenberg (1990[1978]) further reveals that, among the 52 languages whose numeral systems and C/M word orders can be obtained, the synchronization between the numeral base and C/M is nearly universal. The base-C/M unification as multiplicands and base-C/M synchronization in word order strongly suggest that Num and C/M form a single constituent.

scholarly journals FROM TRAITOR TO MARTYR: DRAWING LESSONS FROM THE DEATH AND BURIAL OF WANG JINGWEI, 1944

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-158
Author(s):  
Jeremy E. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
National Government ◽  
Modern China ◽  
The Political ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
Modern Chinese ◽  
Specific Event ◽  
Modern Chinese History ◽  
History Of

AbstractBased on recently reopened files and publications in Nanjing, as well as published and newsreel accounts from the 1940s, this paper represents the first scholarly analysis of the rituals surrounding the death and burial of Wang Jingwei in Japanese-occupied China. Rather than locating this analysis purely in the literature on the history of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–45), however, this paper asks what Wang Jingwei's Re-organized National Government might tell us about personality cults in the political culture of modern China. While Wang's burial drew heavily on the precedent of Sun Yat-sen's funerals of the 1920s, it also presaged later spectacles of public mourning and posthumous commemoration, such as Chiang Kai-shek's funeral in 1975 in Taipei. In focusing on this one specific event in the life of a “puppet government,” this paper hopes to reignite scholarly interest in the study of “dead leaders” and their posthumous lives in modern Chinese history more generally.

‘Technical Co–operation’ Between the League of Nations and China

1979 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 661-680 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jürgen Osterhammel
Keyword(s):  
Economic History ◽  
Foreign Relations ◽  
Far East ◽  
Round Table ◽  
League Of Nations ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
Republican Period ◽  
Modern Chinese ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One

When in August 1933 the German Minister to China, Dr Oskar P. Trautmann, reported to Berlin, ‘daβ die Völkerbundsmelodie politisch hier ausgespielt hat’, he had jumped to a conclusion too soon. When two years later the Journal Round Table commented, ‘to-day the League of Nations is no longer a political factor in the Far East’, this assessment was vindicated by evidence of every description. The two years between had witnessed the peak and decline of the League of Nation's ‘technical co-operation’ with the National Government of China. This episode plays its part as one of the major accomplishments of the League during the dismal second decade of its existence. It figures, however, only marginally in the history of twentieth-century China. Western works on modern Chinese history tend to neglect it altogether, and the most comprehensive scholarly treatment of China's foreign relations during the Republican period does not even deem it worth a reference in passing. On the other hand, the one authoritative textbook on modern Chinese economic history published in the People's Republic of China devotes ample space to the denunciation of the League's Chinese enterprise.

The 1911 Revolution: An end and a beginning

2011 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 213-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arif Dirlik ◽  
Roxann Prazniak
Keyword(s):  
Turning Point ◽  
100Th Anniversary ◽  
High Peak ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
Current Regime ◽  
Modern Chinese ◽  
Long Duration ◽  
The 1911 Revolution ◽  
Modern Chinese History ◽  
History Of

The 1911 Revolution was a momentous event in bringing down the monarchical institution with a history of 2,000 years. Yet its consequences were ambiguous, it was overshadowed by the more radical revolution that followed in 1949, and it was stigmatized by the defeat of the Kuomintang, which claimed it as its own. Its ‘revolutionariness’ has been in question even as it has been celebrated as a turning point in modern Chinese history. This discussion reaffirms the revolutionary significance of the event, but also suggests that it is best viewed as a ‘high peak’ in a revolution of long duration that is yet to be completed. The current regime in China has revived aspects of monarchical culture and practices that revolutionaries sought to abolish in 1911. Most importantly, the promise of full citizenship for all that animated the 1911 Revolution remains unfulfilled, which may explain the contemporary regime’s nervousness over the celebration of its 100th anniversary.

scholarly journals Queer comrades: towards a postsocialist queer politics

Soundings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 73 (73) ◽  
pp. 24-37
Author(s):  
Hongwei Bao
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Language ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
Transnational Activism ◽  
Subject Formation ◽  
The Past ◽  
Modern Chinese ◽  
History Of ◽  
Queer Politics ◽  
Socialist Politics

Perhaps one of the most fascinating changes in modern Chinese language in the past century is the use of the term tongzhi (). Literally 'comrade', the term is being used in the Chinese-speaking world today to refer to gender and sexual minorities, including LGBTQ people. This article traces a brief history of how the term has been used in modern Chinese history. In doing so, it identifies key moments of political articulation and unravels the socialist politics and revolutionary potentials embedded in each articulation. In particular, it focuses on how the term has been used in the Chinese-speaking world for queer identification and to mobilise transnational activism. Developing the idea of 'queer comrades' as a part of critical vocabulary, this article conjures up the socialist memories and revolutionary impulses that are embedded in contemporary queer subject formation and social movements; it also gestures to the continuing relevance of socialist histories and politics to contemporary queer politics.

The Enlightenment Turns to China: The International Flow of Concepts and Their Geographic Dispersion

Cultura ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 31-52
Author(s):  
Chien-shou CHEN
Keyword(s):  
Joint Production ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
Conceptual History ◽  
International Flow ◽  
Geographic Dispersion ◽  
Production Of Knowledge ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Modern Chinese History ◽  
Enlightenment Project ◽  
History Of

Abstract This article attempts to strip away the Eurocentrism of the Enlightenment, to reconsider how this concept that originated in Europe was transmitted to China. This is thus an attempt to treat the Enlightenment in terms of its global, worldwide significance. Coming from this perspective, the Enlightenment can be viewed as a history of the exchange and interweaving of concepts, a history of translation and quotation, and thus a history of the joint production of knowledge. We must reconsider the dimensions of both time and space in examining the global Enlightenment project. As a concept, the Enlightenment for the most part has been molded by historical actors acting in local circumstances. It is not a concept shaped and brought into being solely from textual sources originating in Europe. As a concept, the Enlightenment enabled historical actors in specific localities to begin to engage in globalized thinking, and to find a place for their individual circumstances within the global setting. This article follows such a line of thought, to discuss the conceptual history of the Enlightenment in China, giving special emphasis to the processes of formation and translation of this concept within the overall flow of modern Chinese history.

Clause Structure and Word Order in the History of German

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Left Periphery ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Clause Structure ◽  
Verb Second ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Research ◽  
The Right ◽  
Theoretical Analyses

Over roughly the last decade, there has been a notable rise in new research on historical German syntax in a generative perspective. This volume presents a state-of-the-art survey of this thriving new line of research by leading scholars in the field, combining it with new insights into the syntax of historical German. It is the first comprehensive and concise generative historical syntax of German covering numerous central aspects of clause structure and word order, tracing them throughout various historical stages. Each chapter combines a solid empirical basis and valid descriptive generalizations with reference also to the more traditional topological model of the German clause with a detailed discussion of theoretical analyses couched in the generative framework. The volume is divided into three parts according to the main parts of the clause: the left periphery dealing with verbal placement and the filling of the prefield (verb second, verb first, verb third orders) as well as adverbial connectives; the middle field including discussion of pronominal syntax, order of full NPs and the history of negation; and the right periphery with chapters on basic word order (OV/VO), prosodic and information-structural factors, and the verbal complex including the development of periphrastic verb forms and the phenomena of IPP (infinitivus pro participio) and ACI (accusativus cum infinitivo). This book thus provides a convenient overview of current research on the major issues concerning historical German clause structure both for scholars interested in more traditional description and for those interested in formal accounts of diachronic syntax.

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