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A Grammar of Southern Min

The Hui’an Dialect
  • Weirong Chen
Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2020
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Sinitic Languages of China [SLCH]

About this book

Southern Min (also known as Hokkien or Minnan) is a major branch of Chinese spoken mainly in Fujian and Taiwan, but also in Guangdong, Hainan and Hong Kong, as well as in many countries of Southeast Asia. Highly conservative in its linguistic profile, it is considered by many scholars to be a living language fossil due to the preservation of many archaic features that reflect its long-lasting history and culture. Yet to date there has been no comprehensive study of Southern Min using a typological framework, as the tendency is to base analyses on the model of Mandarin Chinese, the standard language. This grammar aims to present a systematic description of the Hui'an variety of Southern Min, mainly based on data collected via naturally occurring conversation. The volume includes four parts: nominal structure, predicate structure, clause structure and complex sentences, as well as a brief overview of phonology. It will have great appeal for heritage speakers, graduate students and scholars in both Chinese linguistics and typology.

Author / Editor information

Weirong Chen, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China

Topics

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    Frontmatter

    i
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    Preface

    v
    H.M. Chappell
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    List of abbreviations

    vii
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    Content

    xi
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    1. Introduction

    1
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    2. Phonology

    10
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  • Part I: Nominal structure
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    3. Affixation and compounding

    23
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    4. Pronouns

    38
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    5. Nominal demonstratives

    57
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    6. Numerals and quantifiers

    99
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    7. Classifiers

    115
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    8. Possessive constructions

    141
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  • Part II: predicate structure
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    9. Reduplication

    165
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    10. Verb complement constructions

    176
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    11. Aspect

    212
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    12. Modality

    226
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    13. Negation

    240
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    14. Adpositions

    258
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    15. Adverbs

    278
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  • Part III: clausal structure
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    16. The kaʔ7- and ka5- constructions

    293
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    17. Comparative constructions of inequality

    311
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    18. The ‘give’ construction

    337
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    19. Interrogatives

    347
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    20. Topic-comment constructions

    372
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  • Part IV: complex sentences
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    21. Coordination

    403
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    22. Relative clauses

    415
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    23. Adverbial clauses

    449
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    24. Complement clauses

    466
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    25. Conclusion

    484
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    References

    485
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    Index

    511
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    Appendix

    515
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
February 10, 2020
eBook ISBN:
9781501511868
Hardcover published on:
February 10, 2020
Hardcover ISBN:
9781501517457
Paperback published on:
January 31, 2022
Paperback ISBN:
9781501526831
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Front matter:
20
Main content:
522
Illustrations:
2
Coloured Illustrations:
1
https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501511868
eBook ISBN: 9781501511868
Hardcover ISBN: 9781501517457
Paperback ISBN: 9781501526831
Keywords for this book
Hui'an Dialect; Souther Min; Sinitic Language; Grammar; Language Typology
Audience(s) for this book
Researchers, Students
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