|
|
|
|
|
Questions
in Chinese Morphology
|
In this project you will not, of course, be expected to
figure out everything about Chinese morphology. You will work on just two basic questions. The first is the nature of words in
Chinese. Many people say that
Chinese is monosyllabic, that is, that all (or at least most) words are made
up of just one syllable. Others
say that this is a confusion between the form of spoken Chinese and the form
of written Chinese. They say
that those who claim that Chinese is monosyllabic are basing their ideas on
the written character (字). Work out your own opinion
on this question. Remember that
"word" does not mean "written character." As you think about this question,
consider an illiterate speaker, one who speaks Chinese but does not read or
write it. After you have made up your minds about the first question,
the second part of this project is to draw up a list of Mandarin function
words similar to the list of English function words on page 65 of the
textbook. You may also want to
refer to the list of Mandarin inflections on page 66 to make sure that you
list function words and not inflections. OR Optional questions to consider: (1) the relationship between
spoken and written Chinese; (2) derivational processes in Chinese;
inflections in Chinese (different varieties of Chinese) |
The Syntax
of Spoken Language
|
How do people really talk? Is everything they say "grammatically
correct"? Do they speak in
complete sentences all the time?
What kinds of omissions seem to be allowed? Do speakers follow rules, or can they speak any way they
feel like speaking? Is the
syntax of spoken language different from the syntax of writing? How? Are there differences in the syntax of different types of
spoken language? To find answers to these questions tape samples of
various types of spoken language—conversations, arguments, academic
discussions, lectures, and news broadcasts, for example—and analyze the
syntax. To do this you will have
to transcribe your tapes. This
takes time, so start early. Concentrate on samples all in the same language
(English, Mandarin, other varieties of Chinese, another language you know). **Don't hesitate to come see your professor if you have
any questions. |
Interpersonal
Meaning
|
In this project you will investigate how meaning is
worked out between (or among) people in an interaction. For this you will need to know about
the distinction between sentences and utterances, about what people do with
utterances, and about context, all of which are discussed in Chapter 7
(Nash). For your data taperecord
a few conversations, discussions, or classes. Then in your recordings find examples of utterances which
depend on the context for their meaning. To simplify things try to use sentence-length examples so
that you can analyze them as sentences and as utterances in order to show how
utterance meaning depends on context.
There are some examples in Nash on pages 101 and 102 you might look at
to get a better idea. Concentrate on examples all in one language (English,
Mandarin, other varieties of Chinese, another language you know). **If you have any questions feel free to come see your
professor. |
Borrowed
Words
|
Find examples of borrowed words in English, Mandarin,
and any other languages that you know.
Determine the sources of the borrowed words and look for possible
reasons they were borrowed. In
English look especially for words that have been borrowed from different
varieties of Chinese. With all
your examples check to see if the structure (pronunciation, morphological
form) and usage of the borrowed words have changed. Can you find any words that have changed meaning when
borrowed into another language?
Relate all that you find out about borrowed words to language change. Optional: You might also try to find examples of
structures, such as sentence structures or morphological structures, that
have been borrowed by one language from another. **Feel free to come see your professor if you have any
questions. |
Language Scrapbook
|
For this topic, instead of observing or collecting data
on a certain linguistic question, you will keep your eye out for articles about
language in newspapers, especially, and also in magazines if
appropriate. These may be either
Chinese-language or English-language newspapers. [Note: Internet sources not allowed.] When you find
interesting articles on some aspect of language, cut them out and paste them
in a scrapbook, including the bibliographic information required by
MLA format. In the scrapbook
next to the article (or in another part of the scrapbook, keyed to the
article), write a brief summary of the article and your comments on it, in
relation to what we have studied.
You may be surprised how often there are interesting newspaper
articles concerned with language, covering a very wide range of topics! Because of the nature of a scrapbook, you will not be
able to follow the "Guidelines for Reports," but you must still
cite one or both of the textbooks and include a Works Cited for the
textbook(s). **See your professor for sample articles that could go
in a language scrapbook. |
Back