Mandarin Chinese : a practical reference grammar for students and teachers Volume 2

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Mandarin Chinese: A Practical Reference Grammar for Students and Teachers (Vol.II)

Y.C.Li, Robert L. Cheng, Larry Foster, Shang H. Ho, John Y. Hou, Moira Yip

The Crane P u b lish in g Co. C hinese M aterials Center P ublication s

T A B L E

CHAPTER

V

OF

C O N T E N T S

The Noun Phrase: Its and Elements

Related

Structures

5.1. Classification of Nouns................................. 1 5.1.1. Prefixes............................................ 1 5.1 .1 .1 . Animate Nouns................................. 1 5.1.1.2. Inanimate Nouns............................... 5 5.1 .2 . Suffixes........................................... 6 5.1.2.1. Animate' Nouns ................................. 6 5.1.2.2. Inanimate Nouns.............................. 10 5.2. Place Words and Time Words.............................14 5.2.1. Place Words........................................15 5.2.1 .1. Nouns as Place Names........................ 15 5.2.1.2. Position Words/localizers................... 15 5.2.2. Time Words .........................................20 5.2.2.1. Specification of Time: Year/Day............ 21 5.2.2.2. Specification of Time: Month/Week..........24 5.2.2.3. Relative Time Suffixes...................... 25 5-3. Proper Names.............. 27 5.3-1 • Title.............................................. 27 5.3.1 .1 . General...................................... 27 5.3*1 -2. Prof essional/Position/Honor.................29 5.3.1 -3. Polite/Intimate Terms of Address........... 31 5.4. Bureaucratic Institutions and Mechanisms............. 32 5.4.1. Special Terms for Bureaucratic Institutions and mechanisms.................................... 32 5.5. Nouns for Abstract Ideas............................... 33 5.5.1. General Remarks................................... 33 5.5.2. Suffixation........................................33 5.5.3. Transliteration................................... 35 5.5.4. Translation........................................35 CHAPTER VI

The Adverbial Phrase: Elements

Its Related Structures

6.0. Overview................................................ 36 6.0. 1. Classification of Adverbials and Their Scope of Modification.............................36 6.0. 2. Classification of Adverbials by Their Internal Structure................................ 37 6.0. 2.1. Single-Word Adverbs........................ 37 6.0. 2.2. Adverbial Phrase of Clause.................40 6 .0. 3 . Classification of Adverbials by Their Position in the Sentence................................... 42 6.0. 4. Word Order of Adverbials and Their Scope of Modification................................... 46 6.0. 5. Classification of the Adverbials on Their Relationship with Extra-Sentential Elements: Adjuncts, Dusjuncts, Conjuncts........ 49

/

6.1 . Adverbials of Connection............................... 52 6.1.0. General Characteristics...........................52 6.1.1. Semantic Sub-Classes of Adverbials of Connection...................................... 56 6.1.2. Placement of Conjuncts............................68 6.2.2. Forms of Speech Act Adverbials................... 72 6.2.3. Subclasses of Speech Act Adverbials............. 75 6.2.4. Placement of Speech Act Adverbials.............. 76 6 .3 . Adverbial of Evaluation................................ 77 6.3.1. General Characteristics of the Adverbial of Evaluation.........................................77 6 .3 .2 . Forms of Adverbials of Evaluation................78 6 .3 .3 . Subclasses of Adverbials of Evaluation.......... 81 6.3.4. Placement of Adverbials of Evaluation........... 84 6.4. Adverbials of Time..................................... 85 6.4.0. Overview........................................... 85 6.4.1 . Duration........................................... 88 6.4.2. Frequency..........................................91 6.4.3. Since-till-expression.............................93 6.4.4. When-expressions.................................. 96 6.4.4.1. Pure Adverbial When-expressions............ 97 6.4.4.2. Nominal When-expressions.................... 98 6.4.6. Negation of a When- or Since-till-Expression vs. Negation of an event Ve r b ................... 111 6.4.7. Negated Frequency and Negated Event............ 112 6.4.8. Negated Duration and Negated Event..............114 6 .5 . Location and Direction................................ 119 6.5.1. General Remarks.................................. 119 6.5.1. Locational Constructions........................ 121 6.5.1 .1. Postverbal Locational Constructions...... 121 6.5.1.2. Preverbal Locational Constructions........ 123 6.5.1.3. Sentence Initial Location Constructions... 124 6.5.1.4. Verbs of Location-Based Action............ 125 6.5.1 .4.1. Intransitive Verbs of Location-based Action................................. 125 6.5.1.4.2. Transitive Action Verbs that "Place" the Object at a Certain Location.... 126 6.5.1.4.3 . Transitive Action Verbs that Make the Object Come into Existence at a Location............................... 127 6.5.2. Directional Constructions....................... 129 6.5.2.1. Locomotion Specifying the Starting Place (cong 'from') and Destination (ddo ’to * ).................................. 128 6.5.2.1.1. W i t h a n l n t r a n s i t i v e M a i n V e r b ...... 130 6.5.2.1.2. With a Transitive Main Verb......... 131 6.5.2.2. Locomotive Specifying Direction (xiang *toward' )................................... 133 6.5.2.2.1. With a Transitive Main Ve rb .......... 133

6.5.2.3.

Parts of the Sentence that Express Direction................................... 135 6.5.2.3.1. Coverb Phrase (COV + LOC)............. 136 6.5.2.3- 2. Deictic Verbs l&i ’come* and qti 'go'................................ 137 6.5.2.3.3Directional Complements shing 'ascend', xia 'descend'.............. 138 6.5.2.3*4. The main Verb ......................... 1 41 6.5.2.4. Verb of Direction................. ........ 141 6.5.2.4.1. Transitive Verbs with Direction of Object Specified in Relation to the Agent Subject..................... 1 41 6.5.2.4.2. Transitive Verbs with Direction of Object Specified in Relation to its Environment............................142 6.5.2.4.3. Intranstive Verbs with the Direction of the Subject Specified in Relation to its Environment.................... 143 6.5.2.3.4. Verbs of Transaction.................. 144 6.5.2.35. Verbs of Mental Activity........... 146 6.5.3* Use of Directional Construction to Show Distance..........................................147 6.5.4. Place words and Extension of the Notions of Location..........................................147 CHAPTER

VII

Coordination and Subordination: Their Related Structures and Elements

7.0. Overview............................................... 151 7.0. 1. Definition of Coordination...................... 151 7.0. 2.. T y p e s of C o o r d i n a t i o n ........................ 151 7.0. 2.1. Coordinating Conjunctions.................151 7.0. 2.2. Coordinating Disjunctions................. 151 7.0. 3. Definition of Subordination..................... 152 7.0. 4. Types of Subordination.......................... 152 7.1.1. Coordinating Conjunctions....................... 153 7.1.1.1. Unmarked Connectors........................ 153 7.1.1.2. Marked Coordinating Conjunctions.......... 154 7.2. Coordinating Disjunction................. ... ........ 17 6 7.2.1. Coordinating Disjunction without Disjunctive Connectors....... .................. 17 6 7.2.2. Coordinating Disjunction with Disjunctive Connectors........................................176 7.2.2.1. Nominal Coordinating Disjunctions......... 178 7.2.2.2. Verbal Coordinating Disjunctions.......... 180 7.2.3* Sentential Coordinating Disjunctions........... 192 7*3* Subordination......................................... 207 7.3.1. Subordinated Sentences of Reason............... 207 7.3.2. Subordinated Sentences of Condition............ 209 7 .3 .3 . Subordinate Sentences of Exclusion............. 212 7.3.4. Subordinated Sentences of Consequence.......... 213 7.3.5. Verb-in-Series Construction..................... 215 7.3.2. Relativization...................................216

CHAPTER VIII

Context and Antecedent: Meaning and Use of the Language

8.0. Overview............................................... 219 8.0. 1. Beyond the Immediate Sentence................... 219 8.0. 2. Understanding the LanguageUse Situation....... 220 8.0. 3. Communication and Knowledge of the Wor ld ....... 222 8.0. 4 Between You and Me: Hearer-Speaker Relationships.................................... 226 8.0. 5. Try to Make Sense............................... 231 8.1. Reference: Various Kinds of Devices for Effective Communication............................... 235 8.1.0. Introduction to the Use of Determinatives: Defining ’Definiteness', ’Sepcificity ', ’Presupposition', et c............................235 8.1.2. Singular Determinatives......................... 240 8.1.2.1. Demonstrative Determinatives............... 241 8.1.2.2. Specifying Determinatives.................. 242 8.1.2.2.1. The 'mdi ' Groups......................243 8.1.2.2.2. The 'ling ’ Group...................... 244 8.1.2.2.3. The 'qi5n Group....................... 246 8.1.3. Plural Determinatives............................249 8.1.3.1. Quantitative Determinatives................ 249 8.1.3.2. Numeral Determinatives..................... 253 8.2. Use of Pro nou ns:Pr onomi nalizati on,Reflexivization, and Omission........................................... 255 8.2.0. Overview: Why Use Proforms - 'One for Al l ' .... 255 8.2.1. Use of ndi/na for 'it/that'..................... 256 8.2.2. Use of ta/tSmen for Restricted Object.......... 258 8 .2 .3 . Use of wp/wQmen' and nj/n^man.................... 259 8.2.4. Use of zijj, and Reflexiviation.................. 261 8 .3 . Use of Special Constructions......................... 263 8.3.0. Overview: Functions of Epecial Syntactic Construction..................................... 263 8.3.1. Bq-construction.................................. 263 8.3.2. Be~i -construction................................. 264 8.2.2. Closing Remarks.................................. 266

L I S T

OF

F I G U R E S

Figure 6.1. Conjuncts......................................... 55

L I S T

OF

T A B L E S

TABLE 1. OCCURRENCE OF POSTVERBAL ADVERBIALS ................ 43 TABLE 2. Relative Time Words................ .............116-117 TABLE 3 . Syllablic Position Wor ds.............................248

CHAPTER

V

The

Noun

Phrase:Its

Related

Structures

and

Elements

5.1.

Classification of .Nouns

5.1.1.

Prefixes Animate nouns may take prefixes a-,

ljio- or x iqo-, and

inanimate nouns may take the prefixes di-, 5 .1 .1 .1 .

tou-, or chu-.

Animate Nouns

(i) Prefix a Human nouns sometimes take the prefix a - , in cases of direct address.

Examples are:

a . a-yi

'mother's sister'

b. a-ge

'older brother'

c . a-jie

'older sister'

d. a-di

'younger brother'

e . a-mei

'younger sister'

f . a -Wdng

or

primarily

a-Li

an inf 'Wang'

or 'Li' (similar

to

lao-Wang or lao-Li) g. a-blngge a-bingjie

an informal expression for 'soldiers' an informal expression for

'females

in

the military service' In the above e x a m p l e s , a s Southern Chinese dialects. frequently, have

a prefix has its origins in Exa mpl es

especially in Taiwanese.

a recent

origin

in

exclusively. 1

Taiwan

(a) - (g) are used

Examples (g) seem to and

are

use d

the re

Generally,

a noun in Chinese does not take an adverb as

its direct modifier. However, which

nouns

are

directly

there are a few exceptions in

modified

by

do

the

adverb

bu .

Examples are: 1 . bu zhOng bu x I

'neither Chinese nor Western.

2. bil s3n bu si

'incongruous in shape,

appearance,

or

manner' 3 . bu fa zhi tu

'lawless elements in a society'

4. bil____________ lun bu lei

'grotesque,

incongruous'

The above exceptions may be considered as set common usages. (ii) Prefixes lqo-/xiaoBot h human and nonlqo - or xiao-. Some an;imal name: a . lqo-hq

'tiger'

b. lqo-shq

'mouse'

c . lao-ylng

'eagle'

The

prefix

xiao-

ma

mean 'young ' or 'sma: d. xiao-niao

'littl
{ yud }

'last w e e k ’

{ x fngq i/Ii bd i} { ‘ } c . shdngshang(ge) { { { yuS

d. xi ^(ge)

e. xidxid(ge)

’this month’

'last month’ '2 weeks before this week' ’2 months before this months’

{ xingql/ljbdi } { } { yud }

’next w e e k ’

{ xlngql/llbdi } { > { } { yud }

’2 weeks afterthis w e e k ’

24

'next month’

’2 months after this month’

{ xlngql/ljbii { { yue

One may use shangshangshang(ge) to mean

'three

weeks

before

this

week'

or

{ xlngql/l;bai { { yu£

} } }

'three

} } } months

before this month'. Or one may say xiaixiaxia(ge)

to mean 'three weeks after this week' or 'three months after this month'. However, 'week'

it should be noted

instead

measure

word

that when one is to use zhdu

of x i n g q i / l { b ^ i , one g£ after

the prefixes

should NOT place zhei- for

the

'this week'.

This may be shown as follows: bqn zh5u

'this week'

shang zhou

'last week'

shangsh£ng zh5u

'two weeks before this week'

xia zh5u

'next week'

xiaxia zh5u

'two weeks after this week'

5.2.2.3.

Relative Time Suffixes

The suffixes -yi qidn 'before' and -y j hou 'after',

and

-deshi hou 'while' may be placed imm ed iat el y after a word, phrase, or clause to form a specific expression of relative time. These relative time suffixes appear at the end of the clause,

rather

(13) S V (0)

than

at

the

beginning

{

yiqi£n

{

v

} >

{ { {

yihdu

} > }

deshihou

25

as

in English.

The suffix -yjjhdu ’after' som e t i m e s is omitted. For example: TS m aile p i ao j ill shangche 1 e ; or T£ mq ile piao y 1 hou j iu shangche ie . vehicle'.

'After

he

bought

the

ticket,

he

got

on

the

Note that there are alternative expressions

for

-y^qicin and -yjhou. They are -zhlqi6n and -zhih6u. a.

qil-de shihou q|ng ni.mqi yi-bqn zidiqn. you-go-when-please-you-buy-one-M-dictionary When you go (there), please buy a dictionary.

b. W q fuqtn dao zh£r zhlh6u/yihdu,

h£n duo p