Reviewed by Picus S. Ding, Macao Polytechnic Institute

This descriptive grammar of Wu is primarily based on the new variety spoken in urban Shanghai. Compared to previous work (e.g. Sino-Tibetan languages, ed. by Graham Thurgood & Randy J. LaPolla, London: Routledge, 2003), this monograph presents the most detailed modern account of Wu written in English.

Ch. 1 (1–4) introduces Shanghai Wu as well as a number of other varieties of Wu. Xiaonong Zhu casts the book firmly in the traditional Chinese framework—for example, Ch. 2 (5–34) describes the syllable and the phonology of Shanghai Wu in terms of the traditional Chinese linguistic concepts of initials, medials, rhymes, and finals. Ch. 3 (35–51) discusses the tone sandhi found in polysyllabic compounds (up to five syllables) and phrases. Ch. 4 (53–111), which deals with the word and morphology, addresses a number of word classes and morphological processes, including not only affixation and reduplication but also the use of particles and auxiliaries to indicate aspect and modality. Ch. 5 (113–31) is devoted to compounds: the structural relation between the formatives is analyzed under the categories of subject, verb, and object. Ch. 6 (133–81) examines the syntax of Wu, covering the word order, phrasal structure, sentence types, complex sentences, and compound sentences. Constructions such as the passive, the disposal, and topicalization are also introduced (although the causative is not mentioned). Ch. 7 (183–95) provides two annotated texts in a four-line format—Shanghai Wu in pinyin, Shanghai Wu in characters, English glosses, and a free translation in English, although no comment or discussion is made on these texts.

A striking feature of the book is the adoption of the traditional Chinese approach in lieu of modern linguistic theories. Concepts such as phoneme and word-tone are absent, while other concepts such as subject and (lexical) stress are presumed. This approach may make some readers uneasy, especially those with little knowledge about Chinese linguistics, although it is not detrimental to the description. Instead it provides an opportunity to become acquainted with the traditional Chinese grammatical framework.

In concordance with this traditional Chinese viewpoint, Z writes at the outset that ‘Chinese is a single language’ (1) and that Wu is ‘not the name of a language, but the designation for a group of Chinese dialects’ (1). However, it is necessary to point out that Wu, in the context of academic linguistic research, should be considered a language on par with Mandarin. This designation allows the large number of Wu dialects and their subdialects to be differentiated more conveniently in the discourse. Additionally, although the Shanghai Wu dialect has been greatly influenced by Mandarin—more so than other Wu dialects such as Wenzhou and Suzhou—it is usually chosen to represent the Wu language.