{"id":74,"date":"2008-10-23T15:19:24","date_gmt":"2008-10-23T13:19:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/elanguage.net\/blogs\/booknotices\/?p=74"},"modified":"2008-10-28T13:09:26","modified_gmt":"2008-10-28T11:09:26","slug":"a-synchronic-and-diachronic-study-of-the-grammar-of-the-chinese-xiang-dialects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/?p=74","title":{"rendered":"A synchronic and diachronic study of the grammar of the Chinese Xiang dialects."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" \/><meta name=\"ProgId\" content=\"Word.Document\" \/><meta name=\"Generator\" content=\"Microsoft Word 11\" \/><meta name=\"Originator\" content=\"Microsoft Word 11\" \/><\/p>\n<style> !--  \/* Font Definitions *\/  @font-face \t{font-family:Calibri; \tpanose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; \tmso-font-charset:0; \tmso-generic-font-family:swiss; \tmso-font-pitch:variable; \tmso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073750139 0 0 159 0;}  \/* Style Definitions *\/  p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal \t{mso-style-parent:\"\"; \tmargin-top:0cm; \tmargin-right:0cm; \tmargin-bottom:10.0pt; \tmargin-left:0cm; \tline-height:115%; \tmso-pagination:widow-orphan; \tfont-size:12.0pt; \tmso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; \tfont-family:\"Times New Roman\"; \tmso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; \tmso-ansi-language:EN-US; \tmso-fareast-language:EN-US;} @page Section1 \t{size:612.0pt 792.0pt; \tmargin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt; \tmso-header-margin:36.0pt; \tmso-footer-margin:36.0pt; \tmso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 \t{page:Section1;} --> <\/style>\n<p><!--[if gte mso 10]>\n\n\n<style>  \/* Style Definitions *\/  table.MsoNormalTable \t{mso-style-name:\"Normale Tabelle\"; \tmso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; \tmso-tstyle-colband-size:0; \tmso-style-noshow:yes; \tmso-style-parent:\"\"; \tmso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; \tmso-para-margin:0cm; \tmso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; \tmso-pagination:widow-orphan; \tfont-size:10.0pt; \tfont-family:\"Times New Roman\"; \tmso-ansi-language:#0400; \tmso-fareast-language:#0400; \tmso-bidi-language:#0400;} <\/style>\n\n <![endif]--><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: Arial\" lang=\"EN-US\">A synchronic and diachronic study of the grammar of the Chinese Xiang dialects.<\/span><\/strong><span style=\"font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: Arial\" lang=\"EN-US\"> By <strong>Yunji Wu<\/strong>. (Trends in linguistics: Studies and monographs 162.) <st1:state w:st=\"on\"><st1:place w:st=\"on\">Berlin<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>: Mouton de Gruyter, 2005. Pp. xxii, 438. ISBN <a href=\"http:\/\/www.worldcat.org\/isbn\/3110183668\">3110183668<\/a>. $127 (Hb).<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 6pt 0cm 18pt; text-align: right; line-height: 150%\" align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: Arial\" lang=\"EN-US\">Reviewed by <strong>Picus S. Ding<\/strong>, <em>Macao Polytechnic Institute<\/em><o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: 150%\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: Arial\" lang=\"EN-US\">Based on extensive fieldwork in <st1:state w:st=\"on\">Hunan<\/st1:state> and data published in <st1:country-region w:st=\"on\"><st1:place w:st=\"on\">China<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>, this book is one of the outcomes of Wu\u2019s projects on the grammar of Xiang. Spoken in the central region of <st1:country-region w:st=\"on\"><st1:place w:st=\"on\">China<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>, Xiang is among the least studied Chinese languages. This is probably the first monograph on Xiang written in English. <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: 150%\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: Arial\" lang=\"EN-US\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: 150%\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: Arial\" lang=\"EN-US\">The book consists of ten chapters, plus an introductory chapter and \u2018Final remarks\u2019, a long list of appendices, and an index. The volume starts with the \u2018Introduction\u2019, providing an orientation to the book and an overview of Xiang grammar (1\u201318). Ch. 1 describes notable phonological features of Xiang, making reference to two varieties (Qiyang and Shaoyang), and explains three kinds of spoken Xiang: \u2018spoken\u2019 <st1:city w:st=\"on\">Changsha<\/st1:city>, \u2018reading\u2019 <st1:city w:st=\"on\"><st1:place w:st=\"on\">Changsha<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>, and \u2018plastic\u2019 Putonghua (19\u201344). Ch. 2 discusses how Xiang could be written in Chinese characters, citing texts from a novel and local operas (45\u201371). Ch. 3 examines the morphology of Xiang and morphological development in some varieties of Xiang (72\u2013113). Chs. 4 and 5 center on pronouns (114\u201338) and adverbs (139\u201377), respectively, addressing the evolution of personal pronouns and demonstrative pronouns as well as negative adverbs (viz. negation particles). Ch. 6 focuses on the evolution of passive and \u2018disposal\u2019 constructions in Xiang (178\u2013206). Ch. 7 deals with perfective, anterior, and continuative markers and grammaticalization of locative markers to aspectual markers in Xiang (207\u201365). Ch. 8 studies the evolution of the attributive and nominalized particles, adverbial particles, and complement particles (266\u201397). Ch. 9 revolves around modal particles and their evolution in Xiang (298\u2013326). Ch. 10 investigates the evolution of double-object and deconstructions in Xiang (327\u201363). \u2018Final remarks\u2019 summarizes the distinctive grammatical features of Xiang discussed in these chapters (364\u201365). The lengthy appendices encompass a description of the sounds of Xiang and details on data and their sources, among other miscellaneous items (366\u2013403). <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: 150%\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: Arial\" lang=\"EN-US\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: 150%\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: Arial\" lang=\"EN-US\">Rich in data, this volume is undoubtedly a valuable contribution to Chinese linguistics. Its presentation and organization, however, have some shortcomings. W has overlooked that most readers will be non-Chinese with little knowledge of the linguistic tradition and practice in <st1:country-region w:st=\"on\"><st1:place w:st=\"on\">China<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>. The concept of fangyan in Chinese should not have been treated as an equivalent to dialect, for example, \u2018Hunan \u201cdialects\u201d can be classified into: Xiang \u201cdialects\u201d, Southwestern Mandarin \u201cdialects\u201d, Gan and Hakka \u201cdialects\u201d, Waxiang \u201cdialect\u201d within the Mandarin-speaking areas\u2019 (1). All of these \u2018dialects\u2019 are members of the big Chinese family, but of different generations. Xiang, Mandarin, Gan, and Hakka are at the same level; Southwestern Mandarin is a dialect of Mandarin only, not a dialect of Xiang or Gan. Finally, instead of relegating all maps to the end of the book, it would be more convenient for the reader if they were placed near the relevant texts. <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: 150%\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: Arial\" lang=\"EN-US\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A synchronic and diachronic study of the grammar of the Chinese Xiang dialects. By Yunji Wu. (Trends in linguistics: Studies and monographs 162.) Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2005. Pp. xxii, 438. ISBN 3110183668. $127 (Hb). Reviewed by Picus S. Ding, Macao Polytechnic Institute Based on extensive fieldwork in Hunan and data published in China, this [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=74"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=74"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=74"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=74"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}