Nantong Chinese
GBP 130.00
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| ISBN13: | 9780367190996 |
| ISBN10: | 03671909911 |
| Binding: | Hardback |
| No. of pages: | 240 pages |
| Size: | 234x156 mm |
| Weight: | 453 g |
| Language: | English |
| Illustrations: | 55 Illustrations, black & white; 29 Halftones, black & white; 26 Line drawings, black & white; 85 Tables, black & white |
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Nantong Chinese is an in-depth account of an interesting and endangered Sinitic language spoken in Nantong, China, in an area in Northern Yangtze River Delta about 800 square kilometers in size and 180 kilometers northwest of the city of Shanghai.
Nantong Chinese is an in-depth account of an interesting and endangered Sinitic language spoken in Nantong, China, in an area in the Northern Yangtze River Delta about 800 square kilometers in size and 105 kilometers northwest of the city of Shanghai.
The Chinese language consists of several hundred local varieties known as Sinitic languages or Chinese dialects, each representing a unique linguistic system. This book offers a comprehensive and systematic insight into one such system that is even more complex and more interesting than standard Mandarin. The unique vocalization and other linguistic features of Nantong Chinese make it unintelligible to most Chinese people. All the important linguistic aspects of Nantong Chinese are covered, including its phonetic, lexical, morphological and syntactic subsystems.
Nantong Chinese will be of interest to professionals and students in linguistics worldwide.
Table of Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledements
General Information
1. Geological History
2. Administrative History
3. Demographic History
4. Dialects in Greater Nantong
5. Usage and Peculiarities
6. Vitality and Endangerment
7. Previous Research
The Sound System
1. The Syllable
2. The Consonants
3. The Vowels
4. The Suprasegmentals
5. Phonotactics and Distribution
6. Phones and Phonemes
Sounds That Change
1. Segmental Change
2. Tone Sandhi
3. Prosodic Hierarchy
Journey from the Past
1. The Middle Chinese Sound System
2. Phonetic Correspondence
3. Seeking Patterns from Chaos
4. Regular Sound Changes
5. Irregular Sound Changes
6. Reading and Colloquial Pronunciation
Place in the Family
1. Subgrouping of Chinese Dialects
2. Nantong Chinese Is No Mandarin
3. The Tong
-Tai
-Hui Dialect Group
4. The Tongzhou Sprachbund
The Writing System
1. Sample Texts
2. The Challenges
3. The Quest for Authenticity
4. A Phonetic Script
The Vocabulary
1. Previous Studies
2. Language Contact and Loan Words
3. Sources of Dialectal Words
Words and Word Classes
1. Parts of Speech
2. Nouns and Pronouns
3. Number, Case and Class
4. Adjectives, Numerals and Classifiers
5. Verbs
6. Tense, Mood, Voice and Aspect
7. Function Words
Phrases and Sentences
1. Types of Phrases
2. Transformation
3. Sentence Definition
4. Speech Act Markers
5. Basic Sentence Types
6. Special Constructs
7. Negative Sentences
8. Interrogative Sentences
9. Focus and Focalization
A Literary Sampler
1. A Lullaby
2. Children?s Rhymes
3. Love Songs
4. Narrative Poems
5. Fairy tales
6. A Glossary
Index
