Book contents
- The Cambridge Handbook of Chinese Linguistics
- Cambridge Handbooks In Language and Linguistics
- The Cambridge Handbook of Chinese Linguistics
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Part One Writing System/Neuro-cognitive Processing of Chinese
- Part Two Morpho-lexical Issues in Chinese
- Part Three Phonetic-phonological Issues in Chinese
- Part Four Syntax-semantics, Pragmatics, and Discourse Issues
- 19 SVO as the Canonical Word Order in Modern Chinese
- 20 SOV as the Canonical Word Order in Modern Chinese
- 21 Semantic and Pragmatic Conditions on Word Order Variation in Chinese
- 22 The Case for Case in Chinese
- 23 The Case without Case in Chinese
- 24 The Syntax of Classifiers in Mandarin Chinese
- 25 The Chinese Classifier System as a Lexical-semantic System
- 26 Syntax of Sentence-final Particles in Chinese
- 27 Sentence-final Particles
- 28 Topicalization Defined by Syntax
- 29 An Interactive Perspective on Topic Constructions in Mandarin
- 30 Grammatical Acceptability in Mandarin Chinese
- Index
- References
19 - SVO as the Canonical Word Order in Modern Chinese
from Part Four - Syntax-semantics, Pragmatics, and Discourse Issues
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2022
By
Book contents
- The Cambridge Handbook of Chinese Linguistics
- Cambridge Handbooks In Language and Linguistics
- The Cambridge Handbook of Chinese Linguistics
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Part One Writing System/Neuro-cognitive Processing of Chinese
- Part Two Morpho-lexical Issues in Chinese
- Part Three Phonetic-phonological Issues in Chinese
- Part Four Syntax-semantics, Pragmatics, and Discourse Issues
- 19 SVO as the Canonical Word Order in Modern Chinese
- 20 SOV as the Canonical Word Order in Modern Chinese
- 21 Semantic and Pragmatic Conditions on Word Order Variation in Chinese
- 22 The Case for Case in Chinese
- 23 The Case without Case in Chinese
- 24 The Syntax of Classifiers in Mandarin Chinese
- 25 The Chinese Classifier System as a Lexical-semantic System
- 26 Syntax of Sentence-final Particles in Chinese
- 27 Sentence-final Particles
- 28 Topicalization Defined by Syntax
- 29 An Interactive Perspective on Topic Constructions in Mandarin
- 30 Grammatical Acceptability in Mandarin Chinese
- Index
- References
Summary
The question of what canonical word order Chinese has is not a controversial issue at the present time; most of the studies within the last 30 years assume that the canonical word order of Modern Chinese is SVO. However, during the 1970s and 80s there was a lively debate on Chinese word order concerning its historical development as well as its status in Modern Chinese. This chapter reviews the arguments for and against SVO as the canonical word order in Chinese. Arguments for SVO originated as reactions against two claims: Chinese is in the process of becoming an SOV language, and Modern Chinese is an SOV language. A wide range of arguments have been brought forth to argue against the two claims, including historical development, grammar internal considerations, typological features, and discourse analysis.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Handbook of Chinese Linguistics , pp. 407 - 427Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022
References
Djamouri, Redouane, Paul, Waltraud, and Whitman, John. 2013. Postpositions vs. prepositions in Mandarin Chinese: The articulation of disharmony. In Theoretical approaches to disharmonic word order, ed. Biberauer, Theresa and Sheehan, Michelle, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Dong, Sicong, and Jie, Xu. 2022. SOV as the canonical word order in Modern Chinese. In The Cambridge handbook of Chinese linguistics, ed. Huang, Chu-Ren, Lin, Yen-Hwei, Chen, I-Hsuan, and Hsu, Yu-Yin, 428–443. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Dryer, Matthew. 2005. Order of subject, object, and verb. In The world atlas of language structures, ed. Haspelmath, Martin, Dryer, Matthew S., Gil, David, and Comrie, Bernard, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Fenn, Henry, and Tewksbury, Gardner. 1967. Speak Mandarin. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Fox, Andrew. 1983. Topic continuity in Biblical Hebrew narrative. In Topic continuity in discourse: A quantitative cross-language study, ed. Givón, Talmy, 215–254. Amsterdam: Benjamins.Google Scholar
Givón, Talmy. (ed.). 1983. Topic continuity in discourse: A quantitative cross-language study. Amsterdam: Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenberg, Joseph H. 1963. Some universals of grammar with particular reference to the order of meaningful elements. In Universals of language, ed. Greenberg, Joseph H., 73–113. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Hashimoto, Mantaro. 1976. Language diffusion on the Asian continent. Computational Analysis of Asian and African Languages 3:49–65.Google Scholar
Huang, James C-T., Li, Audrey Yen-hui, and Li, Yafei. 2009. The syntax of Chinese. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Huang, Shuan-Fan. 1978. Historical change of prepositions and the emergence of order. Journal of Chinese Linguistics 6:212–242.Google Scholar
Keenan, Edward. 1975. Some universals in passives in relational grammar. Papers from the Eleventh Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society 11:340–352.Google Scholar
Li, Charles N., and Thompson, Sandra A.. 1974a. An explanation of word order change SVO→SOV. Foundations of Language 12:201–214. www.jstor.org/stable/25000832.Google Scholar
Li, Charles N., and Thompson, Sandra A.. 1974b. Historical change of word order: A case study of Chinese and its implications. In Historical linguistics I: Syntax, morphology, internal and comparative reconstruction, ed. Anderson, John M. and Jones, Charles, 199–218. Amsterdam: North Holland Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Li, Charles N., and Thompson, Sandra A.. 1975. The semantic function of word order: A case study of Mandarin. In Word order and word order change, ed. Li, Charles N., 163–197. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Light, Timothy. 1979. Word order and word order change. Journal of Chinese Linguistics 7: 149–180. www.jstor.org/stable/23752920.Google Scholar
Mei, Kuang. 1980. Is modern Chinese really a SOV language? Cahiers de Linguistique Asie Orientale 7:23–45. doi:10.3406/clao.1980.1071.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peyraube, Alain. 1994. On word order and word order change in Pre-Archaic Chinese. In China languages and linguistics IV 中国境内语言暨语言学, 第四辑, ed. Tseng, Chiu-yu 郑秋豫, 105–124. Taipei: Academia Sinica.Google Scholar
Shen, Pei 沈培.1992. A study of word order in oracle bones 甲骨卜辞语序研究. Taipei: Wenjin Publishers.Google Scholar
Sun, Chao-Fen and Talmy, Givón. 1985. On the so-called SOV word order in Mandarin Chinese: A quantified text study and its implications. Language 61:329–351. www.jstor.org/stable/414148.Google Scholar
Tai, James. 1973. Chinese as a SOV language. Papers from the Ninth Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society, 659–671.Google Scholar
Tai, James. 1976. On the change from SVO to SOV in Chinese. Papers from the Parasession on Diachronic Syntax, Chicago Linguistic Society, 291–304.Google Scholar
Teng, Shou-hsin. 1975. A semantic study of transitivity relations in Chinese. Berkeley, CA: University of California Publications in Linguistics.Google Scholar