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General info |
In this course, close reading of Chinese-language materials in general and Chinese linguistics combines advanced language training with the chance to develop awareness of disciplinary thinking, and concomitant types of textual analysis and interpretation.
Also see the University Study Guide.
Time and place |
Texts and assignments |
week 1 (4 February) |
Texts |
趙元任 Chao Yuen Ren, 序 "Xù" [Preface]. In: Chao (1968, 1980), frontispiece. Facsimile reproduction of a handwritten endorsement by the original author of a Chinese translation of his A grammar of spoken Chinese (1968).
趙元任 Chao Yuen Ren, 連動式 "Liándòng shì" [Verbal expressions in series]. In: 中國話的文法 [A grammar of spoken Chinese]. 香港 Hong Kong: 中文大學出版社 Chinese University Press, 1980, pp. 172-176. Translation of Chao, Yuen Ren, A grammar of spoken Chinese, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968. Translated by 丁邦新 Pang-Hsin Ting.
Assignments |
1. Chao's 序 will be introduced in class. We will also start translating his text on 連動式. No preparation is needed for this first session.
2. Please pay attention to the historical, cultural and academic contexts of both texts. These will be explained and discussed in class.
week 2 (11 February) |
Texts |
Assignments |
3. Read the assigned text, taking good notice of the context discussed in week 1.
4. Please note down any difficulties you may have in reading these texts, and bring your notes to class.
week 3 (18 February) |
Texts |
趙元任 Chao Yuen Ren, 第一讲 ∙ 语言学跟跟语言学有关系的些问题 "Dì yì jiǎng: Yǔyánxué gēn gēn yǔyánxué yǒuguān de xiē wènti" [First lecture: Linguistics and some questions relating to linguistics]. In: 语言问题 Yǔyán wènti [Problems of language], 趙元任全集第1卷 Zhào Yuánrèn quánjí dì yí juàn [Collected works of Chao Yuen Ren, Part 1]. 北京 Peking: 商务印书馆 Shāngwù Yìnshūguǎn, 2002, pp. 10-16. Originally published in 1959. Earlier reprint, in traditional characters: 臺北 Taipei, 商務印書館 Shāngwù Yìnshūguǎn, 1968, pp. 1-10.
Assignments |
5. Finish reading the 連動式 section by yourself. We will not continue translation of this text, but you can bring any remaining questions for discussion in class.
6. Read Chao's 第一講, noting down any difficulties you may have in reading the text. Please bring your notes to class.
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week 4 (25 February) |
Texts |
李晓琪 Lí Xiǎoqí, 前言 "Qiányán" [Preface]. In: 现代汉语虚词讲义 Xiàndài Hànyǔ xūcí jiǎngyì [Lecture notes on function words in Modern Chinese], 1992, Vol. 5, pp. 364-370. 北京 Peking: 北京大学出版社, Běijīng Dāxué Chūbǎnshè, 2005, pp. 1-7.
Assignments |
7. Finish reading Chao's 第一講 by yourself. We will not continue translation of this text, but you can bring any remaining questions for discussion in class.
8. In this lecture, Yuen Ren Chao tells an anecdote about an old Chinese woman, and then adds the original German version of the story.
Your assignment is to summarize the point Chao is making here, and to explain how it relates to the Saussurean notion of the signe.
Please note:
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9. Read Li's 前言, noting down any difficulties you may have in reading the text. Please bring your notes to class.
week 5 (4 March) |
Texts |
"Signe, signifié, signifiant" and "Premier principe: l'arbitraire du signe". In Ferdinand de Saussure, Cours de linguistique générale: Édition critique préparée par Tullio de Mauro [A course in general linguistics: Critical edition prepared by Tullio de Mauro], pp. 97-102. Enlarged edition, Paris: Payot, 1985, reprint 1997. Postface by Louis-Jean Calvet. First edition: 1972. De Saussure's original published by Charles Bally and Albert Séchehaye, in collaboration with Albert Riedlinger, Genève, 1916.
Online Scribd.com edition: Saussure, Ferdinand - Cours de Linguistique Generale, pp. 97-102.
Note: in the online edition, the text can be enlarged by pressing the "Full Screen" button.
...or in English translation:
Saussure (1959)
"Sign, signified, signifier " and "Principle I: the arbitrary nature of the sign". In Ferdinand de Saussure, Course in general linguistics. New York: Philosophical Library, 1959, pp. 65-70. Translation of Saussure (1916), translated by Wade Baskin.
Doc88 online browsable edition: Course in general linguistics, pp. 65-70.
Archive.org PDF edition: Course in general linguistics, pp. 65-70.
Note: on page 65, the illustration has been printed too low: it should follow immediately after the first paragraph of the text.
Assignments |
10. Read Li's 前言. Please bring your reading notes to class.
11. Refresh your memory about the way different linguistic units can be represented in transcription. Common conventions have been summarized in the online Transcriptiewijzer. Note down any difficulties in that text, and write out the exercise in section 4.
12. In the East Asian Library, look for a copy of the 辭海 (合訂本) and check how and where this work makes use of (a) Gwoyeu Romatzyh transcription and (b) 反切 fǎnqiè spellings.
13. The deadline for assignment #8 has been postponed. On the basis of our discussion in class, the assignment has been reformulated as follows.
In his first lecture, Yuen Ren Chao tells an anecdote about an old Chinese woman, and then adds the original German version of the story.
Please summarize the point Chao is making here, and explain how it relates to the Saussurean notion of the signe.
Please note:
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week 6 (11 March) |
Text |
潘悟云 Pān Wùyún, 陆德名(约公元550-630年) "Lù Démíng (yuē gōngyuán 550-630 nián)" [Lù Démíng, ca. 550-630 AD.]. In: 濮之珍 Pú Zhīzhēn, 中国历代语言学家评传 Zhōngguó Lìdài yǔyánxuējiā píngzhuàn [Biographies and assessments of Chinese linguists through the ages], 上海 Shanghai: 复旦大学出版社 Fùdàn Dàxué Chūbǎnshè, 1992, pp. 131-136
Notes |
Assignments |
14. Read Pān's text on Lù Démíng, taking care to look up
15. Please bring your reading notes to class, and answer the following questions.
16. Why does this modern text start out in Classical Chinese? What would be the likely source for this opening passage?
17. (thanks to Neline Floor!) First check the 合计 mentioned in the first line of p. 133. Then correct the error on the basis of the original 经典释文 text.
18. Please assign approximate dates to the reconstructed languages identified as 上古汉语 and 中古汉语 in the text.
19. On p. 135, fǎnqiè spellings for the same character include one starting with 乃, and one starting with 人. What does this tell us about the initial consonant of the character in question?
20. On p. 136, what is the function of the asterisk in *–s?
21. Can you identify a modern reflex of the Old Chinese *-s suffix?
week 7 (18 March) |
Text |
Assignments |
22. Please finish reading Pān's text on Lù Démíng, and answer the remaining questions.
23. Consider page 134 of Pān's article, from the beginning of section 3 up to "...仍然有别." at the bottom of that page.
Now compare §§2.2.1.1-2.2.1.3 of Baxter's book, which was published in the same year as Pān's article.
Please note:
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week 9 (1 April) |
Texts |
耿二岭 Gěng Èrlǐng, 前言 "Qiányán" [Preface]. In: Gěng (1988: 1-2).
耿二岭 Gěng Èrlǐng, 体态语的可传授性特征 "Tǐtàiyǔ de kěchuánshòuxìng tèzhēng" [Transmittable features of non-verbal communication]. Gěng (1988: 40-67).
Source |
耿二岭 Gěng Èrlǐng, 体态语概况 Tǐtàiyǔ gàikuàng [Non-verbal communication: A survey], 北京 Peking: 北京语言学院出版社, Běijīng Yǔyán Xuéyuàn Chūbǎnshè, 1988. With illustrations by 贾光义 Jiǎ Guāngyì.
Assignments |
24. Read Gěng's Preface and his Chapter 3, taking care to look up any non-Chinese proper names and book titles quoted in the text.
25. Please bring your reading notes to class.
week 10 (8 April) |
Text |
Assignments |
26. Please finish reading Gěng's Chapter 3.
27. |
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week 11 (15 April) |
NO CLASS (BUT YES, WE DO HAVE A HAND-IN ASSIGNMENT) |
Assignment |
28. Consider Gěng's Preface and his Chapter on "Transmittable features".
Chapter 3 deals with the use of body language in different cultural, ethnic and social settings. But the chapter starts out by pointing to organic and biological aspects, mentioning features of body language which are found among humans regardless of culture or creed, e.g. in courtship behavior.
In the Preface, likewise, body language is called a 伴随语言现象 'para-linguistic phenomenon', suggesting a subsidiary role with respect to language; but almost in the same breath, body language and language are described as 孪生兄弟 'twin brothers' in terms of their origins as well as in modern usage.
With respect to human evolution, this is begging the chicken-and-egg question. Your assignment this week is to write about the origins of human language by comparing it to body language and other non-linguistic behavior.
In your essay, please reference and compare the arguments found in the pages we read from Gěng's work with the short section on language in Charles Darwin's The descent of man (1871). For Darwin's work, please use the second edition of 1874; you will find the relevant passage on pp. 84-92.
As always, small is beautiful: maximally two pages A4.
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Text |
甘于思 Gān Yúsī and 吴芳 Wú Fāng, 释"办馆" "Shì bànguǎn" [Baahngwún explained]. In: 方言 Fāngyán [Dialects], 2006, Vol. 2, pp. 186-188.
Assignments |
29. Read the text. Please check all place names on a good map.
30. Please bring your reading notes to class.
Texts |
Assignments |
31. Read Lǚ's text.
32. Substract the time spent on assignment #31 from eight hours, and spend the remaining time on Niè's text.
33. Please bring your reading notes to class.
week 14 (6 May) |
NO CLASS (BUT WE DO HAVE A HAND-IN ASSIGNMENT) |
Assignment |
34. Consider the account given in Lǚ (1987) on various Chinese etymons, all of which can be (or have been) written with a character containing 艮 gèn as a phonetic component.
On page 544-545, you will find
(a) a table summarizing data from traditional sources;
(b) a diagram summarizing Lǚ's analysis of those data;
(c) three conclusions.
In the first of his conclusions, Lǚ mentions an item which he identifies as "很2". However, no "很2" appears either in the table or in the diagram.
Your assignment this week is to find out what went wrong here. Please
– correct the error(s), and
– provide arguments indicating why your textual correction(s) represent what Lǚ must have intended.
As always, your target audience is an intelligent and interested lay readership, i.e. not necessarily trained in Chinese or in linguistics. Please bear this in mind in your presentation of characters, pronunciations and meanings, and in your overall argumentation.
Your text must be self-contained. Please introduce your subject, and provide references for any text you have to quote.
Small is beautiful: maximally two pages A4.
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updated 30 April 2010