Research in the field of Chinese as a second/foreign language (L2) acquisition, at present, does not match the increasing demand to learn Chinese as an L2, given that Chinese is the fastest growing foreign language in countries such as Japan, South Korea, the United States, Canada, UK and Australia. Particularly, research in Chinese L2 word order acquisition requires more attention because word order plays a more complex role in Chinese than in English due to the fact that Chinese relies heavily on word order for information structuring. Experience with Chinese L2 learning and teaching shows that Chinese word order errors are a significant problem with adult English-speaking learners. However, Chinese L2 researchers and teachers are left with no means to adequately describe and explain these errors for instruction purposes. This book is specifically written to provide such a means for them to understand Chinese word order, to describe and explain Chinese word order errors and also to help treat such errors in L2 classrooms. The centrality of word order in Chinese grammar and the emerging popularity of learning Chinese L2 make this book an important resource for both the learner and the teacher.
The goal of this pioneering work is to make available to Chinese linguists, as well as linguists in general, the results of the most recent research - not only the author's but that of scholars all over the world - on two of the most discussed topics in the history of Chinese: word-order change and grammaticalization.
Learning Chinese can be frustrating and difficult, partly because it's very different from European languages. Following a teacher, textbook or language course is not enough. They show you the characters, words and grammar you need to become proficient in Chinese, but they don't teach you how to learn them! Regardless of what program you're in (if any), you need to take responsibility for your own learning. If you don't, you will miss many important things that aren't included in the course you're taking. If you study on your own, you need to be even more aware of what you need to do, what you're doing at the moment and the difference between them. Here are some of the questions I have asked and have since been asked many times by students: How do I learn characters efficiently? How do I get the most out of my course or teacher? Which are the best learning tools and resources? How can I become fluent in Mandarin? How can I improve my pronunciation? How do I learn successfully on my own? How can I motivate myself to study more? How can I fit learning Chinese into a busy schedule? The answers I've found to these questions and many others form the core of this book. It took eight years of learning, researching, teaching and writing to figure these things out. Not everybody has the time to do that! I can't go back in time and help myself learn in a better way, but I can help you! This book is meant for normal students and independent language learners alike. While it covers all major areas of learning, you won't learn Chinese just by reading this book. It's like when someone on TV teaches you how to cook: you won't get to eat the delicious dish just by watching the program; you have to do the cooking yourself. That's true for this book as well. When you apply what you learn, it will boost your learning, making every hour you spend count for more, but you still have to do the learning yourself. This is what a few readers have said about the book: "The book had me nodding at a heap of things I'd learnt the hard way, wishing I knew them when I started, as well as highlighting areas that I'm currently missing in my study." - Geoff van der Meer, VP engineering "This publication is like a bible for anyone serious about Chinese proficiency. It's easy for anyone to read and written with scientific precision." - Zachary Danz, foreign teacher, children's theatre artist About me I started learning Chinese when I was 23 (that's more than eight years ago now) and have since studied in many different situations, including serious immersion programs abroad, high-intensity programs in Sweden, online courses, as well as on the side while working or studying other things. I have also successfully used my Chinese in a graduate program for teaching Chinese as a second language, taught entirely in Chinese mostly for native speakers (the Graduate Institute for Teaching Chinese as a Second Language at National Taiwan Normal University). All these parts have contributed to my website, Hacking Chinese, where I write regularly about how to learn Mandarin.
Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar: A Practical Guide, third edition, is an innovative reference guide to Mandarin Chinese, combining traditional and function-based grammar in a single volume. The Grammar is divided into two parts. Part A covers traditional grammar points such as phrase order, and the structure of noun phrases and verb phrases. Part B is carefully organized around language functions and situations such as: Asking questions Communication strategies Making comparisons Giving orders and making requests Expressing apologies, regrets, and sympathy The two parts of the Grammar are closely linked by extensive cross-references, providing a grammatical and functional perspective on many patterns. The Grammar is coordinated with the Workbook, which provides grammar-focused and situation-focused exercises to facilitate practice and reinforce language use. All grammar points and functions are richly illustrated with examples presented in simplified and traditional characters and Pinyin romanization, with a strong emphasis on contemporary usage. This third edition includes new sections on character structure, social media, speaker perspective, and more, as well as updated illustrative sentences and an expanded index. Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar is ideal for all learners of Mandarin Chinese, from beginner to intermediate and advanced students.
Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar Workbook is a book of exercises and language tasks for all learners of Mandarin Chinese. Divided into two sections, the Workbook initially provides exercises based on essential grammatical structures, and moves on to practise everyday functions such as making introductions, apologizing and expressing needs. With a comprehensive answer key at the back to enable students to check on their progress, main features include: exercises graded according to level of difficulty cross-referencing to the related Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar topical exercises that develop students' vocabulary base. Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar Workbook is ideal for all learners of Mandarin Chinese, from beginner to intermediate and advanced students. It can be used both independently and alongside the Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar.
Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject American Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1+ (A+), University of Hamburg, course: Motivation in Language, language: English, abstract: Linguists studying the syntactic relations of Chinese have often argued that Chinese, being a non-inflectional language, was more reliant on iconic principles than most Western languages. Since Chinese is largely dependent on the use of grammatical particles and word order, it was sought to represent conceptual mappings more directly than other languages, i.e. denoting states and events as direct reflections of human perceptions. But how iconic is Chinese really? And what are the main determinants of Chinese word order? The aim of this paper is to investigate the influence of temporal sequence on Chinese word order. I will in particular examine the pre- and post-verbal placement of adverbials and try to display the limitations of this theory. I will furthermore demonstrate how other factors can account for word order questions not sufficiently resolved by the “Principle of Temporal Sequence”. Accordingly, I will try to show that not just one major parameter is involved in Chinese word order, but several – interacting to various degrees in different contexts. For this purpose, I have examined Chinese sample sentences taken from dictionaries, as well as Chinese language learning material and grammar books. My analysis was moreover verified by the intuitions of native speakers of Chinese and is only concerned with “Standard Chinese”, or Putonghua (PTH) – the standardized variant of Chinese as it is used on mainland China since the 1950s. Hence, I will start this analysis with a discussion of the “Principle of Temporal Sequence”, its possible means for Chinese word order and its limitations. I will then consider other influences, e.g. topicality and definiteness by examining problematic cases of word order which can otherwise not be explained thoroughly by the temporal sequence hypothesis. A brief summary will conclude this investigation, pointing to further possible determiners of Chinese word order.
Chinese Syntactic Grammar: Functional and Conceptual Principles is unique in that it discusses the organizational principles of Chinese syntactic structures in terms of conceptual and functional principles, which are iconic and hence are easy to understand and apply. The organizational principles mainly comprise the three Chinese conceptual principles of Temporal Sequence, Temporal Scope, and Whole-Before-Part (Tai, 1985) and the two functional principles of Communicative Dynamism and the Principle of Topic-End Focus. By analyzing the semantic roles of each clause element, Chinese Syntactic Grammar reveals that the conceptual principles play a crucial role in organizing ideas and bringing units (such as subject, verb, and object) together to form grammatical sequences, which manifest S (A) V O (C), which is the basic Chinese word order. The functional principles control and govern variations of the basic sentence structure, which are motivated to facilitate effective communication and achieve specific communicative goals, thus generating several special structures, including the Bá/Bèi/null Bèi sentences, etc. The variant forms are motivated to achieve special communicative goals, and to facilitate effective communication. Another feature of the book is that it focuses on reasons, rather than merely on a description of rules. The language is lucid, and the arguments are cogent. The scope and depth of the investigation make the volume one of the most thorough and relatively complete pedagogical reference books. Chinese Syntactic Grammar can serve as a textbook for training professional CFL teachers. It is a must-read book for Mandarin Chinese teachers as a handy manual, also for intermediate and advanced Chinese learners if they want to have deeper insight into the nature of the Chinese language. Linguists who are interested in cognitive grammar and specialists across many fields including education, psychology, communication, and information science will find the book enlightening and interesting.
Chinese Grammar at Work adopts a cognitive-functional approach and uses a corpus-based methodology to examine how Chinese syntax emerges from natural discourse context and what the evolving grammar at work looks like. In this volume the author weaves together an array of fresh perspectives on clause structure, constructions, interactional linguistics, cognitive science and complex dynamic systems to construct a grammar of spoken Chinese. The volume contains discussions of a large number of topics: contiguity relation, the roles of repair strategies in the shaping of constituent structure, non-canonical word order constructions, pragmatics of referring expressions, classifier constructions, noun-modifying constructions, verb complementation, ethnotheory of the person and constructions specific to the language of emotion, sequential sensitivity of linguistic materials, meaning potential in interaction, the nature of variability and stability in Chinese syntax from the perspective of complexity theory. The result is a volume that highlights the connections between language structure, situated and embodied nature of cognition and language use, and affords a true entrée to the exciting realm of Chinese grammar.
Here is a concise guide to supplement any course of study and help with homework, travel, and test preparation. Topics include word order, time, nouns, verbs, adjectives, word choices with verbs and adverbs, and letter writing. The simple format has one goal: quick mastery and growing confidence. Qin Xue Herzberg, a graduate of Beijing Normal University, has taught Chinese for decades and has been an upper-level Chinese professor at Calvin College for ten years. Larry Herzberg did his PhD work in Chinese and founded the Chinese language programs at Albion College and Calvin College. Qin and Larry live in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and are co-authors of the popular China Survival Guide as well as Chinese Proverbs and Popular Sayings.
