Modern Chinese Grammar IV: Special Forms and Europeanized Grammar

Focusing on the special forms and Europeanized grammar of modern Chinese, this is the final volume of a classic on modern Chinese grammar by WANG Li, one of the most distinguished Chinese linguists.

This volume deals with the special forms in modern Chinese grammar, covering topics such as 1) reduplicated syllable, reduplicated words and opposite term, 2) incorporation, combination and idiom, 3) onomatopoeia and scene-painting, 4) repetition, 5) continuation and omission, 6) inversion and parenthesis and 7) interjection. The latter part of the volume concentrates on the changes in modern Chinese grammar resulting from the influence of Western languages, with the following aspects of Europeanized grammar being explored: 1) the coinage of disyllabic words, 2) the increase of subjects and copulas, 3) the extension of sentence lengths, 4) the Europeanization of potential forms, passive forms, markers and connective constituents and 5) new methods of substitution and numeration.

Including a wide variety of examples and analyses, this book is a must-read for Chinese language learners, as well as researchers and students studying Chinese linguistics and modern Chinese grammar.

WANG Li (1900-1986) has been widely recognized as one of the founders of modern linguistics in China. He led extensive research on Chinese linguistics, covering areas such as phonetics, phonology, grammar, lexicography, historical linguistics and dialectal studies.