A Grammar of

Mandarin Chinese
Hua Lin
Languages of the World/Materials 344
2001
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Table of Contents
CHAPTER I.INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 1
1.1 A BRIEF HISTORY. . .. ... ..... ....... . .. 2
1.2 Dm CHINF.5e DI ALECTS ..
............................. 5
1.2. I The Northern Dialect ...
. ........................ 7
f .2.2 rUe .. .
. ....... fl
J.2.3 Mill ... .
. ..................... 14
/.2.4 Kejia .. .
. ............... 17
1.2.5 Wit ..
....... 19
CHAPTER I. PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGy ...... , ................................................................................ , ....... 23
2. 1 TilE SOUNDS ..
2. 1. 1 Cotlsonanls ..
2.1.2 vowels ..
2.2 THE SYLLABLE ......
2.2.1 The Illilial And Ihe Final ..
2.2.2 Phollolactic ConSlroillts .. ,.
2,3 THE PROCF.sSES . ... . . .......... . .. .
2.3./ COlisonQIlIS ........ .
2.3.2 Vowels ...
2.3.3 Pinyill olld IPA ..... .. ... ................ ......... ...... .
2.4 Til E TONES ... ..... .... .. .... ....... ........ . ............... .
2.4.1 Basic TOiles ..
2.4.2 Nelllra/ TOile ...
.... 24
....................... 25
............ 26
. .... 27
...29
....................... 34
. .. 36
. ........ 37
39
.. ... ............... .41
......... .44
.. .... 44
......... .............. 48
CHAPTER 3.1\10RPHOLOGY ............................. .. .... , ...................................................................................... , ..... 52
3.1 THE MORPHEME ... .. .
3. / .1 MOllosyllabicity ..
3.1.2 Free and BOI/IId .. .
3.2 THE WORP ..... ... . .. . . .... .. . .
3.3 WORD STRUCTURE ..
3.3. I AffIXation ..
3.3.2 Compounding ...
3.3.3 Redup/iCa/ion ..
3.3.4 Abbreviations ....
3.3.5 Disyllabicity
3.4 HOMOPHONES
3.4,/ Ludy ami Taboo xpressionL
3.5 WORD STRESS
3.5.1 Meanillgfill Siress ..
3.6 TRANSLITERA lION OF FOREIGN WORDS ... ............. . . .
3,6./
3.6.2
3.6.3
3.6.4
Sound Route ...... .
Meonillg Rome .. .............. .. .. .
Sound alld Mealling Combilled ..
From Call1ollese ............................ .. .
.. ,52
.. ..... ................. 52
. ........... ....... 54
... ..... 55
. .. 55
. ............................ ... 56
. ........ 62
. ................. ....... 69
.. . .. 78
.. ................... 82
....... 84
........................ ........... 85
.... 86
........ 87
. .. .................. .. 88
. ........ 89
.. . ........ ............... ........ 90
. ........... ............ .. 9/
.. ......................... . ... .... 92
CIIAPTER 4. PARTS OF SPEECH ..................... ....................... , ............................................................................ 94
4.1 NOUNS
......... .............. ....... .......... 96
4. / . / Types 0/ Nouns
4. 1.2 Syntactic Properties
4 .2 VERBS ............ .. ... . .. .. ............ . .. ..
4.2. 1 T)'peso/Verbs ..
4.2.2 Syntacl/c Properties.
4 .3 ADJECTIVES . .................... .
4.3./ Typeso/ Adjectives ......... ........... ........ ... .
..... 96
.. .................... 97
.. .. 99
.. .... 99
.. .. . ................. .. /00
4.3.2 Syntactic Properties ........ ..... .............. .. ..................... .... ... ...... ..
.. .. 103
... /03
. .. /04
4.4 NUMBERS .......... ..
4.4. 1 Typeso/Numbers .......... ..... ......... ......... .
4.4.2 Syntactic Properties.
4.5 CU.SSIFIERS ................. .
4.5./ Types a/Classifiers . ................. .......... .... ... .
4.5.2 Syntactic Properties.
4.6 PRONOUNS ...... .
4.6./ Typeso/Pronauns ..
4.6.2 Syntactic Properties ..
4 .7 ADVERBS ........ ......... ..
4.7. / Types 0/ Adverbs .
4. 7.2 Syntactic Properties ...
4. 8 PREPOSITIONS .......... .
4.8.1 Types 0/ Prepositions.
.. ................... ........ ............... 105
. ........................... ........... .. ........ /05
. ........... . 106
... 106
.107
. ... /08
.. ..... ... 108
.. ....... 108
110
. ...... .... .. ... . ...... ... . .............. ....... 111
. ................................. .. ........................................ III
......... .......................... ............................................. 1/2
. 112
.. ........................................... //2
4.8.2 Syntactic Propertie:! .................... ............... . .. .. ............ .. .. ......................................... / /3
4 .9 CONJUNCTIONS .............. ..................... .
4.9.1 Types o/Conjunctions ..
4.9.2 Syntactic Properties ... ...................... ..... .... .... ......... .
4.10 AUXILI ARY PARTICLES .. . ..
4. 10. 1 Types 0/ Au:cilial)' Particles ..
4.10.2 Syntactic Properties .
.. .. . 114
.. .... ...... ...... ... .............. //4
. ........................ .. ................... . //5
.. ......................................................... . .... ..... 117
.. .. 117
.. ... ............ //7
CHAPTER 5.SYNT AX ........................................................................................................................................... 120
5. 1 GENERAL CIlARACTERISTlCS ........ .... .. ............. .............. . ................................. .. ... 122
5.2 PIlRASES ... .. .. ....... . 126
5.2.1 Noun Phrases .. .. ...... ........................................................... /2 7
5.2.2 Verb Phrases ... . ...... .. ......... . /32
5.2.3 Adjectiw! Phrases .. . ...... .... ... .. . 143
5.2.4 PrepOSitional Phrase.... . .. ........ .... ............. .. ......................................................................... .... /46
5.3 FUNCTIONAL COMPONENTS...... ........... . .... .. . .. ........... 15 1
5.3. / Subjects.. . .... ............. . 151
5.3.2
5.3.3
5.3.4
5.3.5
Predicates
Objects..
Attributivl!S . ........... .. ....... .... . ..
Adverbials ............................... .
5.3.6 Complements .... . ...... .... ........ .. ... ..
..... 153
.... ........... .................................................. .. ... 154
........................... . ................... /56
... ...... ...... ..................... /5 7
. ...... .. /58
5.3.7 Fllnctional Usage 0/ Various Words and Phrases ........... ...... .... .. .. .. .. ...... /63
5,4 ASPECTS i\NDNEGATION ...
5.4./ Th e Perfective Aspect ................. ...... .................... .. .
5.4.2
5.4.3
The Experiential Aspect..
The Progressive Aspect ..
5.4.4 Negation ... .. .... .... ........... .. ............. .
5.5 I NTERROGATIVE SENTENCES .... ..
.. .......... .. 168
.. ........................ 169
................ .......... 17/
173
.. ..... ............. /74
.. ..... ... ... 176
5.5. J Yes-oroNo Questions .... ... ... ......................... .... . J 76
5.5.2 Wh-QllestiOl1S.. ........... ......... .. . .. . /79
5.5.3 Choice and Cou'lIer/aClllal Qllestions.. .. ............ .......................................... ..... ............ /8/
5.6 CoMPLEX SENTENCES ..... .. ................. .. .................... .... ........ . 182
5.6. 1 Coordinale Complf'x Sentences ....................... ......... ... .... . .. .. ..... .. ......... .............. ..... .. ....... 183
5.6.2 EIJdocelllric Complex Sentences.. . .......... .. .. ....... . .. ........ ... ..... 186
'fo my 6efovecf motlie0 Liu Sui
Preface
I first thought of writing a book about the linguistics of Mandarin Chinese some ten years ago
while teaching a course on this subject at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
I found that in preparing for my lectures there were no published works in English specifically
on the major aspects of Mandarin from a descriptive, linguistic perspective, rather, just a few
grammar books on the prescriptive, pedagogical elements of Mandarin. There were excellent
works such as Chinese (1988) by Jerry Norman and Languages of China (1987) by Robert
Ramsey. Both of these books focus on the major Chinese dialects and more, rather than aspects
of Mandarin. The well -known classics such as A Grammar of Spoken Chinese (1968) by Yuen
Ren Chao and Mandarin Chinese: A Functional Reference Grammar ( 1981) by Charles Li and
Sandra Thompson dea l primari ly with the syntax, rather than the phonology of Mandarin. In
China, there arc a good number of grammar books on Mandarin, but all are in Chinese and
written in a descriptive framework somewhat unfamiliar to linguists in the West. Additionally,
I was presented with the problcm of approaching the Mandarin aspects from a more or less
current theoretical perspective. Thus, after teaching the course for nearly ten years while all the
time hoping that such a book would eome along, I decided in 1999 that I should write one such
book myself. Hence the birth of the current book.
This book may be used by both beginners and professionals. It can be used as a textbook for
Mandarin linguistics, or by professionals as a reference book on the major aspects of the
language. There are pans in which some long standing theoretical issues arc dealt with; and
there arc parts in which putative solutions arc proposed which, I hope, will provoke debate or
lead researchers into further studies.
In the course or writing this book, I received generous help and support from many individuals.
While it is not possible to mention everyone here, I will take this opportunity to express my
gratitude to a few. My thanks are due first of all to my colleagues, Drs. Thomas M. Hess,
Daniel 1. Bryant and Edward E. Owen, to my student Mr. Darryl Sterk and my graduate
students Miss Lei Hong and Ms. Uli Ma. Each read at least three chapters of the book, and
provided most valuable comments. I am particularly indebted to Professor Hess, who gave a
final careful perusal of the whole book and not only provided valuable comments but also
corrected typographic errors and inconsistencies. I am also grateful to my many students, who,
during my len years of teaching Chinese linguistics, have contributed much to my knowledge
of the field through their own research and through our discussion and debate in and out of
class. Finally, I thank my dear mother. As a mother of two children myself, holding a full-time
academic appointment, I could not have found the time to write this book if my seventy-five
year old mother had not taken on the domestic chores and cared for my five-year-old daughter.
Needless to say, all errors in this book arc entirely mine.
January 17, 200 I
Chapter 1. Introduction
Mandarin Chinese claims the largest number of speakers among all languages of the
world. According to Etlmologue: Languages of the World (Grimes 2000), Mandarin has 885
million speakers, surpassing English, the most widelyspoken language, by 63 million. Of
Mandarin speakers, eighty-seven percent live in China; the rest are found in countries and regions
such as Taiwan (4.3 million), Indonesia (0.46 million), Malaysia (0.42 million), and Singapore
(0.2 million), L It is the standard dialect oCthe People's Republic of China and Taiwan and is Olle
oCthe official languages ofSingapore.
2
The term 'Mandarin Chinese' is not a monosemy, but has at least three references. In a
broader sense, it refers to the native dialect of approximately two-thirds of China's population,
most or whom reside north of the Yantze River. Also known as the Northern Dialect, Mandarin
Chinese in this sense refers to one of the seven major Chinese dialects that include Vue
even
Chinese Di:deots
2. Wu
3.Mtl
4. Kejia
5. Vue
6.Xiilng
7.Gan
(Cantonese), Min (Fukien), Kejia
(Hakka), Wu (Shanghainese), Xiang
and Gan. (See the map or China on
the left.) This Northern version of the
Chinese language is by no means
homogenous internally. While
practically all its sub-dialects are
mutually intelligible, regional
differences are often more
conspicuous than those among the
various dialects of English in
England and North America. The
differences lie chiefly in the sound
systems. The Mandarin dialect
spoken in the city of ]inan in the northern coastal province of Shandong, for instance, has
distinctive phonetic and phonological qualities different ITom those in the dialect of Chengdu,
Sichuan Province, in Southwest China. Even within the same province, say, Shandong, Mandarin
dialects can vary considerably phonetically and phonologically. Take tonal difference for an
example. The dialect of Pingdu (K. R. Yu 1992) and Zichuan (Meng and Luo 1994) have only
three tones, as opposed to the four tones found in most other Mandarin dial ects of the province.
Even the dialects with the same categories of tones may differ in the values or these lones. A
Word with a Yin Ping,l for instance, is high-level in Beijing, but low-dipping in Jinan (Z. Y. Qian
1963 and Qian el al. 1998).
! All figures are from Grimes (2000).
1 Other official languages in Singapore are English, Malay and Tamil.
l See the coming subsection ror infomlation about this tone.
2
More narrowly. the tcnn Mandarin Chinese means anyone of the indi vidual Mandarin
dialects such as those of Jinan and Chcngdu mentioned above. This second reference is. however,
not a much used onc, that being the third refcrcnce--Mandarin as Standard Chinese. Mandarin as
Standard Chinese is officially defined in the People's Republic of China as 'the modem Han
pL'Oplc's common language. taking the Beijing sound system as its pronunciation standards, the
vocabulary from the Northern Dialect as its foundation, and the grammar from the model modem
writings in the vernacular as its grammar standards' (Y. Chen 1974, p.l).5 It is the dialect used in
all the major media systems in China, comparable to BBC English in the United Kingdom, and is
used extensively in school teaching in China. It is widely spoken in nonMandarin areas as a
second or an additional dialect (or language) in the country.
Widely referred to as Mandarin in the West, Modem Standard Chinese has more than one
name in the Chinese language. It has been officially designated and popularly accepted as
Piitonghuti. ~ i i l i ~ , literally, Common Language, in the People's Republic of China (often
referred to as Mainland China). There, it is also frequently called Hiinyii r.x.m, the Language of
the Han People, although the laller tenn can be ambiguous since it can refer to Chinese dial ects
other than Mandarin. Outside the mainland, it is referred to as Gu6yii l'EIift, National Language,
in Taiwan, and before 1997. in Hong Kong. In Singapore, it is referred to as Huiiyii $i1}. the
Language of the Hua People, the word Hua being an archaic tenn for Chinese. In schools wherc
Chi ncse is taught in and outside Chi na, Zhongwen 'PX, the Language of China, is extensively
used. Historically, what is known as Piitonghuii today corresponds more or less to Guiinhua
'Grffi, the Official Language, used to refer to the Beijingdialect-based lingua/ranca used before
modem times. This book is devoted to this standard dialect_ Mandarin as Standard Chinese
(MSC).
1.1 A Brief History
To gain a beller perspective of and to better understand MSC, il is useful to first have a
look at Chinese dialects in general and the history of these dialects. Theoretically speaking, all the
modem Chinese vernaculars except Min arc descendents of what have come to be known as
Middle Chinese (MC); Min has been found to have inherited directly cer1ai n features of Old
Chinese (around 1700-200 BCt not found in other modem dialects. Although the periodization
of the history of the Chinese language is far from resolved (see M. Chan 1999 for details), MC
roughly refers to the period of Chinese history around the time when the famous di ctionary
~ Han, otherwise known as Chi nese, is the largest ethnic group in China, constituting 93 percent
( fi gure from Microsoft Bookshelf 1996 Basic Edition) of the population. See the tenn /I,inyii
t ~ i'a in the next paragraph.
S This standard definition appears in numerous books on PiitolJglJU,i ~ i i ! i i i i published in China.
Chen's is only one of them.
6 Referto P. H. Ting(1993).
3
QieYIIII was published in 601 AD (P. H. Ting 1993, and L. Wang 1958).J Due to the non-phonetic
nature of the Chinese writing system, much infonnation about Me, especially about its sound
system, remai ns unknown. However, from QieYIIII and other literary works, and from historical
comparative studies oftoday's dialects, linguists have been able to identify a number ofimp0r1ant
characteristics of the MC system. First, MC had primarily monosyll abic words. Second, its closed
syll ables' ended in one of the six consonants I-p, -I, -k, -m, -n, -0/, namely three stops and three
nasals. A third impor1ant feature ofMC is that it had three sets of syllable-initial obstruents (stops
and affricates
9
), two voiceless sets and one voiced set. The two voiceless sets are an aspirated set
and an unaspirated one. Take the bilabial stops for an example. During Me timc, there were three
contrastive bilabial stops: a voiceless aspirated Iph.I, a voiceless unaspirated I p-I, and a voiced /b-
I, which roughly correspond to the stops in pit, spit, and bit, respectively. in English. The
following arc the three sets of the initial obstruents of Me:
(1.\)
stops affricates
(.ve, +asp]
P' I' k' k"' IS' chr
h
chyh
(-vc, -asp}
P
I k k" IS ch chy
[ +vc] b d g g" dz dz< dzy
A four1h known fact about MC is that it had four tones. Although the exact values (e.g .
high, low, rising or falling) of these tones arc still a mystery, we know thm these four tones were
named Ping lJl-, Sbiing ....t, Qil 1;;, and Ru A and that the Ru
10
tone syJlables all ended in one of
the three stops I-pI, I-tl, or Ik/ (e.g., /yap 1I. 'stand', bye! ill] 'separate', and milk * 'trce'). Strictly
speaking, the Ru tone is not exactly a tonal category, but a category made up of syllables with a
common segmental feature-cnding in a stop. Here one may pause and think of this intriguing
question: if MC had four tones, what was the case prior to MC? Or, has the Chinese language
always been a tonal language since its incept ion? The answers to these questions have not been
deCisively achieved, although the generall y held position is that the Chinese language has not
always been tonal. One important clue for this conjecture comes from the observation that some
relatives of the Chinese language, such as the Tibetan dialect of Amdo, arc atonal (Baxter 1992).
7 In view of sound changes, Me is dated around AD 420-900 while Old Chinese around 1700-
200 Be (P. H. Ting 1993).
I Closed syllables are those that end in a consonant (e.g., pat), as opposed to open syllables,
Which end in a vowel (e.g., me).
, Stops are consonants that are typified by a complete blockage of ai rflow and a sudden rel ease
from it. Affricates start out li ke a stop with an airflow blockage but conti nue into a fricative
Sound that does not have complete air blockage.
10 Tone marking on names of tones will be largely omitted in regular paragrnphs.
4
The clue thereby gives rise to the quest ion: did Amdo Tibetan lose ils lones or did Chinese
generate lones? A number of scholars have been able to argue for the emergence of tones in
Chi nese (e.g., T. L Mci 1970, and Pullcyblank 1962a, 1962b. and \ 986). Accord ing to these
scholars, tones were developed in Chinese when a group of syll ables endi ng in the glott al SlOp I
'l l began to be spoken with a higher or rising pitch, and those ending in another consonant , /-h/,
began to be spoken with a lower or falling pitch. When these final consonants disappeared due to
a histori cal attri tion of the Chi nese syll ables, the pi tch differences remained, thereby giving ri se
to genuine tonal contrast. Across languages, tonogenesis has been found to be fairly common
(Baudricourt 1954, P. Ramsey 2000 and Svantesson 2000), and there is phonetic research which
supports the possibility Ihal tones can develop from syllable-final consonants (Bomber! 1978). If
tones developed from a non-tonal state, the exaet time when these tones were developed remains
cont roversial (M. Chan 1989). Some believe that they were developed after the Old Chinese
period of time (e.g., Pulteyblank 1986); others believe in a much earlier time (e.g., S. Z. Zhang
1985).
Iftollogencsis which led to Ihe beginning of tones in Chinese is sti ll an unresolved issue,
lingui sts of Chin esc generall y agree thaI another type of lonogenesis, a very import anl one as far
as understanding today's dial ects is concerned, did occur in the language, and it happened more
recentl y in hi story. It was establi shed that some time between the MC of the seventh century and
the emergence of the early vernaculars of the thirteenth century, the four MC tones went through
a split. Each of them was split into two tones, a hi gher-pitched one and a lower-pitched one. What
this means is that if there was a level tone with the value of 33
11
in MC, after the split , some
syllables with this level tone were pronounced wi th a high tone of, say, 44 in val ue, and others
wit h a low tonc, say, 22 in value. Or, if at that time there was a rising tone 24, after the splil, Iwo
tones 35 and 13 emcrged.
u
The result of the spli t was that now in the Chinese language, there
were eight rather than four tones. Traditionally, Ihe Chi nese tenn yin [9] and yiillg m have been
used for the higher and lower tones respecti vely. Combining yFII and y;ing with Ping, Shallg. Qu,
and Ru, we now have the following eight tones:
(1.2) yFn PI y..,ng flfl
Ping .yt I. Yin Ping 2. Yan Ping
Sluing J:. 3. yin Shang 4. Yang Shii ng
Qu1f
5. Yi n Qu 6. Yang Qu
RUA 7. yin Ru 8. Yang Ru
II Such lonal values are given in Y. R. Chao' scale of five pi tch levels. See Figurc (2.27) in the
next chapter for a diagram of the scale.
I ~ It should be emphasized that all values here arc hypothetical si nce we do not know for sure
what values MC lones had. The values are j ust used here to exemplify what may have happened
during the spl it. Furt hernlOre. the original processes may have been much more complex than
what is exempli fied here.
5
Si milar to tonogenesis that brought tones into Chi nese. this tonal development was caused
by certain consonants, al beit this time by syllable-initial consonants. As mentioned previously,
MC of the seventh century had two seri es of voiceless obstruents and a series of voiced ones at
the syll abic-initial position. Later, the syllables with the voiceless obstruents (e.g., Iph _,p_,t h_,t_1)
began to be pronounced with a higher pitch, while those wit h the voiced (e.g.,/b-,d-I) began to be
pronounced with a lower pilch. At Ihis time. the pitch difference was still part of a segmental or
consonantal difference, and not a genuine tonal difference. The language then went through
anot her signifi cant change in which the voiced obstruents began to disappear by becoming
devoiced, merging with the two voiceless series. But what did not disappear with thcm was the
lower pi tch they effected. Thus. what started out as segmental difference became genuine tonal
differencc, and there were now eight rather than four tones.
In addition to the reduction in the number of syllable- initial consonants in Chinese, at
around the same time, the language also experienced reduction in its syll able-final consonants
such as ' .p, -t, -k/. The reduction processes were in fact part of a continuous process of syllable
simplification that may have started during Old Chi nese or earli er and has continued in the
Chinese dialects to the present. Here it should be noted that neither reduct ion processes
consistently occurs in all Chinese dialects, nor have all the eight tones from the tone split
remained intact in all Chinese dialeeta. As well , the syllable simplifi cat ion in time caused morc
changes that went along varied courses in Chinese di alects. It is exactl y such difference that has
helped shape dialect variations in Chinese, which will be elaborated on below.
1.2 The Chinese Dialects
Before turning to thc Chi nese dialects, it is important to address a cont roversial issue that
concerns the definiti on of the lenn 'dialect'. Traditionally, the various versions of the Chinese
language have always been regarded as dialects of the same language by language speciali sts in
China. However, more recently, some li nguists out side of China began to criticize this traditional
approach, and began to refer to the Chinese dialects as languages. The controversy stems from the
observation that Ihe seven Chinese dial ects are mutually unintelligible. According to standard
linguistic theories in the West, when two language fornls arc mutually intell igible, they are
dialects; otherwise, they are languages. Since the seven versions of Chinese arc not mutually
intelligible, they should be regarded as individual languages rather than dial ects. As Steibergs
(1987) remarked, 'we often speak of Chinese as if it were a single language, even though it is
aetua!1y a numbcr of separate, mutually unintelligible languages .... each with a host of dialects
(p.228).'
However, it seems that the mutual intelli gibilit y criterion was based on languages such as
those found in Europe, and because of such an origi n, it is simplistic to apply to Chi nese. It is true
thai what arc traditi onall y considered dialects of Chinese arc no more intelligi ble among each
ot her than, say, English is to a Gernlan, or French is to an Italian, yet the differences among the
Chinese dial ects are not analogous to those among the European languages. First, the
unintelligibility among the Chinese dialects is caused mainl y by differences in thei r sounds and
SOund structures. Although phonologically the Chi nese dialects vary enough to mar mutual
6
understanding, they share more or less the same word structures and fairly identical syntactic
ones. In the European case, the languages such as French and Italian arc not only significantly
different phonologicaHy. but they also have quite distinctive word and sentence systems. Thus, to
consider the Chinese dialects as different languages ignores other and perhaps more important
aspects of language and it is no wonder that it should appear quite counterintuitive to native
speakers of tile Chi nese dialects.
In the second case, when making dialect versus language judgement, other non-language-
specific factors also need to be considered. In the Chinese case, these factors include history,
culture, and identity. Although the Chinese people today ealmot communicate with each other if
they do not speak the same dialect, they have shared a more or less common and continuous
history that goes back several millermiums. The Wu-speaking people, for instance, do not have a
history distinctive enough to establish them as an ethnic or national group separate from, say, the
Yue-speaking people. Along with history and nationality, the Han (or Chinese) people as a whole
have also shared a common cultural heritage, and it is no wonder that they all identify themselves
as members of the same ethnic group of Chinese regardless of what versions of Chinese they
speak. The situation is very different in Europe where groups with different languages often have
their own sufficiently distinctive hi story and cultural heritage.
Third, all Chinese dialects are able to share one and the same writing system. Even though
a written text is based on Mandarin in vocabulary and syntax, literate Chinese of all dialects can
understand it, in spite of the fact that they may be pronouncing the words in their own dialects.
Such sharing of a writing system has not only helped foster a common identity and a sense of
culture and linguistic unity. By comparison, imagine using a common writing system in Europe!
Although it may be true that the unique non-phonetic, logographic nature of the Chinese writing
system is somewhat responsible for the sharing capability, it would be unthinkable to havc a text
written in English in a logographic writing system and be rcadily read by a Gennan. It seems
thereforc that considering all the factors, the Chinese language is best left to be regarded as one
with dialects rather than as several individual languages.
There is another issue that needs to be mentioned before the discussion of the Chinese
dialects. Although wc have been considering major Chinese dialects, dialect division within the
Chinese language has never been an easy task. Different theories exist. Most approach the
problem from the perspective of the historical lineage using the standard historical comparative
method. Others divide them based on the degree of mutual intelligibility calculated from the
simi larities and differences among various aspects of the dialects. I) In spite of these different
approaches, the most widely held position nowadays is that the Chinese language has seven
IJ One very interesting st udy in the latter fashion is recently done by the well-known linguist of
Chinese, Professor Chin Chuan Cheng (1996), who quantified the differences in vocabulary, tone,
initial consonants, and final rhymes of various Chinese dialects and came up with a fascinating
scheme of dialect division.
7
major dialects,!' a position that will be followed here.
In the remainder of this section, the Chinese dialects will be reviewed. Due to a shortage
of space, the review will be brief and selective. It will address only five important oncs
15
of the
seven: Mandarin (as the Northern Dialect), Vue (Cantonese), Min, Kejia (Hakka), and Wu. As
these dialects are differentiated among one another especially phonologically, this brief
discussion will focus on their sound systems, particularly their consonantal systems. Further,
focus will be on features that make each dialect stand out from the rest, and where applicable,
reference will be made to aspects of MC and their development in the dialect under concern.
Because all these dialects comprise sub-dialects which may vary considerably, the well-
established approach of focusing on the typical and representative sub-dialect will be adopted
here.
1.2.1 The Northern Dialect
In the previous discussion of the historical development of the Chinese language, it was
mentioned that the four MC tones were later
developed into eight. What then happened to
the eight tones in Mandarin or beifiinghua
the Northern Dialect? In contrast to
other Chinese dialects, Mandarin as the
Northern Dialect has moved furthest away from
MC in tonal development. Typically, the eight
tones merged into four: Yin Ping, Yang Ping,
Shang and Qu, which have traditionally been
referred to as, respectively, the First, Second,
Third and Fourth Tones of Mandarin.
16
While
almost all Mandarin dialects have these four
tonal categories, the value of each tone can vary greatly from one dialect to another. Take
Beijing, Jinan and Xi'an for example: '7
14 They are Mandarin (as the Northern Dialect), Vue (Cantonese), Min, Kejia (Hakka), Wu,
Xiang and Gan.
I! Important in the sense that lhey arc more influential in the country and outside of it, or better
understood today.
" In a few Mandarin dialects, the number can be more or less than four (see W. S-Y. Wang 1991
for details) .
17 The data are from Hiwyii Fiingyan Cihui (1995) 'Dictionary of a Collection of
Chinese Words' (Sec the third item in References).
8
(1.3)
J" Tone TOile 3'd TOile TOile
Beijing 55 35 214 51
Jillall 213 42 55 21
Xi'all 21 24 53 55
Alllhree arc Mandarin dialects, yel their lonal values vary. For instance, the First Tone is
high-level in Beij ing, low-dipping in Jinan, and low-falling in Xi'an. Consi stently missi ng from
almost all Mandarin dialects is the Ru tone, which, as mentioned earlier, was not strictly a tonal
category but one Ihal includes an lhc Me syll ables thaI end in ei ther I-pI , l -tI or I k/.
A second important development that sets Mandarin apart from most olher Chi nese
dialects is the completeness of the syll abic simpli fi cation processes as described carlier in Section
I. I. Of the six syllable-final consonants of Me, only two nasals have survived: I -n! and f rjl. The
other four have disappeared. The MC words such as lap 'pull' , byE:t 'separate' , II/Ilk 'tree', and sam
'three' are no longer pronounced as such in Mandarin, and in thei r place are la, pyc, mil, and san,
respectively. 11 The final stops di sappeared, and the final bi labial nasal merged with another nasal.
Earlier we mentioned that all the MC Rutone syllables ended in one of the three stops lp,t,kI,
and that the Ru tones no longer exit in Mandarin. It is now elear why there is no longer the Ru
tone in thi s dialect: it has gone with the disappearance of the final stops. The Me syllables that
used to bear the Ru tone can now be found in the other three tonal eategories in Mandarin. Such
merging process has traditionally been ealled rU pili san sheng AiIR= ;tr: assigning Ru syllables
to the other three tones.
Syll able.-initiall y, Mandarin has also undergone significant change; all the Me voiced
obstruents have di sappeared, becoming devoieed and merged with either their aspirated voiceless
counterparts or the unaspirat ed ones. Thus, instead of the Me fomls such as (hllllg 'through' with
an aspirated voiceless initial and dung 'boy' with a voiced initial, the voiced ini tial d in the latter
lost its voicing quality and became th. in Mandarin. This resulted in the two words becoming
homophones of each other, sharing the same phonetic fonn: t hung
l
? in the dialect . Besides
merging with an aspirated voiccJess initial, some Me voiced initials merged with their
unaspirated voiceless counterparts. For instance, the Me words ' sad' and 'double' were pllay and
bl/ay respectively in fonn. but the voiced initial b later became unaspirated and voiceless, and as
a result, the two words are united into one foml _ pey in teday's Mandarin. With regard 10 toncs,
the devoieed Me obstrucnts became aspirated in the Ping tone, bUI unaspirated in other tones. N)
IS The phonetic transcriptions arc in IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet).
19 Tones are ignored here, as are those in the following example.
10 A few Mandarin dialecls do nol obey thi s mle. See S. Q. Qiao (1983), and Yang et al ( 1971) for
details.
9
A third development in Mandarin is a dircct result of the syllable simplification. In fact,
the effect of syllable simpli ficati on ;n Mandarin goes far beyond the reduction of the number of
syllables in the dialect. One immediate and quit e significant result is that many
to be different in fonn are now homophones. The effect can be si mpl y ill ustrated with the bilabial
stopS I p , ph., bl using hypotheti cal words. Suppose in Me, there were the following eighteen
words, each wit h a di fferent fonn.
(1.4)
-p -/ -k m -n
p- pa pap pat pak pam pan
p'-
pha phap phat phak ph
am
ph an
b- ba bap bat bak bam ban
After the disappearance or devoicing of the voiced initial b , the fomlS in the bottom row
would disappear, and the eighteen words would now share twelve fOOllS. Then after the dropping
of the three final stops ' .p,I, kI, only six fomls were left . shared by the eighteen words. Finally,
after the merging of the final l mJ with I .nf, there were only four foons (shown below in the
shaded boxes) left to be shared by the eighteen words:
(1. 5) -p -/ -k m -n
p- pa pap pat pak pam pan
p'- ph. phap phal p hak ph
am
phan
b- ba bap bat bak bam ban
Of course, what has been illustrated here is simplistic and extreme. The reali ty is more
complicated and perhaps less dramatic. Yct, it serves the purpose of illustrating the extensiveness
of homophones resulting from the impact of the syllable simplification in Mandarin. One survey
(B. Y. Yin 1984) finds that among the 1200-1 300 syllable types of Mandarin,ll onl y 297, or about
a quarter of Ihem, are syll ables with just one meaning attached. The rest arc all associated wilh
two or more meanings. Examine the foll owi ng.
(1.6)
jiang
'fall, descend'
jiang liE
'craftsman'
jiang til
'soya sauce'
j iang !it
'crimson'
jiang 61
'pasty, thick'
jiang
1*
'amlY general'
jiang l/1
'st ubborn'
11 Mandari n has about 400 syllables if tonal difference is disregarded, but about 1300 if lonal
di fference is considered a difference in syllable.
10
The above is an example of a group of homophones from leday's Mandarin given in
Pinyin; all have the same pronunciation, lone included. Now let us look at a fourth development
in Mandarin. The change that started out with syllabic simplification did not stop at thc
production of homophones. Indeed, one should not nonnally expect one change in a language to
have no further effect, as chain reactions are common in language evolution. In the case of
Mandarin, it is at least partiall y due to the great number of homophones in the language that
another significant historical development was effected- the disyllabification of words. Earlier,
we mentioned that Me had predominantly si ngle-syll able words. However, when the syllabic
simplification was producing a great number of homophones, the dialect had to make some
adjustment to avoid ambiguity. One logical measure would be to enlarge the word in size, and
Ihat was exactly what happened. Today in Mandarin disyllabic words prevail (sec Chapter 2 for
further details), thereby greatly reducing Ihe number of homophones at the word level. The
following ill ustrates how enlarging word size can solve ambiguity in Mandarin, using examples
from (1.6):
(\.7)
Monosyllabic -t Disyllabic
a. jiang -t jianglub PiH&
'fall, descend'
b. jiang -t gongjiang IIiE
'craftsman'
c. jiang -t j iangy6u em
'soya sauce'
d. jiang -t jiangsc !if.@. 'crimson'
e. jiang -t j ianghu fflWI
'pasty, thick'
f. jiang -t
'army general'
g. jiang -t jiang 1Il
'stubborn'
By the disyllabifieation process of compounding, the fi rst six words become two syllables
in size, their original meanings intact. The resultant two-syllable words are no longer
homophones of one another in spite of their shari ng the common form jiiing. Disyllabification has
not wiped out the monosyllabic homophones; it has merely demoted them from the level of the
word to the level of the morpheme in the dial ect.
ll
Finally, there is an important feature in Mandarin that distinguishes it from the soulhenl
dialects: there is a set of palatal consonants It(O.-, I\;;h-,(O.-I (j, q and x in Pinyin), which were
mainly evolved from the MC velar consonant Ik-, kh_, g-, xl. For instance, the MC ka ' famil y' is
t('oya in Mandari n, where the velar k- has evolved into the palatal tr;;- . We will return to this point
in the next section on the Yue dialect.
II This docs not mean, however, that there are no longer homophones at the two-syllable word
level. However, the number of homophones at this level is no longer 'abnormal' compared with
that in other languages. For more information, refer to Chapter 2.
II
1.2.2 Vue
Other than Mandarin, the most well-known Chinese dialect in the West is the Yue dialect
better known as Cantonese.
However, the popular teon 'Cantonese'
suffers the same vagueness as 'Mandarin'
by having at least three references: fi rst
Yue, the term parall el to the Northern
Dialect and rererring to the Chinese dialect
spoken as in Hong Kong, the adjacent
Provi nce of Guangdong, and part of the
Province of Guangxi; second, any of the
sub-dialects of Yue (e.g., Siye dialect and
Kaiping dialect); third, the Guangzhou
(Canton) dialect, the representati ve dialect
of Yue, spoken in the capi tal city of
Guangzhou, Guangdong Province. What is
examined in this sect ion is primarily the Guangzhou dialect.
Guangzhou is well-known for having as many as nine tones while most Chinese dialects
have less than that. How then are the nine tones related to the eight tones that were derived from
the four Me tones? Now examine the following table:
(\.8)
Tone Category "ldll e EXllmples
\. Yin Ping 53155
Si lIifi
'teacher'
2. Yang Ping 21
Si A'I
'time'
3. Yin Shang 3S
Si <J!
'history'
4. Yang Shang 13
Si 1lf
'market'
5. YinQu 33
Si iA
'try'
6. Yang Qu 22
Si J;! 'be'
7 . Yin Ru (upper) 5
Sik
0
V,
'know'
7b. Yin Ru (lower) 3
i'Ji
'wade'
8. Yang Ru 2

'food'
The tone evolution in Guangzhou was much simpler than in the case of Mandarin: all
eight MC derivatives have remained, although the Yin Ru tone is spli t into two, resulting in a
12
tOlal of fline tones, n Note that Tone Number 7 is split inlo IWO.
A second feature of the Guangzhou dialect is that it has preserved the higher-versus-
lower-pitch difference between the Yin and Yang tones. As seen in the above illustrat ion, all the
Yin tones arc higher-pitched than their Yang counterparts. As well, the scI of syllabic-final stops
has been preserved. whi ch, as shown in the last section, disappeared in Mandarin. In facl, not
only has Guangzhou preserved all these stops, but it has also kepi Ihe final bilabial nasal
consonant I-ml, which is also lost in Mandarin. The following are examples of Guangzhou words
ending in these consonants. Compare them with their Beijing cognates given aiongside:
14
(\.9)
GlIallgzho/J Beijing
lap 1;
iL
'stand'
loct ' Ii
!\!!
'chestnut'
lak' Icy
IIIJ
'rib'
lam! lin
:It<
'forest'
tS ha:pl. t:;;ha 1m
'insert'
IS h a:I" I:;;ha
Ii!
'observe'
tS ha:k' tsey
ll!
'thier
tSha:m' Ishan
'participate'
Guangzhou, li ke Mandarin, has lost the MC voiced initi als, which are merged with their
voiceless counterparts. As to which merges with the aspirated and which with the unaspirated set,
Guangzhou is similar to Mandarin; thaI is, those in the Ping-toned syllables beeame aspirated and
those in other tones became unaspirated (F. K. Li 1939). However, there are exceptions in which
Guangzhou differs (rom Mandarin. For instance, the MC word bllay iff 'double' with a voiced
initial is phllY with an aspirated voiceless initial in Guangzhou, but pey with an unaspirated
voiceless initial in Beijing.
The palatalization of MC velars, which is a typical feature of Mandarin, has not occurred
in Guangzhou. Compare the following examples from Guangzhou and Beijing:
ll in the discussion of the Chinese dialects in this chapter, Ihe lonill diltil are taken from the 1995
HallYu Flillgyiin 'Dictionary ofa Collection of Chinese Words' with slight
ildilptation (See the third item in References). Unless otherwise noted, all word data in this
chapter, except those for Mandarin, arc taken with sli ght adaptation from the 1962 Hiinyu
F':iJ1gYI;J ZihurYJl.i-n-1flJ-!l[ 'Dictionary of a Collection of the Chinese Characters .' (See the
second item in References.) The Mandarin examples are provided by the author based on the IPA
system given in the second chapter.
!. The numbers in superscri pt arc the tonal numbers as assigned to the eight derivatives of the Me
tones (cf. (1.2) and (1.8)).
(1.1 0)
GIIQIIgzhou Beijing
ka' tQya )i( ' famil y'
kil:w
J
t<;yaw
*"
'education'
khiw
l
t<;h yaw !If
'bridge'
kheyJ tQhi
111
'ride'
h,'
oy'
'shrimp'
hiltl
oy' W8
'blind'
Moreover, Guangzhou has a vowel-length contrast not found in most other dialects:
(\.11) la:m
l
iL,
'blue' pa:y"

'fail'
lam
l
:It<
'forest'
P'>" W
'bam yard grass'
ka:o' !&!
'soup' ma:u
111
' looks'
kao'
'plough' mau'
iii.
' luxuriant'
tSa:k" 91
'duty' ka:m'
Jlli
'jail'
tSak"
'standard' kam'
Ot
'gold'
For instance, the two words la:11I: 'blue' and lam:' forest' are differentiated from each other
simply by the length of the vowel (a), which is long in the fonner but short in the lillter. By
comparison, vowel length variation does not create this kind of meaning contrast in Mandarin.
Still another feature of Guangzhou is that it does not have the so-called syllable medials
or jieyin f't-t1. (y] or [w], the glides that arc found between an initial consonant ilnd the following
vowel of a syllabic, as found in such Mandarin syllables:
(1.12)
pyen ill
'side'
til
'break'
t<;ya lit
'family'
The [w] sound does occur after tile velilr initials 1k-,kh_.O_I, yet it has been generall y
considered a secondary feature of these initials rather than a separate member of the phoncmc.
That is, in addition to these velars Ik_,kh ,0/, the language has/k
w
_, k
hw
_, OW_I (sec Nomliln 1988)
in its phonemic inventory. Finally, Guangzhou has the following consonants:
14
(1.13)
~
Labial alveolar alveo- velar labiovelar glallal
Manner palatal
Stop [+asp] ph t
h kh kwh
[-asp] p t k k
W
(2)
affricate [+asp] tS h
[-asp]
tS
fricative f
S
h
lIasaf m n
D D
W
liquid I
1.2.3 Min
The Min dialect 1!1ilill" is another conservative dialect of Chin esc. Traditionally, it has been
divided into two branches, Minnan or Southern Min. and Minhei or Nonhem Min. The
representative dialect of the former is Xiamcn
(Arnoy), and that of the latter Fuzhou. This
view of Min division has been chall enged by
several researchers. Some uphold an East-West
division (see Nonnan 1991) . The sub-grouping
of the Min dialects is complicated by the fact
that it is very heterogeneous, and some of its
dialects are so different that they are mutually
unintelligible. Min is better known in the West
as Fukienese, after the name of the Min-
speaking Province of Fujian (Fukien or
Hokkian, in an earlier non-Pinyin spelling
based on non-Mandarin pronunciation). Yel the term Fukienese is ambiguous since it can mean
the Min dialect as a whole or one of its sub-dialects such as Fuzhou. Another often-heard name
related to the dialect is Taiwanese, which is a Southern Min dialect fairly similar to Xiamen, and
is widely spoken in Taiwan. Other than Fujian and Taiwan, another major Min-speaking area is
the Province of Hainan, a large island off the South China coast. In the present discussion of Min,
we will focus on Xiamen.
Xiamen has seven tones. As Ihe following examples show, a merging process occurred.
resulting in that Tone Number 4 is missing. In particular, the two Shang tones merged into one
category, while the other six lonal categories from Ping, Qu and Ru remained intact:
15
( 1.14)
TOile CategOlY Value Examples
I. Yin Ping 55

;{X 'clothes'
2. Yangping 2.

f$
'move'
3. Shang 51

j1jj 'chair'
5. YinQu II

!Ii.
'meaning'
6. Yang Qu 33

&\
'easy'
7. YinRu 32 it
z:.
'second'
8. Yang Ru 5 ,k
i'l'
'translate'
As discussed previously, Ihe presencc of thc Ru (onc indicates that some syllables in Ihis
dialect have final stops. That is indeed the case. Like the Vue dialect of Guangzhou, all three MC
final stops arc found in Xianlen. Moreover, the MC bilabial nasal that disappeared in Mandarin
and remained in Guangzhou is found in Xiamen. The following are examples of these syllablcs
from Xiamen. Compare them with their Beijing cognates:
(1.15)
Xiamen Beijillg
sip' O. 3J
'exercise'
sit' o. .@.
'breath'
szk'
O. iii
'analyze'
sim' ~ i n {.'
'hean'
tap' ta @' 'answer'
tal" ta i;!;
'reach'
lak'
t;?WO ~ J \
'muddy'
tam
l
than
iii<
'talk'
Today, many of the final Me stops in Xiamen have been weakened into a gl ottal stop.
Compare the Xiamen syllables with their Guangzhou cognates:
(1.16)
Xiame" Guallgzhou
a2'
kap"
Iii!
'small box'
tsa2' tSa:tlt>
illl
'hand hay cutter'
to?' tSceklt>
Ji!
'table'
16
The three words, which end in I -pI , I-If, or /-kJ in Guangzhou, are now all neutralized 10 a
common fi nal glottal stop I -'ll in Xiamen. Syll able-init ially, the Me voiced obstrucnts wefe also
devoiccd, as was the case in Mandarin and Guangzhou. However, unlike those, in which the
ohslrucnls wellt two separate ways, some becomi ng aspirated and others unaspirated depending
on their tonal categories. these devoiced obstruents lend to become unaspi rated in Xiamcn:
2J
( 1.17)
Me Xiamell Gllallgzliolf BeiJillg
b- pa' pha' pha

'climb'
b- po' phew' phu

'grape'
d- lay: thay' t
h
E:y
k 'platfonn'

d- tay' lOy' Icy !i!
'pockel'
d- 10' tow' law
ill
'road'
dz- Isa?' \l!
'hand hay cutter'
These examples ill ust rated that the Me voiced initials. when devoiccd, became aspi rated
in Guangzhou and Beijing in Pi ng-tone syll ables, as the first thrcc examples illustrate, and
became unaspirated in syll ables with other tones, as the last thrce cases indicate. However, all
became consistently unaspirated in Xiamcn regardless o f thei r tonal categories.
Historically. the Min areas were, for a long time, quite isolated from the rest of the vast
Chinese-speaking land, and because o f this isolation, the Min dialects inheri ted features from Old
Chinese that were later unaffected when these features were transformed in other Chi nese
dialects. For instance, Xiamen has retained the old dental stops It-I and It h_I, which in MC were
palatalized into It' -, t,h_,d' -I, and later changed into affricates in most other Chi nese dialects:
(1.18)
Xiamell Guangzlzou Beijillg
ti:lk' tSuk' VI:
'buil d'
lu' ISU' ..
'spider'
t j1 tS hil
'"
'late'
At about the time of the Tang period, a labial-dental I f-I (qlilgchun yin trilflff) was
developed in Chinese from the Me bilabial stops. However, such a change did not happen in
Min.
n See Nomlan ( 1991) for a non-traditional view as wcll as for furthcr detai ls about Min.
17
(1.19)
Xiamen GuolIgzhou Beijing
pOU'
f:lIJI faU IfI
'house'
pun' fan' fan J!<
' manurc'
pOIJ' fuO: faO 'a surname'
pu' fu' fu
*
'axc'
A number of other fcaturcs distinguish Min from the other dialects. It has a great number
of nasal vowcls; bcfore oral vowels, the nasal initials I m-! and I lJ -1 become denasalized and arc
pronounced as voiced stops Ib-I and Ig-I respectively; many of its words have two or more
readings, a coll oquial one and anothcr which appears more frequently in wrillen form. Finally, the
typical Min dialect of Xi amen has the following consonants:

Labial (lemal ail'eolar velar glottal
Manner
(1.20)
Stop [+asp] ph Ih kh
[-asp] p I k
(1)
affricate [+asp] IS
[-asp] ISh
fricative s h
nasal m (b) n
o (g)
liquid I
1.2,4 Kejia
Min is the most heterogeneous dialect, Vue has dialects with the largest number of tones,
and Mandarin has the most homophones. The remarkable feature about the Kejia (Halla) dialect
ts:-*i! is that it is scattered over a large
geographic area. Although some degree of
higher concentration of Kejia speakers is found
around the city of Meixian in the northeast
comer of Guangdong, small areas of Kejia are
found throughout South China, including
Guangdong, Fuj ian, Guangxi, Jiangxi and
Taiwan. Accordi ng to J. H. Yuan (1989),
ancestors of Kej ia speakers migrated from the
nonh; there were five large-scale mi grat ions
mostly due to wars. These northern migrants. or
'guests' as the name 'Kejia' means, alTivi ng in
18
the unknown 'barbaric' south, tended to seck oul isolated mountainous areas to live both for
defence and to preserve their own cultural traditions.
In spite of its separate origin. the Kcjia dialect shares a number of important
characteristics with Min and Vue. According to Nonnan, the three dialects Conn a Southern
group, dist inct from other Chinese dial ects. and can be traced back 10 a common Old Soulh
Chinese origin. The typical and representat ive Kcjia dialect of Meixian, for instance, has the Ru
lone, which is characteristic of dialects of the Southern group. There are six tones in Mdxian,
which are given below. Note that Tones Numbers 4 and 6 arc missing.
(1.21)
Tone Category Vallie Examples
I. Yin Ping 44
p' i!i
'father'
2. Yang Ping II pha ffIl
'climb'
3. Shang 31
p' Ie
'handle'
5. Qu 52 ph,
/Ii
'afraid'
7. YinRu I pOl A 'eight'
8. Yang Ru 5 phat lit
'pull '
Although Meixian has preserved Ihe Ru tones, not all eight tones have remained. Like
most other Chinese dialects, tone merging processes occurred, the result of which is that there is
only one tonal category left for Shang and one left for Qu tones. The fact that both the Ru tone
categories have survived means that the dialect has preserved at least some of the three final /-p,-
t,-k1 stops. In fact, all the six syllable-final consonants of MC are found in Meixian, just like
Guangzhou and Xiamen. The following shows such cases and compares them with the Mandarin
ones, where the final stops have disappeared and the final bi labial nasal has merged with the
alveolar nasal.
(1.22)
Meixiall Beijing
lip' Ii
JI.
'stand'
lat' I,
1-*
'spicy hot'
l:Jk'
Iw!) 1i 'to fall'
Ham' Iyen W
'honest'
that' I,
it
'10 reach'
thiap' tye ill
'bunerny'
thuk' lu
ill
'poison'
thiem> tyen rtl
'electricity'
19
One hi storical development Meixian shares with the other three dialects discussed is that
the MC-voiced-ini tial obstruents, shown in the boltom row of ( 1. 1), have disappeared by merging
with their voiceless counterparts. However, Meixian differs from Ihe olhers in Ihat these syllables
with voiced obstruents almost all became their aspirated voiceless counterparts, as an observant
reader may have discovered from the above illustrations. The last four examples given all have
voiceless aspirated init ial Ilh_/ corresponding to its unaspirated counterpart 11-1 in Mandarin.
Lack of velar palatalization is another feature Meixian shared with the other dialects of the
Southern group. Compare the following Meixian and Mandarin examples:
l6
(1.23)
Meixiall Beijing
k" t!pya iii( 'family'
kaw
J
t!pyaw ~
'education'
khiaw
l
t ~ h y a w
iii
'bridge'
khp t!p h i
l ~
'ride'
hal
oya !F
'shrimp'
hat '
oya Wg.
'blind'
Finally, a table ofMeixian consonants is given below:
(1.24)
~
Labial delllal alveolar palatal velar g/oflal
Manner
Stop [+asp] ph Ih kh
[-asp] p I k ( 2)
affricate (+asp] IS
[-asp] ISh
fricat ive [+vc] f S h
[ -vc] v
nasal nt n
P Q
liquid I
1.2.5 Wu
If there is a division between dialects of the North and South, the Wu dialect :lRi:a- is one
that fall s somewhere in between; it shares some features wi th the Northern Dialect and others
with the Southem ones. Needless to say, like all the olher dialects, it also has its unique
"s ce also ( 1 10).
(1.25)
SlIzllou GllolIgzholi
bo' pha:
da?'
ta:t'
goot kUIJ'
w' t Sha
h
d.3yZ'
k""at'
characteristics. One most important feature that
separat es Wu from the dial ects ment ioned
above is its preservation of the MC-voiced
initials. Wu has by and large kept the three-way
distinction of the obstruents as given earl ier in
(1. 1). Now observe the following examples
from Suzhou, the representative dialect of Wu
and compare thent with thei r Guangzhou and
Beijing cognates:
Beijing
ph,
Kl!
'climb'
ta
l1i
'reach'
kUQ :Ili
'common'
t:;;iha
1Ii
' tea'
to;;: u
l!iI
'to dig'
In all cases, the initial consonants in Suzhou are voiced, as opposed to those in
Guangzhou and Beijing where they arc eit her voiceless aspirated or voiceless unaspiratcd. The
last example is particularly interesting. Although the Suzhou initial has preserved the original
voicing quality, it nevertheless has undergone the velar palatalization process just likc Mandarin
and unlike Guangzhou where the velar remai ns a velar. Suzhou's syll able- final consonants are
another interesti ng aspect in view of their historical development from the six MC-final
consonants. II resembles the Northern Dialect in having two syllable-fi nal nasals I-n, aud IJ/,
having losl the bil abial one I-mi. However, whi le Mandarin has losl all the l -p,-I,-k1 Slaps, Suzhou
has retained the stops, albeit in a different fashion. Now look at the following:
( 1.26)
Suzlloll Gllangzholl Beijing
li y?'
l
ap
6 I;
SL
' 'stand'
da?' la:t' ta
l1i
' reach'
02' ok'
y
""
'vicious'
.e.'
fia?'
kap" ~ i a I'l!
'small box'
za2' tSa:l .... , ~ ,
tl!!
'hand hay culler'
lso1' t Sffk'- t;?WO J<
'table'
2 1
All the I- p.-t,-kl stops have disappeared, but they have not gone without a trace, as they
did in Mandarin. Rather, they have neutrali zed into one sound, a glottal stop I- ?I. It is generall y
believed that the syllable-simplification process involvi ng the three Me stops has an intennediate
slage. They firs t become a glottal stop and then di sappear altogether, namely.
(1.27) {-p,-t,-k} -+ 2 -+ 0
In some dialects sueh as Xiamen, the glottal stop exists alongside the more conservative 1-
p,-t,-kl stops, providing evidence for the theory of lexical diffusion which argues that
phonological change may be gradual and occur graduall y across lexical items (W. Wang 1969
and 1973). The retention of this vestige of the final stops means that Suzhou has the Ru tone in its
tonal categori es. In all, it has seven tones whi ch are given below. Note that Shang has only one
category, and therefore Tone Number 4 is missing:
(1.28)
TOile Caregol)1 Vallie Examples
I. Yin Ping 44 phu
lin
'arrange'
2. Yang Ping 24 bu
'IIi
'grape'
3. Shang 52 phu ~
'general '
5. YinQu 412
p" 1]; 'cloth'
6. YangQu 31 bu
tt
'step'
7. YinRu 4
p
h
02
"
'pounce on'
8. Yang Ru 23
b02 { ~
'servant'
While we have most ly focused on the consonantal systems of the dialects so far, Wu
dialect has a unique feature in ils vowel system. There are many more single vowels and fewer
diphthongs in Wu than in other dialects. Examine the examples below:
(1.29)
SlIzholl Gllallgzholl Beijing
11 la:m
1
Ian ill[ 'blue'
"
yin'
in
r"
'swollow'
st'
SUn' t;:>Ucn jl!; 'select'
tsc' tS<E))! tswey
!ill
'gui lt'
dE' tffY
twey
IlA
'line'
th 1 thay' t'ay "'- 'manner'
~
22
The abundance of single vowels and the paucity ofdiphlhongs accounts for the fact that in
many syllables, a Wu dialect has a single vowel. whereas dialects such as Mandarin and
Guangzhou have diphthongs or a vowel followed by a nasal, as shown above. The extensive
appearance of single-vowel syllables may explain why to the ears of a native Mandarin speaker, a
Suzhou or Shanghai speaker often seems to speak fast. Finally, Suzhou has many more
consonants than mosl other Chinese dialects due primarily to thc prescnce of the voiced stops,
affricates. and fricatives. shown below in the table ofSuzhou consonants:
(IJO)
~
Labial dental alveolar palatal \elar glono/
Man"er
SlOP [+asp] ph t
h
kh
[-a>p] p t k
7
[+vc] b d g
affricllie [+asp] ts
to
[-asp] tsh toh
[+\lC]
d"
/ricoti l'e [+vc} f
,
0
h
[-vel v
,
"
fi
nasal m n
P Q
liql/id 1
glide y
23
Chapter 2. Phonetics and Phonology
The study of the sound system of language nomlall y starts with phonetics followed by
phonology. However, it is widely acknowledged that the two are not mutually exclusive: The
quality of phonological modeling crucially depends on the understanding of phonetic details,
whereas phonetic descripti on is oftcn more insightful when done within a more explanatory
framework of phonological constraints, rules and/or parameters. In Ihis chapter, we will not
attempt to separate the two, but each will be resorted to as required by Ihe description and
explanation of certain aspects of the Mandarin sounds and their patterns.
The theoretical framework used in this chapter will be Generative Phonology, a major
influential phonological framework developed in the twentieth century. Within thi s framework , a
sound (or in proper linguistic terms, a phone or a segment) is a bundle of binary features which
encode such infonnation as the position where the sound is produced (where the stricture is) by
the speech organs and the manner in which the sound is uttered. Phonological processes arc
captured in terms of change in the configuration of the feature bundles in certain contexts. This
theory of the sound pallems of language has gone through a great deal of change within Ihe past
two decades. An example of such change is that the place features, which used to be binary in
standard Generative Phonology (Chomsky and Halle 1968), are now unitary features. The
arrangement of features has also been completel y revolutionized. To denote a segment. say [pl.
the features used to be placed. unordered, in a two-dimensional feature matrix such as this,
(2_1) +consonantal
-sonorant
-cominuant
-voiced
+labial
but they arc now organized into a three-di mensional tree structure which branches out into several
levels from a root node carrying the crucial infonnation as to whether the segment is a consonant
Or a vowel. The same infonnation given in (2.1 ) would be organized roughly as (2.2): 27
" Th- " - -r. d ' IS a much simph Ie leature geometry tree, though adequat e to illustrate here the
difference between the old and new treatment of features. Interested readers may read Broe
(1992) and Hal le ( 1992) for details.
24
(2.2)
[ -continuant ]
I
[
+consonanlal ]
-sonoran!
[ -yoked ]
Place
I
[LAB ]
Phonological processes used 10 be described by mles in the Conn of 'A becomes B in the
environment of C. but now may be indicated by lines linking among the nodes of features. The
following dotted line represents a phonological process whereby the second segment assimilates
the place feature of the first.
(2.3) Place Place
This newer version of Generative Phonology is more complex and abstract. The
understanding of it entails a great deal of background knowledge of the various aspects of the
theory. Because the scope of Ihis descriptive grammar does not allow a full introduct ion of this
new theory, for ease of comprehension on the part of the general reader, we wi ll now and then
adhere to more traditional ways of describing phonetics and phonological processes. The newer
theory will be used where necessary, especiall y where the older theory is silent about the issues
involved or is entirely inadequate.
This chapter addresses four aspects of the sound system of Mandarin: sounds. syllables,
segmental processes and tone. The secti on on sounds will include the consonants, vowels. and
glides. The section on the syllable will address such topics as the initials and finals. phonotactic
constraints, syllable weight. etc. The third section discusses the phonological processes Ihat occur
between adjacent segments within a syllable. This section will also address the phonological
versus phonetic representation of phonemes and allophones in the Pinyin transcription system.
The section on tone consists of two parts. one devoted to the four basic tones and the other to the
neutral tone.
2.1 The Sounds
A descri ption of the phoncties and phonology of a language cannot be done without
25
resorting to the linguistic tool called the phonetic features. Each sound or segmene
l
is identified
by a unique set of distinctive features organized in a tree structure. Features can be contrastive in
one language. bUI nOI in another. Some of the most important distinctive features for the
description of Mandarin include 1) major features such as [consonantaI1. [vocalic].
[aspiration]. and [nasal); 2) place features: [LABIAL]. [CORONAL]. and [DOSAL1; and 3)
vowel features: [high], [back], and [round]. 19
2.1.1 Consonants
The phonetic features that distingui sh consonants from vowcls are [consonantalJ and
[vocalic1. While consonants are [+consonantal. -vocalic1. vowels are exactly thc opposite: [-
consonantal. +vocalic). There is a third group of phonemes called glides or semi-vowels that have
negative values for both features; [-consonantal. -vocalic]. Strictly speaking, Mandarin has 20
phonemic consonants.
lO
Traditionally. thc [-consonantal) glides are grouped with the consonants.
As the glides [w, y,)iJ are not phonemic in Mandarin, we have chosen not to include them here,
but will deal with them at a later point in thi s chapter.
(2.4)
~
Labial demal ail'colar alvcQ- palalal velar
Mallller pa/alal
SLOp (+asp) ph
t
h kh
[-asp) p t k
afJricalc [+asp]
ts
h
t ~ h
[-asp) ts
t ~
/ricali\'e [+asp] f s
~
x
[-asp)
Z.
approximant nasal m n
0
liquid I
retroflex
"
Two major parameters are used in phonetics to differentiate sounds in language: place of
articulation and manner of articulation. An important feature in thc dimension of manner of
articulation in Mandarin is [iaspiration) ([asp] for short), dcnoted here by a superscript
------------------
" In autosegmental phonology, Ihe segment does nOI have to be a fully specified pronounceable
segmcnt, but a partial one, a theory that will not be expounded here.
l'l These vowel features arc temtinal features of [LAB] (round]) and [DOR] ([high] and [back}).
See Broe (1992) for detail s.
~
Thc three palatal obstruents [ t ~ , t/p
h
(0,] , which normally appear in a Mandarin table of
C()nsonants, are excluded here because they are not, strictly speaking, phonemic. They will appear
iater in a more inclusive table in the section on variations of phonemes (Section 2.3).
26
diacritic'1 Ih', that divides the obslrucnts (SlOps, affricates and fricatives) into two groups: those
that arc aspirated and those that are not. In physical terms, aspirated consonants involve a sirong
puff of ai r coming oul of the lungs, whereas unaspiratoo consonants do not have this trait.
Regarding the difference between the alveopalatal Fricatives [:;;;) and there has been
controversy. Textbooks and grammar books published in the People's Republic of China (e.g. ,
Wang and Pang 1996, p. 156) distinguish the two in tenns of [voicing]; namely is voiceless
while is voiced. However, that would mean the positing of a voicing feature which is
otherwise unwarranted for the Mandarin obstruenls. One way to avoid this theoretical inadequacy
is to assume that [aspiration] is the feature which distinguishes the language's fricatives as with
the other obstruents. This is the position held by many linguists outside China, and is adopted in
the table abovc. It is interesting to note that [aspiration] as a distinctive feature is often hard to
comprehend by speakers of a language making a distinction among its obstrucnts in terms of
voicing rather than aspiration. For instance, to a speaker of English, the aspiration distinction in
Mandarin sounds indistinguishable from the voicing distinction in English. Thc reverse situation
is truc for nativc-Mandarin-spcaking learners of English.
From the point of view of place of articulation, the consonants can be classified into three
major groups: [LABIAL] (or [LAB] for short) which include the labials. [CORONAL] (or [COR]
for short) which include the dentals, the alveolars and the alveopalatals. and [DOSAL] (or
[DaR)) which include the rest. The {COR] alveopalatals [1:;Ih, 1:;I.:iI. 7 .1 arc a special casC. These
sounds are similar to English [IS . d3, S, 3] (the initial consonants in church,judge, ship and gel/re,
respectively) in place and manner of articulation. but are different from thei r English counterparts
in that they arc pronounced without the protrudi ng of the lips but instead with Ihc additional
featurc of curling the tip of the tongue toward the front of the hard palate. The laller characteristic
makes them [retrofl ex] sounds. Mandarin spoken as a second dialect in non-Mandarin-speaking
areas, particularly in the Southeast provinccs of China. normally does not have this [retroflcx]
feature. Taiwan Mandarin, for one, clearly lacks this feature.
2.1.2 Vowels
Mandarin has a relatively small set of phonemic vowels, compared with some other
Chinese dialects (e.g. Shanghai). There are six phonemic vowels
l1
which arc given below:
(2.5) from cenlraf back
ImrOlllld rOllnd IIIlroulld rOUlld
high i u u
mid y 0
low ,
) 1 Another very common way of transcribing aspiration is the use of the 'prime' sign, with which
the aspirated [p] would be (p'].
l! The vowels after the sibil ants [tsh, ts, S, are dealt wilh later in this chapter.
27
Three features arc sufficient in distinguishing the phonemic vowels in Mandarin:
[backness] (frontlback), [height] (highllow) and [roundness] (round/unround). Unlike many other
Chincse dialects, Mandarin has two high front vowels, (i] and [U]. While [i] is a very common
vowel similar to the English vowel in beat, [U], which is pronounced with the tongue positioned
as in [i] and the li ps positioned as in {u], is not as common. Not only is it often absent from other
dialects of Chinese, but it is also occasionally abscnt from Mandarin as spoken in Taiwan. Thus,
one sometimes hears oJpengyou ifr-Jl1lti.. '(literally) you friend' in place of the targeted nJlpCIIgy6u
friend' in Taiwan Mandarin.
The mid-vowcl Nt is oftcn substituted for the English schwa [a] by an English-as-a-
seeond-Ianguagc (ESL) Icarner whose mother tongue is Mandarin. Both are non-rounded mid-
vowels, but the Mandarin one is tenser and further back in the oral cavity. The low vowel tal is
fairly similar to the English vowel [a] in/atlter, the mid vowel!o! to that in bOal, and the back
vowel tuJ to that in boot. All five vowels have contextual variations, a topic to which we will
return shortly.
2.2 Tbe Syllable
One of the most rcmarkable phonological characteristics of Mandarin (and the Chi ncse
language in general) is the salience of its syllable. The following quote from Jerry Nomlan (1988)
is typical of linguists of Chinese:
'There is a sensc that Chinese is also phonologically monosyll abic. In
almost all descriptions of Chinese. the syllable is taken as a ki nd of self-contained
entity which forms the basis of phonological description... In hi storical
comparison, [the syllable] is the largest relevant unit; another important feature of
Chinese dialects (and perhaps of other monosyllabic languages as well) is that any
one dialect contains a fixed number of possible syllables. Even when new terms
are borrowed from foreign languages, they are interpreted in terms of the cxisting
set of syllables ... A further consideration is that most phonological processes affect
the syllable without reference to its lower level constituents.' (p: 138)
What is also remarkable about the Mandarin syllable is that there is a very limited number
of them, just a little more than 40O--the official figure from the PRC is 405--when tonal
difference is disregarded. These 405 syllables are given in the following Table of Beijing Sounds
and Syllables:
~

~
e:
I
"
c

,
~

i
i
Iff
I I I I I I I I I !
~
,
I I I I I I I I 1 I
~
I

I ! I ! c
,
~
I
I I

I I I
, , I
I I I
,

I I
, I
t= " .aa

,

i
r I I I I r r r
I II
,s
J I I r
"
" I I I I I I I
~
:
,
I I I
0
0
J
,
!

I ,

J ! I I I I I


:.. /I. I




I fll lli Ilf
,
r fir filE II If If ,
r I I r 1 I i I ! nn !

,

I I I
,
I I I I
,
J
I I

I

, ,
I I I I !
,s

I I

,

, , ,
I I
,
,
0
1 I
I I

,

I
, ,
I I
,
:>:
$
"

j l Ii

I I
0
is

l I
I I I I I I

,






I

, ,
, .

,

, ,
s ~






S(e!I!U(
I
!
! I I
1 I !
... , ~
III
I I r
1'1
I "
, . ,
I I I
, ,

, ..
1 I I
, , ,


,
. .
!
!

,
r
! J r
I I I
! I J
,
,
! J
,
! ! I
,
,
I I
I
,
I :
r. ~ J I
!
!
!
,
,
I
,
,
,

I ! J
Iff I
!! J
,
,
I

I , I

I I I

& l J
, , j

, ,
J


, .

. ,

. .
29
Even when tonal difference is considered as a difference in syllabic type, there arc only
about 1200 types. lllis number is remarkably small in contrast to that in English, which has more
than 8,000 syllable types according to one source (De Francis 1984). One consequence of this
paucity of syllable types is that in Mandarin there are a great many homophones, especially at the
morpheme level. We will return to this topic of homophones in the next chapter.
2.2.1 Tbe Initial And the Final
Thc Chinese syllable has been the substance of scholarly studies for centuries in China.
As particularly evident in such rhyme dictionaries as QieY1I1I (Lu Fayan, A. D. 601), a Chinese
syllable is traditionally seen as having two parts: the init ial (shengf1111111j:) and final (yimmii
fjlJ'Iij:)." The initial is usually the single consonant found at the beginning of a syllable while the
final everything that follows. The initial may be empty, or a 'zero initial' (Iillgs/JcI1gmii $pHfj:)
in which case, the initial consonant is absent, and the syllable begins with a vowel
H
which is still
considered to be part of the final.
The division of a syllable into just two parts seems to be psychologically real in the
subconscious linguistic knowledge of native Mandarin speakers. Studies (e.g., S. Wang \993)
have shown that Chinese who have not learned an alphabetical system such as Pinyin or the
writing system of English cannot further segment a Chinese syllable final into its componenl
soundsH-suggesling the integrity of the Chinese final. This bipartitional approach to syllable
segmentation is still largely used in the dialect studies of Chinese in the People's Republic of
China. There, in almost all books of dialect SlUdies--a great number of which have been
produced during the last ten years, one can find lists of all the initials and all the finals of the
dialects under study.
Scholars of the Chinese language perhaps would have been content with the initial-final
partition of the Chinese syllable, had not Western linguistics been brought to China by such
pioneering modem linguistic researchers as Yuen Ren Chao (or in Pinyin, Yuanrcn Zhao) early in
the Twentieth Century. Today, many grammar books published in the People's Republic of China
reflect the influence of modem linguistics from the West. One example is that in many grammar
bOOks, the Mandarin syllable is described in finer details, which we have distilled in the
following notation:
11 Qieywz mii1J also indicates the existence of tone over the syllable. We will address tone later in
this chapter.
14 The vowel may change into a glide. See the sections on vowels .
" Samuel Wang found that some native speakers of Taiwanese, a subdialec{ of Min (or
Fukienese) could not even segment a Taiwanese syllable into its initial and final. However, given
the existence of many secret languages, language games and speech errors which move finals
around, it is indisputable that initial-final segmentation is psychologically real.
30
(2.7) a
~
1";';'1 r....J
I I I I
(C) (G) V ({C, Gll
Where G is a contextual variation of a high vowel, and
C in the Final is a nasal consonant.
Among the symbols, 'cr' represents a syllable, C a consonant, V a vowel, and G a glide
(which is a contextual variation of a high vowel). The usc of the braces indicates Ihal all but the
nucleus vowel V is optional in a syllabic; the use of the curly brackets means that only onc of the
members enclosed can appear at a time. The above schema, if speJt out, yields the following 12
syllable structures in Mandarin. For consistency. all examples given arc first-Ioned monosyllabic
words:
J6
(2.8) Syllable Types Examples
JPA Pillyin
CGve
pyen bian
Jil
'side'
eGVG
1?wcy shuai
W
'break'
eve
fYQ feng
J'\
'wind'
eVG xey hei
ill
'black'
eGV !",ya jia li( 'famil y'
ev Iha la
!i!lIlm/-e;
'helshe/it'
Gve
yEn yan
ffll
'smoke'
GVG
wEy
wal
ill
'not straight'
GV ya ya
14
'duck'
ve an an
'fi:
'peace'
VG aw ao
1"1
'convex'
V u wu
I!i.
'house'
The three parts which fonn the final of a syllabic have been rcferred to as the 'head'
yi1lJtou f t S J ~ , (or 'medial' jieyin ft-{T), the 'middle' yimfii f-J!!l. and the 'tail' yi1lJIYC! ffSlJ!
l6 Please refer to (2. 17) forthe use of phonetic symbols for gli des (e.g. , [yn in this chapter.
31
respectively. The head is a high vowel variation ofa glide [y), [w] or [y).)1 The middle is anyone
of the vowels when a gli de is not present. When it is, the middle is a non-high vowel. The tail has
four fonns: a glide (y) or [w), or a nasal en) or [IJ]
Depending on what sound starts them, the finals have traditionall y been classified into
four groups: I ) the 'open-mouth finals' (kiiik6uhu 1ftJpif) which begin wit h a non-high vowel
(i.e., [a), (0) or {Y) }, 2) the 'close-teeth finals' (qfchihii 1fi!iPf=) which begin with the high front
unround vowel [iJ, 3). the 'close-mouth (lip-rounding) finals' (hi:k6uhii tJ n;:) which begin with
the high back rounded vowel {uJ, and 4) the 'tense-lip finals' (cu6k6uhii ID:tJllijl) which begin
with the high front rounded vowel [lI]. The columns of the Standard Table of Beijing Sounds and
syllables, given in (2.6), are nomlally arranged based on this four-way division. Mandarin final s
have also been classified into simple finals, complex finals, and nasal finals. A simple final
contains only one voweL A complex final consists of a diphthong (two-vowel sequcnce
ll
) or a
triphthong (three-vowel sequence). A nasal final ends in a nasal consonant. In Pinyin, the
Mandarin finals are given below:
(2.9) T)pe of Opel/ - Close- Close- Tense-Lip
Fillals MOlllh Teelh MOlllh
i u U
Sjmple a ia ua
0 uo
e ie Ue
ai uai
COII/ple:c ei uei(ui)
ao iao
ou iou(iu)
an Ian uan Uan
Nasal en In ucn(un) Un
ang iang uang
eng ing ueng
ong iong
As shown above, a number of finals contain diphthongs. A noteworthy property of these
two-vowel sequences is that, compared with similar strings in English, they are much more fused.
A final with them often sounds more like single vowels (or monophthongs) to the cars of a native
English speaker. For instance, the <ai> in 'Shanghai' is said with a lot less transition from the
VOwel to the glide than the similar lay] in 'bye' in EngliSh. Thus, a native English speaker, when
"
These glides are sometimes represented by (j], [w), [4 } respectivel y in previous works on
Mandarin phonetics.
II One of the vowels appears in the fonn ofa glide (see later in this chapter for details).
32
saying the word 'Shanghai' , sounds to be exaggerating the <ai> to a nalive Mandarin speaker.
Another notable mailer in the above table is thaI there is a special final that is not included in it:
<er>. The reasons for the omission are: One, it docs not belong to any of the groups in the table,
Two, morphemes/words that take <er> as their syll abic final arc so few as to be marginal. Three,
it can only occur alonc-neither with an ini tial consonant nor with a prcvocalic glide.
The traditional initial-fi nal division of the Mandarin syllable resembles the well-cited
analysis of syllable structure in modem linguistics, as given below:
(2.10) cr
I I

,,"
In this analysis, a syll abic is first partitioned into an 'onset' and a 'rhyme' (also spell
'rime'). The rhyme is further divided into a 'nucleus' vowel (or the 'peak') and a 'coda'---the final
consonant or consonants of the syllable. Initially, one may think that 'onset' and 'rhyme' can be
regarded as being the same as ' initial' and 'final'. However, they are not quite identifiable as will
be seen in what foll ows.
Severnl questions about the constituents of the Mandarin syllable can be raised within the
syllable analysis in (2.10). One of the most well -known is where the prevocali c glide goes. This
question has never been raised within the tradi tional ini tial-fi nal framework, in which the glide is
clearly indicated to be part of the final. There are at least two schools of theory regarding this
issue. One treats the prevocalic gli de as a secondary feature of the onset (S. Duanmu 1990), the
other, the more traditi onal, considers it part of the nucleus. To understand thi s controversy, we
need to digress a little to see another important characteristic of Mandarin syllables: Ihal Ihey all
weigh the same.
It is clear from the table in (2.8) that Mandarin syllables may contain from I to 4 sounds,
and there arc altogether twelve patterns for their combination. However, these facts should not be
construed as meaning thai Mandarin syll ables vary in weight. The truth is that, unlike many other
languages in which the numbers of Cs and Vs (or Os) in a syll able mailer in the weight of the
syllable, the weight of the Mandari n syll able remains constant across syll abic types wit hin a
specific context of utterance. Thus, the metrics in Mandarin poetry do not nonnally count the
number of sounds in a syllable, although they require the tone (a topic which will be addressed
later) to be more or less of a certain type in a given environment.
During the last decade, linguists have tried to captufe the same-weight phenomenon in
more formal terms. One way of doing this is to say that within the syllable, there is a fixed
number of timing slots. For instance, [:;;wey] 'break', [ya] 'duck' and [u] 'house' would all have
three timing slots wi thin the syll abic:
(2. 11 ) cr
I I \
XXX
33
Depending on the theory one adheres to, the timi ng of a syllable can be analyzed and
represented in several ways. What is shown above is one whieh uses a 'place holder' symbolized
by 'X', to encode one timing unit within a syllable. With just three timing units, a quest ion
emerges immediately: how should the connection be made between these timing units and the
actual Cs, Vs and Os in Mandarin'? The following illustrates the problem more visually:
(2. 12) cr
II \
XXX
:;;wey
cr
II \
XXX
yo
cr
II \
XXX
u
If the fi rst timing slot 'X' is in the onset position, and the second and third in the rhyme
position,19 where should the medial glide (e.g. , [w] in go? Is it part of the timing of the
onset, the first slot, Of part of tbe timing of the rhyme in the second slot? As ment ioned earlier,
one theory holds that the medial glide is part of the firs t slot. To be more specific, it is a
secondary feature of the onset. Or, if the ini tial consonant is absent, it is the onset itself. If the
medial glide is [y] , then the onset has a secondary feature of palatalization ([+higb, -back]), and if
it is [w], the onset has a secondary feature of [+roundJ. For exampl e, the onset in the syll abic
[pye n) 'side' would be [p' ], and the onset in [:;;wey] 'break' would be The two syllables
would be analyzed thus:
(2.13) cr
II \
XXX
III
p' e n
cr
II \
XXX
III
cy
Wit h the medial glide taken care of in this manner, the rest of the components in the
syllable all fit into the syllable structure. This theory seems to have neatly solved the problem of
the position oCthe prevocalic glide. Yet, it has done so at a high price. Such unifornl treatment of
the medial glide leaves unexplained a number of observations about the language. In secret
1, Not all theories assume a multi-level representation of the syllable as shown in (2.10). Some
asSUme a ' nat' structure without the intennediate level of onset/rhyme division. The difference is
not crucial in OUf discussion, so it will be ignored here.
34
language, language play and speech errors in Mandarin. it is very common 10 sec exchange Or
substituti on of rhymes that arc complete with the medial glide. In these language processes, the
medial glide behaves quite obviously as a part of the rhyme. Also, to a nalive speaker, treating the
medial gl ide as a mere secondary feature of the onset is quite cQunteT-inlUilive. Both the [y) and
the [w] in the above two examples, for instance. requi re a fai r amount of time to utter. They are
by no means uttered simultaneously wi th the onset consonant, as a secondary feature is expected
to be. It seems that the fault of thi s theory siems from a Procrustean bed or what a Chinese saying
describes as 'cutting the feci to fit the shoes': trying to fit the language data into a theory rather
than developing a thcory based on the data. In brief, even though we know that the Mandarin
syllable weighs the same across categories, how the weight is distributed across the phonemes in
the syllable remains an outstanding problem.
2.2.2 Pbonotactic Constraints
The twenly consonants in the tabl e given in (2.4) do nOI occur in all positions within the
syllable. Except [TJ] and {H}, all occur at the beginning of the syll able. The [DOR] nasal
consonant [1J1 occurs only at the end of a syllable in Standard Mandarin, although it can be an
important syllable-initial consonant in other dialects spoken in the greater Mandarin area (e.g.,
Jinan of Shan dong Province). Another consonant that only occurs syllable-finally in Mandarin is
the retroflex. approxi mant [H], which only combines with the mid-vowel [yl to yield the form
[YH) (Pinyin <er> mentioned previously in our discussion of Mandarin final s) for a very few
lexical items; and it often appears as a sub-syllabic suffix.oo with a diminuti ve meaning. In fact,
whil e all vowels (and glides) appear syllable finall y, there are very few consonants that can occur
3tthe end ofa syll able. In addition to (0] and (H], there is the [COR) nasal In]. This laller nasal
consonant stands out from the rest of the consonants in that it is the onl y one that appears both at
the beginning and cod of a syll able (e.g., mill ff.I 'male'). Withi n the syllable, there is another
important feature in Mandarin: there are no consonant clusters; that is. two consonants never
occur adjacent to each other in a syllable. Immediately foll owi ng an initial consonant, there can
be a vowel which, if followed by another vowel, is a hi gh vowel that has become a gli de. Both
high and low vowels can begin and end a syllable, but when there arc more than two vowels in
the syllable, one of them is always a high vowel. A glide which is the [-consonantal] variation of
the hi gh vowel may begin or end the
2.2.2. 1 Syll abic Consonants
Wc have learned that if a syllable has an initial consonant, that consonant always has to
combine with a vowel to form a syllable. That is, a syllable has to have a vowel as seen in (2.7).
However, there is a group of Mandarin consonants which can form the peak of a syllable and
behave just li ke a vowel. These consonants arc called srllabic consonants. Mandarin has two sets
.00 Mandarin, as al1 Chinese dialects, has no sub-syll abic suffi x. except for thi s one. We will
address thi s matter further in Ute next chapter.
41 We will explain the vowel and glide correspondence in the next section.
35
of such consonants: the dentals [tsh, ts, s1 (Pinyin <c, Z, s and the alvcopalatals [I:S",
(pinyin <eh, ,h, sh, r>. These consonants can form syllables on own by and
voiced. The voiced pan gives these consonants the vowel-hke and syllable quality. The
representation of such syllables has always been chall enging. One way of doing it is just to usc
the consonant symbol with or wi thout the diacritic ' , 'underneath it to show that that consonant is
syllabic. For instance, in Cantonese. a syllable wit h a nasal syllabic consonant is nomtally
represented with just the consonant itself (e.g., [I)] for the Cantonese name Ng). Another way of
doing it is to usc a vowel symbol after the consonant (e.g., [tSl}. [tgru, and sometimes [tsz
4l
J). This
is actually a very common practice among linguists of Chinese (e.g., e.C. Cheng 1973 and Lin
and Wang 1992). They nomlally use the IPA symbol [1] forthe vowel afterlhe dentals, and [1,) for
the vowel after the alveopalatal retroflexes. Both vowels, according to Lin and Wang, are apical
(tongue-tip) vowels. However, for the Mandarin syllables with syllabic consonant s, there arc four
reasons that a vowel symbol should not be used.
4l
The first is that using a vowel symbol gives the
misleading indication that the consonant onset and the following vowel are twO individual,
unrelated sounds, and thus misses the fact thaI the voiced part of the syllable is just a continuation
of the previous consonant. Secondly, the approach fails to explain why the vowel cannot take any
other consonants as its onset. Thirdly, it fails 10 explain why the vowel cannot take a coda (a final
consonant), while all the other vowels can. Fourthly, it fails to explain why the vowel cannot
stand alone to form a syllable while all other vowels in Mandarin can. Lastly, when liaison occurs
between a syllable and a following one with [a] (See Section 2.3), the added consonant init ial of
[a] is clearly a derivative of the preceding consonant-shari ng at least its place of ani culat ion-if
the consonant is a syllabic one. Otherwise, the initial consonants of the two syllables have
nothing to do with each other. Thus, in a tree-struct ure analysis. these syllables should be
represented as foll ows:
(2.14) cr cr cr cr
1\ 1\ 1\ 1\
CV CV CV CV
II
I' I'
II

'1
trh
'"
'to spray' 'capital' 'to cat' 'to know'
2.2.2.2 Syllabic Gaps
Not all Mandarin consonants combine with all vowels to form a syll able, as the Standard
Table of Beijing Sounds and Syllables (see (2.6 shows. The missing combinations create two
tyPes of gaps in syllable types. One type of gap is created when a natural class of consonants does
This last symbol {z}, of course, is not a conventional vowel symbol, but il has been used by
linguists of Chinese for the purpose in di scussion.
"1 See Seclion 2.3.3 for more discussion.
36
not combine with a certain final. For instance, the whole class of labial obstruents <h, p, m. C>
fails to combine with the 'open-mouth' final <ong>, even though all the rest of the classes of
consonants do combine with it. There afC also gaps in whi ch a natural class of consonants docs
nol combine with a group of finals beginning with a certain vowel. For instance, all labial
ohstrucnts <b, p, m, f> fail to combine with final s beginning with the hi gh-front-rounded vowel
<U>. The other type of gaps, on the other hand, arc created when a certain consonant fails to
combine with certain final even though all the rest oCthe consonants within the same natural class
do combine wi th that final. An example of such a syllable gap is <bou> which docs not exist even
though <pou, mou, fou> do. Another example is the absence of <shong>: The retroflex <sh>
cannot combine with <ong> while the rest of the retroflex consonants can: <zhong, chong,
rong>.'" Presumably, the second type of gaps may be more of an accident than the first, and
therefore, may potentiall y enter lhe syllabic set more easil y.
Synchronically speaking, however, syllable gaps are seldom, if ever, filled in Mandarin;
the set of Mandarin syllables (as given in the Table of Mandarin Sounds) is closed. Syllables that
do not exist today are ill-formed and rejected by native speakers. The relative uniqueness of lhis
situation is better understood if we consider the accidental gaps in, say, English. In this language,
a native speaker will accept a gap such as 'blick' as being a well-formed syllable, even though it is
not in use-there is no meaning attached to it. The same is not true for the gaps in Mandarin. If
not in use, it is not normally accepted. The closedness of the syllable set in Mandarin is
manifested in the transliteration of foreign words, as mentioned earlier in the quote from Norman
(1988). Foreign syllables (and sounds) are not allowed into the system, but are normally rendered
into syllables that arc members of the closed set. Diachronicall y speaking, when a two-syllable
word contracts into a single-syllable one, the output syllable is usually among the synchronically
acceptable set and not the phonological combination of the two original syllables.
2.3 The Processes
One important charactcri stic of Mandarin (as well as olher Chinese dialects) is that
segmental phonological processes (i.e., processes not involving tone) almost always occur within
the syll able. One rare exception is an assimilatory segment addition process whereby a following
single-vowel syllable [a] copies, in its onset posi tion, the last segment from the preceding
syll able. Examples of this process are given below in (2.15). The addition is shown in the IPA
illustration. These examples show that the last segment of the previous syllable is invariably a
hi gh vowel (or its glide variant' s) or one of the two nasal finals. This last segment is copied in the
following syllable ofthe interjective particle [a] in the neutraltone:'6
... See S. Wang (1994) for a discussion ofphonotactic gaps in Chinese.
., By the Glide-Fomlation Rul e given later in (2. 18), a high vowel becomes a glide when adjacent
to a non-high vowel.
See the section on Mandarin neutral tone in this chapter.
37
(2.15)
JPA Pinyin
,. xweyya hu! a ",if'!
'(pronoun) can!'
b. t o"i.i9a qu a
*'3f
'Go!'
c. xa_a hao a W'1It
'Good!'
d. oitJlJa xinga j'jll'l
'Will do!'
c. khanna kan a
'Look!'
f. Ha
chi it ntPI'!
'Eat!'
g. tsa
ZI a 'fiIiJ
Words!
Similar cross-syllable processes are quite rare. For instance, the alveolar nasal [0] is not
copied in the second syllable even though that syllable starts with a low vowel [a] (e.g., wi/in' /.io
r.i1:tX 'collon-padded coat', but not mian Dlio),47 indicating the unit y and. of
syllables in Mandarin. Interestingly, two reviewers of this book, both natIVe .Engh.sh
speakers who arc competent users of Mandarin-as-a-second-Ianguage, dIfficultIes w]\h
such lack of liaison between syllables in their Mandarin. One aVOIded uSing such terms as
min-niin-yii !!fiJT$iia 'Min dialect' since he would produce min-min-nO l!JiJiWY: 'Min gi rl'
instead. The other has been heard to say hu/.i-lling when he meant to say huiin-ying AA: ill!
'welcome.' In both cases, the speakers applied English liaison rul e to their production of
Mandarin.'S
2.3.1 Consonants
In sharp contrast to the single phonological process across syll able boundaries, there are
many such processes within the syllable. Mandarin phonemic vowels and consonants may have
allophones: variants brought about by some contextual difference. In the Table of Consonants
(2.4), we listed twenty consonants. However, all are phonemes--sounds that have minimal pairs
to show that they arc in contrast. Before we proceed to the Mandarin segmental phonological
processes, an explanation of the concept of minimal pairs is in order here. Let us see an example
from English. We know that the consonants [pI and [b] in English are phonemes because there
are minimal pairs such as [pc t] 'pet' and [bet] 'bet' to show that they are in contrastive
distribution. The onl y significant diITerence between the two is that [pI is voiceless while [b] is
4J By Pinyin spelling conventi ons, if the non-initial syllable of a word begins with a vowel, that
syllabic is separated from the preceding one by an apostrophe (e.g., mii'w'i'io .tfiltx 'cotton-padded
coat' , and ;ri'an 1!!i$: ' Xi'an, a city in Northwest China') .
41 Note that in both cases, the liaison occurred between a previous consonanl and a foll owing
vowel. In phonetic tenns, yu and y ing begin with a vowel; the use of <y> in both is based on
Pinyin spelling convenlion.
38
voiced. The feature [voici ng1. therefore, is a contrastive feature in English. On the other hand, the
aspirated (ph] and the unaspiratcd (PI are variations of the same [pJ and not two indi vidual
phonemes in Engli sh, even though both (onns exist: [ph] in [phn] 'pit' and [pI in [SPIt] 'spit'.
The crucial difference is that here [ph] and [pI are not in contrastive distribution, but in
complementary distribution: the unaspirated stop occurs only after the sibilant [5] while the other
occurs in syllabIc-initial position. In this case, the feature (aspiration] which differentiates the two
is therefore not a contrastive feature.
Complementary distribution is one of the most important pieces of infonnation used to
dclennine whether or not two or more sounds go together as allophones of the same phoneme.
Sometimes, however, complementary distribution alone is not sufficient. Consider the set of
palatal consonants listed in (2.6), the Standard Table of Beijing Sounds and Syllables. These
three sounds [Ir;;;, tr;;;h, 0;:) are heard only before hi gh, front vowels (Le. [iJ and [UJ). On the other
hand, there are three series of obstruents that are never heard before these two vowels, the dentals
(ts, tsh, sl, the alveopalatals and the velars [k, kh , xl; therefore, the palatals arc in
complementary distribution with all three. The quest ion is to which one of these obstruent seri es
should the palatals be assigned as all ophonic variants?
One might be inclined to let the historical development of the palatals decide the matter.
Most cases of these palatals have evolved from velars at an earlier time. The [x]-[r;;;) and (k]-[tr;;;)
are clear comparing Cantonese [hakaw) 'shrimp dumpling' with Mandarin
'shrimp dumpling'. One could, thercfore, conclude that the palatals should be
considered variants of the vclars (i.e., [k]-)- [tr;;;], [kh) -.[tr;;; h), [x] -)-[r;;;J). However, some of
today's Mandari n palatals have developed from the dental series; and there is no way for modem
Mandarin speakers to distinguish a palatal of the velar origin from one with a dental origi n-at
least not without philological study which is irrelevant for a synchronic study.
A better criterion for a decision on the allophonic membership of palatals rests on the
concept of phonetic similarity. Presumably contemporary speakers of Mandarin feci palatals to
sound more like alveopalatals than like either dentals or velars. One bit of evidence for this
assumption is the fact that native Mandarin speakers are often heard replacing the English
alveopalatals with the Mandarin palatals before high front vowels: [d3ip] 'jeep' becomes [t(j:'ip];
[ISiz] 'cheese' becomes [((j:'hiz); and [Sip) 'sheep' becomes [(j:'ip). The evidence suggests Ihatthe
native Mandarin speakers cannot produce the alveopalalals before a high front vowel or glide. On
the other hand, the same is not true for velars and dentals. Both seem to induce fewer problems
for the Mandarin speakers. The velar-initial English words [ki] 'key', and [gis] 'geese', and the
alveolar-initial Engl ish word [si k] 'seek', for instance, arc usually mastered wit hout much
problem. Thus, evidence from the ESL learning by nati ve Mandarin speakers suggests that
synchronically, the alveopalatals arc the underlying phonemes from which the palatals are
derived. If this is indeed the case, the phonological process of palatalization can be wrillen as
follows:
The Mandarin consonant [x] in contemporary Cantonese is a glottal fricative [h).
39
(2. 16)
The Synchronic Palatalization Rule
alveopalalals -)- [+high, -back) !
[+vocalic, +hi gh, -back]
Having given this tentative synchronic rule, we should mention, that it is perhaps n.ot
unreasonable to assume that the phonemic origi n of the palatals Simply does not eXist
synchronically. The complementary distribution of the palatals the dentals, the
alveopalatals, and the velars does not have synchroni c significance, bUI IS Just a result of the
historical development which palatalizcd some vclars and dentals. . ' .
The following table gives a summary of all the consonants and ghdes In Mandann. Non-
phonemic ones are enclosed in braces (cf. (2.4)).
(2.17)
place Labial demal alveolar alveo-palatal palatal velar
Mmmer
Stop [+asp] ph Ih
kh
[-asp] p t
k
affricate [+asp] "h
(tr;;;h)
[-asp]
"

(10)
ricative [+asp] f s

(0)
x
[-asp]
"
approximallt nasal m n D
liquid 1
retroflex
"
gli(le
(w)
(y)( y)
2.3.2 Vowels
While it is evident that in Mandarin, there are only three outstanding allophones (the
palatals) in consonants, there are more contextual variants in vowels. In fact, all six of the
phonemic vowels have variations. A high vowel, for example, when occurring before or after
another vowel (which is, incidentall y, always [-high) in Mandarin), assumes the fonn of a glide;
namely, [i] becomes [y], [u] becomes [w], and [U] becomes [:5'], The processes can be captured,by
the following two mirror image rules. The first says that a high vowel becomes a correspondmg
glide if appearing before another vowel, and the second that a high vowel becomes a
corresponding glide if appearing after a voweL
(2.18)
,.
b.
l+vocaiie, +high] .....
[+vocalic, +high1 -)-
Glide Fonnation Rules
[-vocalic]
[-vocalic]
-,:;::=:;c.;;-- [ +voculic]
[+vocalic1
40
Non-high vowels [y] and [a] also have variati ons. However, the variation docs not involve
categorical change; their all ophones remain vowels regardless of environment. The mid VOwel
[Y] has three context-induced all ophones: [e, c, a] whose distribut ion is given below:
(2. 19) a.
b.
e.
I yl --t [eJ
/y/ -+ [eJ
/y/ --+ [al
I [+high,-back] __
/ __ [+nas]
The rules say /y/ appears as (eJ before the hi gh-front-unrounded vowel (il (see (a , as [tJ
after (iJ or [U) and before the syllabic boundary, denoted by or' (sec (b, as [a] before the nasals
(see (e, and as [y) elsewhere. The following are examples that show the operation of these rules:
(2.20)
IPA Pinyin
[el pey bei
*
'cup'
[el ye ye
"I'
'lear
pye bie
l\l
'turtle'
ge yue
! ~
'approximate'
[el a n en
.2
'grat itude'
taD deng
j:J' 'light'
[yl Iy Ie
~
'happy'
kY ge
:rk
'song'
ph
Wy
50
po
J1X
'slope'
The low vowel (aJ, on the other hand, has just two context-i nduced allophones: [c] and
[a]. Their distribution is illustrated below:
(2.21) a.
b.
c.
/aJ --+ [el
/aJ --+ [el
/aJ --+ [01
l +high, -back] __ n
/
__ U
~ Many native speakers of Mandarin insert a high vowel [u] between the labial consonants lp, ph,
m, f] and [Y]. After glide formation, the syllables become [pw Y], (phWY), [mwy], and [fwY)
respectively (Pinyi n <bo>, <po>, <mo>, and <fo.
41
These rules spelt out in plai n English are that the low vowel /a! is rai sed to [e] between
the high front vowels [i1 and [U] and the alveolar nasal [11], or before the high vowel [i], but is
baekencd before the velar nasal [0]. Elsewhere, it remains as an [a]. Examples of these allophones
arc given below:
(2.22)
IPA Pinyin
[e] yen
yan jjlJ 'smoke'
Ie: hyc n quan
Illl
'circle'
[e] wcy
wai
lIi
'not straight'
[a] faD
fang
11
'square'
[a] fan fan
IilI
'tum over'
rna nla
l!!
'mother'
To summarize, all the Mandari n vowels, phonemi c or phonetic (i n braces), are given in the table
below:
(2.23) /ront central back
III/round rOlilld ul/round round
high ;
"
u
mid (0) (e) y 0
(e)
low a (a)
2.3.3 Pinyin and IPA
Pinyin, literally 'spell sounds' , is a Latin-letter-based alphabet ic system that was initiall y
developed in the 1950s in the People's Republic of China to replace Chinese characters. No
SOoner had the system been officially promulgated in 1958 than that purpose was abandoned.
Thereafter Pinyin began to be used as a phonetic aid for the promotion of PutollghuiJ ~ ~ . i i l l t i ! i " .
literally, Common Language, the official ilame for Standard Mandarin.
s l
Because it was
developed as a writing system, Pinyin is not exactly a purel y phonemic system. Rather, some
symbols arc phonemically oriented whereas others embody phonetic details.
Most consonant symbols are faithful representati on of the phonemes of the language.
There arc three notable exceptions. As discussed in Ihe last section, the palatal consonants [t!O.
tt;b, t;] arc not underlying phonemes, but all ophones that appear only before high front vowels.
They should, therefore, be missing from an inventory of phonemes in Mandarin. In Pinyin, they
JI See Chapter I for a description of the various names for Mandarin.
42
arc treated as separate individual sounds from those from which they arc derived and arc
represented by the symbols <j , q, x> respectively. Such treatment of these allophones is not
without good reasons. As di scussed previously. the phonemic origin of these all ophones is stili
largely a mystery. This rai ses the question of which set of symbols to usc for U1C representation of
the palatals, those for Ute denIal s, the alveopalatals or the velars? For instance, how should <j i>
'chicken' be written? Should it be written as <zi>, <zhi >, or <gi>? Besides, as mentioned earlier
it is perhaps not unreasonabl e to assume that the phonemi c origi n of the palatals si mpl y does no;
exist synchronically. If this assumption is valid, it makes sense to represent these palatal SOunds
separately even from a phonemic point of view. In tenns of dialect division, the palatalization
serves to identify dialects of the north which have thi s feat ure from di alects of the south which
generall y lack il. Without representing the palatal s separately. thi s important distinction between
Mandarin in the North and Non-Mandarin Chinese dial ects in the South would not be
represented.
Compared with the consonant symbols, the vowel symbols of Pinyin arc more faithful
representations of phonemes in Mandarin. In (2.5), we saw that Mandarin has six phonemic
vowels [a,o,Y, i,u, u], and in Section 2.3.2, we learned, in addition, that two non-hi gh vowels have
allophones, and the high vowels have glide counterparts. Pinyin has six vowel symbols <a, 0, e, i,
u U> and two glide symbols. They cover all the phonemi c vowels, but not all the allophones. In
parti cular, we have Pinyin <a> to stand for the allophones [e) between [i] and (n], [cl before [i],
{a] before [0], and [a] elsewhere. For the phonemic vowel I yl , Pinyin has [el bcfore the hi gh
vowel [i], (e] after the high vowel (i] and before the syll able boundary, [e] before the alveolar
and velar nasals, and (Y] elsewhere. For the three gli des [w, y, y] which arc de-vocalicized hi gh
vowels, Pinyi n has just two symbols: <y> and <W>. The fonner, <y>, is also the symbol for the
de-vocalicized hi gh front umlaut vowel [j] when used in conj unction with a following <u>
symbol (e.g. <yuan> [ye n] 'ci rcle').
In addition to not compl ctely matching phonemic or phonetic infonnation al the
individual sound level, Pinyin differs somewhat from a strictly lingui sti c representation of the
syllable. From (2.7) in the section on syllables, we learned that a syllable never has two high
vowels adjacent to each other. Whenever two vowels appear together, one must be a non-high
vowel, or whenever two high vowels are present, they would flank a [-high) vowel. In Pinyin
representation, when the initial position is not empty (i.e. not a zero initial), the syllable final
[yow] is <iu> (e.g., l i u ilfI 'to flee'), and the syllable final [wey] is <ui > (e.g., 'to push'). In
both cases, the middle non-hi gh vowel is omitted. When there is a zero initial, hov:.ever, this
vowel is shown (e.g., you "$. 'friend' and wei 'tail'). Also shown is the glide ronnation o f the
initial hi gh vowels. At the syll able level, another piece of infonnation that is not codified in
Pinyi n concerns the umlaut vowel [ll]. Where the infonnalion is predictable from context, the
diacriti c is not shown in Pinyin. After the palatals <j , q, x>, for instance, the <U> is simply <u::>
(e.g., JU 'orange', qii g 'region', and xii m 'need'). When [ll] begins the syll able, it is
represent ed with a <y> followed by <u> (e.g., 'stupid', yu.in IW 'circ le' , yue F1 'moon'). In
fact, <U> is spell only after the initials <I> and <n> (e.g., nD, 11:. 'woman,' lil tj 'green', and lilt:
IIfI. 'omit').
43
At the syll able level, Pinyin representati on does not correspond to the phonemic
inrom13tion in yet another area: the representation of the syll ables fonned by only one syllabic
consonant. As mentioned in Section 2.2.2.1 , Mandarin has seven syll abic consonants: the
sibilants alveolars and alveopalatals {tsh, IS, s, These consonants provide substance
for both the initi al consonant and the peak vowel positions in the syJl able structure. Pinyin uses
the symbol <i> to represent the voiced part of the syllable, so that these seven syllables are
represented with both a consonant and a vowel symbol: <zhi, chi, shi, ri, zi, ei, si>. Such
representation docs not create problems for nat ive speakers of Mandarin learning Pinyin, but may
cause trouble for Chi nese-as-a-second-Ianguage learners who may mistake the vocali c part of the
syllable for the hi gh front umound vowel [i] found in (1-1/ 'to kick' and mi *'= .
Some people may argue Ihat the vocalic part in the syllables of syll abIC consonants IS
actually a vowel that is in complementary distribution with the hi gh front vowel [i ], and
therefore, the use of the <I> in both cases is justified. This usage signifies that the vowel of the
syllabic consonant is just an allophone to the underlying vowel [i ). Such a relation, however,
cannot be established. We leamed previously in Section 2.3.1 , that the dentals, alveopalatals, and
velars arc in complementary distribution with the palatals. The complementary distribution is
quite clear cut, and there is no reason to believe that the complementary distribution has just one
exception: the syllables with a single hi gh front vowel [i]. Additionally, some dentals before high
front vowels became palatals historically. Treating the vowel in the syllabic-consonant syllables
as underlyingly a high front vowel would leave unanswered the question why these consonants
have not become palatals. A third argument against assuming the vocali c part of these syllables to
be the high front vowel is that the vowel part in the dental syllables and those in the alveopalatal
syllables do not have the same value' l; it is not clear if they are the same vowel.
Since the oldest system ofromani zat ion for Chi nese was introduced by Si r Thomas Wade
in 1859 and developed by Herbert Giles in hi s 191 2 dictionary, some half a dozen alphabeti c
systems have been developed and used for writ ing and teaching Chinese. In addition to vari ed
choices of symbols for certain sounds, one major difference among them lies in how they treat
phonemic and phonetic information. In particular, an allophone represented separately from its
phoneme in one system may not be so in another. For instance, in the Wade-Giles system, the
palatals [t(; , Q] are treated as if they are allophones of the alveopalatals
S
) si nce both sets
share the same set of symbols as the retroflex [tg;,tg;h ,gil; namely <ch, ch' , sh> respectively. In
Pinyin, on the other hand, symbols for the former are <j, q, x,> while those for the latter <zh, ch,
sh>. Another exampl e is that the Wade-Giles system does not distinguish between the aspiratcd
affricates in the primary symbols; both arc <ch>, although they arc disti ngui shed by a
secondary symbol, an apostrophe: <ch, ch'>. In Pinyin, they are represented distinctively in
primary symbols as <zh> and <ch>. In sum, segmental phonology sometimes is and sometimes is
not encoded in the alphabetic systems of Chi nese.
Sl They do not rhyme with each ot her. Neither do they rhyme wi th [i].
lJ Incidentall y, this is the position menti oned in ( 16).
44
2.4 The Tones
In the last section, we looked al segmental processes in Mandarin. Now let us tum to the
in particular, the tones of Mandarin. That Mandarin is a tone language is one of
Its most well-known features. But what is a tone? How does it work in language? In particular
what arc tones like in Mandarin? These arc among the questions that will be explored in thO
. g
sectIOn.
,The of lone relies on knowledge of another linguistic entity called pitch.
:an be measured in tenns of fundamental frequency (F()). Phonetically, the
productIon ofp1\ch Involves the tensing of the laryngeal muscles. All languages manipulate pitch
to However, while all languages do so al the phrase or sentential level which is
called intonatIOn, only some languages use pitch variation at the word/morpheme level.
that vary pitch at the word/morpheme level are said 10 be tone languages. A very
simple example of the linguistic usc of pitch at the word level can be found in Nupe, a language
spoken in Nigeria. In this language, the syllable ba means 'to count' if said with a low pitch, but it
means 'to be sour' if said with a high pitch.
2.4.1 Basic Tones
. Not all tone languages usc pitch in the same simple way as the Nupe example suggests.
at the word or morpheme level is used in a more complex way in Mandarin, as it is in many
languages. In Mandarin, it is not just a matter of the height of the pitch varying to yield
different level tones, but rather the pitch may go upward or downward to produce different
contour tones. Several linguistic analyses have been developed in the past to describe tones.
Some are more theoretically accomplished, more precise and insightful, while others are less so.
One of the most used but less theoretical descriptions of tones was the Scale of Five Pi tch Levels
developed by the latc Yuen Ren Chao, the most well-known linguist of Chinese. On this Scale:
the four basic Mandarin tones can be represented as here:
(2.24) 1st 2nd 3,d 4'
Tone Tone Tone Tone
5

/
\
4
3

2
What the Scale docs is to divide the pitch range of a person engaging in normal speech into five
levels, with Level 5 representing the highest pitch, and Level I the lowest. Traditionally, lones in
Mandarin are each gi ....cn a number for case of reference. The First Tone, the only level tone of the
language, starts at the highest point on the Scale and continues at that same pitch for a designated
of time. The Second Tone, a rising tone, starts somewhere in the middle of tile pitch range
and nses upward to the highest point. In the production of the Third Tone, the speaker attempts to
45
start at the lowest pitch, continues at that low pitch for a little white, and then raises it somewhat
before finishing. In producing this tone, the speaker may unintentionally start a little higher than
the intended low pitch target due to the physiological constraints which make it hard for the
speaker to reach the low target right away. Traditional descriptions which assume the third tone's
value to begin with a falling pitch havc failcd to consider this. The Fourth Tone is falling and
covers all the pitch range. It starts at the highest pitch level and drops to the lowest. Based on the
measurement on Chao's Scale, the First Tone can be said to have the value of (55), indicating that
the tone starts at the pitch level of 5 on the Scale and finishes at the sallie level. For the same
reason, the rest of the four tones can be said to have the value of (35), (113) and (51). The four
Mandarin tones as given here are the citation tones. That is, they are tones produced in isolation
or in a final position where no other tones fottow. In Pinyin, these four tones are reprcsented by
diacritics over the vowel, or if there arc more than one vowel, over the lowest one, Thcse four
diacritics are shown below over the syttable <ba>.
(2.25)
Pinyin
J" Tone ba- A
'eight'
r TOile ba Ii.(
'pull out'
3' Tone bi
""
'target'
4' Tone ba 1';
'father'
Tn connected speech, these basic Mandarin tones often undergo context-induced
modifications catted tone sandhi . The best-known tone sandhi processes in the language involve
the Third Tone (113). This tone, which is also phoneticall y the longest of the four in citation form
(L Feng 1985), becomes a high rising tone similar to the second tones. (35) when appearing
before another Third Tone
55
However, it becomes a low level tone (11), a 'half third' in Chao's
terminology, when appearing before olher basic tones, In other words, the Third Tone never takes
on the citation form if there is another tone following it. The Fourth Tone also undergoes sandhi.
S4 It is not conclusive at the present time whether the modified Third Tone is completely identical
to thc Second Tone in value. According to Shen (l990), for instance, the second Third Tone is
higher when following an inherently rising tone (i,e., a Second Tone) than a rising tone generated
by the Third Tone Sandhi (p, 285), which indicates that the two rising lones are not quite the
Same.
Tone sandhi as presented in this section is always true on an isolated two-syllable sequence.
However, when the string gets longer and involves more than two syttables, the picture becomes
more complex. Such complexity has given rise to sentence phonology, which will be briefly
discussed later in tltis chapter.
46
This lone, when foll owed by another lone, is modified into (53) from the ci tat ion fonn of (S 1 ) 56,
Similarly, the Second Tone has been found to alter its shape in connected speech. It becomes hi gh
level when sandwiched by the First or the Second in front and another tonc aficr it. The only lone
that, for a long time, was not found 10 undergo modification is the First Tone, Is there really a
linguistic gap here? Recent studies by H. Lin (1992. 1996, and 1998) have suggested otherwise.
In these studies, we found that the perceived absence of modification on the First Tone is
a result of the limitation of the theoretical tools used in the description of lones. Traditional
phonological analyses of tones have looked excl usively at the direction along which the pitch
moves: upward, downward or just steadil y ahead. Theoretically, they ignored treating the timing
along whi ch the movement occurs. We suggest an analysis that takes the timing into account. [n
this analysis, each Mandarin tone is represented by three tonemes. each toneme representing,
relatively speaking, one third of the time used to utter the tone in citation. Usi ng the tools
developed in the non-linear phonological theory in which tones are represented by a sequence of
level tonemes, the four Mandarin tones are represented in citation as HHH, MHH, LLM and
HML. The symbols 'H, M, L' represent high level , mid level and low level tonemes respectively.
This represenlation of the four Mandarin tones takes into account the fact that. phonologically
speaking, all Mandarin tones (or syllables) have the same relative lengthS? One important fact
about tones in Mandari n is that the citation foml is about twenty-two percent longer than the
same tone in non-final position (L. Feng 1985)51. This figure, translated into relative toneme
representation, can be construed as the shortening of a non-final tone by the deletion of the last
toneme. In Ihis way, the four Mandarin tones should have the shapes of HH, MH. LL, HM,
respectively, when not appearing alone or in final posilion. As we wi ll show below, this treatment
can explain the previously mentioned Half-Third Sandhi, Fourth Tone Sandhi and Second Tone
Sandhi by making the following stipulation:
(2.26)
In connected speech, within the metrical foot of two syll ables, a loneme at
the edge ofa basic tone is deleted if (a) adjacent to another tone, and (b) not in a
fi nal tone.
One advantage of treating the timing dimension in Mandari n lonal analysis is that it yields
an explanation as to why the First Tone does not undergo sandhi change. We find that it is not
that the First Tone does not change, but that the change is not det ectabl e in traditional theory of
16 Traditionally, the Fourth Tone was found to undergo this change only before another Fourth,
but this understanding was based on imprecise auditory impression. Shih's (1986) Bell
Laboratory report indicated that the Fourth Tone never reaches the low target when followed.
n Acousticall y, the Third Tone is the longest, then followed by the Second, the First and thc
Fourth. However, the difference is insignificant at the rule-governed phonological level.
" Feng's findings are that. in non- fi nal position, the average tone lasts 235 milliseconds while in
fi nal posi ti on, it lasts 301 milliseconds (p. 177).
47
tonal representation. The First Tone, just like the other tones, is modified in its length when
anot her tone follows: Just as the Fourth Tone loses the last tonemc to change from HML to HM
(i.e. from 51 to 53), the First Tone changes from HHH to HH. Bul because the traditional tonal
heo
ries
do not encode length, this tonal change in the First Tone is not treatable and the fact that
:he First Tone undergoes the same change as the Fourth Tone (and the Second and Third) is
concealed.
Another advantage is that now we can pinpoint the reason why a Third Tone has to
change when anot her Third Tone follows. The reason that emerges from o u ~ theory ~ s
dissimilation, a very common process found in the world' s languages. When a TllIfd Tone IS
followed by another Third, by (2.26), it loses its last toneme. As a result, there appears a series of
more than two low lonemes (i.e. LL LLM), a sequence that is perhaps physiologicall y hard to
roduce. Adjustment (hus has to ensue, and the result is that the tail of the first lone is raised.
P The following summarizes our theory of Mandarin basic tone with reference to Chao's
Scale:
(2.27) 1" Tone r TOile 3
h1
TOile 4' TOile
;1
/
~
\
HHH MHH HHH HML (In citation)
HH MH HH HM (Non-final)
[n olher words, alllhe four basic tones have sandhi processes which can be captured, first
of a1\, in the following rules (which are essentiall y the same rulc-deletion of a final toneme).
Note that the symbol 'X' stands for any toncme, H. M, or L.
(2.28)
111 Citation III Normal Speech
a. I" TOile SandI,;: T T T T
II \ II \ --> 1\ 11\
HHH XXX HH XXX
b. r TOile Slllldhi: T T T T
I I \ 11 \ -+ 1\ I I \
MHH XXX MH XXX
<.
3rd TOile Sal/dh;: T T T T
II \ II \ -+ 1\ I I \
LLM XXX LL XXX
d. 4' TOile Sill/dhi: T T T T
11\ 11 \ -+ 1\ I I \
HML XXX HM XXX
48
In fast speech, the Second Tone goes further by losing the len lonemc when it is, at the
same lime, preceded by another lonc
J9
(Y. R. Chao 1968).
(2.29)
In Normal Speech III Fast Speech
b' . 2nd Tone Sandhi: T T T T T T
(continued) 11\ 1\ II \ -+ 11\
I II \
XXX MH XXX XXX H XXX
The Third Tone, if followed by another Third, now gives rise 10 a problem- the output
contains a string of more than two low tonemes. A repair mechanism is therefore activated
whereby an edge tomeme is raised (See Footnote 54) to break the monotony:
(2.30) c'. J..:I Tone Sandhi: T T T T T T
11\ II \ -+ 1\ II \ -+ 1\ II \
LLM LLM LL LLM LM LLM
2.4.2 Neutral Tone
That Mandarin docs not favor a sequence of low tones is also found (0 be significant in
the c a ~ c of the neutral lone. But before we get to the low lone issue, leI us become acquainted
with the Mandarin neutral tone. This is unfortunately not an easy and straightforward task due to
the fact that there is still a great deal of controversy concerning what exactly the neutral tone is.
In this section, we will attempt to present briefly the crucial issues and work out a coherent
description of the neutral tone.
That the neutral tone is short and weak is well recognized. It is somehow derived from the
four basic tones; it is called the neutral tone because. in unstressed positions, any o f the four basic
lones can lose their inherent tone and be 'neutralized' into this short and weak tone. This tone
neutralization process has been active for quite a long time: Many lexical items in the language-
mostl y function words which almost never appear in stressed positions-have become fossilized
Neutral tones, their tonal origin hard to Irace from a synchronic perspective. Among words with
neutral tones whose tonal origin is traceable. some neutrallones are compulsol)' while olhers are
optional due to a number of faclors unclear at the present time (Sec Lin 2001 for an explanation).
Phonetically, the neutral tone has been found 10 have not just one value but a number of
values depending on which basie tone it follows. By auditol)' impression, its phonetic values have
'9 Chao only detected the hi gh level Second Tone when the preceding tone is a First or a Second
tone. However, there is reason to believe that the same is true when the preceding lone is a Third
or a Fourth. On the one hand, the fact that the medial tone is the shortest is well-documented
(e.g., Chao 1968, Van and Lin 1988, and Shen 1990b), and on the other, the characteristic ora
level tone may have been concealed by transition from the lower offset of the preceding Third or
Fourth tone.
49
been found to be the following (S. Q. Qi 1956, T. Lin 1962, V. R. Chao 1968 and Z. J. Wu 1985):
(2.31 )
Basic Toue +Nelilral Tone
(55)(3)
(35)(3)
(11)(4)
(51)(1)
After the First, Second and Third Tone, it is relatively high, that is, (3) or (4) on Chao's
scale, and after the Fourth it is low or ( \) on it. Furthennore, the neutral tone has been found to be
contoured in experimental studies using phonetic/acoustic instruments (Dreher and Lee 1966):
(2.32) Basic TOlle+Nellfral Tone
(55)(41)
(35)(3 1)
(11)(23)
(51)(21)
It falls after the First, Second and Fourth tones but rises after the Thi rd. If thesc are its
phonetic values, what is the phonological-the phonemic or underl ying- value of the neutral
tone? One of the best known positions is that the neutral tone docs not have an underlying value,
but derives its surface tone from the preceding tone. This position fails to capture the native
speaker's intuiti on that the neutral tone is generally low after the First, Second and Ihe Fourth, but
high after the Third. The wcllknown linguist Chin Chuan Cheng ( \973) once remarked:
'The refined acoustic details [about the neutral tone] perhaps do not
necessarily represent the native speaker's knowledge. The speaker's aim perhaps is
to produce the neutral tone low after the first, second, and fourth tones and higher
after the third tone.' (p. 56)
A closer look at the measurements acquired in Dreher and Lee's study suggests the same
diChotomy, in that the neutraltonc goes low (and falls) after the First, Second and Fourth Tones,
but high (and rises) after the Third. All these considerations point to a classic case of what is
Called complemental)' distribution, in which onc of the variants is the underlying fonn- the basic
fonn. It would not take long for any linguist to dctennine that the low lone after the First. Second
and Fourth is the underlying one si nce the environment in which it occurs is more complicated
and less predictable.
Interestingly, our theory thai the neutral tone is fundamentally a low lone solves yet
another problem. If we take Ihe position of the traditional belief that the neutral tone is toneless
on its own but derives its tOllal shape froUl the basic toue before it, a problem arises when more
50
than one neutral tone appears after the basic tonc. Although phonetically we know the values of
the neutral tone after the four basic lones, the question is what value should we assign to the
neutral tone that does not follow a full lone but another neutral tone? Such neutral toncs arc found
in Mandarin phrases such as thcse:
60
(2.33) ,.
lUi shang qu Ie de fen

push up go PERF DE(a) person
'person pushed up'
b. lai shang qu Ie de rcn

carry up go PERf DE(a) person 'person carried up'
c. ZQU shang qu Ie de ren
;EL1i TA'JA
walk up go PERF DE(a) person
'person who has ascended'
d. song shang qu Ie de Ten

send up go PERF DE(a) persoll 'person sent up'
All four phrases begin with a monosyllabic word, one that carries the First (a), the Second
(b), the Third (c) and the Fourth Tone (d) respectively. All of the four syllables between the first
word and the last (ren A 'person') are in the neutral tone. Phonetically, except for the first neutral
tone, all the other three are strictly low tones. The question here is where these three neutral tones
get their low tonal values now that they are not adjacent to a basic tone? What we have argued so
far boils down to the following conclusion: that the Mandarin Neutral tone is fundamentally a
low tone. In the notation of current theoretical phonology. the low neutral tone can be represented
as follows:
(2.34)
The Underlying Representation of the Mandarin Neutral Tone
T
1
L
Now that we have pinpointed the basic value of the Neutral tone, we can look at the
neutral tone after the Third Tone to see what causes the low neutral tone to become high after the
Third Tone. Let us juxtapose the two tones:
(2.35) 3rd Tone Neutral Tone
LL L
Here we find the same low tone sequence as found in the case of the Third Tone Sandhi.
60 Rcfer to the chapters on morphology and syntax for an explanation of the grammatical markers
PERF and oE(a).
51
We learned earli er that Mandarin avoids sequences of low tonemes, and that the low tone
sequence created by juxtaposing two Third Tones triggers some repair process that raises the tail
of the preceding Third Tone. If the language does not like sequences of low tonemes when the
Third Tone is concemed, there is no reason to expect it to allow the low tone sequence shown
above in (2.35). The only difference between the Third Tone Sandhi in (2.30) and the case here
lies in that the repair affects the first syllable in that case, but the second in this one. The
difference in the repair, however, should not be difficult to understand, since in both cases, il is
the prosodically weaker (and therefore less stable) tone that undergoes the change.
In brief, we believe that the Mandarin neutral tone, which is induced by the lack of stress,
is essentiall y a short low tone. It dissimilates after the Third Tone by rising in pitch. Interestingly,
we can now account for the varied surface values of the neutral tone in a consistent manner. They
are all the result of tone spreading, which can be elucidated by a line linking the preceding
toneme and the neutral lone, as shown below:
(2.36) ,. 1" Tone Neutral Tone 1" Tone Neutral Tone
-->
L
- I
H L H L
b. 2M Tone Neutral Tone 2nd Tone Neutral Tone
--> L...--I
H L H L
c. 3" Tone Neutral Tone 3" Tone Neutral Tone
-->
L M L M
d. 4'" Tone Neutral Tone 4'" Tone Neutral Tone
-->

M L M L
After spreading, the resultant neutral tone after the First, Second and the Four Tones
becomes HL, HL, and ML-falling tones, respectively, but an LM, a rising tone, after the Third.
These correspond to the results of the instrumental study by Dreher and Lee (1966) mentioned
earlier.
Chapter 3. Morphology
Up to this point, we have been looking at the sounds, syllables and tone in Mandarin
wi thout considering the meaningful function of these units. In this chapler, we will look al the
smallest unit that has a meaning and how meani ngful units are combined to bui ld words. It should
be noted that Mandarin is different from the other six major Chinese dialects primarily in the
areas of phonetics and phonology. When it comes to morphology-words and word structures
the difference among them is drastically reduced. Thus, what is said about Mandarin morpholog;
in this chapter is largely applicable to other Chinese dialects as well. Since from here on, we arc
not dealing specifically with indi vidual sounds and their component features, we will use Pinyin
for the presentation of Mandarin data-unless otherwise noted.
3.1 The Morpheme
in linguistic tenns, the smallest meaningful unit in language is call ed a morpheme. A
word may contain one or more morphemes. For instance, the English word book has one
morpheme, but books two, one meaning 'book', and the other 'plural'. What is a Mandarin
morpheme like? What are its general characteristics?
3.1.1 Monosyllabidty
One most remarkable characteristic about Mandarin is that virtuall y all native Mandarin
morphemes (i.e., morphemes that are not borrowed from a foreign language) are of the fonn hua
it. 'flower' , 'study', hOng tl 'red' or neng fru 'can', namely, containing just one syll able.
The uniqueness of this characteristic is better understood when we look at languages such as
English where polysyllabic morphemes (e.g., Philadelphia,61 Victoria, coffee, ete.) abound.
Nonnally, not only is a native Mandarin morpheme no larger than a syllable, but it is also no
small er than a syllable either. Except for one case: the diminut ive retroflex -r, subsyllabic
morphemes like the plural suffix -s in English do not exist in Mandarin. Due to this limitation on
its morpheme size, Mandarin or Chinese in gencral has been called a monosyllabic language
61

Although Mandarin does not really have subsyllabic morphemes, it does have a sizable
number of morphemes larger than one syllable. The majority of these morphcmes, however. are
transliterations of foreign words. An exanlple of such a foreign word is jiamidii JJIlJlt:k for
'Canada'. The Mandarin version is a single morpheme with three syllables, (which, incidentall y, is
the case in the English original as well). Wit h the ever-growing eontaet between China and the
It should be nOled that although the word was originally fomled by morc than one Greek
morpheme, it consists of one morpheme in loday's Engl ish.
62 There is a general mi sconception that Chinese is monosyllabic at the word level. Although
Chinese words were mostly monosyllabic at one time in history, onc only has to check a Chinese
word dictionary (cfdiiin iiiJA) to realize lhal the majority of Chinese words today eonsist of
more than one syllable.
53
rest of the world, and with lhe recent development in technology in the West, loan words,
especially ones from English, have greally increased in Mandarin. Polysyllabic morphemes have,
as a result, greatly expanded in number.)
However, not all borrowed polysyllabic morphemes have entered the Chinese vocabulary
during recent times. A few disyllabic morphemes such as PUflIO ' grape' and bOli JEiJlll
, lass' are loans from a mueh earli er time. Some, like the two just given, were borrowed so early
gh I most nalive speakers today are not aware of their foreign origin. Besides foreign words, there
t , .
are a number of native Mandarin morphemes with two syll ables (see F.G. Liu 1997 for detail s of
f
.
such words). These arc mostly morphemes 0 onomaIOpOC13,
(3.1 )
,. gulii
'rumble'
b. gaba '1I1!l
'crack'
c. jigii p}\t
'muller'
d. jizha
'chirp'
c. putong tfiili
'splash'
morphemes whose syllables alliterate,
(3.2) a. cangcil
'hurried'
b. cenci
**'
'uneven'
c. chouchu
'hesitate'
d. ffingfu ilifJI
'as ir
e. fCnfu
'i nstruct'
f. huanghii lQU!!
'i n a tranee'
g. klinke JxJi;j
'bumpy'
h. lingli ft WI
'clever'
.. qiqiiio 1j(llJ!
'odd; fishy'
j. qiiiqiiin tk'f
'swing'
k. tangtu
'brusque'
\. tant e
'penurbed'
m. taolai i!J1t
'die out'
n. ybuyu !!tNt
'hesitate'
o. zhizhu !iii ..
'spider'
or morphemes whose syllables rhyme:
til See Section 3.6 for more examples of such loan words.
.. The tone in the second syllabic of the following words can altematively be the neutral tone.
54
(3.3) .. congrong
M:f>
'calm'
b. gala
1JJR
'nook'
c. giinhi n
lilI1iI\
'Chinese olive'
d. hulu
YiF 'bottle gourd'
c. 15.0030
1!Iii9J
'nagging'
f. liiba

'trumpet'
g. langdang
if!th
'dissolute'
h. IUDsUO

' long-winded'
.. luotuo
!JIll!; 'camel'
j . mili
:iim
blurred
k. paihuai

hesitate
I. qingling
li'iil!
dragonfly
m. zhiingklng li)lI$ cockroach
A few disyllabic morphemes do not belong to any of the above categori es.
(3.4) .. bi anfU iii.., 'hat'
b. hudie
j,)jt'l! 'buUcrfly'
c. kcdoll lfIj!;f 'tadpole'
d. liiji
t'llll.
'gamage,M
e. mayi
!'.Itt
'ant'
f. xishuai ijil$ 'cricket'
g. ymgwu

'parrot'
h. yuanyang
fill<
'Mandarin duck'
3. 1.2 Free and Bound
Linguisti cs classifies morphemes into two types: free morphemes and bound morphemes.
The distinction between these two is not clear-cut. Definitions of them vary among scholars. In
this book, we define the bound morpheme as synonymous with the term 'affix' (suffixes, prefix or
infix). Namely, it is a morpheme that can never stand alone; neither can it serve as a stem or root
to which another affix can be attached to form another word. A free morpheme, on the ot her
hand, is one that can at least perform one such function. Examples of free morphemes in Engli sh
arc found in such words as earthquake and blackboard, each with two free morphemes. The first
morpheme in the following words is free while the second is nol: cleverly, hOllses, and worked.
The order is reversed in the following words: reform, debug, and dislike. Mandarin morphemes,
in addition to being mostly monosyllabic, have the characteristic of being mostly free; there are
proportionally very few morphemes that cannot serve as a stem. We will give a more detailed
In Taiwan Mandarin, the word laF i:lt:t& is pronounced lese, in which case, it belongs to the
rhyming group given in (3.3).
55
account of the bound morphcmes in Mandarin later in this chapter.
3.2 Tbe Word
Another meaningful unit in morphology is the word. Whereas a morpheme is atomic--
cannot be funher analyzed into more meaningful units, a word may contain onc or more
morphemes. Funhermore, morphemes are the smallest building blocks of words. but words are
the small est building blocks of phrases and sentences. However, the concept of 'word' is not
precisely defi nable. For instance, what makes 'blackboard' a word but not 'black bench'? When it
comes to Mandarin, the concept becomes even more tangled. Given that most Mandarin
morphemes are free, one question that often comes up is: do the free morphemes in a given case
fonn a word or a phrase or even a sentence? Adding to the problem is the fact that ordinary,
uneducated, Chinese do not seem to have a clear grasp of the concept of ' word'. What
they have instead seems to be the unit of the syllable. It is not surprising at all to hear a Chinese
parse a Chinese sentcnce into its component syllables rather than words. In answering the
question 'how many component pans arc there in IVO xuexi ziloJJglVen ' I study
Chinese', an ordinary Chinese may give the wrong answer of 'five' rather than the cOlTect answer
of'three'. The sentence, as one can see, has five syllables.
66
While it is not an easy task to define the concept of word, the difficulty has never kept
li nguists and non-linguists al ike from taking 'word' as a working unit with which to make
morphological generalizations. At this unit level, one thing we are cenain about is that most
Mandarin words are made up of two syll ables. Since a Mandarin morpheme normaJly contains
one syllable, it follows that most Mandarin words contain two morphemes. According to one
statistical analysis (Frequency Dictionary of Modem Chi"ese by Wang et 01. ( 1996, among the
31, 159 words surveyed, 22,941 or 74% arc disyllabic words, and only 12% arc monosyll abic
words. The other 14% are words of more than two syllables. [n shon. just as Mandarin is
monosyllabic at the morpheme level, the language is characteri sticall y disyllabic at the word
level.
3.3 Word Structure"
TIle relat ionship between word and morpheme is that a word can contain one or more
morphemes. A word with one morpheme is a simplex word whereas one wit h two or more a
complex word. The following diagram shows the relationships among the syllable, morpheme
and word in Mandarin.
(3.5) Monomorphemie Simplex word Monosyll abic
Polymorphemic H Complex word r Polysyllabic
" In writing, each syllable corresponds to a zi 'character.'
" Where necessary. the morpheme boundary in this chapter is marked by a hyphen '-' .
56
For example, the sentence (ii xi/JUlin chi putao 'Helshe likes to eat grapes'
has four words but five morphemes. Among them, tii 'he/shelit' and chi'eat' are simplex words
that arc monomorphemic and monosyllabic. Piilao 'grape' is another simplex word, but it contains
two syllables. The word xi/JU/in'lo like'. on the other hand, is a complex word containing two
monosy.llabic morphemes: xl '10 like' and huiin 'to be happy,' As previously mentioned, all
Mandann morphemes arc no smaller than a syllable. A complex word is therefore always more
than one syllable. There is, however, one exception which involves words with the diminutive
suffix -r (sec the last chapter and the next section for details). As this suffix docs not add another
syllable to the word or morpheme it al1aches to, the resultant word can be morphologicall
lb . Y
comp ex ut with Just one syllable. This is expressed by the dol1ed line in the above diagram
(3.5).
When a word is complex, there emerge the questions of what the component morphemes
are, free or bound, and in what fashion they are combined. If a complex word contains only free
morphemes, it is often a compound, whereas if it contains a bound morpheme, it is a word built
by the morphological process of affixation. Compounding and affixation are two of the most
common word-fommtion processes in language. Other less common ones include reduplication
and abbreviation. Let us see how these processes work in Mandarin.
J.J.l Affixation
Affixation is a process whereby a new word is built by adding a suffix or prefix to a root
which is either a free morpheme or a word in itself. The English adverb slowly is built by
suffixation through which a bound morpheme - Iy is attached to thc root, the adjective slow.
Although affixation is primari ly a matter of suffixation and prefixation, some languages also have
infixes. However, we will not deal with infixes, as their existence is very marginal. There are
only two notable cases: the morphemes bU::f (as in suiinbuliudiu M-1'"7!Y"* 'very sour') and Ii .m.
(as in hiilihiirii Wl!lt.WJtlt 'very confused'). Another case that seems to bear some resemblance to
infixation concerns the two morphemes (see (3.20 biJ :::F 'not' and de 'can (i .e., possible).'
Take a verb-complement compound such as diipo 1'rMi (morphemes: beat-broken) 'brcak' for an
example. Either bu or de can be placed between its two morphemes to yield diibupo 'cmmot be
broken,' and diidepo 'can be broken,' respectively. However, it is not clear whether thc output
after the insertion of de or bu is still a word. If it is not, the insertion is not morphological
infixation, but falls within the area of syntactic concatenation. Because of this uncertainty and
because it is a very marginal case of insertion, we will adhere to the claim that Mandarin does not
have infixation.
We mentioned previously that Mandarin does not have a great number of bound
morphemes, which means that Mandarin also lacks many affixes or affixation processes.
Historically speaking, Mandarin affixes or bound morphemes are derived from free morphemes
through certain grammatiealization processes. As the stages of their evolution vary, some may
exhibit more characteristics of an affix than others. Because of this, confusion may occur as to
what the definition of an affix is. In fact, there is a large gray area in the middle of a continuum
the extremities of which are 'true affixes' on the one hand and morphemes that have just begun to
acquire some kind ofa grammatical meaning on the other. The existence of this gray area means
57
that before we proceed further, we need to define the tenn 'true affix.' In addition to never being
able to stand alone or serve as a stem in morphology, true affixes in Mandarin are morphemes
that have completely lost their original meanings. One such affix in Mandarin is - zj -T' This
suffix used to mean 'child' or 'offspring' as a free morpheme in, say, old Chinese, but is now
meaningless in words such as zhuQy.i #-T 'table.' True affixes in Mandarin nonnally serve either
a grammatical function (e.g., building a noun) or a prosodic one aiming at building a word of IWO
syllables (refer to Section 3.3.5 for details). If they arc suffixes, they are invariably in the neutral
lone. In the following, we will review a few true affixes most commonly used in Mandarin,
beginning with suffixes.
3.3.1.1 Suffixes
The most productive suffix is perhaps the so-called diminutive -r JL, mentioned a few
times previously. When attached to a root, this suffix adds to il a sense of smallness, inlimacy,
familiarity, colloquialism and/or casualness. One unique feature about this suffix is that once il is
attached 10 the syllable, the quality of the nueleus vowel in the syllable changes as well, and the
exact outcome of the change varies with the original vowe\. Phonetically, it may be hard to
vertically separate the root from this suffix; the two may be 'fused' in some fashion. In
phonologicaltenns, this may mean that the suffix, rather than being a complete segment in fonn,
can be construed as having merely the fonn ofa feature ([retroflex]) that is linked to the vocalic
part of the syllable. Examples of words with the suffix -r are:
(3.6) MO'1)hemes
,. wan-r J)cJL
to play-r 'to play'
b. hua-r 1tJL
flower-r 'flower'
c. (xino) hai-r ltJL
child-r 'kid'
d. shuye-r t'jt)L
leaf-r 'lear
c. qishul-r A7l<JL
soda pop-r 'soda pop'
r. yu-r iHJL
fish-r 'fish'
g. (xiao) gbu-r (/j,)JI]JL dog-r 'puppy'
h. pao-r IIf!lJL
to run-r 'to run'
L hou-r roJL
baek-r 'back'
j. zhutl-r
pig feet-r 'pig feet'
Grammatically, -r may serve the function of converting a verb (a-c) or an adjective (d-e)
into a noun (See examples below). The - r suffix is often optional, which is the case in the
examples in (3.6), but sometimes, especially in Beijing Mandarin, it is compulsory, as it is in the
examples givcn below:
"
(3.7) Morphemes
a. kou-r
'IIlJL
to button-r 'button'
b. huiH il!iJL
to paint-r 'pai nting'
c. gai-r
iOUL
to covcr-r 'cover'
d. kong-r
empty-r 'space'
c. Iiiwg-t
3'l: JL
bright-r 'l ight'
While -r is the most productive, the most commonly-seen suffix in Mandarin is perhaps
the nominal suffix -zi, G. S. Gao (1990) made a survey in a dictionary of 3994 words and found
502 or about thirteen percent of the disyllabic words in it have this suffix. Similar to the Engli sh
suffix -Iy which. in most cases, converts the stem into an adverb, -zi serves the grammat ical
function oftransfonning the root it attaches to into a noun. As the following examples show, the
stem itself may be a noun (a), a verb (b) or an adj ective (c). And like any true suffi x in the
language, it is always in the neutral tone. The following is a li st of words with thi s suffi x:
(3.8) Morphemes
a. '- bl-zi #Ff
nose-zi 'nose'
ii. l.huo-zi
JilT
table-zi ' table'
III . yan-zi !l!IT
swallow-zi 'swall ow'
iv. ti -zi
lIlT
(animal) foot-zi '(animal) feet'
v. shan-zi
liiIT
fan-zi ' fan'
v,- bCi-zi
llH
quih-zi 'quilt'
b. i. liio-l.i 'itT
old-zi 'father'
ii. xiao-zi
IJ'"7-
small-zi 'bloke; chap'
iii . pimg-zi
lifT
fat-zi 'fat person'
iv. longzi >fI.T
deaf-zi 'deaf person'
v. shazi
tlH
stupid-zi 'stupid person'
c. '- pian-zi
IH
to cheat-zi 'swindler'
" .
jifizi
'AT
to clamp-zi 'clamp'
iii. shuzi
to comb-zi 'comb'
This suffi x should not be confused with the free morpheme zi =f 'seed' in words such as
yuzt f!!=f 'roc (literally, fi sh seed)' and lifinzi :lm-f'- 'lotus seed.' Although the fanner is
hi storically derived from the latter, they are now two different morphemes. One clue of the
difference is that as a suffix, the syll able is always in the neutral lone, but as a free morpheme, it
never is.
Another import ant suffix is the plural - men {no Although it means the same as the
English plural -s, this suffix is not at all as productive as its English counterpart. The only place it
is used consistent ly is wi th pronouns. When added to a singul ar pronoun IVO 'I', nl -f.1' 'you', or
,ii {tk 'helsheli t', it converts the latter into IVO-men 'we', flI:men 'you (plural), or 'ii-men 'they'.
respectively. When it comes to nouns, this suffix has a limited usage; it is normall y only attached
to nouns which refer to people; thus, many other nouns, though countable, cannot take this suffix.
Even with nouns referring to people, -men is not allowed if the noun already has a number or
quant ifier modifying it. For instance, xu6shCngmen 'students' is fine, but *siinge
xu6shCIIgmen 't hree students' and *henduii xuesbengmen 'many
students' are not. The correct fomlS are, respectively, siingc xucsheng and henduii xucshel1g-
wi thout - men Moreover, plural ity in nouns oft en does not have to be shown overt ly by linguistic
means. Without the presence of the plural -men, a noun may still be plural. For instance, in the
sentence b!iizi l iii Ie -ffl".:r* T 'the child/children has/have arrived', the subject bliizi can be
interpreted as 'child' or as 'chi ldren', its exact interpretation derived from the context in which the
sentence is utt ered.
There are a few other true suffixes that are less common. For exampl e, -loU appears in
the examples given below. This suffix can also serve as a nominali zer by transfonning a verb or
an adjcctive into a noun, as shown in (b) below:
(3.9) Morphemes
a. i. shitou
15i1<
stone-tou 'stonc'
u. ffitou
*iI<
axe-tou 'axe'
iii . mutou
*;1.
wood-tou 'wood'
>Y. yatou
'Iii<
li tt le girl; 'li ttl e gi rl;
girl servant girl scrvant'
b. '- kutou
'i!fil<
bitter-tou 'suffering'
" .
tiimt ou
i\lliI<
sweet-tou 'happiness'
III. pa ntou
llItil<
to long for-tou 'good prospects'
>Y. xi5nglou w,;I. to think-tou 'hope'
v. pintou l)t;l.
to have illicit 'paramour'
relationship
with-tou
The morpheme - btl Eo is yet another nominal suffix without much of a meaning as in
zuiba tmE. 'mouth' , WCibtl 'tai l', giinb.1 -"FE. 'dried up' , y;ib:1 'mute', and peNl tA'1:3
'StUller'. While genuine suffi xes like those mentioned above are not large in number, there are a
host of morphemes which seem to be on their way to becoming bona fide suffixes. These
morphemes stiIJ bear some characteristics of a free morpheme: they may still carry their own tone
and/or retain thei r own meaning to a greater or lesser extent.
One such example is the agent suffix -zhc if, which is att ached to a verb or an adject ive
to denote the person(s} or thing(s) that is the logical subject of the verb or adjective. It serves a
similar function as the Engli sh -erl-or in such words as writer, worker and actor, but is not
nearl y as producti ve as the latter; it can only be combi ned wiah a li mited set of verbs and
60
adjectives. In colIoquial speech, its original third tone is obscured, although it can still be clearly
identified. Howe,ver, we can explain the identification as the result of the third lone and the
neutral tone shanng the same low tone fonns in an unstressed position. 6l! The merger of the two
ronns makes it almost impossible to decide if the lone of -zhe is a third or a neutral on
suffix are xuezhe 'scholar', zuoz-be 'author', ciiJJji:izhc
particIpant, qU1I1gzhc 'strong person', ruozhe ijq:tr 'weak person', qianzbc 'the
fonner', and hOuz/J(: 'the latter'. If -zhe has almost rcached the end of the grammaticalization
process to become a true suffix, there arc morphemes which arc behind it on this path. Two good
of such morphemes are hutl 1t 'transform' and ,rue 'study.' The fonner which serves
similar functions as the English suffix -ize as in modernize yields a verb when combined with a
stem. Examples are given below:
(3. 10)
Morphemes
,.
lUhu;)
!!i!it green-ize 'to forest'
b. yilnghua
Il'it foreign-ize 'Westernize'
c. tonghuil
lilIit same-ize 'assimilate'
d. meihuil
!J1it beautiful-ize 'beautify'
c.
chouhuil
liit ugly-ize
'dcfame'
r.
jianhua
iWiit simple-izc
'simplify'
g.
laohua
'l';it old-ize
'to agc'
h.
shcnhuil
ilif1t deep-ize
'deepen'
o.
gongyehua
I>ltit industry-ize
'industrialize'
j. xiandilihuil
1lilftit modern-ize
'modernize'
k. xijUhua
JU'Jit drama-ize 'dramatize'
Another similar examplc is -xue. There may be a slight diffcrcnce between -hua and -xue
in tenns of the degree of grammaticalization. The morphemc hua seems less free; one docs not
find it often in the initial position of a compound in which it means 'transform'. The suffix xue,
on the other hand, still appears in the initial position of many compounds. To name a few:
xllexiao 'school', xu6sheng 'student', xuewell 'scholarship' and xueli ,U41Ji
Meanwhile, xlle has appeared in so many words denoting an area of scholarly
that It has now become fairly productive as a morpheme in words of academic disciplines, and
has begun to show characteristics of a suffix. The following are examples in which it appears as
such a quasi-suffix:
68 See the sections on the third tone and the neutral tone in the last chapter for further details.
61
(3.11 ) MOIphemes
,.
wcnxuc
"1"
literature-study 'l iterature'
b, shuxue
"1"
numbcr-study 'math'
c. lixue

force-study 'mechanics'
d, zhexuc

philosophy-study 'philosophy'
c, kexue
Het
science-study 'science'
r. yuylmxue
language-study 'linguistics'
g, qixiangxue weather-study 'meteorology'
h, shengwuxue
'tVlJ'i"
biology-study 'biology'
;.
shchuixue titet
society-study 'sociology'
3.3.1.2 Prefixes
If Mandarin has a small number of true suffixes, it has evcn fewer true prefixes. In fact,
therc is only one prefix that is, in a sense, productivc: the ordinal-number prefix dJ'- This
prefix is added to a cardinal number to derive an ordinal one, similar to the suffix -til in English.
For instance, the numbers yi - 'one', shiyi +- 'elcven' andjiiishijiii JL -+ JL 'nincty-nine', when
prefixed with dJ'- become di-yi 'first', di-shiyi 'eleventh' and di-jiiishijiij 'ninety-ninth',
respectively. Another prefix thai works with numbers is chii- W which is used mostly with the
numbers 1 10 15 to denote the first fifteen days of a month. particularly the first month of the
Chinese lunar year (e.g., chiiyi 'the first day of the month'). A prefix that is more or less common
is lao- :i5 which either has a vague sense of seniority, famil iarity, affection or colloquialism, or
serves as a meaningless word-formative prefix similar to -zi. Thi s affix is synchronically a
different morpheme from the free morpheme Ilia which means 'old' (e.g., l,ioreJ1 'old man,'
and lilo peJ1gyou 'old friend'). Examples of words with /iio- arc given below. Note that
unlike genui ne suffixes, prefixes in Mandarin keep their inherent toncs.
69
(3.12) Morphemes
,.
laohil 'l';!It
old-tiger 'tiger'
h. laoshil 'l';
old-mouse 'mouse'
c. luoban 'l5;f!(
old-board 'boss'
d. luoshi
:tJ/ili
old-teachcr 'teacher'
c, l<iobaixing 'l';1311
old-hundred-surname 'common people'
r.. laocii
U!
old-careless ' uneducated person'
g. luoye 'l';';> old-grandpa 'maternal grandpa'
h, mopo 'l';'I1i
old-older female 'wife'
0, laowai old-foreign 'foreigner'
See the last section of this chapter for relationship between stress and neutral tone.
2
Other much less used prefixes are ii- which is another word-fonnat ive morpheme
without much meaning. Sometimes giving a sense of affect ion and familiarity, ii- appears in liyi
'auntie', jitej 'Teddy boy', or before single-syllable personal or family names: alii
'Fa (name)', liMo 1fiiJ3i 'Bao (name)' and single-syll able vocat ive expressions: iige
'older brother'. However, because its usc before names and vocative expressions is a common
practice in many Southern dialects (such as Cantonese), this prefix sounds foreign in Mandarin.
Compared with compounding, whi ch we will explore in the next secti on. affixati on is a
much less used process in word (annali on in Mandari n. This paucity of affixation is. in a sense,
responsible for Mandarin's lack of such morphological processes as verb conj ugation and noun
declension whi ch are common in European languages. A Chinese verb ZGU re: 'walk', for
instance, remai ns ZGU in all types of sentences and phrases regardless of their tense, aspect, mood,
etc.
Historically, the fact that Chinese lacks conjugation and declension earned the language
very low esteem among pre-modem language specialists in the West. These scholars considered
Chinese a primitive language and some even went so far as to blame the lack of development in
science and technology Oil the so-called primitiveness of the language (Ramsey 1987). Others
quest ioned the ability of the Chi nese people to reason in a hypothetical way simply because the
language does not have a morphological way of making counterfacl ual expressions. RuguG IVO
qu '(word for word) if T go' can mean both the factual 'i fT go' or the counterfactual 'if I
had gone'. If the Chinese cannot express the counterfactual such as 'if I had gone', so 100 must
they be incapable of hypothetical thinki ng. Of course, one important factor that this scholar
misses is that the morphological process ofverb conjugation is only one of the many capacities of
a human language.
70
What is expressed by one grammatical device in one language doesn' t
necessarily have to be expressed the same way in another.
3.3.2 Compounding
If one has to name only one morphological process in Mandarin, it wi ll be, wilhout any
question. compounding. Indeed, it would not be an exaggerat ion to say that Mandann is a
language of compounded words. Just as the great majority of the words in Mandurin arc of twO
syllables, virtually all Mandarin compounds, wi th a relatively small number of exceptions, are
disyllabic. Compounds sometimes mean the composite whole of the parts in them (3.1 3)a). ORen
their meanings are at least relat ed to the meanings of the parts (3. 13)b). However, occasionally,
the meanings of the parts have nothing to do wi th the meaning of the whole (3.13)c):
10 See Steven Pinker (1995) for a discussion of this.
63
(3.13)
Morphemes
a. ,. miiimai ,"it
'trade'
... shu6ming ilt'!Jl
talk-clear 'clarify'
b. .. shizh6ng ill!}
beginning-end
'always'
ii. hiiodiii MY
good-bad
'i n any case'
c. .. d6ngxi fJi:i!]
'thing'
... miihu !l,!If
horse-ti ger 'careless'
By the very nature of eompounding--conjoining free morphemes, two-syllable
mpounds invariably constitute two morphemes. These two morphemes may, 10 tum, be related
. . .
in a number of manners which will be the topi c of exploration in the followlIlg secllons.
3.3, 2. 1 Coordinative Compounds
Morphemes of a Mandarin compound may be coordinate. When they are, usually they are
also of the same parts of speech (as shown below); namely, two nouns (a), IwO verbs (b), two
adjectives(c), and in rare cases, two adverbs (d).
(3.14)
Morphemes
i. pengybu JIJJ;&
friend-friend 'friend'
ii. shengyin J'i'1f
sound-sound 'sound'
111. yachi )fi!i
teeth-teeth 'teeth'
>Y. gurou 1!J'iJj
bone-flesh 'blood relat ive'
..
report-report 'report'
... jieflmg !i1b:
untie-loosen 'liberate'
Ill. xiUxi jU.
to rest-Io rest 'rest'
iv. Illlj\
receive-see ' receive'
.. gu[mgda r:k
wide-big
'vast; extensive'
... tengfu $1i\
plent y-rich 'rich'
iii. qiguai
odd-strange 'strange'
iv. meill
"'''
beauti ful- pretty 'beautiful'
a
b.
c.
.. gangcai
just now-just now 'just now'
... zaowan
early-late
'sooner or later'
d.
The following coordinate compounds show that thc meanings of the two morphemes may
be the same (a), similar or related (b), or opposite or contrastive (c):
64
(3. 15)
Morphemes
,.
.. p6ngyou
Ill!;!,;: friendfriend 'friend'
xiju
opera-opera 'opera'
H. baogllO mIs- report-report
'report'
shengchan
produce-produce 'produce'
Ill. meili
"'''
beautiful-pretty
'beautiful'
qiguai
'&ttl! odd-strange
'strange'
b. 0. rerunin
All! human-people 'people'
shumu
*<J*
tree-wood 'tree'
yiyao
Ill .. medicine-drug
'medicine'
H . aihu
love-protect 'treasure'
zhandou
/ilt
1
e fight-struggle 'fi ght'
lll.
guii ngda ,;k wide-big
'vast'
ffingfu
$1i\ plenty-rich 'rich'
c. 0. m1'1Odun
1'1Ci lance-shield
'contradiction'
fUmu.
father-mother
'parents'
shizhong
!1f;!Ii beginning-end 'always'
H. kaiguun
*olC
tum on-tum off 'swi tch'
huxi
'P'ii
exhal e-inhal e 'breath'
churn
iliA go out-go in
'difference'
ilL shenqian
I?i!I< deep-shallow 'depth'
haohuui !It,. good-bad 'qual it y'
3.3.2.2 Endocentrit Compounds
The two morphemes in a compound may have a modifier-modifiee (head) grammatical
relation, in which case, the modifier always precedes the modified, as shown in the rollowing:
(3.1 6)
MOlphemes
a. .. huOche
X'f. fire-vehicle "rain'
II . .
f\!Rili electri cal-brain 'computer'
111. daren
;kA bi g-person 'adul t'
iv. r-exin

hot-heart 'warm-hearted(ness)'
v.
lundman
\BAil wheel-boat 'ship'
b. .. bizhi
16][ pen-straight 'perrectl y straight'
H. renh6ng
*'I)!r
powder-red 'pink'
III. bi ngleng

ice-cold 'icc-cold'
c. .. qi1l1ljin
HiJill: front-march 'march forward'
H. wcixiao
slight-laugh 'smile'
Ill. fUyin
repeat-pri nt 'photo-copy'
65
The (a) cases in the above contain a head which is a noun, its modifier being an adjective
or noun. These compounds are mostly nouns. The modifier in the (b) cases is invariably a noun,
its head being all adjectives. The resultant compounds are adjectives just as the heads. The words
in (c) are verbal compounds-the resul ts are verbs. They contain an adverb whi ch modifies the
head verb.
3,3.2.3 Verb-Object Compounds
The two morphemes in a compound may have a verb-object relation, and, as in a sentence
with a nonnal word order, the verb always precedes the object.
(3.17) Morphemes
a. 0. filllgxin
Ilk'e'
put-heart 'feel at ease'
H. fish!
1111J>
manage-affairs 'member of a council'
111. shiwang
9<:fl!
lose-hope 'disappointed'
ov. baoming
Ja""
report-name 'register'
v. shiingxin
it'L'
hurt-heart 'sorrow'
b. .. chium
eat-meal 'di ne'
H. geming 1)l:$
remove-life 'revoluti on'
iv. shuijiao

s leep( v. )-sleep( n.) 'to sleep'
v. ditilian .,1Ifl
lose-face 'lose face'
In the above examples, the (b) cases can have other words between the two component
morphemes whereas those in (a) cannot (see Z. W. Lu 1957 and T. Q. XU 1997 for more details
of such compounds). One can say, for instance,
(3.18) ,.
ill Ie yidun ill!!. O'lY -m,1&
eat-PERf 71 _one_CLS_meal 'ate a meal'
b. Ie yichii ng ming
'Yi Y - riP
remove-PERF-One-CLS-life 'made a revolution'
c. lliill yi hulr ifu..Q
sleep(v.)-a moment-sleep(n.) 'sleep for a moment'
d. Qillie Ii rm ., YIIfl
lOse-PERf-face 'lost face'
In (3.\8), the line below the sample sentence in Pinyin gives a word for word translation.
The translation of the whole verb phrase is found on the right-hand-side column. When the two
71 For a clear definition of the grammatical marker Ie, please refer to the next two chapters.
66
morphemes (which arc underlined) are separated as they arc here, they, of course, arc no longer
compounds, but separate words.
3.3.2.4 Compound
The two morphemes in a compound can be of a verb-complement relation, with the
complement following the verb,jus\ as it would be in a normal sentence.
(J.19)
Morphemes
a. dapo

beat-broken 'break'
b. gaishim i!l(llf change-good 'improve'
o. jielu
JI,lmi tear ofT-expose 'expose'
d. shuoming
i!GIJIl say-clear 'clarify'
o. liitogao
lelifG
jump-high 'high jump'
f. tuiran
lUff
push-upside down 'overturn'
g. likiii

separatc-open 'leave'
h. zhuajin
grasp-tight 'firmly grasp'
These compounds arc mostly verbs, although occasionally they are nouns (b), Some of
these compounds (e) can have the negative morpheme biJ .iF or its opposite de 'can (possible)'
between the two component morphemes, as illustrated below: (See Section 3.3. I for further
infonnation on these two morphemes.)
(J .20)
a. tuidefiin
J1Hltlll!
'can overturn'
tuibufiin
lftl'llI! 'cannot overturn'
b. lidckai
llHiHf
'can leave'
libukai
ti!f.iFlf
'cannot leave'
o. zhuadejin
'can finnly grasp'
zhuabujin
lJJ\1':!( 'cannot finnly grasp'
3.3.2.5 Subject-Pr edicate Compounds
A compound can contain a 'subject' followed by a 'predicate: in which case, it resembles a
sentence in structure, as shown below. The 'subject' in the examples in (a) is followed by a
'predicate verb', but that in (b) is followed by a 'predicate adjective':
67
(J .21 )
Morphemes
,. 1. dizhen
'earthquake'
" .
touteng
Jl<ffl'
head-ache 'headache'
iii. erming

ear-ring 'tinnitus'
b. .. kouh6ng I:J!I
lip-red 'lipstick'
".
niiinqing 1Ft!
year-light 'young'
111.
umi<
mouth-long
Mandarin adjectives, as will be explained in more detail in the next chapter, are a type of
verb. Syntactically, they can serve as a predicate without being preceded by a linking verb.
3.3.2.6 Noun-Classifier Compounds
Finally, the two morphemes in a compound
n
can be in a noun-classifier (CLS)1l sequence.
Compounds of this type are relatively small in number. The following are some examples:
(3.22) Morphemes
a. fangjian

room-CLS 'room'
b. zhizhang !i\lK
paper-CLs 'paper'
o. bupi 'tli11f
fabric-CLs 'fabric'
d. cheliang :!f-Ii'l
vehicle-CLS 'vehicle'
e. chuanzhi AaR
boat-CLS 'boat'
f. xinjian

lelter-CLS 'mail'
3.3.2.7 Multisyllabic Compounds
Not all compounds arc made up of two syllables; a small percentage contains three or
more syllables. Some of the three-syllable compounds contain two morphemes, as is the case in
(3.23d), in which the first two syllables fonn one morpheme. More often, however, thrce-syllable
compounds contain three morphemes. When they do, they have a more complicated intcrnal
structure than two-syllable compounds. Now examine the following few examples of three-
SYl lable compounds:
71 This type of compound falls into a more general group in which the second elcmcnt
complements the first . Other members of this group include words such as xi6ngmiio !!lUili
'panda' with a morpheme structure of 'bear-cat' (N. R. Qian 1995). However the 'bear-cat' type of
word is rare.
n See next chapter for a description of Mandarin classifiers.
68
(3.23)
Morphemes
..
dianbingxiiing
i@./>j(m electric-icc-box
'refrigerator'
b.
l.ixingche
13fT"
self-run-vehicle
'bicycle'
c.
kuaicanditm
1II'1iJ;!; fast -food-restaurant
'fast food restaurant'
d.
pi'lOpaotang
ifillii!1I.!i bubble sugar
'gum'
c. gaogcnxie
high-heel-shoe
'high-heeled shoes'
The first example above has three morphemes 'electric. ' ' icc,' and 'box,' yet the last two
obviously fonn a constituent which as a whole is modified by the first. Using square brackets, the
internal structure of this compound can be represented as [dJlin-[bing-xi.il1gJ]. On the other hand,
the three morphemes in the example in (e) arc obviously arranged in the following manner;
[[ku.ii-canJ-dlall], in which the first two morphemes form an immediate constituent before it
modi fies the last one.
3.3.2,8 Newer Compounds
So far, we have seen compounds with various kinds of internal structures. The ease with
which two morphemes can be juxtaposed perhaps explains, at least partially, why the language
consists predominantly of compounded words. In fact , not only are existing words predominantly
compounds, new words and expressions seem to be entering Mandarin mostl y in the shape of
compounds. The following are a few examples of words relating to computer technology that
have fairly recently-during the last two decades or so---been created based on their Engli sh
equivalents. All seem to have gained currency.
(3.24)
Morphemes
a. bian-cheng
!.1illl!
compile-order
'programming'
b. fu-ji
service-machine
'server'
c.
guang-biao
:lbJi' light-indicator 'cursor'
d.
guang-pan
:lbf.l:
light-disc
'CD-ROM'
e. mei-ti

media-body
'media'
f.
nei-dm
pm inside-save
'memory'
g.
soft-piece
'software'
h. shu-biao
[Rtf- mouse-indicator
'mouse cursor'
L wang-ye
JOlJif web-page
'web page'
j. wei-ji
micro-machine
'personal computer'
k.
wen-ben
:!of<; text-notebook 'file'
I. xiimii
T>2
down-load
'download'
Ill. xuni
!11m
fa lse-simulate
'virtual'
,,.
jiaohil
31::9: interact-mutual
'interactive'
o. zhuomian

table-surface
'desktop'
69
In sum, compounds are by far the most common words in Mandarin; two free morphemes
may combine in almost all sorts of possible phrasal structures to yield compounds. Such freedom
'n constructing compounds blurs the borderline between Mandarin words, phrases and even
Indeed, there exists a vcry interesting interface between Mandarin morphology and
syntax that will be addressed in the next chapter.
3.3.3 Reduplication
There is a group of Mandarin words which, at a first glance, looks quite different from
compounds or words of affixation. Some of these arc made up of two identical syllables and
morphemes: for example, renren AA. 'everyone', zouzou .iEJE 'take a walk', d,id;l (de)
**A9/it!! 'quite big', gcge mm 'older brother', and 'just. now'. These words are
'd 10 be fomled through the morphological process of reduplication. Takmg a free morpheme or
sal .
a word as the base, reduplication operates to double it in size. The resultant word may acqUIre
some additional meaning. Take ren A. for example. Alone, it is a word meaning 'person', but
when reduplicated, it becomes another word meaning 'every person' or 'everyone'. Thus, this kind
of noun reduplication serves the same purpose as attaching the word 'every' to the front of a
countable noun in English.
3.3.3.1 Noun and Classifier Reduplication
Mandarin reduplication operating on words of different parts of speech may serve
different functions. We have seen that with the noun, it may have a repetitive meaning. Not all
nouns can be reduplicated in Mandarin. In fact, noun reduplication is not synchronically a
productive Other than renren, it is found in a limited number of expressions:
7
! 1i5nliiin
'every daY' , liiijiii 'every family', hilhil F? 'every household', riri 8 B 'every day',
ycye 'every night', nilimJian 1:f:1f 'every year', yueyue jj.R 'every month', shishi lJP:JJ
'every matter', chuchil!ll:!lt 'every place', etc. Some of thesc reduplicated expressions are often
compounded to form a four-syllabic word: ridyeye EI F.I1U.1U. 'day and night' and
nilillllianyucyue 1f1f.R 'year after year and month after mOllth', jiajiiiililhil F 'every
household', shislllchuchu ?jHJJ-!lt!lt 'every case and every place' , and rii/uriiiokuiwgku;ing
'rules and regulations' (See Section 3.3.3.3 for details).
Compared wit h nouns, more monosyllabic classifiers (CLS) can be reduplicated.
Examples arc give below:
U We have excluded here nouns that arc kinship tenns which will be addressed separately in a
short while.
11 The number of reduplicated words varies from diaieci to dialect. Xi'an Mandarin, for instance,
seems to have many more reduplicated nouns than Beijing Mandarin. Furthennore, what can be
reduplicated in one dialect may not be in another.
70
(3.25) Reduplicated
a jianjian
h. lili
c. kekc
d gege
c. liilOliflO
[
zhangzhang
g, jiajia
'every piece'
'every grain'
'every tree'
'every one'
'every (fish/pants)'
'every
(picture/table)'
'every plane'
NO/III Phrase with CLS
yiiilin shiqing
yilLmi
yiM shu
fen
yi!.ifu! yu
yizhang hua
yim fCiji
'a matter'
'a grain of rice'
'a tree'
'a person'
'a fish'
'a picture'
'a plane'
Yet, just as there are a limited number of nouns that can be reduplicated, not al l classifiers
have reduplicated forms. For instance, one never says wei wei even though wei {tz. performs
similar function as ge 1'" when used between a number and, say, the noun pengyou 'mend': Yige
pengyou means the same as yiwei pengyou, bul the classifier ge in the former is freely
reduplicated while wei in the latter is not. Regular noun reduplication can be seen as a special
case of classi fier reduplication, since some of them share the classi fier quality of being preceded
directly by a number. Let us test some of these nouns in (3.25) with the number yi 76 _ 'one'
before it:
(3.26) NoCLS
With CLS
a. yi tian -'i( yige tian 'one day'
h. yi hiJ -I" yige hiJ 'one household'
c. yi ntm - 'I' yigc nail 'one man'
d.
?
yi nO.
- -9.' yige nO. 'one woman'
c. yi r"i
-s yige ri 'one day'
[
yi ye -lli: yige ye 'one night'
g. yi nian
-'I' ? yige Il itlll 'one year'
h. yi jiii -;l( yige jia 'one family'
L ? yi rcn
- A yige ren 'one person'
j. y'i yue
- Jl yige yue 'one month'
In the above examples, except for the last case which involves yuc, none of these nouns
has to have a classifier between it and a preceding number. In some cases, the use ofa classifier is
even forbidden . {See (a)-(f) in (3.26)).
76 The tone on the number YI- 'one' has two sandhi fonn5----vanations that appear in certain
contexts. Before the fourth tone, it rises, assuming the shape of the second tone (Le., YI), but
before the other three basic tones, it falls just like the fourth tone (i.e., yJ).
71
Regular noun reduplication as described previously is not the same as reduplication in a
special group of nouns: the kinship tenns such as mii M in miima 'mother.' The reduplication in
kinship terms is different for at least two reasons. One, it docs not add any meaning-it does not
have a repetitive meaning: the reduplicated fonn means the same as the base. Two, the second
syllable carries the neutral tone. However. kinship-term reduplication does bear one important
similarity to the regular noun reduplication. II is not productive; only certain kinship tenns can be
in reduplicated fonns, examples of which are given below:
77
(3.27) Reduplicated
a. gege
lIfllJ
'older brother'
h. jicjie Il!Il!
'older sister'
c. didi
!il!il
'younger brother'
d. meimci
l*l*
'younger sister'
c. yeye
**
'paternal grandpa'
f. nainai
lillil
'paternal grandma'
g. shushu
""""
'uncle (younger brother of father)'
h. jiujiu Jij!JJ 'uncle (brother of mother)'
.. saosao
1'111'11
'sister-in-law (wife of older brother)'
j. shenshen
!r$mIi
'aunt (wife of younger brother of father)'
k. lUolao
l<!l<!
'maternal grandma'
1. baba i;!;i;!; 'father'
m. mama
'mother'
o. bobo
fll fll
'uncle (older brother of father),
o. gugu li\!JI;
'aunt (sister of father)'
p. popo

'mother-in-law (husband's mother),
q. gonggong 00
'father-in-law (husband's father)'
Some kinship terms can only be in the reduplicated forms; their base fomls arc
meaningless. For example, I;io in laolao 'maternal grandma' is meaningless alone
7
!, Another
example is nai in nliinai mm 'paternal grandma.' On its own, the single-syllable fonn may mean
'milk' or 'breast' but no! 'grandma' or anything related to it. Thus, as a base for the form is
meaningless. Other kinship terms are more often used in reduplicated fonos than base fonns (e.g.,
yeye "*"* 'paternal grandpa.')
A third group of nouns that are often reduplicated are the proper nouns of personal names
which arc used vocatively, It is a very common practice for parents to address their children by a
name in reduplicated fonn. Often, this reduplicated name is built out of the last syllable of the
17 Notice that not all two-syllable kinship tenns are in reduplicated fonns (e.g., diibiii xis 'uncle
(older brother of father)' which is a compound).
JI That is, it docs not have the meaning of 'maternal grandma' at all.
72
child's personal name. If the child's name is zhiing king 5K1'E
79
, parents may call the chi ld
liiwg/i<mg, usually with the second tone neutralized.
Finally, there arc reduplicated nouns which do not fall into any of the above categories but
share the characteristics of kinship tenns; they have a neutral tone on the second syllable and
mean the same as their base. Examples arc 000000 'lill ie treasure (referring to a child),'O
!ValVa 'little child', xingxing 'gorilla', and xliJgxing flHTI., 'star.' Like regular nOun
reduplication, it is not synchronically a productive morphological process.
3.3.3.2 Verb and Adjective Reduplication
In conlrast to noun reduplication, verb reduplication is a very product ive process: all verbs
can normally double in size to yield a reduplicated fonn. As with the vocative names and kinship
tenns, the second syllable in verb reduplication is unstressed and carries the neutral tone. Verb
reduplication has an attenuativc meaning (see the next chapter for details). The difference in
meaning between the base and its reduplicated fonn can be seen from the examples below;
(3.28) Base
Reduplicated
,.
7.QU
JE
'walk'
ZQUZOU 'take a walk'
b. xiiing
m
'think'
xiangxiang 'give a thought'
,.
pai

'pat'
paipai 'give a pat'
d. ting
'li
'listen'
tingting 'listen a bit'
e.
fi
'look'
kitnkan 'have a look'
f. chui
ax
'blow'
chuichui 'give (it) a blow'
g. feng
ti!
'sew'
fengfeng 'sew a bit'
h. chao ;fJ; 'slirfry'
chaochao 'stirfry a bit'
;,
qiao
ill
'knock'
qiaoqiao 'give a knock'
j. shl i;\
'II)"
shlshi 'give (it) a try'
Another very productive type of reduplication is adjective reduplication. When
reduplicated, an adjective gains intensive meaning; the reduplicated fonn gives a more vivid
description than does the base. As with verbs, most single-syllable!' adjectives can be
reduplicated. Yet, different from verbs, the second syllable in adjective reduplication bears its
inherent tone. The following are a few examples:
79 Unlike many European languages, in Chinese, the family name precedes the personal name.
I(} Biiob;lO 3r':3i can be used as a vocative or name a baby as well, in which case it is a
different word from the one cited here.
S! Both two-syllable verbs and adjectives can also be reduplicated. a topic that will be addressed
in Section 3.3.3.3.
73
(3.29) Base
Reduplicated
a. hong !I
'red' hongh6ng (de)
'quite red'
b. do :k
'big' dada (de)
'quite big'
,.
pang HI'
'fat' pangpang (de) 'quite fat'
d. tian 'swcet' tianlian (de)
'quite sweet'
e. xiao
'I'
small xiaoxiiio (de) quite small
In some cases, especially when the adjectives afe used adverbially, the second syllable
bears a high level tone. The morpheme bao Pt 'good' , for example, has two reduplicated fonns,
hiiohiio (def2 and luiohao (de), both acceptable, although the laller may be heard
more in the area of Beijing.
So far. we have examined reduplication on single-syllable bases_mollomorphemic
nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Other than these, reduplication is rarely heard in any other parts of
speech. One may occasionally encounter reduplicated adverbs: for example, giillggang 'just
now,' tongtong illiilli 'completely' and jinjin fli:. 13l. 'merely'. but they are too few in number to
have any significance in Mandarin word fom1ation.
3.3.3.3 Two Syllable Reduplication
Up to now, we may have left the reader with the impression that only single-syllable
morphemes get reduplicated in Mandarin. The tmtll is, ralher, that two-syllable verbs and
adj ectives can be reduplicated as well . As can be expected, as the size of the base word increases,
so does the complexity of the reduplication. The monosyllabic nature of the language means that
only one morpheme is involved in monosyllabic reduplication.1) Yet a twosyilable base may
bear one or two morphemes. What's more, with one syllable, say, X, the only possibility is XX,
but with two, say, XY, there are the possibilities of XXYY and XYXY. Both of these logical
possibilities exist in Mandarin. In verb reduplication with an attenuative meaning, for instance,
the two-syllable base is nonnally bimorphemic, and it doubles in the fashion of XYXY:
(3.30) Base
Reduplicated
a. dasao rIB
'to clean' dasao-diisiio
b. panduan
*'Illii
'to judge' prlOduiin-panduan
"
hunong Wlj'f
'to deceive' hunonghunong
d. shuxi 1U\
'to familiarize' shuxi-shuxi
c. lianxi tiP]
'to practice' lianx'ilianxi
11 While some adjectives do not have to use de to modify nouns, reduplicative adjectives usc it
obligatorily when modifying nouns and verbs. Sec the next chapter for details.
Il With just one marginal exception ./". See the previous chapter for details.
74
. dO
l
' " the other hand, in adject ive reduplication with an intensive meaning the base adjcctiv
IS rc up lealed syll abic by syllable: XV --+ XXYY: ' e
(l.l I) Base
Reduplicated

ganj ing
'1'$ 'clean'
gan-gan-j ing_ ji ng
b. ilioshi

'honest'
lao-l5o-shi-shi
c. lianml
ilItlfi
'sweet'
tian-ti fm-mi-mi
d. hcmu
'I1111f 'hannonious'
he-hc-mu -ml!
c. gaoxing

'happy'
gao-gao-x ing-x i ng
fI . Some words which can both as a verb and an adjective then have two redupli cated
XXV: ,and XYXY. dcpcndlOg on which part of speech it has in a sentence. The word
g;lOxmg In the for can be a verb and an adjective, and when it is a verb, it
db oUbllcl 'bas a as shown In (a) below, bUl when it is an adjective. it doubles syll able
y sy a Ie, as mdl cated In (b).
(3.l2) .
b.
rang 13 giioxinggiioxing
let he/she be-happy-a-bit
la giiogaoxi ngxi ng de hui Ie j i a.
he/she happy return PERF home.
il:ffui1'1i i'<"i'<.
Let him be happy once.
fmi*ii*i:VH'H&IilltY:y.
He/shc returned happily.
A qucs.li on may ask here is: if the disyllabic adjcct ive is made up of only onc
morpheme In luo:uo. does it still reduplicate syll abl e by syll able? The
reason for thIS questIOn 15 that If It IS, the single morpheme is, in a sense, broken in half This is
exactly what happens. Luosuo, when reduplicated, becomes
Ii So far we have disyllabic adjective reduplication as if in all cases, it yields the
onn XXYY. In fact: there IS a small of two-syllable adjectives which reduplicat e like
verbs. Members of thIS group can be easIly Ident ified by their internal morphcmie structure They
are contai n a noun or a verb followed by an adjcctive. Examples and their
redupllcaltve fomls are gIVen below:
.. The pat.tem has changed from thai of the base, a topic which goes beyond the scope of the
prescnt di SCUSSion, and therefore will not be pursued here.
75
(3.33) Base
Morphemes Redllplicated
.. bizhi
pen-slraight bizhibi zhi
b. xueooi
snow-white xueooixucooi
c. bingliilll g /Jj(lJi( ice-cold bingliangbingliill1g
d. qi hei W,\\\
paint-dark qiheiqihei
c. bil U lll ..
jade-green bilubilu
f. gunyuan il!J!lI
roll- round gunyuangunyui'm
Finally, there exisl in Mandarin a few two-syllable nouns that can be reduplicated:
millniinnOJ1D 'every man and woman' from nannil :!J.lj( 'men and women' , ilioiliosi1.ioshao 'every
old and young' from lLioshtio 'old and young,' and fiingmj,ill 'side,' mangfiingmiilJ1milil1 'all
sides.' These reduplicated fonus tum a fonn of XY into XXYY. Note that Ihe bases here arc
nal1lJD and laos/lIi o, and not 111111, nil, liio, or SbilO individually. Thi s is because none of mil1lJlW,
nl1nD, liia/50, or SbilOShiio can stand alone. If they could, the derived four-syllable word would
have been compounded rather than reduplicated. They would be the same as the word popomiimtl
'womanish', which is compounded from the reduplicated forms of pOpo 'mother-in-law
(husband's mother)' and miimll 'mother' , as pbma is meaningless" on its own. Another example
of such a compound is titiotjaokuiingkutlng 'rules and regulations', which is formed by
conjoining two reduplicated words ti.iotifio 'rules' and kuimgkuimg ' frames', but is not from the
meaningless titiokuang. The foll owi ng cases are unclear as to whether they arc redupl ications or
compounds. RiIiyeye EI 'day and night' and ninnniimyueyue 1f.1f.JlFJ 'year after year
and month after month' can be regarded either as reduplication on two syllable words riyc 'day
and night' and niSnyuc 'time' , or as compounds from reduplicated words riri 'every day', yeye
'every night' , nillnmall 'every year', and yucyue 'every month.'
3.3.3.4 Simplex or Complex?
We know from the previous discussion that a Mandarin word is either a simplex or a
complex. With regard to reduplication, we may ask to which of the two categories a reduplicated
word belongs. If a reduplicated word is complex, we may ask further if it is compounded or
affixed. While we will devote the next section to the latter question, let us deal with the
complexity of reduplication first. There are three logical possibil ities. \) All reduplicated words
are simplex; 2) all are complex; 3) some arc simplex and others are complex.
The first answer can be quickly eliminated since there is copious evidence that there are
reduplicated words with more than one morpheme in them. Take regular noun reduplication for
an example (Sec also Secti on 3.3.3. 1). The word ninn 'year' has a morpheme meani ng 'every'
IS The foml p6mii can be a word in some nonhem Mandarin dial ects. For instance, In
Wendeng ofYantai District, Shandong Province. it means 'mother-i n-law (husband's mother),.
76
added to it when it is reduplicated: nianniJn 'every year.' Even though the reduplicate cannot be
vertically segmented into two morphemes, the repetition of the base morpheme encodes the
meaning of'cvcry.' The two morphemes can be non-linearly represented as such: (The symbol a
represents a syllabic.)
(3.34) nian 'year'
[a aJ 'every'
The diagram shows thaI the meaning 'year' is contained in the base niiw, whereas the
meaning 'every' is encoded in the two-syllabic template. Similarly, there arc verbs and adjectives
which, after reduplication, acquire some additional meaning that can be construed as a
morpheme. The two morphemes in each case can be represented as follows: '6
(3.35) ZQU
I
[a aJ
'walk'
'take a (walk)'
do
I \
[a aJ
'hig'
'very'
If reduplicated words arc not all simplex, can we maintain that they are all complex? Our
answer is again 'no.' Observe the following:
(3.36) niii ???
I
[a aJ 'paternal grandma'
lao
I \
[a aJ
???
'maternal grandma'
The words niiinai 'paternal grandma' and lliolao 'maternal grandama' arc only meaningful
al the reduplicated level. At the base level, ntii may mean 'milk' or 'breast' but not 'paternal
grandma,' and llio may mean 'old' but has nothing to do with 'maternal grandma.' In other words,
the base fonns in these reduplicated words are meaningless, and consequently do not constitute
morphemes. It seems that reduplicated words like these are best regarded as simplex words since
it is not the case that morphemes are strung together to fonn new words.
Incidentally, the above type of reduplicated words should, as far as the complex-simplex
dichotomy is concerned, be differentiated from reduplicated words such as gege mm: 'older
brother,' ji6jie ftIlMl 'older sisler: didi 'younger brother: meimei 'younger sisler: etc.
The morphemic structure of these words can be represented as the following:
S6 Theoretically speaking, the template for the verbs should also come with a tonal stipulation
which requires the second syllable to be in the neutral tone. However, due to the complexity of
the issues involved, we will not deal with this question here.
(3.37) jie
I \
[0' 0']
77
older sister
???
The crucial difference here is that the base fonns of these morphemes are meaningful
since they can appear in other words with the same meaning (e.g., diige *m 'big older brother,'
diijie :kMl 'big older sister: 'little younger brother: xiiiomei IJ '!* 'little younger
sister,' etc.). What may be confusing here is the fact that the reduplication docs not add any
meaning to that of the base fonn. This fact, however, should not be a sufficient reason to rule
thesc words oul of the complex set, because it is also true that certain affixation and compounding
processes do not produce extra meaning. For example, as previously mentioned, the suffixation of
-zi does not add any meaning to the morphemes such as zhuo 'table,' ri t4'l 'ladder,' qUII tl1
'skirt;' zlJuozi, rizi, qunzi mean the same as their respective base morphemes. These words
nonetheless are still complex words. The reduplication as shown in (3.37) can be regarded as a
word-fonnative morpheme perfonning a similar, albeit grammatical, function as the suffix -:zi: it
transfonns a meaningful morpheme into a well-fonned word. In this regard, the representation in
(3.37) can be modified as follows-with the functional meaning of the reduplication specified:
(3.38) jie
I \
[0' oj
older sister
(fonning a word)
3.3.3.5 Affixation or Compounding?
If many reduplicat ed words arc complex words, there emerges a question whether
Mandarin reduplication is a special case of affixation or compounding. The question arises since
there has beell a consensus among linguists in general that reduplication is not really a separate
word fonnation process, but a special type of affixation process. Originating from Marantz's 1982
paper, Re: Redllplicotion.
17
this approach to reduplication maintains that nomml affixation
provides the complete affix, while in reduplication, what is attached is a skeletal tier that contains
merely infonnation on whether the phonemes in the affix are vowels or consonants. After such a
skeletal affix is attached, the Cs and Vs then acquire their other featural infonnation from the
base. The following examples from the Philippine language llokano illustrate the theori' :
IJ The development of the theory was made possible after the advent of the autosegmental
phonology (Goldsmith 1976) which allows features to stand alone on separate tiers that are linked
together in a three dimensional manner, rather than being all bundled together within the same
feature matrix. See the beginning of the last chapter for a few more details.
IS What is presented here is far less complex than reduplication in this language, but is sufficient
for the purpose of illustrating the theory in question.
78
(3.39)
a.
b.
Progressive
ag-bas-basa
ag-Iak-Iakler
'rcad'
'standing'
In this language, the progressive orlhe verb is marked by reduplication of the basco In the
reduplication-as-affixation theory, what happens here is a prefixation process, and the prefix is a
mere eve skeletal tier:
(3.40) CVC + basa
eve + lakier
Then Cs and Vs acquire their other features by copying them from the base segment by
segment from left to right. The whole operation is illustrated below:
(3.41)
Base Affixatioll Copying Association
CVCV CVC+ CVCv CVC+ CVCV CVC + CVCV
I I I I -> I I I I ->
I I I I -> I I I I I I I
bas a basa basa bas a basa basa
It seems that the theory ofrcduplication-as-affixation process does work for cases like this
one from Ilakano. However, when it comes to Mandarin reduplication, it becomes difficult to say
if reduplication is universall y an affixation process. There are at least two reasons for this doubt.
First, Mandarin reduplication in all cases involves total reduplication_the base is duplicated in
its entirety. It is thus impossible to decide which part, the first or the second, is the affix. Decision
between the two would be totally arbitrary. Second, it is hard to rule out that Mandarin
reduplication is not done by compounding. We learned previously that by far the most influential
word formation process in Mandarin is compounding. Affixation, by contrast, is quite rare.
Therefore, in this language, it would seem more reasonable and natural to have compounding
reduplication rather than affixational reduplication. Notice that the fact that the second syllable in
many reduplicated words cames the neutral tone should not constitute an argument for the
reduplication-as-affixation theory; it should not sufficiently prove that the second syllable in them
is a suffix. This is because many two-syllable compounds also have the second tone neutrali zed.
3,3.4 Abbreviations
Mandarin has a unique way of composing new words. It resembles how acronyms are
coined in English. But differing from English acronyms, which are often the combinations of the
first letters (or rather, the individual sounds they represent) of the words in a phrase, these
Mandarin words are composed of selected syllables of the in an expression. Here follow
some examples in which the italicized syllables arc the ones which show up in the 'acronyms.'
79
(3.42) Originals
'Acronyms'
a Qtiiing Qilxue ,tJ;(jc'"
'Beijing University'
-+ beida ->,t:k
b Mijing shifim da.xue
'Beijing Nonnal University'
-+ beishida ->,t frIi:k
c ctlliji zhOngxue
W!IUP'"
'junior high school'
-+ chiizhong ->In'l'
d bi'mg6ngshi J<f!)l'1J,&ll
'foreign affairs office'
-+ waiban ->jf1J,
c zhOngguo I'ongchandang 'l'lJlilti"':l't
'Communist Party of China'
-+ zhOnggong
r iillllfuniya zhOu 1J1J'f'iililie 'IE 111
'State of Cali fomi a'
-+ jiazh6u ->1JO 111
g rilzh6u 'lEiIII
'Asian, African and
feizhou ,Filii
Lat in America'
illdingmeizh6u
-+ yafCiia ->'lE1>!f1
h j.lshu
<4"'l5Z*
'science and technology'
-+ keji ->Hl5Z
jillQlon!Ulli!nxun 0I:ii!i riJ. i1\
'transportation and
-+ jiaodian ->01:<1'.
electronics'
j llxue yuim
U""Wtl&t
'Social Science
-+ shekeyuan ->Ut41&t
Academy (of China)'
k zhOngyang Miii Y!!ill! 'l'9<IiIf'IC1&t
'Academia Sinica
-+ zh6ngyimyuan
(Taipei)'
The 'acronyms' normally take the first syllable of each word in the phrase and put them
together creating a new word. In some cases, where the usc of the first syllablcs might cause
confusion and ambiguity, other syllables are used.
(3.43)
o.
b.
Origi/lals
-+ 'Acrol/yms'
buzh5.ng
-+ waizhang
xiang&fulg il..Qmen
-+ ganguo

->
1'i'illii!Mrl
->jtlll!
'Minister of Foreign Affairs'
'Hong Kong and Macao'
In (3.43), the morpheme biJ 'ministry' modifies the morpheme zhang 'head, director' in the
80
second word, but using biJ in the acronym would yield a non-word wtlibii which being a
homophone to the word meaning 'outside' would create ambiguity. Another rule that seems to
govcm such abbreviation is that a two-syllabic abbreviation is preferred over one wilh more
syllables, as the following cases indicate:
(3.44)
a.
b.
Originals
'Acronyms'
remi daibiao dahui
--+ renda
zhonggu6 renmin
zh&ngzhl xi6;hang hUlyi
-+ zhengxie

--+A;'\:

i!'liil tl.> ifli
--+ i!JI:liJ
'People's Assembly'
'People's Political
Consultation
Assembly of China'
Another type of 'acronyms' is that in which a common element is omitted. Examples of
this type are given below.
(3.45)
a.
b.
Originals
-+ 'Acrol/yms'
diclJiitl
-+ ffmgdichan
7JJOngxue xiiioxu6
-+ zhongxiiioxuc
m i"'lt!li'"
--+ JjJlt!li'"
'1''''+'''''
-+
'real estate'
'(literally) house & land property'
'primary and secondary school'
In addition to the 'acronyms', abbreviations can be created by taking a common element
from the words in an expression such as the second morpheme and adding a referential number to
its front as the first morpheme. The following are examples of such abbreviations.
(3.46) Origil1als
--+ 'Acronyms'
,.
shangyiyuan J: 1J(1\1:
'Upper House'
xiayiyuan l'1J(1\1:
'Lower House'
--+ liangyuan --+ j!lj 1\1:
'two houses'
b. zhongyiyuan
AiJil\1:
'House of Commons '
canyiyuan :@iJil\1:
'Senate'
--+ liangyuan --> j!lj 1\1:
'two houses'
c. xuexihao
'study well'
gongwbhiio ItFiff
'work well'
shentihao
JHI'iff
'keep good health'
--+ sanhUo
--+
'three virtues'
d. pCi hejiu
pCi tiaowu
pCi
--+ sanpei
s9
fll'PMil!


--+
'accompany in dancing'
'accompany in drinking'
'accompany in sleeping'
'a bar girl who provides
all the three 'services' of
drinking, dancing, and
sleeping company to
her customers'
81
The abbreviations presented so far have somehow gained currency among Mandarin
speakers. They have done so either through government endorsement and promotion or through
popular acceptance and usage. They cannot be created and used at will. One cannot even use
analogies to create what seem to be obvious abbreviations. For instance, although we have Mid.?
for beijing diixue 'Beijing University' (3.42)a), it is unusual to use qlilgdii for qIilgbua diJ.;we
'Qinghua University' in mainland China. The nonnal abbreviation for the latter is
simply qlilgbuii, in spite of the fact that the two universities arc both located in the capital of
Beijing, and are often named together. Incidentally, a university with thc same namc
90
in Taiwan
can be abbreviated to qingd.i. One explanation for the rejection of qJilgdii in mainland China is
that the abbreviation can potentially cause confusion betwecn qJ-nghua diIxui: and such
universities as qingJJ;ii diixue 'Qinghai University,' which is in the capital of the
Qinghai Province, and qlngdiio diIxue 'Qingdao University,' which is situated in the
coast city ofQingdao, Shandong Provincc. Qlnghua dlixue in Taiwan, by contrast, does not have
such 'competitions,' and thus similar confusion does not arise within its territory if qingd;j is
used. Another explanation is that bCljiiJg names a well-known geographic placc while qJnglJuii
does not. Therefore, qinghuii da:we 'Qinghua University' along with other well-known
Chinese universities such as minkiii d/u:ue 'Nankai University' and iiidi'm diixue 'Fudan
University' are not usually abbreviated to qJngd;i, niwd,l or iuda respectively. 91
Words thai are accepted in one region but not another also show that abbreviations cannot
be coined at will. Again. let us see Taiwan Mandarin. The word gOllggongqicbe 0jtr{$ 'bus'
is abbreviated to gOllgcbe -0$. and the phrase sbudi he shuigu6 'vegctables and
fruits' to the word shiiguo U.t*. These abbrevialions are not at all accepted in Northern Mandarin
where shuguodoes not exist and gongclJe means gOJJgjiade clJe 'public vehicle' rather
than gonggongqichc 'bus'.
19 This is a very new term that has been in popular existence for a decade or so.
90 It originated in Beijing before moving to Taiwan with the Nationalist government in the late
19405.
Note that the rejection of nfindiI could also be caused by the existence of niiijlng diixue 'Naijing
University,' which can be abbreviated to nanda.
82
3.3.5 Disyllabicity
In Section 3.3 so far, we have presented all the major word-formation processes in
Mandarin. One insight we have gained concerning these processes is that the Mandarin word has
a Sirong preference for a phonological form of two syllables. Indeed, word format ion in Mandarin
seems to interact wilh phonology producing forms thaI fit into a two-syllabic template. Evidence
for this claim is quite compell ing. Almost all types of word-formation processes in Mandarin put
together morphemes for no other purpose but to create a two-syllabic form. Let us first have a
look at affixation. The word-formative suffix -zi in (3.8), for example, has no meaning
whatsoever: it docs nol add any meaning to the root. ZhuQ means 'table' just as much as z//U(jzj
does. The same is true with the prefix /aer in liiohii 'tiger.' The si ngle syllable bii means exactly
the same as /aoM. Other affixes that are likewise used include the prefix .i as in iim 'Fa (name)',
;ilxio 'Bao (name)', and ;igc 'older brother', suffixes -00 as in zulbtl 'mouth', l'IeiiJ<I'tail' and yaba
'mute', and - I OU as in sbi(ou 'stone' , Iii/ou 'axe', murou 'wood'. In all cases, the addition of the
affix serves no other purpose than to enlarge the base into two syllables.
Adding what we may call a 'dummy affix' is only one of the many ways ofdisyll abifying
words in Mandarin. Another way is compounding. Besides compounds in which the morphemes
are put together more or less for a semantic reason, or at least such was the case at the time when
the compounds were first coined, there are template-driven creations that contain two morphemes
of identical or similar meaning. Mandarin is full of compounds like these. A few examples (See
also{3.l4)) are given below:
(3.47) Morphemes
,.
pCngyou JIIlo:
friend-friend ' fri end'
b. baOgflO
*i!i
reportreport 'report'
c. shengyi n
"'if
sound-sound 'sound'
d. yachi teeth-teeth ' teeth'
e. xiju opera--opera 'opera'
r. shengchan '1" produce-produce 'produce'
g. zhandou lilt4
fight-struggle 'fight'
h. bangzhu 'Wl!iJ
help-help 'help'
L fCngfu $11\ plenty-rich 'rich'
j. qiguai
odd-strange 'strange'
k. mciH
9<"
beautifulpretty 'beautiful'
\. gangcai
just now-just now now'
When two morphemes of (near) identical meaning arc concatenated, the only purpose for
thcir concatenation must be of a non-semantic nature. In our case, the reason is clearly to reach a
two-syllable target.
That words are fanned for the purpose of fitting into a two-syllable template seems to be
even more strongly corroborated by Mandarin reduplication. As discussed in Section 3.3.3.4, not
only can reduplicat ion double a one-syllable morpheme in size to yield a word meaning exactl y
83
the same as its base morpheme, but the same type of reduplication may also work on a
meanillgless single syllable to yield a well-fornled twosyllable word (e.g., mij-).miinai'fralernal
grandma' and lao--+liiollio 'maternal grandma'). The sole purpose of the morphological process in
question is indisputably to disyllabify Ihe words.
In abbreviations, it seems two-syllable forms arc used whenever possible. For example,
the abbreviated form for r6min dilibi:io diihui 'General Assembly of the People's
Representatives' is not the seemingly more logical rediiidii, in whi ch all first syll ables in the three
words are used, but rendti in which only the first syll ables of the first and the third words are
used. The result, as one can clearly sec, is a two-syllable word.
That Mandarin has a preference for twosyllable units is shown notjus{ in words, but in
other aspccts as well. It is compellingly exemplified in vocative forms. In addressing someone
under nom);}1 circumstances, a single syllable is never used, but always two. Ifa man's name
contains two syllables, say Wang Ming, the acceptable address for him is I) Wang Ming as a
whole, 2) a reduplicated Mingming_perhaps used by his parents ifhe is young, 3) a form that
has another single syllable attached to the front of the surname or personal name: Lao Wang 'Old
Wang', Xiao Wang 'Little Wang', or A Ming 'Ming' . Following are some examples of names of
more than two syllables.
(3.48) Acceptable Unacceptable
2syllable nallle: Wang Ming IIfIl Wang Ming Wang
Mingming Ming
A Ming
Lao Wang
Xiao Wang
2-syllable name: Wal/g HQI/gllling ItrlJ/l Hongming Wang
Mingming Ming
A Ming "Hong
A Hong
four syllable name: Hllallgfil HOl/glllillg
!i1l1itI If/J
Lao Wang
Xiao Wang
Huangfu
Hongming
A Ming
A Hong
Huang
"Fu
Ming
Hong
Whal the above shows is Ihat no matter how many syllables are there in a person's name,
the acceptable form that is used 10 address the person is invariably a disyllabic fonn. Incidentall y,
a two-syllable preference seems to exist in sentences as well. For instance, to uttcr the expression
'the apple is red' , one always has 10 add a monosyllable hen M 'very' before the morphemc hong
IT 'red', and the resultant sent ence becomes pingguo hen hOng 1fi:JIH!)!!( 'literally: the apple is
very red'. The morpheme hen and the adjective hong form a two-syllable immediate constituent
84
of an adjectival phrase so that the adjective docs not appear sort of 'unsupported' in its
monosyll abic fonn. Another example comes from answers, shown below, to the question ni
duOd;i? 'How old are you?'
(3.49) ,.
b.
shiba. +A.
eighteen
'Eighteen.'
bu. A .
eight
?
c.
1m sui . AYi .
eight year
'Eight year old.'
If the answer is a two-syllable word, the word can be used alone (a); if it is a one-syllable
word. the word cannol stand alone (b), but has to be supported by another word sui 'year' (e). To
bettcr understand the disyllabi c tendency of Mandarin words, it is helpful to go back briefl y in
history. which brings us to the next topic in Mandarin morphology, homophones. In brief. word
formation in Mandarin. in addition 10 serving the purpose of conjoining morphemes to yield
another word with a different meaning. also works, in a great many cases, simply to conform to a
phonological requirement of Iwo syllables. The two purposes do not have to be mutually
exclusive; both can be served al the same time. That the vast majority of Chinese words arc of
two syll ables should lend support to this claim. The dual purpose of the Mandarin word-
formation process can be represented as follows:
(3.50)

For meaning For Form
3.4 Homophones
Anyone who is reasonably familiar with Mandarin will know thai the language has a
remarkable number of homophones. What is less known is that they arc the result of a long period
of historical simplification of Mandarin syllables.
91
Middle Chinese of the seventh century had
six syllable final consonants fop, -I, ok. om, on, -IJ} which were reduced to three {om, on, -IJ} in
Early Mandarin of the fourteenth century, and then to two {on. -I)} st ill laler. Besides the
reduction in syllable-6nal consonants, Mandarin has experienced a loss of syllable ini tials. These
syllable simplification processes in tum led to the emergence of a great number of single-syllable
homophones in the language. An example of such homophones is given earlier in (1.6), which
showed seven words with the same pronunciation, tone ' included. One survey (8. Y. Yin 1984)
"
Sec Section 1.2.1 for more infommtion on syllable simplification and homophones in
Mandarin.
85
finds that among the 1300 syllable types of Mandarin, only 297, or about a quarter of them, arc
syllables with just one meaning attached. The rest arc all associated with more than one meaning.
Since today's words in Mandarin arc mostly of two syllables, homophones are mostly at the
morpheme rather than the word level. In fact, the Mandarin disyllabification process was quite
likcly influenced by a need to reduce ambiguity raised by a huge number of homophones. Middle
Chinese still had words predomi nantly of a si ngle syllable. To avoid or amend the homophone-
induced ambiguity at the word level , one logical measure would be to enlarge the word in size.
That seems to have been exactly what has happened. (See (\,7) for an illustration). By the
disyllabilication process of compounding, monosyllabic homophones become two syllables in
size, their original meanings intact. It is clear thai the resultant two-syllable words arc no longer
homophones of one another in spite of their shari ng a common foml (e.g., ji/lIIg in ( 1.7)). It
should be pointed out that disyllabilication has not wiped out the monosyllabic homophones; it
has merely moved them from the level of the word to the level of the morpheme.
9
)
3.4. 1 Lucky and Taboo Expressions
Morphemic homophones have been the basis of many interesting language usages, games
and cultural activities. Many so-called lucky words and taboo expressions came into being as a
result of being homophones to certain other words in the languagc. One of the most well -known
taboo expression involves the number four s1 !!Y. This word acquired a negative connotation
because it is a near homophone of the word si JE 'death' . Another famous taboo word is shu.:t5
'book' . Books are not supposed to be read in certain businesses or in gambling placcs because the
word shu 'book' has acquired the symbolic meaning of losing since it has the same pronunciation
as shu ffi 'to lose' .
Conversely, many lucky words are derived through being homophones of words with a
'good or positive meaning. A lucky word which is often seen during Chinese New Year's
celebrations is yu :f!!. 'fish'; many New Year posters have pictures of fi sh in them. The
connotati on is derived from the word's being homophonous with another )'U which means
'surplus.' A tradition in some parts in Northern China is to serve dates and peanuts or to use them
as decorations at weddings. The word zao J!t 'date' is a homophone to ziio -Ff!- 'earl y' while the
word peanut huiisheng has two syll ables in it: lIua which is a homophone of hu.i 'variety'
and sheng which is a homophone of sheng 'propagate' . The idea is that the newlyweds will have
both male and female children (lIU,izhe sheng and will have them carly (2aO sheng

It should be noted that in Mandarin. lucky or taboo expressions do not have to be
completely homophones with their originals. These expressions can sometimes simply rhyme
with their ori ginals. The number b5 J\. 'eight' is a lucky one because it rhymes with Iii 2t which
means 'get rich and prosperous' . In certain cases, even total rhyming is unnecessary; the only
9) Thi s does not mean. however. that there arc no longer homophones at the two-syllable word
level. However, the number of homophones at this level is no longer 'abnonnal' compared with
that in other languages.
86
requirement is for the vowels to be somehow 'in harmony'. The wordju +-I' 'orango' (the fruit) <
. . , lOr
Instance, IS a lucky one simply because its vowel shares the same vowel features of (+high] and [.
back) as found in vowel in)i s 'auspicious'. In fact, it would be a mistake to expect all lucky
and expressions to match their originals in fonn . For one thing, these
expressions may have eXisted for a long time during which the sound may have changed so that
what to match no longer does today. Furthennore, these expressions may have entered
Mandann from one of the several other Chinese diaJeds. Given that what are homophones in
. one
dIalect may not be so in another, they may match their analogues in their original dialect but
in Mandarin.94 ' not
3.5 Word Stress
In this section, we will examine a phonological aspect at the word level: word stress. It
should be I.nentioned here that our inquiry into word stress is limited to words of two syllables,
one of which may be afforded some kind of prominence over the other. The non-prominent
syllable may manifest itse1fas being completely unstressed or just as lacking full promincnce.
Although not everyone knows that Mandarin has stress patterns on syllables in addition to
tone, linguists of Chinese all recognize the existence of word stress in the language. Exactly what
thc pattern is, however, has been a much-debated issue. Given that the vast majority of
Mandann words are composed of two syll ables, the question of word stress mostly centers around
which of the two syll ables bears stress. There are thus two possibilities: I) left stress; the first of
the two syllables is stressed, and 2) right stress: the second syll able is. There are also two
possibil ities as to how left and right stress exist in the language: either both are presenl, in whieh
case some words bear left stress, and others bear right stress. Or, there is just one type of stress:
ri ght or left. The traditional view is the fonner, namely, one of a mi xed stress. In thi s view, a two-
syll able word may have either left or right stress. In particular, whcn a two-syllable word has a
neutral tone, it has left stress,9S whcreas when it has no neutral tone, it has right stress. This
tradition is traced back to Y. R. Chao (1968), in which he says, 'a two-syllable compound ... will
have a slightly greater stress on the second syllable unless it is in the neutral tonc (p. 29).' Such a
position obviously contains a paradox. A fact concerning the neutral tone is that it is derived
through a lack of stress. Given this, Chao's remark amounts to saying that there is stress where
one does not find an unstressed syllable.
In fact, regarding all words without the neutral tone as being right heavy leads to several
problems. For one, the set of neut ral-toned words is not a stable one. Historicall y, there has been
an increase in the number of neutral-toned words in coll oquial speech in Mandarin (W. M. Li
1981, and C. Y. Chen 1994 and 1998).96 For another, we know that neutral tone is induced by
And by the same token, different dialects may have dilTerentlueky and taboo expressions.
?J This is because alllhc neutral lones fall on the second syllable and never the first.
96 The reader should be reminded that the Standard Mandarin discussed here does not include the
Taiwan Mandarin or the Mandarin spoken as a second dialect in the Southern areas of China.
Mandarin spoken in those areas may have distinctively different stress tendencies.
87
being in an unstressed posilion for an extended period of time. If non-neutral-toned words wcre
always right heavy, how can any of them become neutral-toned words in Ihe first place? Another
problem with the traditional position is that Mandarin docs not have any words that have a neutral
lone on the firs t syllable, not even when the first syll able is a prefix. In contrast with prefixes, all
Mandarin true suffixes" are in the neutral tone. If nonnal Mandarin words lack stress on the first
syllable, why hasn't the neutral tone emerged on any of the first syllables? Or, why have all the
neutral tones been found on second syllables? The primary phonetic cue that the tradi tional
theory of word stress relics on is syllable duration. It seems that the second syllable is slightl y
longer in duration than the first. However, Ihis is only true when the two syllables arc uttered in
isol::llion. In connected speech, thc longer duration of the second syllable has not been found;
rather, the first syllable has been heard slightly longer (Wang and Wang 1993).
One thing we have to bear in mind is that Mandarin word stress may vary with geographic
location. What we have been arguing for is a stress pattern in the Standard Mandarin of the north,
particularly that of Beijing Mandarin. Out of this geographic area, the pattern may change. For
instance, Taiwan Mandarin is not obviously left heavy, which perhaps explains why Taiwan
Mandarin does not have as many neutral -toned words. It seems that Taiwan Mandarin has been
influenced by the local dialect of Taiwanese, a version oflhe Min dialect, which has been found
to be a right heavy Chinese dialect (Vue-Hashimoto 1987). Native Mandarin speakers, after
living in southern provinces such as Guangdong for a few years, tend to lose their neutral tone on
the neutral-toned words. Words such as fUqin x:* 'father' and xJgun 1!YJ1.\ 'waternlelon" each
with a neutral tone on the second syllable in Beijing Mandarin, may become, respecti vely, iuqin
and XJguii in which the neutral tone disappears and in its place is heard the original tone o f the
syllable (H. Lin 1994 and 2001).
3 .. 5.1 Meaningful Stress
We have argued for the len prominence in a two-syllable Mandarin word. Empirically,
such prominence mayor may not produce neutral tone on the second syllable. The deternlining
factors include whether the word concerned is in the colloquial vocabulary. Another factor is
whether the word contrasts with another that bears a neutral tone. Now observe (3.51) below and
compare examples in (i)s with those in (ii)s. The fonner are identical to the laller except that the
fonner do not have neutral tones on the second syllable while the latter cases do. There exist a
sizable number of contrastive pairs such as these in the language. Among the pairs, the (i) type is
not likely to lose stress complctely on the second syllable and becomes a neutral-toned word
since that would create merging of the two fonns in (i) and (ii), and thereby create ambiguity.
Incidentally, word stress can serve the function of differentiating words from phrases as welL For
instance, the sequence rC hU with both syllables stressed is a phrase which means 'hot
kettle' whereas the same sequence rehu :t!.t:5f with no stress on the second syllable is a word
meaning 'warm.'
91 Refer to Section 3.3. l for a description of the Mandarin suffixes.
8.
(3.51) ,.
1 shiriii
Jl;t 'indeed'
ii. shizai
Jl;t 'honest'
b. 1 shcngqi
it"!: 'get angry'
ii . shengqi
it'"
'vitality'
c. ;.
lianzi
ll'f 'lotus seed'
ii. lianzi
i'iH 'screen'
d. ;.
dUllou
'correct'
ii. duitou
M!k 'rival; enemy'
c. ;.
day!
fcff. 'gist'
ii. dayi
fc:lti: 'careless'
r. ;.
didao
il!!ill 'underground tunnel'
ii .
didao ii!.ill 'genuine'
g. 1 d6ngxi
*i!!i
'east and west'
i i. d6ngxi
*i!!i
-thing'
h. ,.
shitCi
11:"
'good and bad'
ii. shirei
11:"
'dispute'
,.
L biiinpai
'layout'
" .
bianpai
iJiiili1 'fabricate'
j. ,.
xiongdi
Rill 'brothers'
ii . xiongdi
Rill 'younger brother'
k. 1 slinzi
11'1' '(name of a historical military strategist),
ii. sunzi
li''f 'fratemal grandson'
3.6
Transliteration of Foreign Words
Historically speaking, the Chinese language has not borrowed extensively from foreign
English or Japanese. Other than names of people and places, there had been,
untll.falrl
y
recently, only a handful ofloan words, most of which were of two syllables. Examples
arc glvcn below:
(3.52) a. iinpei :t(!g 'ampere'
b. hupo
'ambcr'
c. jiiilun
tU-e 'gallon'
d. kiiobCi t.1; .Ii! 'copy'
c. IUbiJ pm 'ruble'
r. luoji
il':ilI 'logic'
g. mooeng
Jl/iJf 'modem'
h. motu(,
Jl/il't 'motorcycle'
L ningmeng ITt;; 'lemon'
j. shiita
t\':&- 'sofa'
k. lankc
ill:1i: 'lank'
1.
m.
xuejiii
y6umo
'cigar'
'humor'
89
The following are examples of older loan words of three syllables (a), four syllables (b),
and five syllables (c).
(3.53) a. ,.
qiiiokt!ii 05Lh
'chocolate'
i i. bailandl. S!"iI!!
'brandy'
Ill. fiixisi $i!!iJ!Ji
'fascism'
'v. mengtaiqi iii':ki1r
'montage'
v. fanshilin J1tt
'Vaseline'
b. ,. weiduoliya ;lb\"I'Jilli:
'Victoria'
i i. aolinpike ]1>*1< 1"e:1i:
'Olympic'
iii. asipilin
'Aspirin'
>Y. xiesidili I!XWiI<Ul
'hysterical'
c. ,. bu.'ershiweike m!J;it!U
'Bolshevik'
ii. jialifUniyu 1m t
i
J If!. SIE
'Califomia'
The restrained borrowing from foreign languages seems to have changed in the past Iwo
dccades, during which there has been an influx of foreign words. With the rapid development of
science and technology and China's recent opening up to the world, new words have been
entcring the language at an unprecedented rate. Almost all of the words given in (3.54), (3.55),
(3.56), and (3.57) in the next section are recent borrowings.
3.6.1 Sound Route
Generally speaking, a foreign word may enter Mandarin via threc major routes: sound.
meaning, or a combination of the two. Within the sound routc, we may further distinguish
between a pure sound route and a sound route with suggestive meaning. Through the pure sound
route, a word is mapped by a 'sound-alike' syllable or syllables in Mandarin, and the result of the
mapping carries no obvious additional, 'suggestive' meaning. In addition to those givcn in (3.52)
above, other such examples that have entered Mandarin more recently are illustraled below:
(3.54) a. dis ike iI!!WiW
'disco'
b. hua'erzi $}j.;tt 'waltz'
c. kllla:'oukui -i<jiIOK 'karaoke'
d. maidanglao
*"'9l'
'MacDonald's (Restaurant),
o. yimei iN.1
'e-mail'
The last loan word yimci 'email' has entered Mandarin so recently that its chance of
staying in Mandarin vocabulary is yet unclear. Besides purc sound transliteration, syllables are
often carefully chosen and sequences of them carefully arranged so that the results arc
homophonous with exprcssions that provide further meaning. The best example is perhaps the
90
transli teration for the word 'Coca Cola.' Made up of four syllables resembli ng the four original
the Mandarin word kiJk6ukCl6 is more than just a sound transliterat ion. The string
conslst mg of the first two syll ables is a homophone to the word 'delicious' whereas the one
consisting of the second two syll ables is a homophone to the word 'enjoyable.' Therefore, the
Iransli tcrali on. in addition to meaning 'Coca Cola' carries the suggesti ve meaning of 'deli cious
and enjoyable.' Another interesting example is 'mini-ski rt: The transliteration for 'mini -' is minI
literally, 'chann-you.' Some perceived qualit ies of the mini skirt are thus indicated in the
transliteration. The following gives more examples of such borrowed words:
(J.SS)
CompollclIls Gloss
of CompollclIls
.. kcngdeji 'Kentucky ke ngde (pure sound)
I'll'!!"
Fried Chi cken' ji
b. biiishikele 'Pepsi Cola' bii ishi thousand matters
"ljIiiJ*
ke le enj oyable
<. hcike 'hacker'
he i black
1;\\:>;:
ke guest
d. weige Viagra" wei great
ftH1f ge big brother
3.6.2 Meaning Route
Compared with the sound-route borrowings, many more foreign words enter Mandarin
through semantic trans lation. In thcse cases, no attempts arc made at sound matching, but native
Mandarin morphemes are chosen and strung together to provide the meanings of the roreign
words. Many stock market terms are translated this way. To quote a few examples:
(3.56) Morphcmes

xi6ngshi bear-market 'bear market'
b. niushi
4T1i
bull-market 'bull market'
<. pingcing .!f1); level-warehouse 'short squeeze'
d. bucang

mend-warehouse 'short covering'
e. duotou
JI<
multiple-head 'over-bourN'
91 The Chinese character for thi s syllable is not the one for 'chicken,' and in characters the word
gives the appearance ofa pure sound transliterat ion. However, it is clear that thefiis suggestive
of ji 'chicken' here.
" This is among the most recent borrowings from English. Its destiny in Mandarin is stil1 uncl ear.
In any event, it is not even clear if the product itself will continue to exist since it has only gollen
inlo the market recentl y. Only hi story wili lell ifit is a lasting product and irthe loan word that is
associated wilh it is going to slay.
91
f. kongtbu ",!k empty-head 'over-sold'
g. Jiduo
"'I
profit-much 'bul1'
h. IIkong
"'I",
profit-empty 'bear'
.. fantan
reverse-spring 'rebound'
j. ITinzhuan /Ji.'i'i
reverse-Ium 'rollback'
k. tupa ",Ill: charge-broken 'break out; sumlount'
I. jiuoge 31:11'1
'delivery'
The following are more such examples, but they arc from information technology:
(l.S7) Morphemes
.. illllli
electrical-brain 'computer'
b. ruanjianl ""{41
soft-piece! 'software'/
yingjian
1JI!14
hard-piece 'hardware'
<. meit! WW
medium-body 'media'
d. wangluo l"IilI
net-net 'network'
c. wangyc 1"1>1
net-page 'web page'
f. zitixian 1'>1< be at line 'onli ne'
g. weiruan lit'ix
micro-soft 'Microsoft'
h. t>eifCn iHi
double-piece 'backup'
,.
quesheng
miss-save 'default'
j . shi'mgwang J:I"I
go ontonet 'go online'
k. jisuimji ltn{Jl computemachine 'computer'
I. jisuanqi

comput e-ware 'calculator'
m. hulianwang :!ilOCl1ll
interconnection-net ' World Wide Web'
n. qudongqi
dri ve-ware 'driver'
o. qi annia nchbng 'f'l'!I! thousand-year-bug ' millennium bug'
The patterns through which foreign words are borrowed into Mandari n are far more
complex than what we have illustrated so far. Among meaning translations, one can di stinguish
between I) the faithful and 2) the inventive. The examples given above fall more or less into the
fonner category. An example of the latter category is niuziiifu tj..ffnu. which is the translati on for
'jeans,' but literally means 'cowboy uniform.'
3.6.3 Sound and Meaning Combined
Otien, loan words may not arrive directly through a phonetic or semantic route
exclusively but via a combination or various channels. The example of 'mini-skirt' we gave
previously has the first part 'mini-' translated through a sound route plus suggestive meaning, but
the second part through a semantic route. The morpheme 'skirt' is mapped onto the native
Mandarin morpheme for 'skirt ,' qun. The roll owi ng contain marc exampl es of words of such
combination:
,L
(3.58)
Morphemes
,. ,.
jiUba alcohol-bar
'bar'
ii .
dlidi
1TIJ<J take-taxi
'take a taxi'
iii .
bCngdi
Ililil!! jump-disco
'disco dancing (slang)'
' v. ditbaJ
:kElI big-bus!
'big -sized bus'
zhongbal
OP Ell middle-bus!
'medium-sized bus'
xiUobii

smaU-bus
'small -sized bus'
b. ,.
banD
DI'l:k bar-woman
'bar girl'
".
pijiu
beer-alcohol
'beer'
iii. sangnayu
sauna-bath
'sauna'
' v. aizibing
:!I1It1ili AIDS-disease 'AIDS'
v.
ladingwu
IiLnl Latin-dance
'Latin dance'
yo.
balciwii
El:1ll'p.; ballet-dance
'ballet'
vii.
yintcwang
1llf,f1"1 inter(net)-nci
'internet'
viii.
miniqim
;iJ;lll chann-you-skin
'mini skirt'
ix,
bibiji
BBm beeper-machine
'beeper'
,.
tixushan
T!mIV T-shirt.shirt
'T-shirt'
xi.
h1mbaobao
hamburger-wrap
'hamburger'
In the (a) examples in the above, the first part is a semantic translation whereas the second
a phonetic one. The reverse is true for the examples in (b). The eases in (a.i i-iv) need further
explanation. The phonetic part in these, di and b5 are short for dishi 'taxi' (a.ii), disik 'disco'
(a.ii i), and b..ishi 'bus' (a.iv), respect ively. The full versions are themselves pure phonetic
translations of the original English words. When conjoined with another single-syllable
morpheme to form a word, they are all reduced to their initial syllables. The results aTe disyllabic
words (evidence again for the preference for two-syllable words in the language (cf. Section
3.3.5) which include a semantic part (a local morpheme) and a truncated phonetic part.
3.6.4 From Cantonese
During the past two decades or so, although many forei gn words, mostly of English
origin, have entered Mandarin directly, it is not uncommon to sec borrowings coming indirect ly
via another dialect. In fuct, both dishi 'taxi' and baslll' 'bus' mentioned earlier are borrowed from
Cantonese (tikSi and pasi, which, earlier, borrowed them from English. One
interesting observation regarding these two loan words is that mther than borrowing them in their
entirety, the Mandarin speakers chose to use only part of them in combination with a native
100 The Cantonese transcriptions in this book are from the second edi tion of the 'Banyu Fanyi n
Zi hui (Dictionary of Dialectual Pronunciations of Chinese Chamlers)' (1989).
93
Mandarin morpheme. The fonns dishi and although maybe seen on and on
the Beijing streets. are not used in spoken language. Another example of a dal ly
art of which is borrowed by way of Cantonese is lixilshiin 'T-shirt' (3.58). In thiS word, IlXll
:omes from Cantonese liSOl which was borrowed earlier from English by a sound route while the
econd part shiiJ1 is a nat ive Mandarin word which means 'shirt.'. .. .
s Another interesting loan word of such origin is an earher borrOWing via
... .. hoJ'" 'Combridge' The word is transli terated by a combination of sound and meamng Jl.mqJao 11r" .
routes,ji;ln being phonetic and ql:1o semantic. One interesting question concerns .the resemblance
of ;ilw with Calli in 'Cambridge:' how the former comes to represent phonetically .the latte.r.
While the phonetic correspondence between a loan word and its origin faithful, tillS
particular mismatch stems from the fact that the Mandarin jlilll IS kim III
meaning 'sword.' ('Cambridge' in Cantonese is killlk'ill .) In fact, III alJ mcnlloned
examples of loan words from Cantonese, the original transliteratIOns bear, not
surprisingly. a much better phonetic resemblance to their Enghsh ongms.
Sometimes. two loan morphemes may be juxtaposed 10 foml a compound to
borrowing. For instance, the word zhiipi :tLJ1!\! 'draft beer (Iite.rall y, beer. that m a. Jar) _ ...
coi ned by attaching a new translation for 'jar'_ zh.i to an earher borrowmg pl beer (as III ':ljlU
shown in (3.58)).' Finally, it should be noted that in wri ting, loan words are almost always WrHtell
in characters. However. in recent decades, English leiters have simply been adopted some new
loans. For instance. the English leIters '0' and 'K' are used in kiilii'Ollk;'ii 'karaoke': -Fti'lOK; t.he
English leiter 'B' in bibiji 'beeper': BRm (3.58) and the English letter or in ("ushiin 'T-shut'
(3.58): TtIfn-l3 (or sometimes, . There are .also such CD and GRE (Graduate
Record Examinations) that arc most often simply wntlen m then Enghsh lellers.
94
Chapter 4. Parts of Speech
. As earlier, words arc the small est bui lding blocks of sentences. Analogous
with ,words In Engli sh, Mandarin words can be classified into various parts of speech. but unlike
English. where there are morphological markings 10 help identify pans of speech Md h
r. hd ' . , anannas
. ew . For,lnstance, the English suffix '-Iy, in most cases, gives the clue that the word
In II IS IS an while the suffix '-ize,' in all cases, identifies a verb. In the
maJonty of cases In Mandann. however, a word remains unchanged in ronn no matter ho
h .. d N . wor
were It IS usc . ow conSider the following Engli sh sentences:
(4.1) a.
b.
c.
The existence of parts of speech is universal.
Do parts of speech in Chinese?
The parts of speech are not the same as those used in ancient times.
We that the three underlined words existence, exist, and existillg arc difTerent words
that serve grammatical Based purely on their morphological markings, we
that (a), we .have a noun, In (b) a verb, and in (c) a gerund used adjectivally. Now
conSider thclr Mandann counterparts:
IOI
(4.2) a.
b.
c.
ci lei de cUn7,;)j shi piibiim de.
iflil<J
parts ofspcech OE(a) exist be universal DE
hilOyii zhong ki!nz:ru cilei rna?
1)( ill 4'l'f:(E iii)!j;IIlj?
Chinese inside exist parts of speech MA
xjanzai de eilei he giishihou de butong.
F.1!:(E1'i'l'En'Jiiij!j;"''' l1ffIll il<J Of' I"l .
now exist DE(a) parts of speech with ancient-time DE(a) not-the-same
The three English words given previously have just one equivalent in Mandarin ci'lI1zai
.f.F{. which is used as a noun (a), a verb (b) and an adjective (c). Ifwe look at the cfillzai
oul of context, how can we decide what parts of speech it belongs to? Given ils different usage in
the above three scntences. does the form constitute one word or three? Ever since the
introduction of Western linguistics into China in the early part of the twentieth century, Chinese
10 1 In this chapter, the Mandarin words in the illustrations are given in Pinyi n, Chinese characters
and translation, and where necessary. Mandarin phrases and sentences are provided
glosses as well. In these glosses. the English words are strung together
h!phen. If they correspond to a single Mandarin word. The English translations are placed
wlthm smgle quoles ... .'.
95
linguists have been grappling with these thorny issues. Thcre is one thing they arc agreed upon,
and that is there arc parts of speech in Ihe language. in spite of the ncar absence of the tell-tale
morphology. The maj or issue linguists have been concerned with asks the queslion, 'What can be
done to determine parts of speech, or, what criteria or theoretical framework can be establi shed
for their identification in the absence of morphological infoonation?'
Several theories have been advanced ranging from relying on the content meaning of the
words, to their grammatical meanings, and to their syntactic properties. Earlier, many Chinese
linguists believed that the only infoonation that can be used to detemline parts of speech comes
from the meanings of individual words. For instance, we know rjjiyang *m 'the sun' is a noun
since it is the name of the objcct, but clli WL 'eat' is a verb since it denotes the action of
consuming food (L. Wang 1957). Linguists began to realize that meaning, at best, is an unreliable
measure for the purpose. The following examples support this claim:
(4.3) (A) (8)
a. gair lliUL
'covcr (n.) gai
ffJ.
'cover (v.)'
b. hongse !Ii;'.
'red color (n.)' hong
!I
'red (adj.)'
c. shuimiilll

'sleep (n.)' shuijiao
um:Ut
'sleep (v.)'
d. zhanzheng
'war' diizhang
trill
'fight (v.)'
e. yigai
-m
'unanimously' yizhl -Jl( 'unanimous'
There are eight pairs of words above. Words of each pai r share the same meaning.
However. the words in Column (A) are nouns except the last one. an adverb. while the ones in
Column (B) are either a verb or an adjective. in Mandarin, there are numerous pairs of words
such as these. These pairs of words clearly show that word meaning alone is not enough to lesl
for word membership in a particular part of speech.
Today, most Chinese linguists believe that the most reliable test for parts of speech in
Mandarin comes from the syntactic qualities and functions of each word. For instance, cfinzil i
'exist' mentioned earlier is judged to be a verb-an existential verb-because like all other verbs
in Mandarin (except you :fr 'have'),I02 it can be negated by the morpheme bU 'not' . Thi s
quality of negation separates cunziJi from nouns all of which cannot be negated by bu (e.g., * bu
iliqing Although many adjectives can be negated by bu. ciJl1ziii is differentiated from
adjectives by its grammatical quality of not being able to be modified by lIell :f& 'very' as most
adjectives can (e.g., *lIcn cUllziu). functionally, cfinzai is separated from nouns because it can
serve as a predicate ofa sentence, but not as a subject or object. Nouns, on the other hand, do just
10l There are a few other exceptions such as ying 'win', bing 1{i:j 'become ill', and sifE 'death',
and rcsultative compounded verbs such as diipiJ flli!t 'break' and kiinjjim 1i' 'sec' , which are
also not nonnally negated by bU ;f' 'not', but may be negated by mei i9: 'nOI'.
10] Nonnally, the morpheme bii 'not' has the fourth tone (51); however, it goes through a
dissimilatory sandhi process whereby it changes into a second tone if followed by another fourth
lone.
96
the opposite.
While grammat ical tests such as those mentioned above are generall y sufficient, other
types of information may also be useful to provide secondary support for the identificati on. The
most used secondary support is meaning. Meaning can be content meaning or grammatical
meaning. An example of contcnt meaning is 'verbs denote acti ons', as opposed to 'verbs can serve
as predicates of sentences: which constitutes syntactic information. In fact, larger grouping of
words into such categories as nouns and verbs is done with the help of the meaning informat ion.
By the meaning cri teria of nouns being names and verbs denoting actions, a fair number of words
can be safely classified.
In short, grammarians working on Mandarin have come to rel y most ly on grammatical
information and only secondaril y on meaning information in their efforts to sort out words. In
what foll ows, a review of Mandarin parts of speech wi ll reflect such an approach. Generally
speaking, Mandari n words can be divided into two major classes: content words and function
words. The content words can be further divided into nouns, verbs, adjectives, numbers,
classifiers, pronouns and adverbs, while the function words are prepositions, conj unctions,
auxiliaries, and intetjcctions. Unlike the content words most of which can stand alone and form
an open class to whi ch new words can be added, the function words form closed sets and cannot
be used alone without the 'support' ofeontcnt words.
4. 1 Nouns
Nouns often can be separated from the rest of the words by their meanings. For instance,
the word gou 'dog', by its meaning, is clearly a noun and not a verb or an adverb. However, the
identification of Mandarin nouns is not always so straightforward. Often it has to be tested with
grammatical or formal tools. One of them is the presence of ccrtain affixes. For instance, we
know a word is a noun if it has an affix such as as in jilinzi rJiJ:f 'scissors,' tou as in ftltou
*;}k 'axe', and lifo- as in laopo 'wife.' However, as mentioned above, morphology and
meaning can onl y serve as a secondary function to the identificat ion of parts of speech and the
major tests have to come from the syntactic quali ties of each part of speech. Before consideri ng
these qualities of nouns, examine the following examples of nouns.
4.1.1 Types of Nouns
Nouns name many different ki nds of cntities, such as people, animals, professions,
qualit ies, and abstract concepts. Based on meani ng, Mandarin nouns can be di vided into several
groups: common versus proper, collective, abstract, time, location, di rection, and countable
versus uncountable. A noun may belong to one or more of these groups, unl ess the groups are in
contrast (e.g., countable and uncountable). The following are examples ofcach group:
See previous chapter for a description of affi xes.
97
xucshcng
'student'
(4.4)
a. common nouns
shui
*
'water'
b. proper nouns
zhongguQ 'i'llil
'China'
ke lindim
' Cl inton'
c. abstract nouns
heping
'pcace'
duode illr.;;
' morals'
d. collective nouns renlei
'mankind'
chcliung $\i'i
'vchicle'
e. time nouns nian 'l'
'year'
xingqiyi 1ll111J-
'Monday'
f. place nouns
chufang Jill",
'kitchen'
taipi ngyang ;t'fli'
'Pacific Ocean'
g. locality nouns
shanglxia JIF
'up/down'
qianmian Wlilff
' in front'
h. countable nouns
xuesheng
' student'
piqiu ll1J'1<
'ball'
i . uncountable nouns uiq'ing !t\
'love'
shazi 0>'f
'sand'
4.1.2 Syntactic Properties
As mentioned previously, no Mandari n nouns can bc negated by the morpheme b.il ' nol,'
. II b modified by an adverb. All examples are ill-fonned because m each
neither can they nonna Y e
a noun is preceded by an adverb.
(4.5) a. he n ta iyang m;tllll
?71
very sun
b. dou shu '/i114l
???
al1 book
c. gang kuzi
???
justonow pants
d. hai aiqing
???
still love
Certain time nouns can serve as predicates, in which case they can be modi by c.ert ain
adverbs. For instance, the time noun xrngqiyr !ltlVl- 'Monda.
y
' as the In the
._,_ . .. A=ElJIIJ- 'today is Monday'. In tillS case, II can be modified by an
sentence jll/ flUn xmgqly l '7 Alli.
98
adverb such as ciii ;;t '(denoting the meaning of earlier than expeeted),lol: jliuiiin c;li :ringqiyi
'today is only Monday.'
. can be modified by number-CLS phrases, adjectives, verbs, pronouns, adjectival (or
attnbutlVc) phrases (or clauses), and other nouns.
I06
The following provide an example of each
type of combination. The first line in each case is the example in Pinyin and characters th
second line gives the word-for-word translation, and the third line is the translation of the
This fonnat will be used to illustrate phrases and sentences throughout the remaining sections
sYiltax unless othemise noted.
(4.6) a. santiao gou

'three dogs'
threeCLS dog
b. hong kuzi
!IlI<'f
'red pants'
red pants
c. gongzuo shijian
I fjontl'J 'working time'
work (v.) time
d. m mama jj;J!lJ!l 'your mother'
you mother
c. la kun de dianying
{tMJ >I!!!! 'the movie that he has seen'
he
l07
see DE movie
f. dianshi jiemu
>l!l'l\,HI 'television program'
television program
Finally, nouns that refer to people can take the plural morpheme -men In as a suffix.
However, this suffix is not used if the noun is modified by other quantifiers within the noun
phrase (henceforth NF) or sentence, for example, hiiizi :mi=" 'child' and JJ;Jjzimen 'children' .
Compare the examples in (i) with those in
99
(4.7) a. .. Wingge hiiizi
'two children'
two-CLS child
...
" .
liangge hllizimen i!'l1-lJ('f{1l
71?
two-CloS child-men
b. i. hcn duo haizi il<$if<'f
'many children'
very many child
...
" .
hen duo haizimen il< $ if< 'f fll
???
vcI)' many child-men
c. L la de hllizi hen duo. (t!!89if<'fil<$
'He has many children.'
he DE(a) child vel)' many
...
" .
la de hiiizimen hcn duo.
???
he DE(a) child-men very many
The noun Mizi 'child' alone legitimately takes the suffix -men. in the grammatically
correct (i) cases, this noun does not take the suffix, but is modified by a quantifIer either within
the NP (a and b) or the sentence (c). In the second examples (ii), however, it takes both a
quantifier AND the suffix -men, and is thus ungrammatical. Functionally, nouns serve primarily
as a subject or object, although sometimes they also serve as an attributive. Sometimes nouns
may act as a predicate, and together with a number-CloS phrase, a noun may also scrve as an
adverbial. Details of nouns serving these grammatical functions can be found later in the section
on NPs.
4.2 Verbs
4.2.1 Types of Verbs
Mandarin verbs are vel)' complex. The classification of verbs relies mostly on their
syntactic properties. There arc action versus stative verbs, transitive versus intransitive verbs,
auxilial)' verbs, linking verbs, direction verbs, reduplicated verbs and verbs that are followed by a
verbal phrase. Here arc examples of these types of verbs:
(4.8) a. action verbs zou ;E
'walk'
xiilO !;t
'laugh'

'debate'
bangzhu Ii\' WJ
'help'
101 incidentally, the adverb cfll: when modifying a verb, denotes 'later than expected.' For
instance,jin/ian ciii kaish/ 'It is not unti l today that (it) started.' (Note: kiiish/ means
'start.') b. stative ai 'ft
'love'
106 See thc sections on NPs and attributives for further accounts of noun modifiers.
Hl7 For editorial convenience, only 'he' will be used in chapter to gloss Iii 'helshe/it; the third
person singular morpheme in Mandarin, unless the complete gloss is absolutely necessary.
101 The star '.' is conventionall y used in syntactic studies to mean 'unacceptable' to a native
speaker.
xiwang
0
kun
1j\.1I1 'hope'
\11!
'be hungl)"
III
'be sleepy'
ow
c. transitive verbs chi I1Z; 'cal'
kim
'Ii
'watch'
)tuc"i
"tJJ
'study'

!!<I!I.
'celebrate'
d. intransitive verbs paa
11m
'run'
ku
*
'cry'
qushi

'pass away'
chulai
'come out'
e. take a verbal object kiiishi (gongzuo) ffMi(I fF) 'begin to (work)'
jixu (xuexl) !(I!lt(",m 'cont inue to (study)'
jiiiyi(xiiigai) !m",(I}i'J() 'to (revise),
zhiizhung(lingzhi)
'to insist on (slopping)'
f. auxiliary verbs nenggbu

'can (ability)'
key! "lP)' 'may (pennission)'
de
' have to'
yinggai r,<l1<
'should'
g. directional vcrbs10!l lailqu
""'Ii
'to come/go'
jinlchli
WW
'to enterlexit'
shangqu
x.'Ii
'to go up'
huilai
Iill*
'to come back'
h. linking verbs shl
Jll
'to be'
jiao (zhiingsan)
'to be called'
chcngwei
rIJ.1J
'to become
dcngyu
<'P'f
'to be equal to'
4.2.2 Syntactic Properties
Verbs have several special syntactic properties. First, all verbs can be negated by the
negative morpheme bi) 'not,' except the verb you 'have,' which can only be negated by mci"5t
'not: to fonn mciyou i!i1f 'have not.' In addition to bi) 'not,' many verbs can also be negated by
m6i 'not.' Second, verbs can be arranged to yield an A-not-A question fonn. One type of question
fomlation which yields a 'yes-or-no' question involves the repetition of the main verb of the
sentence and the insertion of the morpheme bii 'not' between the two identical parts (A-not-A):
109 See Section 5.3.6 for more examples of directional verbs and their usage.
j
(4.9) a.
b.
ta chi pingguo.
he cat apple
ta chibilchi pingguo?
he eat-not-eat apple
101
'He eats apples' .
'Does he eat apples?'
Third. verbs can usually be reduplicated (see the last chapter for details of verb reduplication).
Fourth, verbs can stand alone as answers to questions. Fifih, most verbs can take aspect particles
such as zhc y, Ie y, and guo :i::J: (their meanings and functions will be explained later). Sixth,
verbs can nonnally be modified by adverbs. The main grammatical function of verbs is
predicating. Some verbs can also serve as a complement. While the above mentioned qualit ies are
shared by most verbs, syntactic properties may vary with verb types. Below, these selected verb
types will be considered individually.
4.2.2.1 Action and Stative
Action verbs account for the maj ori ty of the verbs in Mandarin. All the previously
mentioned verb qualities arc true for action verbs except for those action verbs which cannot be
modified by degree adverbs such as hen 'very.' The foll owi ng expressions are all ungrammatical:
(4.10)

hen zou il!;!'
??1
very walk
c. zui xiao
""'>1:
???
most laugh
c. ,iii

171
too argue
d. gcng bangzhu !1!fWW! ???
more hclp(v.)
Contrary to action verbs, stativc verbs can nomlally be modified by degree adverbs. Compare the
above table with the foll owing:
(4.11 ) a. hen at
ilH!
'love very much'
very love
c. zui e
lilll'<
'be most hungry'
most hungry
b. tiii xiwang ;!<;or.!I! 'hope very much'
100 hope
d. geng kun
l!!1ll
'be more sleepy'
more sleepy
Also, unlike action verbs which can be the main verb of an imperative sentence, stalive verbs
102
cannol. For instance, one can say, ' Walk!' but cannot say 'Love!' where the word
is used as a verb.
4.2.2.2 Transitive and Intransitive Ver bs
By linguistic definition, transitive verbs are those that can take objects, while intransitive verbs
do not. In Mandarin the case is somewhat different. There arc nouns after intransitive verbs that
are considered the non-patiene
'O
objects of these verbs. Here are some examples:
(4.12) . .. qu zhonggub
*"'fH
go China 'go to China'
ii. xi linyu
litltfllf
wash shower 'take a shower'
111. shang xuexiil.O

go school 'go to school'
iv. chui diunshun
blow electric-fan 'be blown by an electric fan'
b. i. chii xian yi ke xing
t1ll!1HIJi!i!
appear onc-CLS star ' a slar appears'
u. xiiliai yige ren
T*-1'A
down-come onc-CLS person 'a person comes down'
iii. In.ai Ie yige jidan
rot PERF one-CLS egg 'an egg became rotten'
4.2.2.3 Auxiliary Verbs
Although verbs normally consti tute an open class to which new verbs can be added, the
set of auxil iary verbs is closed. This is one of the reasons that there has been controversy around
their being treated as verbs (Li and Thompson 198 1). As space docs not allow a presentation of
the arguments here, we will simply follow the tradition of treating them as verbs. Interested
readers should refer to (1992) for cogent arguments for thei r verbhood. Relati vely
small in number, auxiliary verbs express primarily the meaning of willingness or possibility. The
foll owing are some examples:
(4. 13) , . nenggbu
rm'll<
'can (ability)'
b. ken
11
'be wi lling'
c. yuanyi Ii!:@:
'be willing'
d. dei lG>
'have to'
11 0 They are not the objects upon which the action of the verb is directed.
1
103
c. keyi
'""'-
'may (permission)'
f. yinggai
'should'
g. yingdang @:ili
'should'
h. gan
itt
'dare to'
Other propert ies thai set auxiliary verbs apart from other verbs include the following: they
cannot be reduplicated, for instance, one cannot say *nenggounc!1ggolJ *deidci HH!};
they cannot be followed by aspect panicles such as zhe, Je, and guo (e.g., */Jellggouguo); and
their objects cannot be nouns or pronouns, but are usuall y verbs. verb phrases or clauses.
4.3 Adjcf:!tivcs
4.3.1 Types of Adj ectives
Based on meaning, Mandarin adj ectives are classified into several groups, the most
common of which include shape (a), color (b), quality (c), and state (d):
(4. 14) ,. d.
*
'big'
yuan II 'round'
bizhi 1;1;][ 'very straight'
b. hong
tl
'red'
billl.
Iii!
'green as jade'
huanghiihu
W'l'-'l'-
'kind ofyel1ow'
c. man
'tJ:
'soft'
ti an ;l!I
'sweet'
yonggan
mitt
'brave'
d. jing n; 'quiet'
kuai
tk
'fast'
qingsong

'relaxing'
As previously discussed, morphological forms do not normally identify Mandarin parts of
speech. However, there are some exceptions. for instance, the words in (a) in (4.15) below are
clearly adjectives by the fact that they each contain a redupli cative suffi x. Not only arc these
adjectives recognizable among other words, but they can also be singled out from the rest of the
adjectives. This latter dist inction is import ant, since as a group, these suffi xed adj ectives share
some unique synt actic qualit ies. Two ot her types of adjectives are also syntacticall y unique and
can be identi fied from others by their forms. Now examine (b) and (c) in (4. 15).
Morphologicall y, the (b) type of adjectives are all disyllabic compounds in which the first
morpheme, often a noun, modifies the second which is an adject ive. The (c) type contains four
syllables, but only one is the main clement, which is an adjective. The rest do not have much
meaning olher than acting like a four-syl1able building affix of an onomatopoetic nature. To make
104
up for the four syll ables, the fi rst syll able of the main adjcctive may sometimes be _
the first two example . () h rcpeat...u, as
. Sine S ow. The result often intensifies the meaning of the auicet" I
component or cause It to sound morc vivid: Iva
(4. 15) a.
panghuhii
111"1"1' 'plump'
lianzizi

'pleasantly sweet'
hongtoogtong
tIMM 'bright red'
Ichehe
*1IiiJr.iJ
bHu
;9!i,l
'green as jade'
gtinyuiln
lUll 'round as a ball'
bizhi
'very straight'
xuebai
!liB 'snow whi le'
hulihUl u
W1.!l!W1t1t 'very muddled'
guligub'lJai
I'i.!l!l'ilf 'very strange'
heibuliiiqiU
iIJ'f-OO;tk 'swarthy'
bCnlelXiji
lit7WIlP 'kind o f stupid'
he igul ongdong
'pilch dark'
b.
c.
4.3.2 Syntactic Properties
b k Ihhe previ,ous some classes ofadjeclivcs have been listed, and here it may
c.as c w at syntactic are. As a whole group, adjectives in Mandarin have a
charactenstlc: are, In many ways, just like stative verbs and because of this have
een. regarded as a speCial type of verb (Y. R. Chao 1968). Li ke verbs, they all can serve 'as the
when. they do, they do not need to be preceded by a linking verb, unlike En lish
adJectives. Like stallve verbs, nonnally be modified by degree adverbs, be redu lic:ted
.the structure of reduphcall on is differcnt-scc the last chapter for details on
reduplicat ion), and stand alone as answers to questions. The maio d... b ." .
a db' r lllerence etween adjecti ves
n most vcr s IS thai adjcctives cannot take objects.
Although adjectives can nommlly be modi fi ed by degree ad b Ih
exccptions Th thr . I vcr s, ere are three
. . e ee specla types mentioned earli er_ the Suffixed type the N nIV b
and the Four-Syllable-Building type-cannot be modifi ed 'by advoub
these adJcctlves, thc non-adjective part al ready binds the adjective with some I;
so that the .use a degrce adverb would either be redundant or For
mstance, the foll owmg stnngs, each of which contains the adverb ilell 'very' and d"
from the table in (4.15) arc iII-fomled: an a Llccllve
(4.16) a.
he n h6nglongtong
lIi!tImM ?
b.
he n gunyunn
lIi!lllllll ?
c.
he n huJihutu
lIi!IiIJ!I!W1t1t ?
When serving as att ributi ves, adjecti ves someti mes do not require the adj ecti val auxiliary particle
105
de to immediately follow it, for example, the de in da de pingguo 'big apple' does not have to be
present for the expression to be grammatical. Yet the use of thi s particle is compulsory with these
three special types of adject ives. Among the three, the ones with the reduplicative suffix and Ihe
four-syllable type are also different from the rest of the adjectives in that they cannot be
reduplicated, as reduplicati on never occurs on a base of more than two syllables (H. Lin 1990).
4.4 Numbers
4.4.1 Types of Numbers
There arc several types of numbers in Mandarin: cardinal, ordinal and approximate.
Cardinal can be further divided into whole, fraction, decimal and multiple. Examples of these
numbers are:
4.4.1.1 Whole Numbers
First, look at the numbers zero \0 ten:
(4. 17) ling
Y'
san ,i
11>
Jiu qi
-I:;
ba
J\
jiG
!L
shl
+
'zero' 'one' 'two' 'three' 'four' 'five' 'six' 'seven' 'eight' 'ni ne' 'ten'
Between ten and one hundred, all the numbers are combinat ions of the numbers given
above (Le., one to Icn). For instance, 'cleven' is s/Jiyi +-, literally, 'ten-one;' 'sixty' is /iush;
1\-1-0 literally, 'six-ten;' and 'sixty- nine' is /iiJshijiii AT JL, li terally, 'six-ten- nine.' Some further
umber units are:
(4. 18) yi
iZ
wan
7i
qiiin
T
' 100 mi lli on' ' ten thousand' 't housand'
b5.i
Ef
'hundred'
A number such as 1,234,567 is read as yi-biii-er-shisiin-wiuHi-qiiin-wiJ..biJi-/iiJ..shi-qlll
-F-i=T= JJtlY=flia1\+-t. One di fference between Mandarin and English (or European)
numbcr systems is that Mandarin has a four-digit recursive system whil e English has a three-digit
one. After three digits, English begins a new round using a combi nation o f 'ten,' or 'hundred' with
'thousand' (e.g., ten thousand, one hundred thousand, etc.), but Mandarin begins a new round aft er
four digits at the unit of lVall ]j 'ten thousand' (Le., slJiwill1, biiilVllII, and qi;/Ilwilll). At Ihe
seventh digi t, Engl ish uses a ncw unit 'mill ion,' but Mandarin docs not usc a ncw unit unt il it
reaches the ninth uni t, yi 11. 'hundred mill ion.' This difference means that if the Mandarin system
were used for writing numbers, rather than writing the numbers ten thousand and one hundred
milli on as 10,000 and 100,000,000 respectively, they would be writte n as 1,0000 yiwan and
II I Hyphens arc used here for easy reading o f the syllable/word segmentation.
106
1,0000,0000 yiyi, respecti vely.
4.4.1.2 Fractions, Decimals, Multiples and Ordinal Numbers
Fraction is expressed by X ICnzhi:StZ Y. where Y is the numerator while X the
denominator. Thus Vz is cnenzhiyi =5tz - . Decimal numbers arc quite simple and
straightforward. They arc expressed the same way as in Engli sh: '1.2' is expressed as yidiimcr
where diiid
l2
means 'point, dot.' Multiple is expressed by adding the morpheme rei iil
'multiple' 10 an ordi nal number: siin bei'three limes: crfCnzhlyi bei ' Yl time,' YI-diiJll'i:r bei' I .2
limes,' etc. Ordinal numhers are fonned with a prefix di- m and a whole number: diyi 'first,'
diCrshi '20
m
,' etc. Another prefix which is used to count the first ten to fift ecn days of the month
in an ordinal way is dIU- f]J. for instance, the fifth day of the month is ciluwil.
4.4.1.3 Approximate Numbers
Examples of approximate numbers are:
(4.19) a. ji
JL
'several'
b. xuduo
iH
'many'
c. duoshu
t!:
'most'
d.
""J:
'above (a number)'
c. yixia
""1'
'below (a number)'
f. shangxia
J:1'
'approximate (li terally up or down)'
g. zuoyou
liii
'approximate (literally left or right)'
h. duo

'more than'
4.4.2 Syntactic Properties
One syntactic property of numbers is that they cannot be redupli cated. In addition, the
most important syntactic role numbers play is to quantify nouns. When thcy do that, a classifier
1u
is required to follow right after-unlike numbers in English where they can immcdiately precede
the noun. For instance, thc English NP 'one person' is structurally 'one-CLS person' : yige refl
- 1' A in Mandarin. The following section discusses Mandarin c1assificrs.
4.5 Classifiers
Classifiers are a relatively recent development in the Chinese language. Numbers that
used to modify nouns directly now require an intervening classifi er. Their usage over the years
has become a grammati cal one, and therefore, they have largely lost their content meanings.
Except for the generic classifier gd 1', all classifiers are restricted to being used in combi nation
wi th certain nouns rather than others.
III In Beijng Mandarin, diiin often cames the -r suffi x.
II ' We will deal more with classifiers in the next section.
107
4.5.1 Types of Classifiers
Functionally and structurally, classifiers can be roughly divided into two classes: those
that precede and modifier nouns and those that follow and complement verbs in a numb.er-cLS
phrase. Among the two, nomi nal classifiers can be divid.ed into singular (a), collectlvc
and approximate (c) classifiers. A special type of nommal classifier are measure words (d) which
differ from other classifiers in that their meanings are clearly definable:
(4.20)
Classifier Usage Examples
go
yige jidan
'an egg'
tina
liangt iao long
'two dragons'
a.
wei sanwei laoshi :=:i;L;t!/ili
'three teachers'
zhang
sIzhang zhuozi \!l!lJ(;Jl!'f
'four tables'
shuang
wushuang kuaizi li:li1tR'f
'five pairs of chopsticks'
b.
ru
Ii uru yanjing

'six pairs of glasses'
qun
yiqun yiizi -1IHH
'a flock of ducks'
bang ylbang ren -filA
'a bunch of people'
c. diun
yidian shuiguQ

'a few apples'
xie
yixie shui guQ
-@**
'some apples'
jin
qijin xiangjiiio -t1T1liiM
of bananas'
mu bamu di J\1iil1!!
'eight "WI U ofland'
d.
she ng jiusheng you M Ii1Il
'nine li ters of oi l'
m. shimi bit -j-;i<11i
'ten metcrs of fabric'
The following examples contain classi fi ers that complement verbs in a number-CLS
phrase:
(4.2 1)
Classifier Usage Examples
xia ki'ln yixia O{i- 1'
'have a look'
, 1 shl yici i'it-li:
'give it a try'
mng pao sanlilllg
'pay three visits'
zheng guo yizhen ;j:-I'$
"in a short while'
Functions normall y perfomled by classifiers may sometimes be pcrfonned by nouns and
vcrbs. For instance, in (a) below, nouns are used as c1assificrs, and in (b) verbs are:
Dnejin is equal to half a kilogram.
111 One mil is equal to 0. 1647 acre.
108
(4.22) a.
b.
yiwu rcn
liangbCi shui
sanfCng xln
s'ikun t hai
4.5.2 Syntactic Properties
one-house person -m.A..
two-cup water
three-scal(v) letter .=:t;Ha
four-bind(v) firewood
'a room full of people'
'two cups of water'
'three letters'
'four bundles of firewood'
The previous table may give the impression that the approximate classifiers, like the rest,
can be combined with whole numbers other than yi 'one.' This is, however, not true, as
approximate classifiers only follow the number yi 'one.' In addition, the verbal classifiers work
mostly with the number yi as well. When they do, the resulting numbcr-CLS phrase can act as the
complement or the verb, and its addition to the verb has the same function as the reduplication of
the verb (sec the last chapter for more infonnation on reduplication). A phrase such as kan yixijj
r 'have a look' means the same as kimklln where the verb is reduplicated. In fact, the
redupli cated verb can be expanded into kanyikan-with the number yi 'one' inscrted in
between-but still means the same. After the expansion, the result resembles the phrase kim
yixiii in which a verb is followed by a verbal classifier phrase. Finally, as discussed in the last
chapter, monosyll abic classifiers can be reduplicated and when they are, they acquire the
additional meaning of'every' (e.g., gegcl"l" 'every person/thing, etc., and lMoliilo 1f:% 'every
dog/fish/panlS
ll
', etc.').
4.6 Pronouns
A pronoun is a substitute for and coreferenlial with another expression, its antecedent,
which can be a word, a phrase, a sentence or a group of sentences.
4.6.1 Types of Pronouns
Pronouns are of various types, just as their antecedents vary in meaning and grammatical
function. Generall y speaking, Mandarin pronouns can be divided into three classes based on thei r
grammatical meanings: personal, demonstrative, and interrogative. The following are examples of
personal pronouns. The examples in (g) and (h) are different from (a) and (d) respectively in that
the former pair normally refers to both the speaker(s) and the li stener(s) whereas the latter pair
refers to the speaker(s) only:
(4.23) a. wo

'I'
b. m ifj, 'you (sg.)'
c. Iii
iI!.'IJ!!''f::
'helshelit'
d. women 'Iliif]
'we'
c. lumen {j;11l
'you (pl.)'
116 Pants in Mandarin are considered singular.
109
f. tamen itklll
'they'
g. zim IlJl
'J (inclusive)'
h. :mnmcn IlJl III
'we (inclusive),
,. nm ftt
'you (sg. & pI.; polite form),
j . renjia }..i$(
'someone; that person; I'
k. dajia :ki$(
'everyone'
I. ziji B
'self
The following is a list of Mandarin demonstrative pronouns:
(4.24) a. zhc
;g
'this'
na
'that'
b. zher/zhCli ;gJiJ;glll
'here'
nar/nall J iJjjlllll
'there'
zhehulr ;g4<JL
'this moment; now'
nchuir JL
'that moment; then'
c.
zhe yang ;gil'
'this way'
nAyilng
'Ihat way'
zhemeyang i!.z..f-'f
'this way'
niuneyang llIl1..iI'
'that way'
7.hemcxie
;i!.z.@
"his much/many'
d.
c.
namexie
'that much/many'
Each of the examples in (b) contains two forms_ The former is typically in
B ' ea while the laller covers a wide geographic area. In all cases above, there IS eilhcr zhe
elJlllg ar , ,;17 d ,. t' el
i! 'this' or nu 'that,' which can be alternatively pronounced as an respec IV y
(e.g., zbeiyang 'this way' and neiyang'that way'). Furthermore, the example III (d) can also
be said as zt:llmcyang, both mean exactly the same as the first example III (d).
Now consider the interrogative pronouns:
(4.25) a. shul illi
'who'
shenme it1..
'what'
b. nru/nali J
'where'
c. nahuir
'when'
In This syllable, being a contextual derivative. is not considered a basic syllable and therefore is
not listed in lhe table of Mandarin syllables given in Chapter I.
110
d. zcnyang
:&f
'how'
zcnme

'how'
zenmeyang
'how'
c.
J' JL
'how many'
duo
$
'how much/many'
duoshao
'how much/many'
As shown above, the interrogative pronouns may refer to person (a), place (b), time (c),
manner (d) and quant ity (c). The pronoun sImi iiE 'who' can be pronounced alternatively as sh6;
a syllable which docs not otherv"ise occur in Mandarin. The pronoun in (e) millu/r 'when' is not
the most common expression for 'when,' that being the phrase shCnme shihou which is
composed of the pronoun s/Jenmc 'what' in (a) and the noun shiJlOu'time.'
4.6.2 Syntactic Properties
Pronouns are content words, hut unlike other content words slich as nouns and verbs,
pronouns are a closed scI. New additions are not expected in the foreseeable future. Further,
unlike most other eontcnt words, Mandarin pronouns can never be reduplicated. And unlike other
content words, Mandarin pronouns earmot nonnally be modified. One cannot say, for instance,
lifo wo 'old I,' shu ni 'silly you,' or *!J6ngdc zhc tUm! 'red this.' However,
Mandarin personal pronouns and the interrogative pronouns denoting peoplc (i.e., shui'who') can
modify nouns usually with the auxiliary particle dC'DE(a)' (e.g., liidc 'his dog' or
shllfdc gou 'whose dog'). When they combine with de 'DE(al', they resemble the possessive case
of the English pronouns: \It (Note especially Column 8)
(4.26) (A) (E)
,.
wo 'I' wOde
'itiJ<J
'my'
h. no 'you (sg.)' nide j!F(fj 'your'
c.
"
'helshe/it' tade jt!;/IJk/'f: 'his/her/its'
d. women 'we'
womende

'our'
c. mmen 'you (pl.)'
nimende

'your'
r. tamen 'they'
famende

'their'
g. shu! 'who'
shu ide
iffA9
'whose'
Other remarkable features about Mandarin personal pronouns cOlleem its third-person
pronouns, the first-person inclusive pronouns, and the absence of case marking. The language has
a single fonn Iii for all the three singular third-person pronouns 'he', 'she,' and 'it.' This
\\8 Further classification of the modifiers before NPs can be found in Wu (1994; 1996).
'"
. h dffi It fa many nati ve Mandarin speakers leanting to usc Ihe
characteristic results III mue I leu y r h h d re
.. uns zan 'J' and zanmcn 'we,' on the ot er an , a
three English pronouns. Thc mcluslvc prono. _', , _" be inclusive
. E ,'sh speaker Although Ihe normal wo I and womell wc can
strangc 10 a natIVe ng L . I r I er(s)
. certain contexts ziin and ziinmcll cxplicitly include both the speakcr(s) and tIC LS cn .
In . ' hE" 1 in which pronouns may vary in forms whether Ihcy serve as
Unlike a language suc as ng IS 1, . C ,- 'i.
subjects or objects, Mandarin pronouns in form in all functlOnS I.e., 11 0 ,
Ille'). In other words, there is no casc markmg m Mandarin.
4.7 Adverbs
4.7.1 Types of Adverbs f: . h I
Adverbs are function words as opposed to content words discusscd so ar. In t IS C lapler.
function words adverbs do nOl nomlally stand aione, but hav.c to appear the verbs or
AS. . ' d'f Adverbs modify verbs and adj ectives III temlS of Ihelr degree (a),
adjectives they mo 1 y. . . ()
appoximalion (b), time (c), frequency (d), mood (e), modality (I) and cstlmatton g:
(4.27) ,. hen it!
'very'
WI III
'mosl'
feiehang ,"1i';
'quitc'
y6uqi Jt;lt
'especially'
b. dou 'IlIl
'all; both'
quan 3':
'all'
jlnjtn iJI.iJI.
'only'
t6nglong illiilli
'completely'
yigai -ill(
'totally'
c. cui of
'just now; only'
jiu >!:
'right away'
cengjing
'once'
ganggang
'just now'
yijing Btl
'already'
d. rili jl}
'again'
hili if
'also'
ehangchang ##
'often'
jianjian i1Iii1li
'gradually'
e. jii'lnzhi M][
'almost'
jiiijing 'iEJ't
'after all'
xlngkui :$"5
'luckily'
fiinzhcng !ii.iE
'anyway'
112
f. huxiang
:!fjfl 'mutually'
qinzi
*111
'in person'
jinli
Jl.:h 'do one's best'
rClIgrnn

'still'
g.
yexu
1!!iIf
'perhaps'
dayue
:i<:!'J 'approximatel y'
dagai
:i<:j!! 'approximately'
4,7,2 Syntactic Properties
As a whole, adverbs fonn a closed set. They are nonnally used to modify verbs and
adjectives but not nouns or number-classifier units, unless the laller are used as predicates. For
instance, in Jiiuian coli xlngqiyi [W]- 'today is only Monday,' thc adverb of time caj
'only' modifies the noun xlngqiyi 'Monday' which is thc predicate. As modifiers, adverbs are
unlike adjectives in that they are not normally modified by other expressions, and are not
nonnally reduplicated except for a few rare idiosyncratic cases such as giinggallg now,'
jinjln -tz.fll. 'only,' and (ong(ong jffijffi 'completely.' Mandarin adverbs are sometimes easily
confused with adjectives, especially if only meaning is used for the identification. For instance,
the words yizhi -F;I and y,gai - -fe( both share the meaning of ' one and all,' but the fonner is an
adjective while the lattcr an adverb. There are three major di fferences between the two: First,
adjectives modify nouns while very few adverbs do, and when they do, the nouns have to bc
predicates. Among the two words quoted, the fonner can be idcntified as an adjective because it
can be used to modify a noun such asjueyi l:k:iSl. 'decision:' yizhi de jueyi'unanimous decision',
but not -yigiJi de ju/;yi. Second, adjectives can form A-not-A interrogati ve structure while
adverbs cannol. For instance, yizhi can be turned into yizhi-bu-yizhi 'is it unifonn?' but yfgiJj
cannot be turned into yigai-bu-yigiJi Third, adjectives can stand alone to answer questions
while adverbs normally cannot-one exception beingyexu i!!itF 'perhaps'.
4.8 Prepositions
4.8.1 Types of Prepositions
Mandarin prepositions as a closed set are fairly limited in number. However, most are
frequently used words. Based on meaning. they can be divided into several groups: direction (a),
time (b), rcason (c), basis (d), concerning (e), passiveness (t), comparison (g) and so forth:
(4.28) a. chao
>m
'toward'
xilmg It] 'toward'
wang
it
'toward'
yfmzhc
Ifrfl
'along'
11 3
b. wi :( 'at; on'
cong IA
'from'
yu
'I'
' from; at'
zi(cong) 111 (IA)
'from'
c. wei
"
'for'
youyu L1i'f
'because'
yi nwei Ill::!)
'because'
weile
"7
'for'
d. an(zhao) tJi(!n)
'according to'
zhao Rn
'according 10'
(gcn)ju (#!)l!Ii 'based on'
y;
ll.\
'based on'
e. dui
x't
'10 (someone)'
zhiyu ,,'I'
'as to'
guunyu
*'1'
'about'
f. bCi
l1l:

rdng it
'by'
g. b;
tt
'compare;than'
chu(le)
'except for'
4.8.2 Syntactic Properties
O . e syntactic property of Mandarin propositions is that Ihey cannot stand
ne umqu .. r a nommal
but have to combine with a prepositional object-typically a noun, a pronoun 0 .
hr I form prepositional phrases (henceforth PPs) before they can be used as a major
p 0 . 1 e no Just as some bound morphemes that are historicall y derived from frce
constiluenl m a sen enc . . . 0 'ginally
mo hemes via certain grammaticali:zation processes, most Mandarin prepositions .
ver: thaI have since been grammaticalized to become of
link, sometimes prepositions may be confused with vcrbs. It IS thus to ldentl y t e
major properties that arc not shared by both. First, prepositions, as already mdlcated,
al e as a predicate while verbs can. For instance, although the two words share a Simi ar
on. fspatial di'rection qu:}j; 'go' is a verb in (iimen qu zhongguQ .(l!!.{f1 4r '!l @j 'they go \0
mcanmg 0, _ , . . 11 acceptable
. h 1-1 'to' isn't since - riimen wang zhongguo IS syntactlca y un .
Chma,' w ercas WIllig u:. . . . k t
Second, verbs can be reduplicated while prepositions . Third, verbs can e
auxiliary particles such as 7./1e, Ie, and guo, while the grammatical
. I zh- - '1 a e gone to China' with the ungrammatical W811g Ie zhot1gguO). Fourth, qu e . ongguo 1 v
119 See the section on prepositions for details.
IN Exceptions includc bCi in (4.28).
114
verbs can fonn a A-nOI-A q (h' l . .
qiJbiJq' h - _ , UCS. Ion W I e preposllions cannot (compare the grammatical
_ u ongguQ are you gomg to China?' with the ungrammatical
zhongguo).
ni
ni lViingbuwang
Furthcnnorc, just as in morphology some rno hem
completely than olhers, in the grammaticalizalion of so;: become affixes
words completely than others. Evidence for such uneven pace in become funcllon
the eXistence of the SO-call ed coverbs--word opment comes from
(1992), for example, clearly a
!,reposlttons than others. Examples of covcrbs are z.aj 1 'at; to be al ' gci M- 'give' to ' d b _ C
the following examples, where the :: verbs in
(4.29) a. ..
lamen .ml xuexiao .
they school
'They are at school.'
ii .
tamen 7.ai xuCxjao xuexi.
they al school study
'They study at school.'
b. L
wa W la yiben shu.
I give he one-ns book
'I give him a book.'
ii .
wa gCi la mfii Ie yiben shU.
I give he buy PERF one-cLS book
'I boughl a book for him.'
c. ,.
wa Jili .bi gaodi.
I two compare bigh-Iow
i i.
'We two compare height (or who is superior).'
wi) .hl....ti gao.
I than he tall
'I am taller than him.'
4.9 Conjunctions
4.9.1 Types o(ConjuDcfions
Conjunctions conjoin words, phrases or sentences. Some
together. The following are examples of conjunct ions:
ft!!lr]:tE<"t!'i .
ft!! lr]:tE""'t!'i"'''

<li,*ftlllH -*41.
;iOi'/i Ltil'!l\.
mtfl!!;n;.
function alone; others work
115
(4.30) .. he . 11
'and'
b. yu Ej 'and; with'
c. gcn
liI!
'and; with'
d. tong
Ii'I
'and; with'
e. yiji 1)('
'and'
f. hUQzhe

'or
g. yizhi W,li\:
'consequently'
h. cong'er hUlii
'thus; thereby'
.. yushl
'fJ!!
'hence; consequently'
Not aU conjunctions conjoin all types of parts of speech. Some conjoin primarily nouns;
some verbs; and some other parts of speech. For instance, gen NN. and yii Ej (both meaning 'and, '
although the fanner is more colloquial than the latter (S. X. LU 1996 nonnally conjoin nouns,
while er Tfii 'but, and' and erqic ITif..13.. 'and' conjoin verbs. Many conjunctions work in pairs,
which can be call ed complex conjunctions. Examples are given below: (See also the section on
complex sentences in this chapter.)
(4.31 ) 1" Pari 1"" Pari
a. ji ... you ... l<;(;1<
'both ... and .. .'
b. budan . .. erqie ... 'I'll'! .. 11ij Jl. .. 'not only ... but also ..
c. ningke ... yehu ... 'T'"l .. tJ!.'I' ... 'would rather ... and not
d. yuqi (A) burn (B)
.5i;lt Ho
'better (8) than (Al'
e. yinwei ... su6yi I'!lj) .. Jj)f 1)( ... 'because ... thercfore .. .'
f. zhi y6u ... cai .. .
Rff;t
'only if ... then .. .'
g. rugua . .. jiu ...

' if ... then .. .'
h. suirim ... danshi ... illM fl'!J ...
'although ... bUl'
,.
jishi ... yc ... np fil! ... tJ!. ... 'even though ... still .. .'
j. wulun ... dou ... xii': ilI\ ...
'no matter what ... still ... '
4.9.2 Syotactic Properties
Mandann conjunctions are function words and as such, sharc all the common properties
of function words, including bei ng a closed set and having grammatical rather than content
meaning. They cannot be redupli cated, cannot be uttered alone. In some ways, conjunctions
resemble adverbs, but unlike them, conjunctions do not modify other than conjoin. In addition,
the position of conjunctions may vary as they can appear before or after the subject, whereas
adverbs normally can only appear after the subject and before the verb (or adjective) they modify.
There are words that functi on both as a conjunction and an adverb-which may be call ed
conjunctive adverbs. For instance, CJii;;t and jiiJ arc both adverbs on their own (see (c) in
(4.27, but they can conjoin clauses together with another conjunction (see (f) and (g) in (4.3 1.
116
However, when they serve as conjunctions, they still keep the property of adverbs by only
appearing after the subject. As adverbs, they cannot be omitted unlike conjunctions which can be
omitted sometimes. The following illustrate these possibilities and constrictions, taking jiu as an
example.
(4.32) a. lamen minglian ill! quo
it!l!n '1Jl7i'U<.
they tomorrow right -away go
'They will go as early as tomorrow.'
b. zhiyAo nl qil, tamen ill! quo
itllmU,.
if you go they then go
'If you go, they will then go.'
o. ni miYful qu, lamen.ill! quo

if you go they then go
'Ifyall go, they will then go.'
d. zhJ:yao nl qu, ill! tamen quo
l'Mt!!fll*.
if you go then they go
???
e. nl qu, lamen ill! quo
iM<.
you go they then go
'If you go, they will then go.'
f. zhiyao nl qu, lamen quo
, it!!ill*.
if you go they go
???
In (a), jib is used as an adverb only, but in (b) it is used as a conjunction along with
zhiyiio The sentence in (c) contrasts with the one in (b) in that in the fonner, the
conjunction zhiyilO appears after the subject while in the latter before the subject. Either way, the
sentence is grammatical and remains the same in meaning. The sentence in (d) shows that the
sante freedom of position is not found with the adverb/conjunction jib, for there, its position
before the subject renders the sentence ungrammatical. In (e), the pure conjunction zhiyao is
omitted, but the sentencc is still grammatical and its meaning intact. By contrast, the
conjunction/adverb jiils omission in (f) renders the sentence ungrammatical- the conjunction
zhiyilOcannot appear on its own, but has to be supported by jiiJ.
Some Mandarin conjunctions may also be confused with prepositions. Here again, we see
words that can serve as both. AJone, one cannot say if they are prepositions or conjunctions. Their
identity in parts of speech has to be judged from the context. Take the word he for an example:
(4.33) a.
b.
wo bk. tamcn quo
I and they go
wo M lamen shuo.
I with they speak
117
'They and I go.'
'I will speak with them.'
In (a), he is a conjunction linking two pronouns wo'I' and [limel1 'they,' both of which
serve as the subject of the sentence. Its coordinate linking function is aUested to by switching the
two pronouns while keeping the meaning intact. On the other hand, he is a preposition in (b)
where if the two pronouns change places, the meaning of the sentence would be very different;
that is, the subject would be changed from 'J' to 'they' and the prepositional object the other way
round.
4.10 Auxiliary Particles
4.10.1 Types of Auxiliary Particles
Mandarin auxiliary particles are perhaps among the hardest to define. They refer to a
group of monosyllabic morphemes which are enclitic to some kind of a phrase or sentence.
Bound and almost all in neutral tone, they resemble true suffixes, yet unlike true suffixes, which
are bound within morphology, Mandarin particles operate at the phrase or sentence level. Three
. types of particles can be identified based on their grammatical function: aspectual (a), structural
(b) and sentential (c):
(4.34) Main ilJentijicatioll
a. zhe
!II
PROG 'progressive aspect'
Ie
T
PERF 'perfective aspect'
guo
i'l
EX' 'experiential aspect'
b. de a9
DE(a) 'attributive particle'
de !til
DE(ad) 'adverbial particle'
de
DE(comp) 'complement particle'
o. a
'i'J
A 'exclamation particle'
bu O!'l
OA 'suggestion particle'
rna
O!l
MA 'simple interrogative'
Ie
T
LE 'new situation particle'
ne Um
NE '(various functions)'
4.10.2 Syntactic Properties
The three types of Mandarin partielcs have distinctive syntactical propcrties. The
aspectual particles are attached 10 verbs or adjectives and designate primarily the relation of the
verb or adjective to the passage of time in tenns of duration, completion, or experience. The
''0
structural particles arc attached to a modifying phrase or clause to designate the subordinate
relation of Ihe phrase or clause to the word or phrase it modifies. The sentential particles,
attached to Ihe end of a sentence, perform a wide variety of functions indicating mood; fonning
an interrogative; expressing estimation or doubt; or introducing a new situation. Exampl es of
sentences with the aspcctual particles of zhc (a), Ie (b) and guo (c) follow. Further discussion of
these particles is found later in the section on Aspects.
(4.35) .
b.
c.
tamen chi ran nco
they cal PROG food NE
'They arc eating.'
lamen chi k; fan Ie.
they eal PERF food LE.
'They have eaten.'
lamen chi iYQ hlmh5. obao.
they eal EXP hamburger
'They have eatcn hamburgers (before).'

Structural particles are found in the following sentences. Those in (a) illustratc attributive
panicles, those in (b) adverbial particles, and those in (c) complement panicles.
(4.36) a.
h.
c.
ta xihuan zhongguQ dianying
he like China DE(a) movie
'He likes Chinese movies.'
zhcxic shl qu zhongguQ Q reno
these be go China DE(a) people
'These are people who go to China.'
tamen gaoxi ng hui jia Ie.
they happy DE(ad) return home LE.
'They happily returned home.'
tamen kuaile tiito zhe wu.
thcy happy DE(ad) to-dance PROO dance.
'They are dancing happi ly.'
tii wan sk. hen lei.
he play DE(comp) very ti red
'He is very tired from playing.'
tamen xiao duzi teng.
they laugh DE(comp) stomach ache
'They have got a stomachache from laughing.'
Finally, the following sentences contain some major sentential panicles in Mandarin:
(4. 37)
,. ..
i i.
h.
,.
Ii.
c.
,.
i i.
119
chungcheng duo mci n
-Ii: IIG.:l' ,,"II'!!
long-wall how beautiful A
'How beautiful the Great Wall is!'
shijian guo de zhcn kuai u
li;triiJWllJ'H!<OI'l !
time pass DE(comp) really quick A
'How fast time goes!'
changcheng mci Dill'?
-li: IIG.;I; II!\?
great-wall beautiful MA
'Is the Great Wall beautiful ?'
shijian gub de kua i om?
It-triiJ W\ttR "l?
time pass DE(comp) quick MA
'Does the time pass fast?'
women zou 1m.
'!I< (n JE De.
we go BA
' Let's go, (shaH we)?'
jlj;;kw.ll\Htne ?
ni dagai hen mang 1m?
you perhaps very busy SA
' You must be very busy, (aren't you)?'
Chapter 5. Syntax
For any ,language, even a 'concise' overview of its syntax is never easy to dcsc 'b
Anyone a description of Mandarin syntax faces even more daunting chnllen cs e.
usual. The biggest problem is the choice ofa theoret ical pmpective from ,vh'"h d . S. an
b h d ,... a cscnptlon can
e e . there exits a large number of syntactic frameworks which r
Mandann s t cd . , as laT as
yn ax, IS concern ,can be grouped mto two major camps, the Chinese and the
Western. The Chmese camp centers in the People's Republi c of China \vhe th .
h b'" re e mam concern
,as ccn wit h ,I he Chlnc,sc language with no or litt le interest in languages o Cthe rest of the world
1 he goal Orlh,ls to find an optimal grammar for Chinese and to establish a gmmmaticai
framework wllhln whIch Chinese grammar can be best explo,"d The 'II .
11 " . lO owmg paragraph
I ustrates such an orientation:
:Since the publication of Mash; Wenrong much effort
m grammatical studies of Chinese has not only been put into
describing its grammatical facts and revealing and
explaining us grammatical rules, but also into a continuous search
for methods and theory that are suitable for its research. (Y. Li
1997: 16)Ul
Thi.s tends 10 be suspicious of applying Weslern syntactic theories to Chinese
In the fact that ils origin can be traced back to the structuralism of the early
m tile West (c. L. Chen 1996). The suspicion is nol wilhoul good reasons To
begm with, Chinese almost completely lacks grammatical devices such as vcrb inflecti on 'and
noull which are used in most Western languages to encode a great variety of
Grammatical th.eories produced in the West have almost always started
out with languages, and theIr applicability to the Chi nese language is yet to be fu ll y
tested. It IS perhaps .not irrat ional to assume that if Chomsky. the fathcr of Gcnerative
the most tnnuentlal syntactic framework of the twentieth century, had been a native
C.hmese speaker, the of grammatical studies in the west would have been quite
dlffcrent. Thc theoretical onentatl0n of the Chinesc camp is morc relaxed and indood II 1
b '1 f:' I ' "" , lere las
een, unt l. air y recentl y, a trend in China against the practice of theorizing. Although the
IS Iheorizmg is largely d'!ngerous and could lcad to losing sight of the language
I self, thIS poSition appears to stem more from political sentiment rather than scientific caution In
contrast to thc nonchalant attitude toward theory, this school's requirement for data citatio,; is
I I I This is the first b k f Ch' . '. .
'. grammar 00 0 lIlese. First published mlhe late mneteenth century, it was
repnnted III 1983 by the Commercial Press of China.
III The ori ginal text is in Chi nese.
III See X. L. Dai (1993) for some exceptional cases.
t2 t
very ri gid.l: Language examples have to be real in the sense that they have appeared in publ ished
materials, preferably in works of famous and well-respected authors. Since the later 1970's, after
the 'Great Proletariat Cultural Revolution' ( 1966-1976), scholarly research on Chinese grammar
has fl ouri shed in China. Although at the same time, Western grammatical theories began to seep
onto thc Chincsc scene, some fundamental traditions have remained unchanged. For instance, the
grammarians arc still completely focused on Chi nese grammar (see S. X. Ltl1982. J. M. Lu 1993,
F. Y. Xing 1996, T. Q. XU 1991, B. Zhang et al.1989, D. X. Zhu 1982b and 1985 among many
others).
In the West, syntacticians of the Chinese language tend to be theory-driven and typicall y
place their work in a more global context. The ultimate goal is to unravel the mystery of human
language, and as such they aim not just to understand the Chinese language, but also to
contribute, with this understanding, to the general theory, or 'linguistic universals: of human
language. Most of these syntacticians of Chinese work within the various offshoots of Generative
Grammar (see Cole et a1 1999, Y. J. He 1996. J. Huang 1982, A. Li 1990, Li and Thompson
1981, H. H. Pan 1997, J. Tang 1990). Empirical data in this school no longer mcan those from
printed materials, but what a native speaker accepts as grammatical. The past two decades have
wit nessed a rapid development in syntactic theori zing in this schooL The theories produced have
become finer and more insightful, and many previously thorny syntacti c issues have been
resolved.
The different ori entation of the two camps has produced different result s. Because the
focus is exclusively on Chinese, the Chinese camp has produced grammars that arc more tailored
to the Chinese language, with tenus, categories and structural relations that may not be found in
theories of the West. They tend to be more complete, consistent and cohercnt. However, because
of the narrower focus, these grammars lack explanatory power. They have yet to gai n from the
results of grammatical theories that take into account human language as a whole. By
comparison, the hi ghly-theoretical camp in the West with its various sub-camps (e.g.,
Government Binding, Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar, Lexical-Functional Grammar and
so forth) has not produced a Chinese grammar that is relativel y complete and generall y accepted,
in spite of the fact that a large numbcr of published articles have appeared addressing various
aspects of Chinese grammar.
The significance of this is that our current understanding of Chinese grammar is
piecemeal and limited. It is perhaps not unreasonable to compare this situalion to that in the
classic story of the Four Blind Men and An Elephant. We know a fair amount about various
pieces secn from diverse perspectives, but we have yet to see the complete picture, the whole
elephant, the true nature of Chinese grammar. Because of such limitalions and the limitations of
space, the present discussion of Mandari n syntax will be relatively sketchy and will follow a
more or less traditional and less theorctical path. Where appropriate, new fi ndi ngs from recent
Mandarin syntactic studies wi ll be incorporatcd. There are six subsections in this chapter. In the
12< The atli tude originates from the structuralism and behaviorism whi ch reigned supreme in
linguistic and psychological studies in the West through Ihe early part of the twentieth century.
first section, some more important typological characteristics of Mandarin syntax are discusSed.
The remaining sections address specific aspects of Mandari n syntax.
5.1 General Characlerlstics
Typologically speaking, Mandarin syntax has a number of salient features. In contrast to
languages such as English, it stands out as a languagc without a great numbcr of affixational
morphological processes.
1lS
What this means in syntax is that there arc few overt syntactic
expressions of tenses, subject-verb agreement, case, gender or number markings as in inneclional
languages. For example, the verb qu =li: '10 go' remains qu if the action happened yesterday,
happens today or will happen tomorrow. It remains qu in fonn when the subject is of the third
person and singlar, or the fi rst person and plural. Another good example is the variations of the
English linking verb 'be'-am, is, are, was and were-which has just one Mandari n equivalent ,
slli Besides verbs, a Mandarin noun or pronoun docs not undergo any change whether it is
used as a subject or object, for instance. !YO :ft 'I' stays wo in fonn whether it is a subject 'I' or an
object 'me.' The lack of affixilional morphology also means that eountcrfactual or subjunctive-
mood sentences are not expressed with explicit grammatical dcviccs. Engl ish expressions such as
'Can you?' and 'Could you?' correspond to the same fonn in Mandarin, and 'if I am you' would be
just as acceptable in Chinese grammar as 'in were you.'
If Mandarin does not provide meanings for tense and politeness grammaticall y, how then
arc these meanings cxpresscd? Thc answer is that thcy may be expressed lexically or by word
order, or they may nol be expressed linguisticall y at all but simply be derived from common
knowledge or context. For instance, there is no ambiguity if one says 'if I am you', since common
knowledge dictates that ' I am not you'. Lexically, qu 'to go' can be modified by a time noun
zuolilin nt7i:. 'yesterday' to specify that the action took place yesterday. Word order is one of the
most powerful devises used in Mandarin. For inSlance, purely by word order, the following
s/JuukouliUi' lffil:lj31 'Chinese doggerel' (H. Lin, in press) suggests that the citizens of thc
provinces mentioned differ as to how spicy hot they can take their food. Look especially at thc
last three syll ables.
1l6
The order suggested hcre is that the Hunancrs take the hottest food;
Hubei'ers come next, foll owed by Sichuancrs.1l7 The very subtle differences in meaning are
cxpressed by a mere rearrangement ofthc last three words, biJ 'not,' P;I '18 'be afraid' and Iii 1%
'spicy hot.' This example illustrates that an utterly importani syntactic device in Mandarin is
word ordcr.
Il! Refer to Chapter 3 for further infonnation on Chinese morphology.
126 What is provided below is the shUnkouliiir .IO!l:lml in Pil'!-yin and characters, its word-for-word
gloss and its translation.
III Unfortunately. the subtle diffcrences are not well shown in the English translations. especially
with rcgard to the meanings of the first two clauses, which are indistinguishable in Engli sh.
(5.1) sichuan ren bu pa la;
hui>ei ren la bu pa;
hunan ren pa bu la.
Sichuan pcrson not fear spicyhot
Hubei person spicyhot not fear
Hunan person fear not spicy-hot.
'Sichuaners do nol fear [their food] being spicy hot; . .
[Their food] being spicy hot is to Huhemers ,
Hunaners fear that [their foodlls not SPiCY hot.
123
If word order is meaningful. there must be elaborate that word in
d . TIt's is of course exactly the case. First it may be said that Mandann
an SYG language, in which thc subject (S) prccedes the verb (Y), which 10
Eng IS t, I d h b. cl (0) (Sun and Givon 1985). However. this basic word order can change
tumspreee cst eo r S f
. h h b" lm construction (see X. Q. Wu 1996 reler to ec Ion
in certain constructiOns. suc as tea lL.:.. 991 d 1992) Another
5243) and it can interaet with pragmatics and discourse (M. L. Hu I an . .
word order rule in Mandari n is that the modifier precedes the head- the bemg
m:fled.11! For instance, the English noun phrase the who is. wearing a 10 which .thC
modifying attributive clause appears after it s antecedcnt IS translated mto Mandann as follows.
(5.2) da i maozi dc nage rcn
A
wear hat DE(a)i29 that person
in which all words in the detenniner mige and the attributive clause d,ii m;iozi de berore the
head tell A 'person'. In addition, modifiers for verbs nonnally precede verbs.
d
.fi . ' n "e """')Ilo 'slowly' is placed before the verb zou % 'walk It modifies In
rna I Icr munm .. u' . b ' ,
. d zou 'walk slowly' Such positioning of the modifiers has led to Mandann emg
manmiJn C Ch ( 19GB) ,d Li and Thompson
classified as a 'head-final' language. According to Y. R. ao al
1975 Mandarin word order can mark definiteness and indefiniteness. The fonncr to
a preverbal position and the lattcr a post-verbal one. Word order is also responsible for
P. M fi ally Ihe head is defined as ' the lexical category around which the phrasal
. ore speci IC , . 8)
is built and that is invariably present in the phrasc' (Hildebrand 1987:44 . .
an auxiliary particle among whose funct ions it is to thc end of the relative clause.
Refer to the section on particles in this chapter for furthcr explanation.

another feature of Mandarin which differenti ates it from English. When naming temporal or
special entities, the order is from the global 10 the specific. For instance, the English expression '5
o'clock PM, Monday, the I" of October, 2000' is rendered in Mandarin as '2000 niiin /0 yue 1 ri
xingqiyi xiiiwii wiidiiin, namel y: '2000 year 10th month I"
day Monday afternoon 5 o'clock'. The same concept applies in naming place parameters, for
example, addresses. In English the word order goes from the most speci fic, usually a house or
apartment number, to the most general, the name of the country in which the residence is found.
Mandarin is exactly the opposite. It starts with the name of the country, the province, the city and
eventually to the number of the apartment or building.
Typologically, Mandarin has also been classified as a 'topic promincnt' language (see Li
and Thompson 1981 for details), as opposed to a 'subject prominent' language such as English.
Typically a Mandarin sentence can be segmented into two parts a 'topic' and a 'comment' .
Appearing at the beginning ofa sentence, the topic is 'what a sentence is about...{It} sets a spatial,
temporal or individual framework within which the main predication holds' (Li and TIlOmpson
1981:86). The topic can be the subject of the sentence, but docs not have to be. In fact, a sentence
can have both a topi c and a subject, and a topic can be the object, or something entirely different.
In addition, the topic is either definite, the quality normally marked by the use of Ihe in English,
or the focal point of the sentence. Examine the following sentcnces:
(5.3)

ktm guo nabCn shu .

I look EXP that-CLS book
'I have read that book.'
b. nabCn shU wa kan guo.

that-CLS book I look EXP
'I have read that book.'
c. nabCn shu guo.

I that-cLs book look EXP
'I have read that book.'
The sentence in (a) is a regular SVO sentence where the topic is the subject and the rest of
lhe sentence the comment. In (b), however, the topic is not the subject of the sentence, but
logicall y speaki ng, the object o f the sentence. Being raised to the topi c position, the logical object
bccomes the sentence's focal point. The subject of thc verb is the pronoun wo 'I', yet along with
the following words, it forms the comment of the sentence. The sentence in (c) also has the
logical object raised to the preverbal posi tion, but short of being raised to Ihe initial position, it is
not the topic and therefore not the focal point of the sentence. Now examine a topic from a
different source:
(5. 4) t5 he wo guunxi hen hao.
.
he and me relationship very good
'He and I have a good relationship.'
125
In this sentence, the subject is gu,in:<i =** 'relation', while the topi c is the noun phrase (a
he IVO 'he and 1'. which, logically, speaking, is not any part the clause, the
comment of the sentence. Finally, a quite striking quality of Mandann winch has been .largcl
y
ignored in Western linguistics is the language's great on and
discourse-rather than merely syntactic structures to derive meanmg. ConSider the follOWing two
sentences. Pay attention to their English translations:
(5.5) a.
h.
L
" .
L
".
ruguo tii. qu, wo ye quo
Wl!.* .
ifhe go I also go
'Ifhe gocs, I will also.'
'Ifhe had gone, 1 would have also.'
yu chi Ie.
'" P!:T
fish eat PERf
'The fish has eaten.'
'The fish has been eaten.'
Each sentence in the above has two English equivalents. In (a), the English translations
express the difference between factual and counterfactual conditions by using verb inflection.
However as stated earlier, Mandarin lacks such verb inflection and docs not exprcss Ihe
overtly. In (b), the difference between active and passive voices is expli ci tl y
encoded in the English translations, yet il is not marked structurally at ail in Mandarin. How then
do the Chinese speaker decide on the right meaning in such sentences, since it is that
syntact ically it is not possible? In view oflanguage typology, Chinese is .3 that IS
the most economical and least redundant in the use of overt grammatical deVICes (F. Y. Xmg
1997). Yet, there is no more ambiguity in Chinese than there is in any other The
explanati on lies in the fact that language is almost never used without a context, whlc.h prOVides a
great deal of information for the precise interpretation of a linguistic utterance. It Just
that Chinese takes greater advantage of such information than languages that have more linglllstic
redundancy.
It has been mentioned previously that syntactic studi es in China have focused almost
exclusively on Chinese, and lhal the application of Westem linguistic theories to Chinese
experienced resistance. Recentl y in China, that resistance has to a great number .of studies
exploring the optimal theoretical approaches to understanding Chmese sentences. Invariably these
studies criticize the preoccupation of Western linguistics on the structural or fomlal aspect of the
Chinese syntax and argue that to understand fully Mandarin syntax, more understanding of Super.
syntactic structures such as meaning, pragmatics and discourse is necessary (M. L. Hu 1992, Mou
1994, R. Xie 1994, C. K. Yang 1995 and L. Zhang 1997). A number of new theories have been
advanced, the most influential ones have been Three Plain Theory (Y. S. Hu 1981 and 1994, Y. S.
Hu et al. 1985 and 1992, and B. Zhang et al. 1989) and Two Triangle Theory (F. Y. Xing 1986,
1992 and 1996).130
The Three Plain Theory contends that to understand Chinese sentences, it is necessary to
approach them at once from three perspectives-fonnal. semantic and pragmatic. The fonnal
perspective is what in Western linguistics is referred to as syntax; the semantic perspcctive
explores the meaning of the fonnal structures; the pragmatic perspective generalizes the
pragmatic values and information carried by the formal structures (Mou 1994). The Two Triangle
Theory is similar to the Three Plain Theory in that one of the two triangles, the small one, as it is
called, corresponds roughly to the three plains mentioned above, covering yiibiiio iit"* 'sentence
surface', yuH ifr!r. 'sentence intcrior' and yuzhi m-fil 'sentence value' . Yubiiio refers to overt
syntactic devices; yiili refers to internal meaning and relations carried by the overt devices out of
context; yuzhf refers to pragmatic values that the formal devices exhibit in certain contexts. On
the other hand, the big triangle is formed by Mandarin as the Standard Chinese, other Chinese
dialects and the history of the Chinese language. All six realms of the two 'triangles' are
necessary for the understanding of Mandarin sentences. according to advocates of this theory.
The current scene of the studies of Chinese sentences in China is very encouraging and holds
much promise for ground-breaking results. However, at the moment, these theories are sketchy
and tentative and need to be further substantiated and validated.
5.2 Phrases
Sentcnce phrases are called cizii iiij!Jl 'word group' or duiinyu :1iifr 'phrase' in Chinese. In
the People's Republic of China, phrases havc been classified primarily according to their internal
structures. Ifits components are strung together in a parallel fashion, for instance, the phrase is a
coordinate phrase (li/inM cizu IrXftiliJ!J:l). On the other hand, a phrase in which one component
is subordinate to another may fall into the group of endocentric phrases (pi5nzheng cizii
(!aliE iiijti I) In contrast, in the Generative Grammar of the West, syntactic phrases are primarily
classified into syntactic categories, such as verb phrase (YP), noun phrase (NP), adjectival phrase
(AP) and prepositional phrasc (PP). In other words, the latter classification is concerned with
what the phrase is and how it functions as a whole regardless of its internal structure. The
difference between the two approaches can result in different grammars. For instance. an AP in
Generative Grammar can be a coordinate phrase if it contains a string of parallel, conjoined words
(e.g., su5nde M Ill/nde 'sweet and sour'), but it can also be an endoeenlri c phrase
when one component modifies another (e.g., ben liiin .f!5!:iID 'very sweet'). Conversely, a
coordinate phrase in Mandarin grammar may be a YP, an NP, or an AP. The follOWing illustrates
the difference:
130 In Chinese, they are sallge pil1gmi.in:::::-t:qt.jUf and liiilJggc Sa'ljl,iOM1-::::: ffJ, respectively.
(5.6)
VP
NP
AP
CoonJinate
changge

sing dance
'sing and dance'
zhongguo he jiiimlda
<t' rm f1l1m f;t:k
China and Canada
'China and Canada'
ganjing piaolifmg
'f lI.ii:tic
clean beautiful
'clean and beautiful'
E"docentric
kuaile de changge
't!1*Ji!!gllA
happy DE(ad) sing
'happily sing'
ffieili de zhongguo
9i lifi cp rm
beautiful DE(a) China
'beautiful China'
hen ganjing
WHII'
vcry clean
'very clean'
127
The difference in the two approaches also means different treatment of words .versus
hrases. In the Chinese tradition, phrases and words are treated as two separate an
or a coordinate phrase must contain at least two words; a word does not a
phrase, In the Western tradition, however. individual words such as nouns, adjectIves arc
. I fNP yp, and APs In he works the word works alone conslltutes a YP. but speCla cases 0 s, . ..
The attention to the internal structure of phrases in Mandarin IS not without reasons.
U I'ke many Western languages in which phrase structures arc considerably from
structures, the two bear a great deal of resemblance in Mandarin. to late
well-known Chinese syntactician De Xi Zhu (1982a, 1982b and 1985), the pnnclples.m the
construction of sentences in Mandarin are about the same as those in the constructIon of
Mandarin phrases Sentences are but stand-alone phrases and sentence structures are well
described if the structures of phrases are clearly worked out.
ll
) In fact, the description of
h e has been found to playa kind of pivotal role because not only do phrases resemble
p ras s 'n ,truotu" butthey also share many structural similarities with word structures. In the
sentences 1 .... , . . b' d
remainder of this section, the major types of Mandarin phrases arc exammed usmg a com me
framework of both the Western and Chinese traditions.
5,2.1 Noun Phrases
L'k Mondarin NPs name people, animals, professions, qualitics and abstract
lenouns, " .. I
concepts. Functionally, they serve mainly as the subject, the object (including the
object) and the attributive. Structurally, there at t.W? types of NPs: coordmate
endocentric. While coordinate NPs are relatively Simple In theIr mteroa1 structure, the endocentnc
can be very complex.
III See X. L. Dai (1993) for a different view.
128
5.2.1.1 Coordinate NP
. Nouns i,n language can nonnally be conjoined to foml NPs. Typical examples of
NPs In En,glish are apples a"d pears and today or yesterday, Structurally, the nouns in
a weigh the same and arc usuall y freely exchangeable in position, unless the
semantics them to be in certain temporal. spatial, logical or other orders. Mandarin nouns
be conjoined a number of different manners and unlike in English, they can be conjoined
In many cases without the use of conjunctions. For instance, the English phrase father and
mother can be either biiba miimn without a conjunction or ltiba h6 miim8 (5.7) with a
conj unction. III
(5.7) ..
babn mama

bUba ht mama

'father and mother'
b. gege j iejie didi rneimci
l:flli liIMI iMil j;f<j;f<
gege, jiejie, didi , mcimei
llilli.MllII. i1lJ/l.j;f<j;f<
gege, jiejie, didi he meimei
1II111. i1li1l'fllj;f<j;f<
'older brother, older sister, younger brother and younger sister'
Needless to say, coordinate NPs can be composed of other NPs. The following is an
example of a coordinate NP containing two endocentric NPs.
(5.8) hao ren yu huai ren
M'AEj.IM
good person and bad person
'good people and bad people'
As mentioned above, words in NPs are often connected by conjunctions. Some of the
most commonly used NP conjunctions arc. III
m In forms, when nouns arc conjoined to form an NP, Ihey are normall y separated by a
comma In English, but in Mandarin, Ihey arc either directly conjoined or arc separated by the
Mandarin-specific pause mark', '.
IJJ See the section on conjunctions in the last chapter.
129
(5.9) ,.
he baba he mama
i!'li!'l'flll'l.l'l
'and' 'father and mother'
b. yu meinO yu ycshbu
Ej !I;:!cEjllfill
'and' 'beauty and beast'
c. tong laoshi tong xucsheng
Iii]
'and' 'Ieacher and student'
d. hUQzhe baba hUQzhe mama
!i!i:'i[
'father or mother'
c. hilish'i mcinil h{lishi yeshou
.,:!cifUfill
'beauty or beast'
It should be noted that Mandarin coordinate NPs do not unifonnly have to contain nouns.
Sometimes a coordinate NP can be formed with a combination of nouns and pronouns. For
instance, the coordinate NP wo he miima 'mother and I ' is fomled with a pronoun wo 'I' and a
noun miima 'mother.' Very rarely, and perhaps only in written Chinese, a noun and a verb can be
conjoined to form a coordinate NP. For instance, one work by the famous Chinese writer Lu Xun
is entitled wenxue yu chii him ill ff 'literature and perspire.'
5.2.1.2 Endocentric NP
In a coordinate NP, the component parts arc either nouns or [n a simple
endocentric NP, there arc nonnally two parts with one modifying the other_ the head. In the
Engli sh language. an NP head is almost always a nominal element--a noun, for instance. In
Mandarin, however, (he head can be a verb (a) or an adjective (b):
(5. 10) . b.
{ili09,HIT {t!lfl'Jt1;;k
he DE(a) analyze he DE(a) great
'his analysis' 'his great ness'
The modifying pan. or the attri butive. can be of various types, including a noun or an
This, however, is not always true. The fact that a verb or a VP can serve as a subject of a
M:lIldarin sentence makes it possible for it to form a coordinative NP with another noun,
especially in literary forms (e.g., wenxue yiJ chiihim X:W': ..!:H.l.lff 'literally. 'literature and
perspire.' See the next section on VPs for more discussion.
NP,Il! an adjective or an AP, a verb or a VP, a number/demonstrative pronoun-and-c1assifier
sequence, a pronoun, a clause, an onomatopoetic expression, or a combination of these
categories:1J6
(5.11) a.
b.
c.
d.
e.

,HIiB'Jt;!iJl!
analyze DE(a) result
'the result of the analysis'
dOngdOng de qjaomen sheng
(mil flI"
knock knock DE(a) knock-door sound
'the knock on the door'
bful: [en
J>JA-
good person
'good person'
wb kaniiftn de nagC ren
;JO'Ii JilB'Jn'1-A-
I see DE(a) that-cLS person
'that person I saw'
wb kAnjj3.n de chuan xuCzj de nagC ren

I see DE(a) wear boot DE(a) that-cLS person
'the person I saw who wore boots'
Note that a verbal element or an onomatopoetic expression can serve as an attributive on
its own in Mandarin, as shown in (a) and (b) in the above, whereas they nonnally cannot in
English. Furthermore. no matter what it is composed of, the attributive always goes berore the
head unlike in English in which it can be either berore or after the head (sec the English
translations).
An endocentric NP is often marked by the presence of the auxiliary particle de "9 'DE(a),'
although the usc of this particle is not always compulsory. When not compulsory, using de places
an emphasis on the att ributive. For instance, the cases in (8) below emphasize thai it is a new pair
of shoes rather than an old pair (a), and that the raincoat is made of plastic rather than other
materials (b). Their counterparts in (A) without de do not carry this emphatic meaning.
IlS Sce M. Wu (1994 and 1996) for detailed discussions ofNPs as attributives.
136 See later in this section for the ordering of these elements.
(5. 12)
a.
b.
(A)
xinxie

new-shoe
'new shoes'
suliao yuyi
!l'!:t4l1j:/(
plastic rain-coat
'plastic raincoat'
(8)
xi n de xie
JfrB'JIll
new DE(a) shoe
'new shoes'
suMo de yuyi
!l'!:t4AYlIj:/(
plastic DE(a) rain-coat
'plastic raincoat'
131
The usc or de can sometimes avoid confusion between the coordinate and endocentri.c
l\.TPs, as shown in (a) below, and distinguish between a compounded word and a phrase, as IS
shown in (b) below. In these cases, its use is compulsory. Compare Columns CA) and (8) :
(5.13)
a.
b.
(A)
baba mama

father mother
'rather and mother'
huangguii.
'iIl1Ii
yellow-melon
'cucumber'
(8)
baba de mama

rather DE(a) mother
'mother or father'
huang de gua
iii
yellow DE(a) melon
'yellow melon'
Other contexts where de is compulsory include when the attributive is a verb, a pronoun, a
hrase or a clause, and when the head is a verb or an adjecti ve. In rare occasions where the
is a pronoun, the usc of de may be optional (e.g., IVO jicjic versus wixfc jiejie, bot.h
meaning the same, 'my sister'), although it is not always the case (e.g., wOdc shu book' IS
acceptable. but not IVO shii). As mentioned previously, the attributive or an endoccnl nc NP can
contain a combination or various types of components which rollow a rule-govemed order.
Generally speaking, they are arranged in the following order, rrom 1 to 5:
IJl
(5. 14) I.
2.
3.
4.
5.
possessive noun or pronoun
demonstrative pronoun-number_
cLs
IJ7 phrase, or
demonstrat ive pronoulI -CLS Inumber_cLS phrase
verb, VP or clause
adjective or AP
noun or NP
Based on this order, the enJocentrie NP 'the teacher's Ih .
he wrote himself,' is rendered in Mandarin as foil ree thick grammar books, Whi ch
(5. 14). ows. The numbers 1-5 corresponds to those in
(5. 15)
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4) (5)
1:10sh! de na san ben ta zij! xie de houhou de yum shli
teacher DE(a)
that three CLS
he scl f write DE(a)

thick DE(a} grammar book
fig
1m
'*
it!! Ele
"
n9 ffJl!}
09 in"?!
'II
. In thIS example, (a) is a possessive noun, which ranks first in the order' .
IS a demonstrative pronoun-number_cLS phrase, that ranks se .' In (5. J4); (b)
ranks the third; (d) is an adjective that ranks the fj h' . cond, (c) IS an aUnbullve clause, thaI
noted that what is presented he ..... ,' s . 'I' fi d
ourt
,(e) IS a noun Ihal comes last It should be
'... a sImp I Ie general order' . r h ' .
morc complicated. Other orderings are s t r II . ' In rea tty, t e ordcnng IS much
consequences. III yn ac lca Y POSSible allhough they may have semanti c
5.2.2 Verb Phrases
in vicw of Ihe constituent structure al least four t ' .
endocentri c. verb-object (VO) and vc b; ypes of VPs eXIst: coordinate,
typcs. r -comp ement (VC). We will now look at the coordinate
5.2.2.1 Coordinnte VP
Just as a coordinate NP nonnally contains tw ..
contains such verbs Also as in d' NP 0 or more conJol/lcd nouns, a coordinate VP
. , coor mate s conjuncti ons ft
whcn the constituents frequent ly Occur to 'ether: ..'._ .. en not
study'}. One difference betwecn the ;. dJ.lochd if.ilj!IDf1l 'mvcsllgate and
sa '. coor mate sand VPs lies III that thcy do not share the
me set of cOlljunctl ons. For instance, the noun conjunctions gen and yu 1- b h . .
'and,' although the fomler is more coll oquial than the latter (S X Ltl 1996)) -] ( ot
ll

. , , 11 0nna y conJolll
nouns, while cr mi 'but, and' and crqic ffilJl 'and' combine verbs (as well as adjectives). But
examine the foll owing:
(5. 16) a.
b .
c.
tamen tiant ian kim di;lnshi \Vi lll di iumi:io,
il!!ill 7i: 7i:'lirtlll!, lii ,f;,JIilj ,
they everyday watch TV play computer
'They watch TV and play on computer everyday.'
tamcn tianlian kim djanshj Vii wim di<i nni i'io.
il!! in 7i:7i:fi rtlll!Jlii'i'.JJili .
Ihey everyday watch TV and play computcr
???
kim diilnshi. vu \Vim djimnjiio sil i tamcn de Ie-qu.
!Ulgll!j ml1lnmmt!! in o)!k;lil!.
watch TV and play computer be Ihcy DE(a) hobby.
'Walching TV and playing on computcr arc their hobbies.'
These are contexts where a coordinatc VP can be fOrolCd by a noun conjunction, as shown
in (c). Such context is norolally a nominal one (e.g., a subj ect posi ti on), that is, when the same
VP is used as a predicate of the sentence. Note also that in (a), where no conjunction is used
between the VPs, the sentence is accepted, but it is not in (b) where the noun conjunct ion yu 'and'
is added between the VPs. In (c), where the conjoined VP is used as a subject (rather than a
predicatc) of the sentence, the nominal conjunction is allowed. In addition to conjunctions,
coordinate VPs can also be fomled by conjunctive advcrbs,1l9 such as you ,Ol you )l. .. )t
'both'Oland,' as shown below. Needless 10 say, coordinate NPs cannot be conjoined by adverbs.
(5. 17) tamen rilli kiln di rmshi wan dUlTlniao,
il!! in 3Uit 'i!ll'..lCliil1l!
they both watch TV and play computer
'They watch TV and play on computer.'
5,2.2.2 Endoeentric VP
Like their NP counterparts, endoccntric VPs arc composed of t\vo pariS: the modifying or
the adverbial component, and the head or the lexical category around which the VP is buill. The
head is typically a verb, while the adverbial component can be (I) an adjective, (2) an adverb, (3)
a noun denoti ng place or time, (4) a number-cLs phrase, (5) onomatopoeia, (6) a verb, (7) a
phrase or (8) a combination of any of these above-mentioned components. To a nalive English
speaker. this set of possible adverbials may seem rather large. Adj ectives, for instance, arc rarcly,
ll9 See the section on conjunctions in the last chapter.
134
if ever, used adverbially in English!'" In Mandarin, however. adjectives playa very important
role in modifying verbs and VPs. The following are examples of adjectives used adverbially.
Compare the (i)5 where the adjective is used as attributives with the (ii)s where the same
adjective is used adverbially:
(5.18) a. i.
ii.
b. i.
ii.
xjUngxi de jieshi
W!lJJlI!!Nm
minute DE(ad) explain
'explain in detail'
x jangxi de guize

minute DE(a) regulation
'detailed regulation'

1I.\)!!1Ii!l1Xill!
wann DE(ad) welcome
'welcome wannly'
[slie de zhangsheng

wann DE(a) applause
'wann applause'
Another type of adverbial unusual to the English speakers is the verb. For instance. the
verbs guiinxiiJ Je'e" 'care,' jixu 'continue,' and zhuyi 'pay attention' appear as
adverbials in the following context:
(5.19) a.
b.
c.
guanx!n de xunwen

care DE(ad) inquire
'inquire with concern'
jixu de fazhan
!fI\!tll!!:lt1i<
continue DE(ad) develop
'continue to develop'
zhuyi de ling

pay-attention DE(ad) listen
'listen attentively'
1.0 Occasionally, adjectives are used adverbiall y. particularly in colloquial English (e.g., It is a:JJ.1.
goot/.), although prescri ptive grammars consider such use improper.
135
Various phrases can also serve as adverbials, for instance, the adverbial in in the
following is an endocentric VP, the one in (b) a VO VP, the one in (c) a PP and the one In (d) an
endocentric NP:
(5.20) a.
b.
c.
d.
rejchang guilnx!n de xunwen
;JH'lI!!ifO
very care DE(ad) inquire
'inquire with great concern'
bugY yiqje de zhui gan
;f1iJi- t)]ll!!iIlH
no-care everything DE(ad) chase
'chase without any care'
wang zhijngguO rei
11 'I" III "-
to China fly
'fly to China'
h:ljzj qi de shuo
W<'f'tli!lili
child air DE(ad) speak
'speak like a child'
Examples of other types of advcrbials arc (a), the adverbial as onomatopoeia, (b), as a
time noun, and (c) as a reduplicated number-CLS phrase:
' (5.21) a.
b.
c.
dongdong de qiao
ififll!!llI:
knock-knock DE(ad) knock
'knock with a knocking sound'
shi'er dian chimp
-1-=.gnz:1t.l
12 o'clock eat-food
'cat at 12 o'clock'
yishilO yishao de chi

one-spoon one-spoon DE(ad) cal
'eat one spoonful at a time'
When the modifying part is made up of more than one type of adverbials, there is a
general rule for the order oflhem. although the rule is much less ri gid than the rule governing
order of attributives in an endocentrie NP (5.14). Often the rule can be superseded by semanllc
and pragmatic considerations. The ordering rule for adverbials is:
"'"
(5.22) 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
lime adverbial (noun, NP or PP)
place adverbial (noun, NP or PP)
adverbial of scope, mood. frequency, etc. (adverb)
model adverbial (adjective, APt verb, VP)
adverbial of direction, target, etc. (PP)
adverbial of condition, manner etc. (adjective, verb, adverb. onomatopoeia.
number-cLS phrase, CIC.)
An illustration in which the order is followed is:
(5.23)
(/) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
zuotiii.n ziti xuexiao you renzhen de gei xueshcng
- .
jieshi ylyl
yesterday at school again carefuI DE(ad) 10 student onc-one explain
,*" <E"ttl! :x. Mfi'
The above is an endocentric VP meaning 'explained one after another once again
yesterday carefully to the students.' In it, (a) is a time noun occupying the lOP position in the
order, (b) is a PP occupying the second place, (e) is a frequency adverb in the third position, (d) is
an adjective in the fourth position, (e) is a PP of the target found in the fifth position, and (f) an
adverb of manner that comes last in the ranking scheme.
Similar to the de 'DE(a)' in endocentric NPs, an auxiliary panicle de:ttl! 'DI!(ad)' signals the
modifying-modified relat ionship of the two parts in an endocentric VP. And li ke the former, de
'DE(ad)' is not always compulsory, and when not compulsory, its use places emphasis on the
adverbial. For instance, the (8) in (a) below emphasizes that it is in a detailed manner that the
explanation is done, and in (b) it emphasizes that the welcoming action is done in a warm rather
than any other manner. (8)s' counterparts in (A) without de'DE(ad)' do not cany this emphatic
meaning.
(5.24)
a.
b.
(A)
Wuljicshi
W'i1DMfi'
detailed explain
'explain in detail'
r.tJ.il< hunnying

warm welcome
'warmly welcome'
(B)
xiangxl de j ieshi
Wi1DJI!!Mfi'
detailed DE(ad) explain
'explain in detail'


warm DE(ad) welcome
'warmly welcome'
137
In fact, not only are there times when the auxiliary particle de 'DE(ad)' is not used, but as
dC'DE(a)' in NPs, it can be prohibited in certain contexts, See the following:
(5.25)
a.
b.
c.
d.
c.
(A)
wanshang chi
1IfI.J:fl<JllZ:
evening DE(ad) cat
??7
zai xucxiao xie

at school oE(ad) write
711
you chi
:x.fl<JUZ:
again DE(ad) cat
???
mun d!.< chi
ll!fl<JllZ:
slow DE(ad) eat
???
weme lOU
;$:1\S')*
this-way oE(ad) walk
???
(B)
wiinshang chi
IIfUllZ:
evening cat
'cat in the evening'
z.."i xuexiao xie
<E"lt1ll"l
at school write
'write at school'
you chi
:x.llZ:
again eat
'cat again'
miln chi
ll!llZ:
slow eat
'eat slowly'
zhcme rou
;$:1\*
this-way walk
'walk this way'
The above examples in (8) without the use of de 'DE(ad)' are all grammatical, bUI their
counterparts in (A) in which the particle is used are not. These examples sh,ow. that ,de ' oE(ad)' is
prohibited in these contexts, Specifically, the contexts are when the adverbial IS a time noun (a),
PP (b), monosyllabic adverb (c), monosyllabic adjective (d), or pronoun (e). Needless 10 say,
there arc also contexts where the use of the adverbial de is compUl sory. These contexts are: (I)
the preceding adverbial is a verb or certain disyllabic adjective; (2) il is a reduplicative or
reduplicative disyllabic adjective; or (3) it is a certain phrase other than PP and non-reduphcatlve
number-Cl.S phrase. Now observe the following:
(5.26)
a.
(A)

.*.(,'ifD1UJ
very care inquire
???
(B)
!'ufinxin de xunwcll
IOJ
very care DE(ad) inquire
'inquire with great concern'
138
b.
o.
d.
c.
f.
... bCngbCog!jAQtjOo pao

jumping run
???
laoljioshisbi shuo
1313lkJl<ll!
honest speak
1?1
...
J"'ilrll!
serious speak
??1
... hen mAn pao
1I!t;!if!l
very slow run
1?1
yOu zhi xu qiii njill
"'!:IiIl'JliJili
have order go forward
111
bCngbCogtiAOIiUo de plIO
IlllllllmrJUl!!1It!
jumping DE(ad) run
'run in a bouncing and vivacious
manner'
lii oliiosbishi de shuo
1313 lk lk JI!! ll!
honest DE(ad) speak
'speak honestly'
yimsP de shuo
J"'*Jt!!*
seri ous DE(ad) speak
'speak seriously'
ben mjm de p[\O
1I!t;!Jt!!if!l
vcry slow oE(ad) run
'run very slowly'
yOu zhjxU de qianji n
"'!:IiI!' JI!! JliJ ill
have order DE(ad) go forward
' forge forward with order'
In (a) in the above, the adverbial is a verb, in (b), a reduplicative VP, in (e), a
redupli cative adjective, in (d) a disyllabic adjective, in (e), an endocentric AP, and in (f), a Vo
VP. The cases in (A) all lack the adverbial particle dc, and are ungrammatical, whereas their
counterparts in (8) contain the particle and are grammatical. This contrast indicates that the
absence of the adverbi al de has resulted in the (A) cases being ungrammati cal, and that the use of
the particle in these cases is obligatory.
5.2.2.3 Verb-Object VP
As its name implies, a Verb-Object VP (YO VP) contains two pans, the verb and its
obj ee!. In such a Mandarin phrase, the verb is nonnally a transi ti ve verb. There arc at least two
types of transitive verbs as far as the requirement of an obj ect is concerned. Examples of the two
types of verbs are:
(5.27) (A) (8)
a. ai chi
l!I
' love' 'eat'
139
b. xi ng
shuo
!It
ll!
' have the surname or
'say'
o. chengwei
kUn
!/iih
!lJ
'become'
'look'
d. diiqii
xuexi
**

'take'
'study'
Column (A) contains transitive verbs that must take an object, whereas Column contain
. . b vho'e obj' .... ts can be omitted, While all transiti ve verbs can take objects, there
transillve vcr s,.. ... , b' S
. ' '1' e ve,b' ,'n Mandarin that can also take the so-called non-pallent a orne
eXist mtransl IV " . . . b' t)
examples follow. In each case, the verb is intransiti ve, yet an object (albeLt a non-palLcnl a
is attached to the verb.
(5.28)
qu 7.hongguQ
4<<plllI
go China
'go to China'
b. xin hu6che
o.
d.
T:k.:!f:
go-down train
'get off the train'
chuxian yike xi ng
tl\l!\\-WUl
appear onc-CLS star
'a slar appears'
si Ie yilQU niu
9E7 -!k4
die PERF one-CLS buH
'a bull died'
Although the objects in the VO YPs are mostly nouns and pronouns, they can also be
verbs, as shown in (a) and (b), adjectives (c), and clauses (d) :
(5.29) a. xiang llng,
il.\I!Ii
want listen
'want to listen'
b. x ihuan tin
klX'li
like watch
'like to watch'
c.
l!<HP
love clean
'love cleanliness'
d. pa In xiaohu!l wO
1Ell!!!Il:iIi<l\
be-afraid he laugh-at me
'be afraid that he laughs at me'
Somc transitive verbs take one object, but there are others, such as gb ffl 'give' and glioSll
'tell' that take two, a direct object preceded by an indirect one:
(5.30) a.
b.
gci xinxin
!;'t<l\tH'
give I confidence
'give me confidence'
gaosu n! yiiiim shi
i'ii/Flki'i'l/l
ten you one-CLS thing
'tell you something'
5.2.2.4 Verb-Complement VP
A Verb-Complement VP (VC VP) typically contai ns two parts, the verb and its
complement. The complement can be an adjective, an adverb, a verb, or a phrase. An auxiliary
particle, de Rf. 'oE(comp),' is sometimes used between the verb and the complement. Similar to
the other two structural auxiliary particles, de'DE(comp)' is obligatory with some complements,
prohibi ted by others, and optional in still others. Unlike the other two structural auxiliary
particles, de 'oE(comp)' sometimes clearly has its own meaning 'can.' Consequently, its presence
is ollen governed by a semantic rather than structural requirement. The exact distribution of this
particle is a very complex matter, but two clear cases where the complement de is prohibited are:
\4\
(5.3\) (A) (8)
a. hen de ji Ie. hen ji Ie.
l!Hllli! T 1f!li!T
hate DE(comp) extremely PERf hate extremely PERF
11? 'hate extremely'
b. kIm de sii nbian kun sanbian
'llli}:=ci!il '!1=:i1i
watch DE(comp) three-time watch three-time
??? 'watch three times'
In the above table, the cases in (A) are ungrammat ical whereas these in (B) arc. In the
cases of (a), the complement is the adverb F 1& 'extremely,' which prohibits the use of the
complement de 'DE(eomp)'. The examples in (b) iIIuslrate that no number-cLS-phrase complement
co-occur with de'DE(comp)' . The following are cares where the complement de 'DE(comp)' must
be present:
(5.32)
a.
b.
c.
d.
(A)
guanxin hen
J<H.-1&
care very
???
* gun reichang hao
'f,"Jlm
do very good
???
ban jinqu
IIM*
moveentcr
'move in'
bu ban jinqu
'l'lAliU
not move enter
'not move in'
(8)

;)H'1111ll!
care DE(comp) very
'care very much'
gfm de hilO

do DE{comp) very good
'well dOlle'
ban de jinqll
l!!li1i11'*
move DE(comp) enter
'can move in'
ban bu jinqu

move not-possible enter
'cannot move in'
In contrast to the degree adverb ji'extremely,' which precludes the use of the complement
de, another degree adverb hen .fa 'very' does exaetly the opposite. When it is used as a verb
complement, it has to follow a complement dc, or the phrase would be ungrammatical, as
142
illustrated in (a) in the above. APs arc another case requiring the use of a complement dc, as
shown in (b). The exampl es in (e) demonstrate Ihat the complement de sometimes carries its own
content meaning 'possi ble' in addit ion to ils grammatical function of usheri ng in a complement.
When used as such, it indi cates that the situation described by the complement is a possible result
of the action denoted by the verb. The examples in (e) and (d) show that the complement de has
an antonym bU ;f: 'not,' which means 'not possible' in a VC construction. Incidentally, both de
'DE(comp); possible' and biJ 'cannol' can act as an infix inserted into certai n VC compounds'41
(e.g., kanji/m 'see' --+ kandJ:jdm ;a1S.!A!. 'can sec' or kiinMJitJn sec'), as
discussed in the section on affixes in the last chapter.
5.2.2.5 Seri alVerb VP
In Mandarin, therc is a very special type ofVP that does not lit into any of those described
so far. Named here as SerialNerb VP (SV VP), it consists of at least two verbs or VPs that are
placed in sequence without any overt marking to indicate their grammatical relati onship.
Although in some ways, SV VPs resemble coordi nate VPs, they can often be di fferentiated from
each othcr. First, even though SV VPs contain a serics of verbs just li ke the coordinate VPs, their
verbs havc to be in a certain order to cxpress a certain meaning. Related to this point is the second
observation thai the components arc of more or less equal importance in a coordinate VP, while
the last componenl in a SV VP often carries the most weight. Finall y, coordinate VPs sometimes
use conj unct ions between the components, but SV VPs never do. The foll owing are cxamples of
such VPs:
(5.33) a.
b.
C.
qU Wnguan kIlill!n
i111Jii1iJIIi;1Jii
go restaurant cat
'go to eat in a restaurant'
zOy gubgU gCn tamen WOShOlI

walk over with them shake-hand
'go over to shake hands with them'
ZII O ffii ji qu zhongguQ
!If 'MII i11 'I'
take airplane go China
'go to China by air'
HI There cxits controversy in treating these morphemes as infixes here, since strictl y speaking,
infi xes go inside roots and not between morphemes o fa si ngle word.
d. bil nCng hn! jja.

have meeting not can go home
'have meeti ng and therefore cannot go home'
143
In each of the examples given above, there are two VPs. Sometimes, the actions of the
tWO VPs foHow a temporal, spat ial and/or logical order. For example, in (a) (b) the above,
1 I
, nd ',"alk over' temporally precede 'eat' and 'shake hands, respecti vely. Oft en
'go to a res auran a .y .' a si nal
in addition to satisfying temporal, spatial or logical reqUirements, the order of the vps.m y g.
that the last YP is the core VP, while the precedi ng ones serve some ki nd of an adverbial
by indicati ng the purpose, manner, reason, time, place, etc. of the core V.P. In the fir:
t
indicates the manner in which the action o f the second verb is carried out by air), and (d),
the first VP provides a reason for the second VP. Not only can all the verbs III VPs be .1O
active voice, but they can also be in the passive voice as well. The first VPs In (a)-(c) m t c
foll owing arc in the passive voice, as is the second in (d).
(5.34) a.
b.
C.
d.
rei liime n iiao qU dil Ie yadun
lliili!!(np4i11JTT - ;)!
by them call go beat PERF one- CLS
'be call ed over and beaten by them'
bit; dirc" dft; gu guan Ie qil u.i

by enemy catch go close PERF up
'be captured by the enemy and locked up'
hiei 1iioShi tIIijian shang daxue
llii"" rrIi ll'li' J::k ""
by teacher recommend attend university
'be recommended by teacher to go to college'
ran Ie ra bei iingciJa dii ibU Ie

break PERF law by police arrest LE
'broke the law and was arrested by police'
5.2.3 Adjecth'e Phrases
I
'b " odifying NPs There arc three types:
Like adjectives, APs function most y as attn u wes m .
coordinate, endocentrie, and adjective-complement (AC) APs.
5.2.3. 1 Coordinate AP .
C d
, APs sh"'c 'he same characteristics of coordinate NPs and YPs in that their
oor lOa e ... . . . .
basie elements, the adj ectives, can often be strung together Without havmg any mtervcmng
.. it seems much more common for APs Ihan for either NPs or VPs not to
reqUire a .. Nonnally, these conjunct ionless APs have two two-syllable adjecti ves that
are customanl y conJoined. A few examples of such APs follow:
(5.35) a.
mciguan duffi ng
iJ<1IJlj(1J
beautiful nat ural-and-good-taste
'beautiful. natural and good-taste'
b. reqing youhao
!!.\1>Y2tlf
c.
d.
warm fri endly
'warm and friendly'
qianxu jinshcn
i1ft!l1il!1A
modest careful
'modest and careful'
zhongbou laoshi
f/:.J!;!'ltJ);
loyal-and-tolcrant honest
'loyal, tolerant and honest'
c. ganjing zhengqi
'fM>1ll11'
f.
g.
clean tidy
'clean and tidy'
wennua.n shushi
i!lllJlff;!!
warm comfortable
'warm and comfortable'
guanghui cunlun

brilliant magnificent
'brilliant and magnificcnt'
. .APs VPs sharc more or less a common set of conj unctions and conjuncti vc adverbs
Incl ude .cr WI 'but, and,' crqii: ilff13. 'and,' and you ... yOu )( ... ){ 'botb ... and,' whi ch were
dl.scusSed when addressing coordinate VPs. In addition, APs also share conjunctions
Wi th coordmate NPs. These include be l11 'and,' yii 'and,' htiis!Ji jf;l 'or (interrogative),' and
Jw07.hr5 lI!tlff' 'or.'
145
(5.36) a. dii yuan j(iiiillll
big and round 'big and round'
b. y2J! da-Yill! yuan )l.j()l.00
both big and round 'both big and round'
c. da xl! xHio j(-",j,
big and small 'big and small ?'
d. da haish'i xiao ?
j(iliJl!d'?
big or small 'big or small?'
In (a) and (b), Ihe conjunctions arc verbal ones, while in (c) and (d), thcy are nominal.
5.2.3.2 Endoccntric AP
Endocentric APs are composcd of an adverbial element and an adjecti ve, with the fomlcr
always preceding and modifying the latter, the head of the phrase. Modifying adverbials in APs
are less complicated than those in VPs. As the fo ll owi ng examples indicate, they are typically
adverbs (a), demonstrat ive pronouns (b), or PPs (c).
(5.37) , . .. hfu1 da
1&*
very big 'very big'
" .
Qfu! piaoliang
W1Smt7E
all beautiful 'all beautiful'
1II. fejchiiog (de) da
very (oE(ad big 'vel)' big'
b. .. zheme du i!1.j(
this big 'this big'
" .
name piaoli ang

that beauti ful 'that beaut ifu l'
c. i. bi wO da

than I big 'older than I'
ii. rCo wO yiyang gao
with me same tall 'as tan as I'
Following an adverbial, the structural particle de ' DE(ad)' is sometimes used, al though its
usage is seldom obligatory, and is mostly restricted to cenain disyll abic adverbs, such as
fiHchiing 'very,' as indicated by the (b) example above. On the other hand, de ' DE(ad)'
nonnal1y is not used when the adverbials are demonstrative pronouns, PPs, or monosyllabic
adverbs.
146
5.2.3.3 AP
Like verbs, adjectives can take a compl ement. The result is an Adjective-Complement AP
(AC AP). and as in the case of the VC VPs, the complement can he an adjective, an adverb, a
verb or a phrase. Furthcnnore, the use of the complement particle de 'oE(comp)' in such an AP
can be optional, obligatory or prohi bited.
Now examine (5.38) below. In (a), the complement is a degree adverb. and this particular
degrcc adverb prohibits the usc of the complement de. In (b), the complement is a number- CLS
phrase, and as a rule, such a phrase is not allowed to usc the complement dc. In both cases, Ihese
complements behave just as they do following a verb in a VC VP, preventing the appearance of
the relevant auxi liary particle. In (e), the complement is an adjective, in (d), a verb, and in (c) a
clause. In all three cases, the usc of de 'DE(comp)' is obli gatory:
(5.38)
,.
b.
e.
d.
c.
(A)
mei de j i Ie.
!!tliHl! 7
(B)
mci ji Ie.
ltl&7
beauti ful DE(comp) extrcmely LE beautiful extremcly LE
7??
ma n de yidi3n
1l!m-i.\(
slow DE(comp) one-bit
111
e kuai
lttk
hungry quick
1?1
leng mao han
l!Hf
pain ooze sweat
?'?1
leng yilchi dachan

cold teeth shi ver
?7!
'extremely beautiful'
man yidian
m-,g
slow onebit
'slow down a bit'
c de kuai
Iftilttk
hungry DE(eomp) quick
'become hungry quickl y'
le ng de mao

pain DE(comp) ooze sweat
'so painful that (someone)'s sweating.'
leng de yachi dacha n
3l't!ftrl'm
cold DE(comp) teeth shiver
'so cold that (someone)'s tccth arc
shudderi ng'
5.2.4 Prepositional Phrase
Prepositional phrases nonnally are made up of a preposition and a prepositional object.
The object is typicallY a nominal element-a noun, an NP or a pronoun.
5.2.4. 1 Witb Nominal Objects
(5.39) , .
,.
u.
b. i.
ii .
e. ..
ii .
wang zhOngguQ
1t'i'1'!iI
to China
' to Chi na'
genju fill.U
ltH15mi;lt
according to law
'according to the law'

'K'fiIMIl
about they
'about them'
chide nl

except you
'except you'
ziti zhOn!'uQ wneuan (chi)
:'1' 1'!i11lll1!(UZ;)
at China restaurant (cat)
'cal at a Chinese restaurant'
weile "LiyOu he mini'.hu
1-J7 Et wjf(tlilot
for freedom and democracy
'for freedom and democracy'
147
The two PPs in (a) both have nouns as the prepositional objects, those in (b) have
nd tho
se in (e) NPs' all are nominal elements. Note that Mandarin prepositional
pronouns, a
objects can be verbal elements as well. This topic is discussed below.
148
5.2.4.2 Wit h Verbal Obj ects
(5.40) a. ..
" .
b. ,.
" .
<. ,.
i i.

I1iM;/f"l'
from start-school
'from the start of the school lenn'
wci le Y.fuu:.iW
1;]Y%*
for support-a-family
'in order 10 support a famil y'
chule piaolic\ng
IIt.Yil:il'li
except beautiful
'except being beautiful'
y6uyu iinzhjing
Ell 'f:\'i
because tense
'because of being tense'
wci lc Dell g l iDnbao dUzj
::IJ H1lJi\li!Ilt'J'
for can fi ll belly
'for keeping (oneself) fed'
yinwei shitCn nuiinhuQ
III ::Irt 5l-IIJI;fIJ
because very wann
'because of being very wann'
. examples ill ustrate that the preposi tional object can be a verb (a), an adjective (b), a
VP-ln this case, an extended VO VP (c-i), or an AP-in this case, an endocentric one (c-ii).
5.2.4.3 Ua PP
. Whi le most prepositions in Mandarin have inherent content meani ng, there are a few
only seNe a grammatical funct ion. One of them is bii Simply pul, a PP with bii
mtroduces a logical object ofa verb and brings that object immediately before the verb (sec X. Q.
Wu 1996). Now compare the following two sentences:
(5.41) a.
b.
tamen chi Ie Ian.
ilMn OZ T1li .
they eat I'ERF meal
'Thcyate.'
(amen brt. tan chi Ie.
ilklnli'!t1iOZY.
they IlA meal eat PERF
'They ate.'
149
As indicated by the English translations, the two sentences in the above mean exactly the
same thing. The difference lies in their structures: (a) is a normal senlence with a normal word
order-the object after the verb; (b) comprises a b/i PP, which transposes the object to the
preverbal position. While the hl structure mayor may not be used in rendering the meanings of
these examples, there are contexts where its use is impcrative and others where it is forbidden . A
case where it is obligatory is givcn below:
(5.42) a.
b.
tamen ba vifu xi de hen g5.njing.
Ilk In 1i'!:i<1Jfl i;\; 1(11I! T 14>
Ihey BA clothes wash DE(comp) very clean
'They washed the clothes very clean.'
lamen xi Yifu de hen ganjing.
1I!HJ>.
they wash clothes DE(comp) very clean
??1
Here. sentence (b}- as opposed to (a)_is ungrammatical because it includes a verbal
complement. Verbal complements requi re that an object precedes its verb. In the sentences below,
howevcr---eontrary to those above, a bii PP is not allowed because the transitive verb would then
be clause final. Such 'exposed' transitive verbs arc avoided in Mandarin.
(5.43) a. i.
ii.
tamen xi yifu
il!lln i;\;:i<IIIl .
they wash clothes
'They wash clothes.'
tamen bli yifu xi
Ilklnle:/(lIlii;\;
they BA clothes wash
???
150
b.
" .
5.2.4.4 Dei pp
lumen chi fan.
iili/nO<;1&.
they eat meal
They eal the meal.'
.. lamen ba lan chi.
iili In l1! fli 0<; .
they BA meal eat
???
voice in Mandarin is sometimes expressed with a /x:i 1lt PP. Like the Engli sh PP
by by In sentences such as II is eaten bv (he dog. the Mandarin bel PP is used 10 indicate
the doer' of the 3:lion of ,I he verb in a sentence. Just as the M PP in Mandarin, bCi PP always
precedes the verb In questIOn. Now examine the foll owing sent ences:
(5.44) ,.
b.
tamen chi Ie fan.
iUI 7 0<;1&.
they cal PERF meal
'They ate.'
ran t>Cj tamen chi Ie.
Il< l!\: ill In
meal BEl they eal PERF
'The food was eaten by them.'
The (a) sentence in the above is related to the (b) sentence in meaning; both share
the same doer. the same patlent- Ihe receiver of Ihe action, and the sante verb.
However. they differ m that (a) is a sentence with act ive voice while (b) is passive 10 .
.. . . e passive
vOice In IS indicated by the use of the hei PP. It is interesting to note that the verb in a
sentence with bel PP cannot be 'exposed' either, just as it is with a bii structure:
(5.45) ,. ,.
ii.
tamen xi yifu

they wash clothes
'They wash clothes.'
yifu bei tamen xi
Inl;1;
clothes BEl they wash
???
b. i.
Ii.
tamen chi Tan.

they cal meal
'They eat Ihe meal.'
ran bei tamen chi.
1& l!\: il!. In 0<; .
meal BEl they eat
???
151
In both (a) and (b) above. the use of the passive voice in the second examples has left the
transitive verbs wi thout anything foll owing, and consequently, the sentences in these examples
are ruled ungrammatical. The bei PP does, however, differ from bii (and most, if not all, other
Mandarin prepositions) in one respect. Just as in English, so too in Mandarin, speakers may omit
mention of the agent, the 'doer', in passive sentences. In such cases, hei is sti ll required but its
prepositional object-the 'doer' -is lacking; and bi:istands immediately before the verb.
(5.46) ,.
b.
tan W chi Ie.
fli l!\: 0<; 7
meal BEl cal PERF
'The food was eaten.'
yi fu W xi wim Ie
1fllll:1;1;'it 7 .
clothes BEl wash finish PERF
'The clolhes have been washed.'
In both (a) and (b), he; precedes the main verb directly, and is not followed by any
prepositional object.
5.3 Functional Components
So far, the building blocks of Mandarin sentences, the words in tenns of their parts of
speech, and the phrases in tenns of how they are structured have been described. In this section,
we wi ll look at Mandarin sentences from another perspective; theiT functional components such
as subjects, predicates, objects, attributives, adverbials and complements will be discussed. We
will try to detennine which building block is used to serve which function, or vice versa.
5.3.1 Subj ects
Most Mandarin sentences contain two parts: lhe subject and Ihe predicate with the subject
nonnall y preceding the predicatc. In a language li ke English, the subject is almost always a
nominal or nominalized constituent, such as a noun. a pronoun or a gerund. In Mandarin,
howevcr, verbal (includi ng adjectival) constitucnts can serve as subjccts as well as nominal
152
consti tuents. Examples in which nominal subjects are found are:
(5.47) , .
b.
c.
Iclan.
il!!fnnz: Y 1&.
they cal PERF meal
'They ate the meal.'
zbOngguQ Ut i yUzh6u.
'I' fJil1E;!f iJtI.
China is-at Asia
'China is in Asia.'
B. shi cr de liang rei.
Il!IQ= h9i!1Jil'i
four is two DE(ad) two double
'Four is twice two.'
In (a), the subj ect is a pronoun, in (b), a proper noun, and in (c), a number. The followin
are sentences with verbal subjects: g
(5.48) , .
b.
c.
d.
e.
zfi vijjjin wjizj xuyao crhlii yuan.

rent OIlC-CLS room need 200 dollar
'Rent for one room requires $200:
xuCxj gQngzlIO dau zhongyao.

study work both important
'Studying and working are both important.'
kilo de Nio rnei yong.

take-exam DE(comp) good no use
'It is no use to do well in the exam.'
7.t\Osbi'mg qU ncng kandao fichU..
"'.t'1lrm;rm 8 til .
morning go can see sunrise
'Going in the morning, (one) can see the sunrise.'
Ojl hYlgY liD!' hui yingxiang bieren.

take back li sten will affect others
'Taking il back to listen will affect other people.'
The subjects in the above are, respectively, VO VP (a), coordi nate VP (b), VC VP (c),
endocent ri c VP (d), and SV VP (e).14! Examples of APs as subjects are given below:
(5.49) ,.
b.
c.
gAn jing zhengji C rang ren shiifu.
T 1l'll'!rliil: Mf JIf!
clean tidy make person comfortable
'Being clean and tidy gives people comfort.'
IUj ganjing ye bY hao.

too clean also not good
'Being too clean is also not good.'
man yidiii. n bu yaojin.

slow one-bi t not mattcr
'Being a bit slow does not matter.'
153
The subject APs in the above arc coordinate AP (a), endocentric AP (b), and AC AP (C).IU
5.3.2 Predicates
Mandarin predicates are usuall y composed ofverbs, VPs, adjectives or APs.
(5.50) ,. dongliiin lenr de ben.

winter cold DE(comp) vcr
'The winter is very cold.'
b. tamen chi Ie Wn.
IlklnOZ:Yl!i .
they eat PERF meal
'They ate the meal.'
In (a), the predicate is an AP, or to be marc specific, an AC AP, whereas in (b) it is a VP,
or specifically a VO VP. It should be noted that in Mandarin, adject ives or APs do not have to
follow a linking verb to serve as predicates, in contrast to their counterparts in languages such as
English in which they can never stand alone as predicates. Just as subjccts in Mandarin do not
always consist of typical subjcct materials such as nominal clements, predicates in Mandarin do
not always contain verbal clements. Sentences in which the predicates are not - for English
spcakers-Ofthc mosl intuitive son arc:
For a description of these VPs, refer to Section 5.2.2.
'0) For a description of these APs, refer to Section 5.2.3.
(5.51) a.
b.
o.
d.
jinliiin xinggiyi.
",,"'!l!JYJ- .
today Monday
'Today is Monday.'
tianqi zenmeYi'mg?
"'''::t; if.1
weather how
'How is the weather?'
wa shiba.
m+;\..
I eighteen
'I am eighteen.'
zhekuai shaubiUo erbii i yllan
"'*,,"= a ft.
this-CLS watch 200 dollar
'This watch is $200.'
.. In nO.ne of the sentences is the predicate the typical material for a predicate. Rather,
[t IS a noun 10 (a), an Interrogative pronoun in (b), a number in (0) and a nUmb-r-cLS h .
(d) A]' k' . , ... prase 10
. m mg verb IS nol used in any oflhese examples, as would be required in English.
5.3.3 Objects
The lack of case marking (e.g., the differencc between I and me) in Mandarin means that
whal can be used as subjects can also be used as objects. Typically, the object is a nominal
clement:
(5.52) a.
b.
c.

meli'ltil!l1n.
1 go see they
'1 go to visit them.'
wa qu zh6nggllO.
fl!eIi'i'l>!.
I go China
'I go to China.'
er jia er dcngyu li1.
= hU= <I' T'I!!! .
two plus two equal four
'Two plus two equals four.'
155
The objccts. which arc underlined, are the same words as those in (5.47) where they were
used as subjects. All are nominal kinds of words, yet just as in the case of the subjects where non-
nominal constituents can be used, objects in Mandarin can be scrved by verbal elements as well.
(5.53) a.
b.
c.
d.
o.
tamen xiiyao zii yijian wiizi.
it!! lIl1!.l'l1!IJl-liiJI.B' .
they need rent one-CLS room
'Thcy need to rent a room.'
tamen xlhuan xuh' g6ngzuo.
it!!fn1nJ;ojt'lItF.
they like work study
'They like to study and work.'
wi) xiwang kao de hao.
fI!;I,\.!ll '\TIll j(f
I wish take-exam DE(comp) good
'I hope to do weB in the exam.'
wb dasua.n 7 .... qUo
fl!lTl'P,' 1: eli.
I plan morning go
'I plan to go in the morning.'
WQ yaoqiu nji. hu'qu ting.
Iii] 1;P)j
I request take back listen
'I request to take it back to listcn to.'
These VPs are the same as those we saw earlier in (5.48); that is, they arc a VO VP (a), a
coordinate VP (b), a VC VP (c), an endocentrie VP (d), and a SV VP (e). In the previous
examples, these VPs were used as subjects whereas here they serve as the objects of the
sentences. As well, APs can serve as objects:
(5.54) a.
b.
wb xihuan ganHng zhCngj ie.
fI! 'lJ 'f 11. 'ill .
I like clean tidy
'I like to be clean and tidy.'
ta bu xiiyao taj gAnilng.
ft!!l'm'l1! ;t'fr.{
he not need too clean
'He docs not need to be too clean.'
156
o. wo shilu mUn yidifin
'!iOi>l:OOIl!- ,\'.\ .
I try slow one-bit
') try to slow down a bit.'
The coordinate (a), codocentric (b) and AC (c) APs in the above examples are the same as
those we saw earlier in (5. 49) where they were used as subjects.
5.3.4 Attributives
Subjects and objects of a sentence often contain attributives-the part that modifies the
corc component of the subj ect or object. Attribut ives in Mandarin always go before the head they
modify. As di scussed earlier, we learned that APs arc Iypical candidates for attributives.
However. more categories than APs can serve as attributives in Mandarin. They include
pronouns, PPs, numbcr-CLS phrases, and VPs. Examine the following examples:
(5.55) a.
b.
o.
d.
fCich4ng miogliilng de jiaoshi

very bright DE(a) classroom
'very bright classroom'
li'iruhi de shu
;j[;frJiOHI
teacher DE(a) book
'the teacher's book'
wO he liIi de liioshi
,t'll1iil!RR
I and Lili DECa) teacher
'my and Lili's teacher'
liioshi
'=:l":tlfili
Ihree-CLS teacher
'three teachers'
In (a), the attributive is an endoeentric AP, and in (b), it is a noun. The attributive in (c) is
a coordinate NP which contains a pronoun and a Iloun. The attri butive in (d) is a number-CLS
phrase. All arc fairly intuiti ve types of attributives. What is not as intuiti ve involves VPs. The
(5.56) ,.
b.
o.
d.
e.
zji (Pngzi de qian

renl house DE{a) mOlley
'money for rent ing the house'
kiio de han de xucsheng

take-exam DE(comp) good DE(a) student
' students who did well in the exam'
z.aosh3ng oU de ren

morning go person
'the people who go in the morning'
xue,xi gOngzuQ de shijiao
'l"l3I
study work DE(a) time
'study and work time'
oa bUIgl! ling de yinyue
11: 1m
take back listen DE(a) music
'the music that is taken (back) to listen to'
157
The VPs in the above are, respectively, VO VP in (a), VC VP in (b), endoceotric VP in
(c), coordi nate VP in (d) and SV VP in (c).
5.3.5 Adverbials
Adverbials arc used to modify verbs, adjectives, adverbs or and normally
recede the elements they modify. The most typical candidates for adverblals are and
:ps, although adjectives. nouns, verbs, pronouns and phrases can also be candidates. The
following contain examples ofadverbials fomled by vanouS words and phrases.
(5.57) a.
tamen hhltinghuu.
ill! rnil!'Jiili .
they very obedient
following illustrate VP attribut ives: b.
'They arc very obedient.'
tumen wang shanshjlOg pu.
it!! rntll llJ:lfll .
they toward mountain-top climb
'They climb to the mountain top.'
158
c.
d.
la me n shUoli de daodii beijing.
.
they smooth DE(ad) arrive Beijing
'They arrived in Beijing smoothly.'
lamen jiiio'uo.

they Ihat conceited
'They arc that conceit ed.'
In (a), the adverbial is an adverb which modifies the verb line DJf 'listen' ; in (b). it is a PP
modifying the verb p;i 'to climb'; in (e), it is an adjective modifying the verb diiodii i'lJi5
'arrive' ; in (d), it is a demonstrative pronoun modifying the adjective j iao'8o Mj-ut 'conceited.'
Rarely adverbials are fonned with verbs, and when they arc, the auxil iary particle de 'OE(ad)' is
always used:
(5.58) , .
b.
WQ hUlbi dg shua.
@];nll!!ilI. .
I evade DE(ad) say
'I said evadingly.'
la xlkloyiio de 1.h'l.O 7.ai nali.

he showoffoE(ad) stand at there
'He stands there showing oft'
In the above, huibi @lift 'avoid' and xu/myiio 'show ofr are both verbs, and used
here as adverbials modifying the following verb.
5.3.6 Complements
Complements in Mandarin follow the predicate verbs or adjecti ves of a sentence to
provide additional infonnati on regarding the verbs or adjectives. Specifically. the addit ional
infonnation may be about the result. direction, degree, quantity, or possi bilit y of the preceding
verb or adjective. The candidat es for complements incl ude adjectives, verbs, adverbs. PI' s and
clauses. The following provide cxamples of result alive complements:
(5.59) a.
.
I look clear LE
'I have seen (it) clearly.'
b.
c.
tamen chi M2 fan Ie.

they cat full meal LE
'They have had enough to eal.'
la leng de yiichi diichUn.

he cold DE(comp) teeth shiver
'He is so cold that hi s teeth are chattering.'
159
Resultat ive complements denote the result of an action or the change of a state. In (a), the
predicatc verb kiiJl 11 ' look' is followed by a complement that constitutes an adjective qingchu
'clear,' which indicates that the act of looking ends in successfull y seeing. Sometimes the
complement can be followed by the object of the verb. as in (b) where the presence of the
complement signifies that 'they eat to the point of being full.' In (c), the complement takes what
we may call a complement (I.e., DE(comp; structurall y it is a clause complete with a subject and
a predicate.
Besides indi cating results, complements may give infonnation about the di rection of the
verb or adjective. Unlike resultative complements that can be composed o f various types of words
or phrases, the directional set usuall y consists of directional verbs such as hli -* 'come' and qu =!:
'go.' The foll owing table presents simple and compounded directional verbs that can occur as
complements.
(5.60)
lili *
'come' qu ;Ii 'go'
shang
J:
'go up' shangi<li 'come up' shang qu 'go up'
xia
T
'go down' xialili 'comedown' xiu qu 'go down'
j in
iii
'enter' jinlai 'come in' j l n qu 'go in'
chli
ill
'exit' chlilili 'come out' chliqu 'go out'
hui @] 'return' hui lil i 'come back' hui qu ' go back'
guo
U
'come over' guolai 'come over' guo qu 'go over'
qi
"
'rise' qilai 'rise'
In this table, there are altogcther nine simple directional verbs, scven in the left-most
column and two in the first row. They combine to yield thirteen compounded directional verbs.
All these verbs can be used as di rectional complements.
(5.61) ,. tamen ganggang pa
fl!lf@mtlll!J:;Ii .
they just climb go-up
'They have just climbed up.'
160
b.
c.
Iii nit lhl yiben shu.

he bring come one-cLS book
' He brought a book.'
qiche k,iii gyQJillle.
ft$ 1fi:t,IH
car dri ve come-over LE
'The car drove over (here).'
d. lamen ZOU Ie iirutY.
ii!! 1I1 JE T i!l'1;; .
they walk PERF go-in
'They walked inside.'
. . Resultative and directional ones are not mutually exclusive. In facl , the
verbs In above may perfonn a rcsultative function . For instance, in (a),
sh,1ngqu 'go up' IS achieved through pa,w 'climb,' and in (b), the fact that the book is now
here is the result of n.i 'to lake;' without the action of nil tt:, the book would not Mi'lo come.'
Meanings of di rectional verbs arc sometimes extended and become more abstract. Used
as they then no longer denote merely change over tangible spatial parameters, but
somethmg more abstract:
(5.62) , .
b.
c.
d.
tingdilO xHi oxi, ta kii .QI!ill.
.. ii!!!J@T*.
hear news he cry PERF rise
'Upon hearing the news, he began 10 cry.'
nage niimqing geshou ganggang hong gilfu.
nll1''!' 4:)X 'l' iIi:* .
that- CLS young singer just red rise
'That young singer has jusl become popular.'
himen diisuan zhu Mililli.
itl!fntr:l't.itT1;;.
Ihey plan live go-down
'They plan 10 continue to li ve (there).'
150 gang suxing &Y.2lill, you hun Ie.
ii!!Rtl;$iI'li:t*. .lC Ilii:t 1;; T
he just wake come-over, again faint go-over LE
' He had just comc to, then he fainted again.'
. The of the vcrb q[/fii 'ri se' which denotes the movement from a lower poi nt
10 a hI gher one IS extended to mean the start of action in (a), and the change of a slate in (b). In
1"1
(c), the directional verb xiiiqii T-.t 'go down' is extended to mean 'carryi ng on' or 'continuation' .
In (d), the meaning of guo/fJi l:t* 'come over' and gubqii:i!4; 'go over' are extended in the sense
that waking up from fainting is deemed as coming back, while fainting itself is considered as
goi ng away.
Some resultativc and di rectional complements become complements of possibility/abilit y
if they take the complement de. In fact, in a possibil ity/ability compl ement, the complement de is
no longer a mere functional word, but one with a content meaning, 'possible; able', and it has a
negative variation bu'not.' Now look at the following sentences:
(5.63) a.
b.
c.
zhcge juzi wo kiln QQng Ie.
i:!:1'11.J'HWiilT.
this-CLS sentence I read understand LE
'I understood thi s sentence.'
zhcge juzi wo
i:!:
this-CLS sentence I read DE(comp) understand
'I can understand this sentence.'
zhcge juzi wo kiln tlli.J;!.Qng.
i:!: 1'11.J'Tllt'li HTi.
this-CLS sentence I read not understand
'I cannot understand this sentence.'
The sentence in (a) is one with a resultative complement fonned by an adjective dong tft(
'understand.' When the compl ement de is inserted between the complement and the preceding
verb. the complement lakes on the meaning of 'abi lity to understand' (b). The opposite meaning of
'unable to understand' is expressed by substituting de with the negative morpheme bU.
In addition to results, directi ons, and ability, complements can indicate degrees o f an
action or state denoted by an adj ective or a verb. These complements are always preceded by the
complement de, and they can be fomled by degree adverbs. adject ives, interrogative pronouns
and various phrases. Examples o f degree complements arc:
(5.64) ,.
b.
tamen chang de ben hao.
fi!!
they sing DE(comp) very good
'They sing very well.'
tamen chang cle hl\Q de duO.
1I!!ffl'r,li}Jifl!l;t
they si ng DE(eomp) good DE(comp) more
1"hey sing much better.'
162
o.
d.
tamen chang de zirnmeyjmg?

they sing DE(comp) how
'How (well) do they sing?'
wenti jiii ndan
2:1'10] lili fi1j
problem simple DE(comp) very
The problem is very simple.'
The degree complement is an endocentric AP (a), an AC AP (b), an interrogat ive pronoun
(e), or an adverb (d). The predicate is a verb a), (b), and (e, or an adjective (d). When the
predicate is a transitive verb that has an object, that verb must either be reduplicated or have the
object moved in front of it. For instance, if an object is added to the fi rst sentence in (5.64), il
would either look like (a) below where the verb is redupli cated or (b) where the object ge :Jk
'song' is moved before the verb. In any event, the object and the degree complement cannol both
rollow the predicate verb.
(5.65)
(5.66)
a.
b.
lamen ge dillrul: de hen hao.
illl fn'SQ;;PjjlGiIi!M.
they sing song sing DE(eomp) very good
'They si ng very welL'
lamen chang de hen hao.
it!!
they song si ng DE(comp) very good
'They si ng very well.'
Complements ean also denote quantity of duration and frequency:
a.
b.
o.
lamen deng Ie li anggC zh6ngtOu.
illlfll \\lTWl1'\ll'!k.
they wait PERF two-CLS hour
'They waited for two hours. '
n.?!..duO hun hong Ie yigC xingqi.
- 1' !l!lliJ.
that-CLS flower red PERF one-cLS week
'That flower was red for a week.
tamen qu Ie 00 zhongguo.
it!l1fl'k T - IX '1'00.
they go PERI' one-time China
'They have been to China once.'
d. 13 ba Ian re Ie lfulhW.
iI!!Jel&!'.I T :=:00 .
he SA food hot PERF three-time
'He healed up the food three times.'
163
Quantity complements arc nonnally composed of number-CLS phrases, as in (c) and (d),
or of endocentric NP in which the attribut ive component is a number-CLS phrase, as in (a) and (b).
5.3.7 Functional Usage of Various Words and Phrases
5.3.7. 1 Nominals
Both nouns and NPs serve primarily as a subject or an object, although sometimes they
also serve as an attributive. In rare cases they can serve as a predicate, or an adverbiaL
(5.67) a.
b.
o.
d.
bUb" mama xue Y.inJ.lv.ll.
j:'"tl ,q!ll'l'< lR: iii
father mother study English
'The parents study English.'
vi ngyue he wjldDo jiemu
if
music and dance program
'music and dance programs'
jinlian xingqiyi
9;IC!i!lliJ- .
today Monday
'today is Monday.'
130 vise rCn xuexi .
ft!l- 1' A$'3.
he one-cLS person study
'He studies alone.'
In (a), the NP baba mama 'father and mOlher' appears as a subject, whereas the
noun yingyii 'English' as an object. In (b), the underlined NP is an attributive element of the
larger NP, in (c), the underlined noun is a predicate, and in (d), the underlined NP serves as an
adverbial. Note the absence of a linking verb between the subject and the NP predicate in (c),
which structure is nol found in English.
Pronouns are another type of nomi nal element. Mandari n pronouns can serve as all major
syntactic componenls of a sentence including the subject (a), attributive and predicate (b), object
(c), adverbial (d) and complement (e):
164
(5.68) ,.
b.
m chi pingguo.
iJ!lP' L*.
he eat apple
'He cals apple.'
wcnzhang zCnmeyilng?
il!!",Jx:!ii:ll1\it?
he DE article how
'How is his article?'
c. Iii zhidao
d.
c.

he know how much
'How much does he know?'
zhcgc juzi fiinyi.
.i! l"UJ=fii-i. L:r-?
this CLS sentence this-way translate
'This sentence (should) be translated thi s way.'
Iii ffinyi de zCnmcyimg?
iJ!l1ill iif.liJ.:ll1\ 1\\1
he translate DE how
'How (well) did he translate (it)?'
Among these functions, all three types of pronouns- personal, demonstrative, and
intcrrogative---<:an serve as subjects, objects and attributives, hut only some demonstrative and
interrogative pronouns can serve as adverbials, and only the interrogative pronoun zCllmcyiil1g
'how' can be used as a predicate or a complement.
5.3.7.2 Verbs and VPs
The primary function of verbs or VPs is to serve as predicates of a sentence, although they
can also serve other functions, such as subjects, as shown in (a) and (b), and objects, as shown in
(c) ,nd (d),
(5.69) ,.
b.
zji yHian wUzj xuyao erbi'ii yuan.
1Il-[fi]jj!i'm'lJ.':::-a Je.
rent one-cLS room need 200 dollar
'Rent for one room requires $200.'
Idio de hag mel yang.

take-exam DE(eomp) good no usc
'It is no usc to do well in the exam.'
c.
d.
tamen xiiyao zU yiiiiin wjizi.
II!! fnilHI'III-f'l1l1T'.
they need rent onc-CLS room
'They need to rent a room.'
wa xiwang kilo de hilo.

I wish take-exam DE(comp) good
'I hope to do wel l in the exam.'
5.3.7.3 Adjectives and APs
165
The major function of an adjective or AP is of course to serve as an attributive, modifying
primarily nouns. However, Mandarin adjecti ves can serve as almost all the different functional
components of a sentence. In particular, some can be subjects, objects, predicates, complements,
adverbials as well as attributives. The following gives an example each of these functions using
the adjective giinjlng Tr1t 'clean' and zMl1gjic miS 'tidy' as examples.
(5.70) ,. ganii ng rang ren juede shiifu.
Ttl'itA:l\!;mfflifi .
clean let person feel comfortable
'Being clean makes a person feel comfortable.'
b. ffmgzi hcn raoiing.
c.
d.
c.
JtJT'1fi'f1l".
house very clean
'The house is very clcan.'
la xi huan raniiog hc zhcngiiC.
iJ!!1j: j}; 'f 1l>ifII'ii!;a
he like clean and tidy
'He likes to be clean and tidy.'
yifu xi ginjlng Ie.
;t<1l1I5tTtI>T
clothes wash clean PERl-'.
'The clothes have been washed clean.'
la ganganiingiing de shangxlle qu Ie.
il!!'f'f1l>1l>JI!!J:'l"'ii T .
he clean DE go-school go PERF.
'He went to school, clean.'
The adject ive giil1jing 'clean' or its reduplicated fonn is used as a subject (a), a predicate
(b), an object (c), a vcrb complement (d) and an adverbial (e). Needless to say, not all adjectives
perfonn all of these functions; ralher, many perfamt only a sub-set of them. For instance, many
166
monosyllabic adjectives cannot serve as adverbials. Disyllabic adjectives, on the ot her hand, arc
mostly in reduplicated fonns when serving as adverbials.
5.3.7.4 PPs
A PP serves most ly as an adverbial (a-c), but sometimes it is also a complement (d) or
attribut ive (e) ora Mandann sentence:
(5.71) a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
dianying ding lciishi.
iii h\ +.i;; 'If Jifl .
movie from to-o'clock start
'The movie starts at 10 o'clock.'
yOuyll shCngbing, Iii mei
il!!!lU:!iE.
because being-sick he didn't go-ta-work
'Because he is sick, he did not go to work:
amMo guiding, Iii wiidian xiaban.
ll<1i.WF!iE.
according-to regulation he five-o'clock go-ofT-work
'According to regulations, he goes off work at li ve o'clock.'
lamen shu! z .. ,i dis hang.
II!! IODlitEJI!!J:.
they sleep on noor
'They sleep on the floor.'
wa jie Ie yiren glliinyu zhfmggllO de shu.
-**'f<PfliIB'HI .
I borrow LE one-CLS about China DE book
'I have borrowed some books about China.'
5.3.7.5 Adverbs
The main function of adverbs is to act as adverbials of sentences.
(5.72) a.
b.
pinggua Mn hacchi.
;jl:!!HI!M-oz:
apple very delicious
'Apples are very delicious.'
oi lia d.Q.y quo
it-l'ifflli!<
you two both go
'You both go.'
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
tamen di taL
f1l! In ;01' .
they just-now come
'They have just arrived:
tamen chfmgchilng qu zhoogguo.
f1Mn 111111 i!< <P til .
they often go China
'They often go to China.'
lamen jilinml reng Ie.
iIMnliil1Ijjj;7.
they almost mad PERF
'They have almost gone mad.'
women hl!.x.ili.ru: xuCxi.
ll< fn:S:lII'l'''
we mutually learn
'We learn from each other.'
xillllwi sandian.

now approximately three-o'clock
'It is about three o'clock now.'
167
In all the sentences, the underlined adverbs serve as an adverbial of some kind. Both the
adverbs in (a) and (e) modify an adjective. The fonner is part of an AP modifying an adjecti ve;
the latter modifies a predicate adjective. The adverb in (g) modifies a number-CLS phrase, while
those in the rest of the sentences modify a verb. In addition to bei ng adverbials, a small number
of adverbs can serve as complements as well:
(5.73) a.
b.
c.
fangzi da de
1iJi';kmWl .
house big DE very
'The house is very big.'
wa mai {lYiul le cailiao.

I buy all PERF material
'I have bought all the mat erials .'
zhcge dii"mying hao.ii Ie.
;a1"il!.amI&7.
this-CLS movie good extremely LE
'This movie is extremely good.'
168
In (a), the underlined adverb is the complement of the rcsultative structure whi ch contains
characteristically an adjective followed by the resultative de, which in tum is followed by a
complement. In (b), the adverb serves as the complement of the verb miii 'buy; and in (c), Ihe
adverb is the complement orthe adjective hao 9f 'good.'
5.3.7.6 Numbers
Nonnally, numbers can pcrfonn the functions of a subjcct, predicate, adverbial,
complement or object:
(5.74) .
b.
c.
d.
c.
sishi shl shuangshu.
11!I-t ;Ii[:!lt fj(
fort y he double-number
'Forty is an even number.'

ii!! -I-J\.
he eighteen
'He is eighteen.'
san ji5 er de
.=:;hn=liJ.Ji .
three plus two get five
'Three plus Iwo equals five.'
la JilL
filifJJ-* .
he first day of the month come
' He comes the first day of the month.'
la pao dlii.
il!!llllil -.
he run first
'He is first in the race.'
In (a), the subject is a whole number, so is the predicate in (b) and the object in (c), In (d),
an ordinal number serves as the time adverbial modifying the verb and in (e) another ordinal
number acts as the complement of the verb.
5.4 Aspects and Negati on
In languages such as English, verbs change their fomlS to denote tense and aspect with or
without a lime noun or adverb. In contrast, Mandarin tense is not marked by verb-foml changes,
but is expressed by time words such as zuotiiin 1Jl;;k 'yesterday: j/ntlfll1 Lit*- 'today,' and giingc.ii
169
'just now'. Mandarin aspects arc expressed with three auxiliary the progressive
particle 7JU!: ;fl. the perfective particle Ie 7 , and the experiential particle guo ii. and two
adverbs: zllcng(ziii) JE(;() and jiiing(yiio) In this section, these aspect markers and how
they denote aspects in Mandarin will be examined.
5.4.1 The Perfective Aspect
In English, the perfective aspect is expressed with the verb complex hGl'e V-ed as in, I
have arrived. In Mandarin, it is expressed with the auxiliary particle Ie, that is suffixed to the
verb or adjective. Consider the foll owing sentences:
(5.75) .
b.
c.
d.
wo dao Ie.
fun.
I arrive PERF
'I have arrived.'
wo chi Ie ran Ie.

I eat PERF meal LE
'I have eaten.'
tamen qu k zhonggub.
ii!!fn'tT'I'OO.
they go PERF Chin,a
'They have gone to China.'
wo lei Ie.

I tired PERF
'I am tired.fl have become tired.'
Complements of duration and frequency have an inherent meaning of completion; that is,
the action or the state denoted by the predicate verb or adjectives 'has occurred' within the time
frame denoted by the complement. Because of this quality, these complements are often used in
conjunction with l e (a and b). although when they co-occur with a time noun which points to a
future time, lc is not used (c):
1 Recent studi es by Ross ( \ 995) and Z. S. Zhang (\996) have found that the three aspect
markers are not always purely aspectual but may mark tense in certain contexts. Space here does
not allow a probe into the issues involved. Interested readers are referred to these two authors for
details.
uv
(5.76) a.
b.
c.
d.
13 deng k liiingg zhOoglQu.
it!!I!/TMNI'!k.
he wai l PERF threc-cLS hour
'He waited for 2 hours.'
Iii bi fan rC k. siinhui .
T =:Im.
he SA food hoi PERF three-time
'He healed up the food three times.'
15 mingtiiio deng liiinggC zhOnglQu.

he tomOITOw wait Ihree-cLS hour
'He wi ll wait for two hours tomorrow.'
Iii minglinn bli fan re sii nhul.
Ilil!l=: lm.
he tomorrow SA food hot three-time
' He will heat up the food three times tomorrow.'
If the verb takes a simple resultative complement, the perfective Ie has to foll ow the
compl ement :
(5.77) a.
b.
wo kan Q.!ngmy Ie.
J.\('fiillIH.
I look clear PERF
' I have seen (it) clearly.'
tamen chi bfu! Ie fan.
ilMn lIZ; ffn Ili.
they eat full PERF meal
'They have had enough to eat.'
The presence of the durational complement in (a) or the frequency complement in (b)
nannalty also requires the usc of Ie (or guo). Without Ie (or guo), these sentences would not
normally be grammatical. However, when these complements appear in imperative sentences, Ie
is not used:
(5.78) a. kilO qingchul
'!ill/fIi!
look clear
'Sec clearl y!'
b.
c.
de ng lianggc zhongtou!

wait twoCLS hour
'Wait for two hours!'
b5. ran rc s5. nhu'i!
Ili Ii\ =: 1m !
DA food hot threetime
'Heal the food three times!'
171
When the verb has an object, it has to follow le, that is. the object cannot intervene
between the verb and its object. However, le can be omitted if it cooecurs with the sentential
particle le. When it is omitted, the perfective meaning is eamed by the sentential panicle in
addition to its functional meaning at the sentence level.
(5.79) a.
b.
wo chi (Ie) ran k.
lIIZ;TIliT.
I cat (PERF) meal LE
'I have eaten.'
tamen qu (Ie) zhongguQ k.
ft!!ln;!?(T)'I'IllIT.
they go (PERF) China LE
'They have gone to China.'
5.4.2 Tbe Experiential Aspect
Mandarin has an aspect marker that does not have a fonnal count erpan in English. This is
the so-called experiential panicle guo. Suffixed to the predicate verb or adjective. thi s panicle
denotes thai an aelion or a slate has been experienced.
(5.80) a.
b.
lamen qu gyQ zhongguo.
it!!fn;!?it'l'llil .
they go EXP China
'They have been to China.'
lamen chi gY..Q Iizhi .

they eat EXP litchi
'They have had litchi.'
While both the perfect ive Ie and experiential guo can encode an event or state Ihat has
happened or existed, guo has the addilionaimeaning that the action or state has been experienced.
Now compare the foll owing wi th the above two sentences:
172
(5.8 1) a.
b.
tamen qu. Ie zhongguo.
In 'i' Ill .
they go PERf Chi na
'They wentlhave gone to China.'
lamen chi Ie Iizhi.

they eal PERF litchi
'They atclhave eatcn litchi.'
The sentence (a) in (5.80) is identical to (a) in (5.81) except for the post.vcrbal aspcctual
particle. The fonner (a) with guo stresses the fact that 'they have had the experience of visiti ng
China, whereas the laller (a) with Je expresses that the act of going to China is completed. The (b)
sentences in them are likewise related, thai is, the fonner (b) with guo means thaI 'they have had
the experience of eati ng litchi', whereas the latter (b) with Ie slates that the action of eating has
been completed. The sentences with guo do not nonnally indicate whether the action has just
been completed or was done a while ago. Thus, understandably, guo is often used in conjunction
with the experiential adverb cengjing fl. 'once; at one time: which is not normally used with
the perfeclive Ie. Examine the following grammatical examplcs:
(5.82) a.
b.
lamen ceng jing qu guo zhongguo.
il!.ln
they once go EXP China
'They have been to China.'
lamen cCngjing chi guo lizhi.

they once eat EXP litchi
'Thcy have had litchi.'
Now compare them with the ungrammatical examples in (5.83):
(5.83) a. tameD cCDg jing qu Ie zhongguo.
T 9' Ill .
they once go PERF China
???
b. tameD c6ng jiDg chi Ie 1i7Jli.
il!<iIJ \/!';Inz:
they once eat PERF li tchi
1??
173
Likc thc pcrfective particle Ie, the experiential particle guo must precede the object by
immediately following the verb (a), but it must follow a simply resuitalive complement (b):
(5.84) a.
b.
tamen chi jUlQ li zhi.

they cat EXP litchi
'They have had litchi.'
wo kiln qingchu lrnQ.
'IIt'l'i' i/llt i:t.
[ look clear EXP
'I have had the experience of seeing (it) clearly.'
Yet, unlike the perfective particle Ie, which can precede a dircctional complement, guo
must follow it.
(5.85) a. tamen ZOU il< jinqu.

they walk PERF enter
'They walked inside.'
b. tameD 7.0U jinqu iillQ.
<.
II!<
they walk enter EXP
'They have had the experience of going inside.'
tamen lOU gyQ jinqu.

they walk EXP enter
???
5.4.3 The Progressive Aspect
English has a progressive aspect which is expressed by the verb complex be V-jl/g as in
lie is ealil/g. Mandarin also marks this aspect grammatically, and the devices used are a post-
verbal particle z/u: and a pre-verbal adverb zhengziii (or, simply, zMng or zlil). The particle and
the adverb may be used separately or simultaneously, and may be used together with a sentential
panicle fie as
See Section 4. 1. 10 for a description of Mandari n particles.
174
(S.86) a. lamen zhCDg7l!.j chi fan.
it!l fnlE:( pt ili( .
they PROG eat meal
'They are eating their meal.'
b. lamen chi ran
o.
ilMn ptfl ili( iVil .
they eat PROG meal HE
'They are eating thei r meal. '
lamen lhCDgrili chi Ian
il!! In JE :(Eptffili( 1I'il .
they PROG cat PROG meal NE
'They are eating their meal.'
In addition \0 verbs or activities that can last for a designated period of time. the Mandarin
progressive markers can work with slati ve verbs and adjectives as well .
(S.87) a.
b.
o.
d.
lamen zhcng , me duzi ne.
il!lflJE I1l'll'Jltr1l'il.
they PROG hungry PROG stomach NE
'They are hungry.'
shui zhe ne.
l!< l!Iflll\l .
water hot PROG NE
'The water is (current ly) hot.'
na shihou, la zheng ru zhe nage yishcng ne.

thai lime he PROG Jove PROG that-CLS doctor NE
'At that time, he was in love wilh that doctor.'
lamen chunn z:lli! xi o yifu.
fIMl :li'ft lrr:lx: IJI! .
they wear PROG new clothes
'TIley are wearing new clothes.'
In (a) and (b) above, zhc foll ows an adjective, and in (e), it follows a stative verb.
5.4.4 Negation
Previously, we di scussed various components of a Mandari n sentence and demonstrated
their structures and usage with a large number of sentence examples. In thi s sect ion, how these
sentences or their predicates are negated will be di scussed. There are two basic negative
17S
morphemes in Mandari n: bu and mci ii' The verb shi :.l1: 'to be' is always negated by bU,
whereas the existential verb you fl 'have; there is' is always negated by mCi. The two basic
negative morphemes can also combine with the two verbs to fonn complex negative fonns bilshl'
or mi:iyou. Each of these four negative fonns is used di fferent ly from the others. Now look at
negation by bU.
(S.88) a.
b.
wo hi!. xihuan ta men.

I not like they
'I don' t like them.'
nage xueshcng h.Y. yonggong.
m lJJ .
that student not hardworking
'That student is not hardworking.'
In (a), bu negates a predicative verb while in (b), it negates a predictive adjective. Both
predicates denote some kind of current stat e. In contrast to bu, me; or meiyou nonnall y negates a
predicate that denotes a past action or experience, and when they do, they are often used
alongside the experienti al aspect marker, guo.
(S.89) a.
b.
wo mei(you) xi huan guo tame n.

I not like EXP they
'I have not/never liked them.'
nage xuesheng mei(you) yonggong guo.
10 llI:lHlllJJ 11.
that student not hardworki ng EXP
'That student has nol/never been hardworking.'
In comparison, mi:i(you) cannot be used alongside the perfective particle Ie, because
mci(you) is the negative fonn of Ie. Semantically, the situation described by eithcr one can be
true, but nol bOlh. Thus, the following sentences in which both arc found are ungrammatical:
(S.90) a. wo mbCyou) xi huan.m tamen.
iill in.
I not like PEEF they
11?
""
b. nage xucsheng mCj(yOu) yonggong 1..
i9:1'i m'llJ T
that student nol hardworking PERF
71?
Compared with the other negati ve forms which negate primarily predicates, the extended
fonn bUshi normall y negates a sentence:
(5.9\) ,.
wo l:!i!IDi bu x ihuiin tamen.
fIt ;F Q;f:ff j); Jm In
I not not like they
'It is nalthc case that I don't like them.'
h. wo hl!shl mei(you) xihuan guo tamen.
i9: 1'iJ:i: j);i:Hlk Jil.
I not nOI like EXP they
'It is not the case that I have nolfnevcr liked them.'
5.S Interrogative Sentences
There are four types of interrogative sentences in Mandarin: yes-orono questions that
require either a positi ve or a negative answer; wh-questions that are signaled by an interrogative
pronoun; choice questions that require a selection, and counterfactual questions thai express
doubt, incredulity, or impossibil ity.
5.5.1 YesorNo Questions
This type of interrogative sentence is similar to the English yes-or-no questions (e.g., Do
yOIl like apples?Yes, I do./No, I don't.) in thaI they require a simple answer, either positive or
negative. Such Mandarin questions are fonned in two ways. one of which is by adding an
interrogative sentential particle ma n.q at the end of a normal sentence:
(5.92) a.
b.
ni xlhuan pingguo Jllil?
%11j);"*II!J?
you like apple MA
'Do you like apples?'
ni e ma?

you hungry MA
'Ale you hungry?'
c.
d.
e.
lamen qu guo zhongguQ rna?
J&fn*i11'1'lI1I!J?
they go EXP China rna
'Have they been to China?'
nl chi Ie urn?
H'PZ; TII!J?
yotl eat PERF MA
'Have you eaten?'
lamen zhengzid chi zhe fan llli1?
JIl! JniE tEPZ;ffW II!J?
they PROG eat PROG meal MA
'Are they eating their meal?'
177
The answers to these questions are onen not fanned as easil y as their Engl ish counterparts
which is either 'yes' or 'no' with or without a short statement following. The positive answer in
Mandarin is often formed by the main verb or adjective of the predicate. For example, the
positive answers to the above questions arc fanned as:
(5.93)
,.
b.
c.
d.
e.
(w6) xihuan.
(I) li ke
'Yes, l do.'
(wb) e.
(I) hungry
'Yes, I am.'
(tamen) qu guo.
(they) go EXP
'Yes, they have.'
(wb) chi Ie.
I eat PERf
'Yes. I have eaten.'
shide.
yes
'Yes.'
(fit) ille.
(fit)
Negative answers arc fonned by the same verb or adjective preceded by the negative
morpheme biJ or mei. For instance, the negative answers to questions in (a) to (c) in the above
are:
178
(5.94) ..
b.
c.
(wb) hit xi huiin .
(1) not like
'No, 1 don't.'
(wo) hI c.
(I) not hungry
'No, I am not.'
(tamen) ,mg qu guo.
(they) nol go EXP
'No, they have not.'
Another way of asking the same questions is either to reduplicate the verb and, at the
same time, insert a negati ve morpheme bii or mei between the two identical verbs, or, in some
cases, insert a shi-b6-s/Ji 'be-nol-be' before the verb. For instance, the same questions in (5.92)
can be formed as foll ows:
(5.95) ..
b.
c.
d.
e.
oi xi huii o bU-xjhuiin pinggub?

you li ke-not-li ke apple
'Do you like apples?'

1tmHlt?
you hungry-not-hungry
'Arc you hungry?'
tamen qU-mCi-qU guo zhonggu6?
In * ll! * i1 '" Ill!?
they go-nOI-go EXP China
' Have they been to Chi na?'
oi chi-mCj-chj?

you cat-not-eat
'Have you eatcn?'
lamen shj-hU_shi zhengzai chi zhe ran?
11k III Jl!; HllE :{[,zf1ili?
they be-not-be PROG eat PROG meal
'Are they eating their mcals?'
Alt hough the samc qucstions can be askcd in two diffcrcnt (omls, answers to thcm arc the
same, as given in (5.93) and (5.94).
179
5.5.2 \Vh-Questions
In this type of question, one always finds an interrogative pronoun (hencefort h, a wh-
word), such as sl1u['who,' weisl1cnme 'why,' nalI'where,' sl1cnme 'what,' and so forth. Examplcs
are given below:
(5.96) a.
b.
c.
d.
c.
f.
g.
s.b.l!..i xlhuan pingguo?

who like apple
'Who likes apple?'
\;ioshi xihuan
1
teacher like what
'What does the teacher like?'
pingguo zai lliill'?
?
apple be-at where
'Where is the apple?'
liioshi xlhuan pingguo?

teacher like what apple
' What apples does the teacher li ke?'
150sh! shcnme shihou chi pingguo?
frIi tr Iltlit,z'i' *?
teacher what time cat apple
'When does the teacher have an apple?'
pingguo de weidao Wnmeyang?
1]' l!! A'J ",m
apple dc{a) taste how
'How does the apple taste?'
150shi wejshcnme xi huan pingguo?
'liifrli
teacher why like apple
'Why does the teacher like apples?'
Unlike English, in which the wh-words are al most always at the beginning of a wh-
question, Mandari n questions with such morphemes always havc thcm where 'they should be',
namely, they remain in their logical positions as their non-interrogative counterpart s would be in
a regular statement, and there is no so-called movement (or preposing) of the wh-word. Compare
the underlined words in (a) to (f) above with those in (a) to (f) below. Note that the statements
can be potent ial answers to the questi ons.
180
(5.97) ,.
b.
c.
d.
c.
f.
lli2mi xihuan pingguo.
11;l}jJilf ji(>l"J!!
teacher like apple
'The teacher likes apples.'
L1.oshi xihuan J2ingggQ.
'1'\ 1}jJi'l1 ji( >l" J!!
teacher like apple
'The leacher likes apples.'
pingguo ziti kuiing Ii.
l' J!!:( fK11! .
apple beat basket inside
'Apples are in the basket.'
iaoshi xihuan hOng pingguo.
;!!; I}jJi 'l1 ji( !1 >l" J!!
teacher like red apple
'The tcacher likes red apples.'
liioshi zaoshang chi pinggllo.
;!!; 1}jJi,\! j:nt:l(iJ!!.
teacher morning eat apple
'The teacher has an apple in the morning,'
pinggub de wcidao M.n...!illn,
"* B<J ",i1i:1lih1U
apple de(a) taste very sweet
'The apples are very sweeL'
the Mandarin whquestions resemble English echo questions, such as the
second questIOn In the following dialogues:
(5.98) ,.
b.
A: Where did you go?
B: I went to Ihe moon.
A: You
A: When did you gel up.
B: I got up at midnight.
A: You got up Ell:o?
c.
d.
A: How did you open it?
B: I opened it with a knife.
A: You opened it
A: Which one did you give to him?
B: I gave the pink one 10 him.
C: You gave one to him?
181
Unlike English echo questions, the Mandarin wh-questions do not nomlaJiy carry an
incredulous tone.
5.5.3 Choice and Counterfactual Questions
There is a type of Mandarin question which presents two or more choices, connected by
the conjunctions (Shl) ... hiiishi ... :fi!: ... ifJE: .. . '".or ... ' The following are examples. Structurally,
the choices can be NPs (a), VPs (b), or S-bars.-clauses (c).
(5.99)
(5. 100)
,.
h.
c.
nainai xihuan hongde haishi JUde?
ji(!1 R%E!!iJi RI?
grandma like red or green
'Docs grandma like the red one or the green one?'
haba qil zhongguo till.llihl qil xinj iapo?
i;1!i;'i1'i' 1>1 if Jll 'i1ijJD Jtl:?
dad go China or go Singapore
'Does dad go to China or Singapore?'
sill nl lui haishi wo qil?
Jld
I
J; *ifJllft'i1?
you come or I go
'Do you come or do I go?'
The answer to such a question is, as can be expected, one of the choices presented:
a. (nai nai xihuiin) h6ngdc.
(lIlllllfji() !1RI.
(grandma like) red
'(Grandma likes) red.'
b. (baba) qil xinjiap6?
(i;i;) UJiJJnJtl:.
(dad) go Singapore
'(Dad) goes to Singapore.'
182
o. wo quo

1 go
'I go.'
Still another type of Mandarin question is call ed a countcrfactual question. These are
express th: kind of doubt as expressed in /SII't it fme thll!"' ? They arc fonned by
usmg buslll before the predicate and the sentential question particle nUl at the end of the question.
(5.101 ) a.
b.
nj" busbi chi guo tan Ie !llil?
11:'" Jl! nti.11lii 7l1!j?
you BUSHI eat Exp meal MA
'Haven't you already eaten?'
wo.b.Ymi tixing guo ni Illil?
R'" jj:
1
1!J?
I BUSHI remind Exp you MA
'Didn't I remind you?
Another type of. counlcrfactual question which expresses doubt, incredulity or
impossibility is fonned by using Ilfind/io Jltitt before the predicate and optionally ma or b/Jchcng
al the end of the sentence,:
(5. \02) a.
b.
o.
ni mei chifan, nil.ndit2 bu e (am) ?
jj:ilt nt 1lii. !Ili1lHl?
you not eat, NANDAO not hungry MA
'You haven't eaten. Aren't you hungry?,
wo ziti gongzuo, ni kimbujian?
llrII iF. Imi1l W/i '" Jll?
I be-at work, NANDAO you can't-see
'I am working. Can't you see?'
nl bu xiao Ie, lli.l.ru.!.lli! yao wo wei ni
11''''''J'7.
you not young LE NANDAO need me feed you BUCHENG
'You are not young. Do you (actually) need me to feed you?'
5.6 Complex Sentences
A complex sentence in Mandarin is made up of independent clauses. Although it s clauses
often resemble sentences, it constitutes one sentence. In the first place, it has one overall sentence
intonation; second, it has a clear and distinctive pause at the end, and third, its clauses, albeit
independent, are closely and logically related. Syntacti cally, these clauses are related by the
183
ordering of the elauses or by Ihe usc of conjunctions. Unlike English in which complex sentences
without the usc of conjunctions are quite rare, such sentences arc quitc common in Mandarin. The
following arc some examples:
(5.103) a. jiu de bu qu, xin de bu lai.
lfiAH*.
old DE(a) not go, new DE(a) not come
'The new will not arrive if the old does not go.'
b. tian hei Ie, sushe de ren shuijiao Ie.
"",\\17.
sky dark LE dormitory DE(a) person sleep LE
'It is dark now, and people in the donnitory have fallen asleep.'
Nevertheless, the use of conjunctions in a Mandarin complex sentence is more common.
The following are just a fcw examples:
(5. \ 04) a.
b.
tian yijing hei Ie, tamen hill mei shfmgchuang.
""BlaI7. il!!fnlfilt-.ttl<.
sky already dark LE they still not gO-lo-bcd
'It is already dark. but they still have not gone to bed.'
s..W..mn yeye Hio Ie, dfiw.hi ta hen jiankiing.
7. f!l.JiHi!!llHll!ll!.
although grandpa old PERF but he very healthy
'Although grandpa is now old. he is very healthy.'
In (a), the conjunction IJlii if 'still' connects the two constituent clauses into a logical
sequence. In (b), the complex conjunction sUlmn .. . dimshi ... !Uti.{ ... f!I:I: ... 'although ... stilL.'
connects the conditi onal clause yeye lao Ie T with the main clause Iii hen jj;.iJJkiing
Generally speaki ng, Mandarin complex sentences can be divided into two major
groups, the coordinate and the endocentric. In a coordinate complex sentence, the clauses share
the same status. One is not more prominent than another, docs not explain another and does not
modify another. In an endocentric complex clause on the other hand, one or more clauses are
subordinate to another within the same sentence. Let us first look at coordinate complex
sentences.
5.6.1 Coordinate Complex Senteoees
There are essentially four types of coordinate complex sentences in Mandarin,
compoundi ng, successive, progressive and selective. As in a compounded word, the parts_the
clauses-in a Mandarin compounding complex sentence are of equal status. The meaning of
these parts can be of a similar orientation or contrastive. The clauses are often connected by
coordinate conjuncti ons.
184
(5. 105) .
h.
c.
d.
XUexl haa, shcnti haa, gongzuo hUo.
'f'>J Jif, UlI'lJ, I teJif.
study wen body well work well
'Study well; keep healthy. and work well.'
wo xl!2iful jiiing, tamen Y-ihiillI jllu.
'!.\Htl Vf, it!!ln- itlicm,
I (si mult aneously) talk they simultaneously make notes
'They made notes while I talked.'
bushj oi bu haa, Crshi wo mCi shuo qingqu.
:fJHt-:f Jif , iIIi;IE lllt '" ill'ii'Hl!.
not you nol good but I not say clear
'It is not that you are at fault, but that I did not explain clearly.'
shlchang shang, youde mai chi dc, youde mui cllUan de.
ifili& J:, '" R'J jl; ntA'i, '" (j<J
market in some sell cat DE(a) some sell wear DE(a)
'In the markel, some sell food; others sell clothing:
The above are compounding coordinate complex sentences. In (a) and (d), the clauses are
strung toget her without the use of any conjunctions, whereas in (b) and (e), a complex
conjunction is used in each. As in the compounding type, successive types of coordinate complex
sent ences may be introduced with or without the use of conjunctions. However, differcnt from the
compounding type, sentence order ensures the temporal, spatial and logical sequence of events in
a successive coordinat e complex sentence when no conjunctions are used. Typical conjunctions
arc such as y,- ... jiu ... - ... ... 'as soon as ... then ... '
(5.1 06) .
h.
c.
wo jiao ta, tii. mei tingjia.
ii!.llt"Jr!J!. .
I call he he not hear
'1 called him, he did not hear me.'
Jaoshi sh9uxifin liwen, IinhQy wome hulda.

teacher fi rst question then we answer
'The teacher asked a question first , then we answered.'
huaji yanyuan ri shangtai,
guii.nzhong Iili!n xiUo Ie qilai.

funny actor as-soon-as go-on stage audience then laugh PERF begin
'As soon as the comedian got onto the the audience began to laugh.'
185
The progressive type is usuall y constructed using conjunctions such as bUdan ... crqic ...
IFfEI. ... rmll ... 'not only ... but also', and ye ill 'also' .
(5.107) .
h.
c.
tii. budan hui yingyii, erqic hui dcyu.

he not-only know English but also know Gemlall
'He not only knows Engl ish, but also knows Gennan.'
oi bu qu, wo y bu quo
ft-:fi;, '!t!!.:fi;.
you not go I also not go
'If you do not go, I won't go ei ther.'
bUguang ni qU, wo )i quo
:f:i\;j,ti;, lt!!.i; .
not-only you go, I also go
'Not only will you go, but I will, too.'
Complex sentences of the selective coordinat e type state a few choices of evenlS among
whi ch one is to be selected. Exami ne the followi ng sentences:
(5.108)

h.
huOzhc oi lui , wo quo
;J<<tft-*,
or you come or I go
'Either you come, or I go.'
ni yi\Omc qu, bu qu, kua i jucding.
ft-'lJfi-i;, 'llfi-:fi;,
you or go, or not go, quick decide
'You either go or you don' t. Make a decision quickly.'
One important quality about Mandarin complex coordinate sentences concerns the so-
called verb gapping (refer to J. Huang 1992 and Tsai 1994 for details). In English, if the clauses
of a coordinate complex sentence share the same verb, the verb can be omitted in the non-initi al
clauses. For instance, in YOll prefer apples; I (prefer) oranges, the second verb prefer can be
omitted. Such verb-gapping process is not allowed in Mandarin. Now examine again the
sentences of (b) and (c) in (5. 107), repeated here, with the verbs underscored in both the
Mandari n sentences and their English translations:
(5. 109)
,. ni bu IDl, wo yc bu Qi!..
VJ;:f11,
you nOI go I also not go
'If you do not I either.'
186
b. buguang ni lUI. WQ yc gil.
'I' fMi . III il!.1;
not-only you go I also go
'Not only will you 2'1, but I willWU. 100.'
In both cases, the second verb in the English translation can be omitted, but in Mandarin
the sentences would be ungrammatical jrit were.
5.6.2 Endotenl ric Complex Sentences
Clauses in a Mandarin cndocentric complex sentence are related in a variety of ways, but
one (or more) of them must be subordinate to another which serves as the main clause of the
complex sentence. The subordinate clauses are usuall y adverbial clauses that modify the verb of
the main clause in various manners. It may denote its time, condition, reason, consequence, and
so forth, and ils position is almost always before the mai n c1ausc.-unlike their English
counterparts. The clauses in cndocentric complex sentences are often connected by subordinate
conjunctions, but sometimes they can be connected by adverbs or time nouns. The following
complex sentences contai n adverbial clauses of time:
(5. 11 0) a.
b.
tjan hej vihOu, tamen hui jia Ie.
7< J!\ "" Iii , 11!!in 1'1 iI< T
sky dark after, they go home PERF
'When it got dark, they went home.'
hui jHi viqjan, tian yij ing he i Ie.
l'IiI<iiiJ. T .
return home bcfore sky already dark PERF
'It had already turned dark before (someone) went home.'
In both sentences above, there is a lime noun, yihbu 'after' in (a) and yiqian
'before' in (b), which connects the two clauses like a conjunction. Note that they appear at the end
of the adverbial clauses rather than at the beginning, unlike their English counterparts. Besides a
time noun, an adverbial clause of time is often connected to the main clause by an adverb. such as
eM ;t '(not till) then, ' ye 'still: or jiu 'already,' found in the mai n clause:
(5.111) a. wo deng Ie yige xiaoshi, t3 kill lui.
ftll:t* .
I wait PERF one-cLS hour he then come
'I waited for one (long) hour before he came.'
b.
c.
wo deng Ie yi tHin, tii mci lai.
llI"" T - 7<. 1t!!il!.iJ!*.
I wait PERf one day he also not come
' I waited for a whole day, but he didn't come.'
wo deng Ie yihuir, Iii ill! lai Ie.
ft!!\1!:*T.
I wait PERF one moment he already come
' I waited for only a moment before he came.'
187
Sometimes, an adverbial clause of lime is linked to the main clause without any type of
overt connectors:
(5.112) a. wO deng Ie vige xiaoshi, ta Uti Ie.
ftll*T.
b.
I wait PERF one-cLS hour he come PERF
' I waited for one hour before he came.'
wO deog Ie vi tHin, ta rnci Ut i.
1tlliJ!*.
I wait PERF onc day he not come
'I waited for one day, and he didn't come.'
In both sentences, the first clause is subordinate, denoting the time of the verb in the main
clause that follows, but in neither clause is an overt conjunctive word found. Now let us see
another type of adverbial clause:
(5.113) a.
b.
c.
7.hi
v
iio oi gU, (amen jiU qt..
fl'll'ft.1; . fl!! In \1!: 1;
if you go they then go
'If you go, they will then go.'
lhivou ilj qU, ramen cui qt..
RfffMi . 1Ikln:t1;.
only-if you go they then go
'Only if you go will they go.'
chUfej oi qU, fQuze la bu qt..
!l.It"ft.1;. 'flWHtll'l'1;.
unless you go or he not go
'Unless you go, he won't go.'
The subordinate clause in each sentence above is an adverbial clause or condi tion. In
188
Mandarin, such a clause always appears before the main clause. The two clauses in each are
connected with a complex conjunction, one part of which is found in the subordinate clause (e.g.,
7J1i'yiw 'if in (a, and the other in the main (e.g., cai'then' in (a)). Now let us see a third
type of adverbial clause:
(5. 114) a.
b.
xiiiyu, Y2ri women mei quo
i!I:1;Jl'PIi .
because it-rains therefore we not go
'Because it rained. we did not go.'
ta yonggong, Yinh jinbu kuai.
ru'fil!lffl <lJ. i!lffiJiJliJ;tk.
because he hard-working therefore progress fast
'Because he is hardworking, he makes quick progress.'
In each sentence here, there is a subordinate clause of reason, which is linked to the
succeeding main clause by a conj unction. The conjunction in such sentences ll onnal1y has two
parts, one in the subordinate clause and the other in the main clause. Not ice that in the English
versions of these sentences, the second part is not used. In the Chinese version, on the other
hand, the first part is sometimes omitted. For instance, (b) in the above can omi t youyii FBT
'because' and be alternativcl y said as:
(5.11 5) tii yonggong, Yinh jtnbu kuui.
i!lffiiiJIiJ;ik.
he hard-working therefore progress fast
'Because he is hardworking, he makes fast progress.'
Adverbial clauses sometimes denote purpose, as they do in the following sentences:
(5. 116) a. wCj!e wa shangxuC, baba qu mai caL
HlU:'Jt.
in-order-that I go to school father go sell vegetabl es
' In order for me to go to school, father went to sell vegetables.'
b. ni yao duo duanlian, yi bian shCngt i hrlO.
it.'l:!$Illtm:. J!,\ fJl!SHfiilf.
you want much exercise so-that body good
'You must exercise a lot, so as to be healthy.'
Both subordinate clauses in the above begin with a conjunction: weifc '17 'for, in order
that' in (a) and yibiiin 'in order to/that' in (b). Depending on the conj unct ions used, the
subordinat e clause may be before the main one (a) or after (b).
Adverbial clauses can denote concession as well :
(5. 11 7) a.
b.
jingujm tii hi! dul. ni ye de fucong.
'" .it 1!!.1\fJlllM
although he not right you have to obey
'Although he is wrong, you have to obey.'
napA shimg dao shan, wo dou bu pa.

even-i f go-up knife mountain I also not afraid
'Even iff have to go through great danger/obstacles. I will not be afrai d.'
189
The conjunct ion io both sentences has two parts, pngl/an JE.'i?' 'although' or niipii l!YJ'ta
'even ir in the subordinate clause, which nonnall y occupi es the ini tial position, and ye 'also' or
'both; all' before the main verb in the main clause.
Finall y, look at a special type of endocentrie complex sentence:
(5. 11 8) a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
dUI , women jiu fucong s.h!!.i.
iltfnHkJlllMif.
who right we then obey who
'We obey anyone that is right.'
1l1'Cr you simi, nli.'er j iu you shcngming.

where have water where then have li fe
'Wherever there is water, there is life.'
nl shCnmc shihou e, wo jiu shCnmc shihou zuo folli.
{j'it .z.1ltfli:ll'<. fli:ittill.
you what time hungry I then what time make food
'Whenever you are hungry. I will cook.'
oi shuo, wo j iu 1.uo.

you how say I then how do
'1 will follow whatever you say.'
nl chi jiu
j.tllZ:it.z.. jQflltit.z. .
you eat what 1 then make what
'Whatever you cat, I cook.'
190
f. wo zuo ~ . oi chi ~ .
!l!1II:ft- i-. j,J;,z;ft-i- .
I make what you then cal what
'Whatever I cook, you eat.'
One remarkable feature about these complex sentences is that two identi cal wh-words are
found in each, one in the main clause, and the other in the preceding subordinate. The double
appearance of the wh-word serves a similar function as the suffi x -ever docs in the wh-word
found in the subordinate clauses in similar English complex sentences. The initial position marks
the subordinatcncss of the clause. Thus meaning of the sentence will change ir the two clauses
switch position. For example, the sentences in (c) and (0 contain the same two clauses, but the
subordinate in (c) is the main clause in (f) purely because it is in the initial position in (e) but in
the final position in (t).
19 1
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