Chinese Syntax in a Cross-Linguistic Perspective - Paperback

by Wei-Tien Dylan Tsai (Author), Dylan Tsai (Author), Audrey Li (Editor)

Chinese Syntax in a Cross-linguistic Perspective is a collection of sixteen original papers by leading experts in Chinese syntax. The papers focus on a broad range of topics, demonstrating how the analysis of Chinese can inform our understanding of syntactic phenomena in other languages, and how insights gained in the study of other languages can in turn shed interesting new light on patterns in Chinese. Each chapter compares a specific major phenomenon in Chinese syntax with related patterns in at least one other language from Asia, Europe, North America or Africa, resulting in a series of fresh perspectives on Chinese and what the study of Chinese can offer linguists working on other, genetically unrelated languages.

The volume is divided into three thematic sections, on the nominal domain, the predicate domain, and the C-domain. In addition to chapters on synchronic, adult syntax, the book includes chapters on Chinese diachronic syntax in a comparative perspective and the acquisition of syntax in Chinese, in comparison with that of other languages. The collection is a tribute to Professor C.-T. James Huang's lifelong work on the syntax of Chinese and his attempts to demonstrate how the comparative analysis of Chinese reveals important properties of Universal Grammar. With its broad, cross-linguistic focus and its detailed, new studies of Chinese, this book is essential reading for researchers of all language backgrounds in modern generative syntax.

Author Biography

Audrey Li is Professor of Linguistics and East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Southern California. Her research interests include syntactic theory, typology, interface of syntax with semantics and phonology. She has published in Language, Linguistic Theory, Journal of East Asian Linguistics and (co-)authored books by Kluwer/Springer, MIT Press, Cambridge University Press.

Andrew Simpson is Professor of Linguistics and East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Southern California. His research focuses on the comparative syntax of East, Southeast and South Asian languages. He is joint general editor of the Journal of East Asian Linguistics.

Wei-Tien Dylan Tsai is Professor of Linguistics at the National Tsing Hua University. His research interests include syntactic theory, syntax-semantics interface, Chinese syntax, and Austronesian syntax. He is joint editor of the International Journal of Chinese Linguistics.