Chapter 6 of the Tangwang language. A Interdisciplinary Case study in Northwest China.pdf (original) (raw)

Intertwined model of syntactic borrowing in the Gansu Qinghai linguistic area

This paper studies two grammatical cases in the Gansu-Qinghai linguistic area. Accusative-dative, a syncretic case largely attested in Sinitic languages, is also found in Bao'an and Tu, even if in a very limited use. The Sinitic languages have acquired this syncretic case marking through pattern reduplication due to language contact, while Bao'an and Tu have this innovation owing to the internal mechanisms of their language. The second phenomenon concerns possessor constructions in which the subject-possessor must be marked by a dative case. This marking is seen in all non-Sinitic languages in the Gansu-Qinghai linguistic area and has begun to appear in Sinitic languages. Multiple paths for borrowing between and inside languages in this area present an intertwined model of language borrowing. Linxia City and its closest counties should be the spreading center of these new syntactic devices, and Muslim populations speaking different languages may form a spreading net.

Contact-induced change in the Dongxiang language

Cahiers de Linguistique Asie Orientale, 2017

Dongxiang is a Mongolic language from a peripheral linguistic branch mainly spoken by 300,000 speakers in Southeast Gansu in the People’s Republic of China. The Dongxiang language has been particularly influenced by the neighboring Chinese variety of Linxia, which has induced important changes on the phonological and lexical systems, while causing only a few changes on the syntactic level. In this paper I will discuss the emerging category of classifiers in the Dongxiang language by comparing different sources available. I will show that, even though measure words are present in all Mongolic languages, the use of classifiers is rare and has been induced by language contacts with Chinese. I will describe the different types of classifiers, borrowed or calqued, and will discuss in particular the use and functions of the classifier kozi. This classifier seems to have appeared quite recently and its origin is uncertain. I will show that it cannot be considered as a lexical item, as it d...

Lexical borrowing from Chinese languages in Malaysian English

This paper explores how contact between English and Chinese has resulted in the incorporation of Chinese borrowings into the lexicon of Malaysian English (ME). Using a corpus-based approach, this study analyses a comprehensive range of borrowed features extracted from the Malaysian English Newspaper Corpus (MEN Corpus). Based on the contexts of these features, the specific processes that shape the patterns of changes in ME are deduced. Haugen's analysis of lexical borrowing is employed in the description of the linguistic changes. It is proposed that the preservation of traditional Chinese culture and practices by a multilingual society that maintains a local variety of English has created the stimulus for this type of contact phenomenon. Borrowers are conditioned not only by their need to expand the communicative and expressive powers of English but also by their need to integrate the borrowed features into the linguistic system of the English language. The outcomes of this phenomenon, as represented in the relatively formal genre of newspaper English, are mainly loanwords, compound blends and loan translations, although some inflected and derived forms based on these borrowings are also observed. This paper demonstrates the potential of corpus-based methods in the study of new Englishes from the perspective of contact linguistics.

To Bê or Not to Bê: Borrowing-Oriented versus Shift-Oriented Theories of Linguistic Sinicization

Hashimoto recommends Be as an 'ideal specimen' of a '50-to-90' language. Hypothetical percentages aside, Be is clearb more heavily Sinicized than Vetnamese and 'less Sinitic,' if not 'less Sinicized,' than the MrN2 'dialects'3. Our inquiry must now cut closer to the bone: ls it purely a matter o{ degreethat Mnt is Sinitic while Be is notl Does nclthing more elemental than a cline, a grey area, distinguish genuine Sinitic from the pretendenl Debating the issue In 1985 Hashimoto set forth his ideas in a book whose Chinese translation was entitled Yuyan dili le*ing ntc.a ln the course of my tecent research I have unfomrnately not been able to consult this work. Howwer, X[.lG GONGVAN put Hashimoto's ideas on trial in the introduction to his 1989 paper (12; my translation): [Hashimotol believes that the 'family tree model' of language, whic]r has been applied so successfully to Indo. . European, cannot be applied to other languages. He believes that the languages of the East Asiatic mainland are spoken in an agrarian context and have long histories of assimilation by a central language, and thus it is very difficult to apply the comparative method, as used in lndo-European, to reconstruct proto-languages. But the reality does not support [Hashimoto's claimsl. Since lthe beginning ofl the 20d century, many linguists have added the comparative method to a base of Sinitic topolect fteldwork and traditional Sinitic phonology and arrived at splendid results. Outside of Sinitic, the study of genetic relationships between languages in [Tai Kadail, Tibeto-Burman, and [Hmong-Mienl has a]so, to differing degrees, produced compelling rezults. In his 1985 work, Hashimoto states that there are five prototlpical aglarian languages in mainland East Asia: North Chinese or Mandarin; WU, possibly including XTANG; MIN; Hakka; and Yur. He articulates the notion which he had hinted at in the foreword to his lexicon of Be 'It is because these languages have been overly Sinicized, that they have in the past been seen as [mere] "topolects" of Chinese' (translatd from XDJG 12). XtNc's counterargument takes this form (L2-1.3; the translation is mine, the quotation matks are XING's): 2 Throughout this text, suA[ cAps indicates Standard Chinese (SC) fransliteration (whether in Pinyin or Wade-Giles) of proper nouns as oppos€d to customary usages (e.g. \ang!zn,' 'Hong Kong) or locally derived transliterations and transcriptioro (e.g. 'Haixau' = HAIKou). At the first occurrence of each locally derived proper noun I have provided thc SC form in parenthescs. SC transliterations are exempt from small caps if they occur in excerpts fiom English-language originals. 3 'Dialects'vs. 'languages': where the choice of diction is a nuisance, I will henccforth use 'topolects,'parallel to the Chinese tenn. { Hashimoto, Mantrro. 1985. Yuyan tlili leixittg xae. Translated by Yu ZHHoNG. BIUING: BIUING DAxu[ CHUMNSHI.

Patterns of Lexical Borrowing in Chichewa

2016

Lexical borrowing is an important aspect of language change. The study of loanwords can give important insights into the cultural and socio-historical circumstances of a language. This paper examines lexical borrowing patterns in Chichewa/Chinyanja. Using data from the Chinyanja monolingual dictionary, the paper attempts to determine the kinds of borrowings that are common, the degree of lexical borrowability, and the common source languages for the loanwords, and how these borrowings compare with borrowing patterns in other languages. The paper also shows that words are borrowed even when native equivalents are available in the target language. This leads to semantic narrowing for some of the words.

An Analysis of Ethnic Influence on Language: Mandarin or Xinjiang Mandarin?

Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Philologica, 2018

This paper aims to investigate lexical borrowings from ethnic languages to standard Mandarin. Data are collected through daily observation after years of living in Xinjiang, China. The data suggest that phonetic loans and hybrid loans are the major approaches in lexical borrowings from Uyghur, Russian, and Persian. Two motivations behind Uyghur borrowings into Mandarin are discussed: cultural borrowings and core borrowings. Cultural borrowings are new objects, concepts of ethnic origins, which are new to Han Chinese communities. Core borrowings are Mandarin words which have been replaced by Uyghur. However, core borrowings are not associated with the prestige of the donor language in this case; instead, frequency, marker, friendliness, and religious consideration are the major reasons. In addition, this paper analyses the strategies of lexical borrowings from ethnic languages in Mandarin. It further discusses the cultural backgrounds behind lexical borrowings. The lexical borrowings...

Language Kinship Between Mandarin, Hokkien Chinese and Japanese (Lexicostatistics Review)

Aksara, 2018

Mandarin and Hokkien Chinese are known well having a tight kinship in a language family. Beside, Japanese also has historical relation with China for about the language and cultural development. Japanese is used a Chinese characters named kanji with certain phonemic vocabulary adjustment, which is adapted into Japanese. This phonemic adjustment of kanji is called Kango. Hence research discusses about the kinship of Mandarin, Hokkien Chinese in Indonesia and Japanese kango with lexicostatistics review. The method use is quantitative with lexicostatistics technique. In quantitative method finds similar percentage of 200 Swadesh vocabularies. Quantitative method with lexicostatistics obtains tree diagram of language genetic. From lexicostatistics calculation to the lexicon level is found that, Mandarin Chinese (MC) and Japanese kango (JK) are the different language bacause are in language group (stock) (29%), (2) JK and Indonesian Hokkien Chinese (IHC) are also the different language b...

CONTACT-INDUCED CHANGES IN THE LANGUAGES OF HAINAN

Proceedings of the tenth college-wide conference for students in Languages, Linguistics, and Literature. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i, 2006

Six varieties from three languages spoken in Hainan— Tsat (Austronesian), Hlai (Tai-Kadai), and Southern-Min (Sino-Tibetan)— are examined. Comparing data from their ancestral languages and neighboring languages, this study discusses whether contact-induced changes in phonology and syntax have taken place in this language contact situation. The result shows that there are several areal features in the languages of Hainan: consonant series of implosives and fricatives, monosyllabism, similar syllable canon, tones split into high and low series, and sinicized word order. These areal features converged due to the contact, and the influences are bidirectional.