Language · 1985 · 206 citations · 7 references
MultilingualismEducationPsycholinguisticsLanguage VariationContemporary MandarinSemanticsSyntactic StructureLanguage LearningPhonologyApplied LinguisticsSecond Language AcquisitionSyntaxLanguage AcquisitionLinguistic TypologyGrammarMandarin ChineseLanguage StudiesMandarin LanguageChinese LanguageEast Asian LanguagesTypical Vo LanguageQuantified Text StudyLinguistics
The study investigates two theses on Mandarin Chinese word order. It does so by quantitatively analyzing contemporary written and spoken data. Mandarin is synchronically a typical VO language; OV occurs in ≤10% of texts and functions mainly as an emphatic/contrastive device, with no evidence of a diachronic shift toward SOV. No additional information.
Two theses concerning word order in Mandarin Chinese have been investigated through a quantified study of written and spoken contemporary Mandarin. It is found, first, that Mandarin is synchronically a typical VO language, in terms of text distribution of VO and OV orders. OV appears at the level of 10% or lower in text, and this is true for both definite and indefinite objects. Further, the functional distribution of OV in both texts suggests that it is an emphatic/contrastive discourse device, having little to do with the contrast between definite and indefinite object. Finally, neither the evidence from our text distribution data nor a comparison with a recent study of the acquisition of Mandarin by native children suggests the existence of a diachronic drift toward SOV order. *
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The Discourse Definition of Ergativity
Ann Cooreman, Barbara A. Fox, T. Givón · Studies in Language · 1984 · 200 citations