Xu Dan
Published: 2015-03-13
Total Pages: 295
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“…how fortunate it is that a native Chinese speaker who has been very well trained in general and Chinese linguistics, and who knows how to make good use of both older and contemporary research, has offered a work which meets so well the dual goals of pedagogy and science which she set out to attain.” (Professor Claude Hagège, chair of theoretical linguistics at the Collège de France) The book's seven chapters each consist of sections which are presented as a question, followed by a discussion of the solution. Altogether are presented about 80 such questions and a solution for each one. Each section ends with a summary to facilitate comprehension. The topics are representative of common problems encountered by learners of Chinese. They are presented in order of increasing difficulty, with the goal of stimulating interest in research. Whenever possible, diachronic and dialectal perspectives are presented, in order to give a more well-rounded view of the topic. These approaches offer a global view of contemporary problems in syntax. Having some knowledge about Chinese dialects, as well as some notion of the evolution of Chinese syntax, can help immensely in understanding the Chinese language, and also facilitates analysis and discovery.