Aspect is one of the important concepts of grammatical category, and it is the way of observing the events in the course of time. The expression of aspect category may vary greatly in different languages or dialects. Common forms of expression are affix, clitic, aspect auxiliaries, and aspectual marks. Yue dialect is one of the important types of Chinese dialects, and Shunde dialect is an important branch of Yue dialect. From the perspective of comparison with Putonghua and Yue dialects, this article explores the aspectual meaning of the aspect auxiliary EI in Shunde dialect. The six kinds of aspect are summarized: Perfect aspect; Perfective aspect; Realization aspect; Completive aspect; Partial Performance aspect; Continuous aspect. Then, this paper analyzes its aspectual usage according to its syntactic environment, pragmatic function, and level of grammaticalization. On the one hand, the obvious commonality is that with regard to the usage and meaning of the first six aspectual categories, the aspect auxiliary EI in Shunde dialect can roughly correspond to ZUO in Guangzhou dialect. Moreover, the two dialects can roughly correspond to the aspect auxiliary LE in Mandarin in terms of usage and meaning of the first six aspectual categories. On the other hand, the significant difference is that the expression of continuous aspect in Shunde dialect is much more complicated than Guangzhou dialect and Mandarin. Specifically, in the Shunde dialect, the continuous aspect auxiliary EI must appear when expressing static continuance, but the continuous aspect auxiliary ZHU does not necessarily appear; in Guangzhou dialect, ZHU can only be used; in Mandarin, the continuous aspect auxiliary ZHE must be used. The complexity of the dialects and Mandarin in term of aspectual system illustrates the complex relationship between grammatical categories, grammatical means, and forms of expression: these three are not simple one-to-one relationships. That is, that a grammatical category uses a grammatical means and form to express is almost non-existent. Since there is no morphological change in Chinese in the strict sense, Chinese tends to express a grammatical category with more than one lexical item or construction, or a lexical item or construction expresses more than one grammatical category. The similarities and differences between aspect auxiliary EI in Shunde dialect, ZUO in Mandarin and Le in Mandarin represent the diversity of means and ways of expressing aspect in Chinese. This study demonstrates the identity between the difference and commonality of the grammatical system of Chinese dialects.
| Published in | Social Sciences (Volume 9, Issue 2) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.ss.20200902.11 |
| Page(s) | 45-48 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Shunde Dialect, Aspect Auxiliary, Ei, Meaning, Usage
| [1] | Website of Shunde District People's Government. Http://www.shunde.gov.cn/zjsd/xzqh/5. |
| [2] | Zhang Shuangqing (ed.), The Example Sentences of Aspects and Appearance of Verbs, The Aspects of Verbs, Wu Duotai Chinese Language Research Center, Institute of Chinese Culture, Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1996, 376. |
| [3] | Liu Danqing (ed.), A Handbook of Grammatical Investigation and Research (Second Edition), 2017, 458. |
| [4] | Dai Yaojing, Research on the Tense and Aspect System of Modern Chinese, Zhejiang Education Press, 1997, 28. |
| [5] | Gao Huanian, Study of Guangzhou Dialect, Hong Kong Branch of Commercial Press, 1980, 61. |
| [6] | Zhan Bohui, An outline of Yue dialects in Guangdong, Jinan University Press, 2000, 107. |
| [7] | SHI Youwei, A Typological Investigation on the Pan-aspect of Accomplishment in Chinese Dialects, Studies in Language and Linguistics, 2003, 3. |
| [8] | ZUO Simin, A Diachronic Study of the Mark-System of Tense and Aspect in Chinese, Journal of Chinese Language and Culture, 2007, 12. |
| [9] | PENG Xiaochuan, Contrastive analysis of several forms and meanings of the meaning of "continuity" in Guangzhou dialect, Studies in Chinese, 2003, 4. |
| [10] | Qian Nairong, Comparison of Progressive, Continuous and Retention Aspect [J]. Studies of Chinese Language and Culture, 2002, 14. |
APA Style
Luo Wanjun. (2020). The Meaning and Usage of the Aspect Auxiliary Ei in Shunde Dialect. Social Sciences, 9(2), 45-48. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20200902.11
ACS Style
Luo Wanjun. The Meaning and Usage of the Aspect Auxiliary Ei in Shunde Dialect. Soc. Sci. 2020, 9(2), 45-48. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20200902.11
AMA Style
Luo Wanjun. The Meaning and Usage of the Aspect Auxiliary Ei in Shunde Dialect. Soc Sci. 2020;9(2):45-48. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20200902.11
Share This Article
Twitter
Linked In
Facebook
Copy
Download@article{10.11648/j.ss.20200902.11,
author = {Luo Wanjun},
title = {The Meaning and Usage of the Aspect Auxiliary Ei in Shunde Dialect},
journal = {Social Sciences},
volume = {9},
number = {2},
pages = {45-48},
doi = {10.11648/j.ss.20200902.11},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20200902.11},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ss.20200902.11},
abstract = {Aspect is one of the important concepts of grammatical category, and it is the way of observing the events in the course of time. The expression of aspect category may vary greatly in different languages or dialects. Common forms of expression are affix, clitic, aspect auxiliaries, and aspectual marks. Yue dialect is one of the important types of Chinese dialects, and Shunde dialect is an important branch of Yue dialect. From the perspective of comparison with Putonghua and Yue dialects, this article explores the aspectual meaning of the aspect auxiliary EI in Shunde dialect. The six kinds of aspect are summarized: Perfect aspect; Perfective aspect; Realization aspect; Completive aspect; Partial Performance aspect; Continuous aspect. Then, this paper analyzes its aspectual usage according to its syntactic environment, pragmatic function, and level of grammaticalization. On the one hand, the obvious commonality is that with regard to the usage and meaning of the first six aspectual categories, the aspect auxiliary EI in Shunde dialect can roughly correspond to ZUO in Guangzhou dialect. Moreover, the two dialects can roughly correspond to the aspect auxiliary LE in Mandarin in terms of usage and meaning of the first six aspectual categories. On the other hand, the significant difference is that the expression of continuous aspect in Shunde dialect is much more complicated than Guangzhou dialect and Mandarin. Specifically, in the Shunde dialect, the continuous aspect auxiliary EI must appear when expressing static continuance, but the continuous aspect auxiliary ZHU does not necessarily appear; in Guangzhou dialect, ZHU can only be used; in Mandarin, the continuous aspect auxiliary ZHE must be used. The complexity of the dialects and Mandarin in term of aspectual system illustrates the complex relationship between grammatical categories, grammatical means, and forms of expression: these three are not simple one-to-one relationships. That is, that a grammatical category uses a grammatical means and form to express is almost non-existent. Since there is no morphological change in Chinese in the strict sense, Chinese tends to express a grammatical category with more than one lexical item or construction, or a lexical item or construction expresses more than one grammatical category. The similarities and differences between aspect auxiliary EI in Shunde dialect, ZUO in Mandarin and Le in Mandarin represent the diversity of means and ways of expressing aspect in Chinese. This study demonstrates the identity between the difference and commonality of the grammatical system of Chinese dialects.},
year = {2020}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - The Meaning and Usage of the Aspect Auxiliary Ei in Shunde Dialect AU - Luo Wanjun Y1 - 2020/03/17 PY - 2020 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20200902.11 DO - 10.11648/j.ss.20200902.11 T2 - Social Sciences JF - Social Sciences JO - Social Sciences SP - 45 EP - 48 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2326-988X UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20200902.11 AB - Aspect is one of the important concepts of grammatical category, and it is the way of observing the events in the course of time. The expression of aspect category may vary greatly in different languages or dialects. Common forms of expression are affix, clitic, aspect auxiliaries, and aspectual marks. Yue dialect is one of the important types of Chinese dialects, and Shunde dialect is an important branch of Yue dialect. From the perspective of comparison with Putonghua and Yue dialects, this article explores the aspectual meaning of the aspect auxiliary EI in Shunde dialect. The six kinds of aspect are summarized: Perfect aspect; Perfective aspect; Realization aspect; Completive aspect; Partial Performance aspect; Continuous aspect. Then, this paper analyzes its aspectual usage according to its syntactic environment, pragmatic function, and level of grammaticalization. On the one hand, the obvious commonality is that with regard to the usage and meaning of the first six aspectual categories, the aspect auxiliary EI in Shunde dialect can roughly correspond to ZUO in Guangzhou dialect. Moreover, the two dialects can roughly correspond to the aspect auxiliary LE in Mandarin in terms of usage and meaning of the first six aspectual categories. On the other hand, the significant difference is that the expression of continuous aspect in Shunde dialect is much more complicated than Guangzhou dialect and Mandarin. Specifically, in the Shunde dialect, the continuous aspect auxiliary EI must appear when expressing static continuance, but the continuous aspect auxiliary ZHU does not necessarily appear; in Guangzhou dialect, ZHU can only be used; in Mandarin, the continuous aspect auxiliary ZHE must be used. The complexity of the dialects and Mandarin in term of aspectual system illustrates the complex relationship between grammatical categories, grammatical means, and forms of expression: these three are not simple one-to-one relationships. That is, that a grammatical category uses a grammatical means and form to express is almost non-existent. Since there is no morphological change in Chinese in the strict sense, Chinese tends to express a grammatical category with more than one lexical item or construction, or a lexical item or construction expresses more than one grammatical category. The similarities and differences between aspect auxiliary EI in Shunde dialect, ZUO in Mandarin and Le in Mandarin represent the diversity of means and ways of expressing aspect in Chinese. This study demonstrates the identity between the difference and commonality of the grammatical system of Chinese dialects. VL - 9 IS - 2 ER -
Email: