The Chinese Particle De

This book indicates that the nature and function of de is one of the core issues in the study of Chinese grammar. There are many related studies, which are not only a long-term controversial and difficult problem, but also a theoretical issue that constantly invites the renewal of research methods. This book mainly focuses on the following aspects, summarizes the achievements of the previous studies, and expounds the possible research directions in the future: 1. How many morphemes can de be analyzed into? 2. Is the basic function of the attributive containing the word de qualitative or descriptive? 3. What determines the presence and distribution of de? What is the Reference-Object Construction? 4. Can the theory of endocentric construction be used to analyze de? 5. Is de a nominalizer? What is the relationship between the self-designation and the transferred designation of de? How to treat the construction "N de V"? 6. Is de a tense-aspect auxiliary in the event sentences "V de O" and "VO de"? What is the function of the sentence final de? Is de a modal particle? 7. The issues of pseudo-attributive vs. quasi-attributive in understanding de.

Provides a comprehensive review on the studies of the Chinese particle de Summarizes how De as the most commonly used function word in contemporary Chinese Presents the nature and function of de is one of the core issues in the study of Chinese grammar

Autorentext

Dr. Quan Wan is now Research Fellow at the Institute of Linguistics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He is also Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Contemporary Linguistics and Director of the editorial office. His monograph, The Properties and Functions of DE, won the second prize of the 20th Lü Shuxiang Linguistics Prize. His current research focuses on interactional linguistics, usage-based grammar, and Chinese sentence structure.

Inhalt

Introduction.- Separation or unification.- Presence or absence.- Syntactic distribution.- Functions.- Nominalization.- Self-designation and transferred-designation.- Reference-point construction.- The composition of the N-de V structure.- The problematic nature of endocentric constructions.- De in the generative tradition.- State-of-affairs Sentences.- On Sentences like Ta De Laoshi Dang-de Hao.- Possessives as Patients.- Chinese Grammar Beyond Indo-European Perspectives - The Final Word.