A study on the grammar of Lianhua Gan : from synchrony to diachrony /

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Student Theses

2019

Hu, Xiaojuan

Hong Kong : The Education University of Hong Kong

Thesis

This thesis examines the grammar of Lianhua Gan in both synchronic and diachronic dimensions, covering some important grammatical morphemes and functional categories including demonstratives, the definite article, the perfective aspect, the imperfective aspects (the progressive and the continuous aspects), and the HAVE-possessive.The main approach in this thesis is to infer the diachrony from the synchrony from typological and diachronic perspectives. The typological perspective places the study of Lianhua Gan within a typological context through cross-linguistic or cross-dialectal comparisons and makes use of typological generalizations and language universals. The diachronic perspective, which concerns how the current situation develops through diachronic changes, contributes to accounting for the synchronic state of various grammatical categories in terms of the form and function. As there is no historical material regarding early Lianhua Gan, the approach to the diachronic study is to dynamicize synchronic uses as successive diachronic stages in the process of language change based on regularities in linguistic change, comparative evidence across dialects or languages, as well as studies on historical materials of Chinese.The five categories are discussed in five respective chapters that form the main body of the thesis. Each chapter starts by investigating the syntax and semantics of the category concerned at the synchronic level by taking cross-linguistic and cross-dialectal data into account. The synchronic states are then explained in the diachronic dimension by examining how they develop over time

LG51.H43 Dr 2019eb Hux

https://educoll.lib.eduhk.hk/records/QKXKh9tz