Aspects of the grammar of Tunxi Hui : a transitional sinitic language

Abstract

Abstract of thesis entitled

Aspects of the Grammar of Tunxi Hui: A Transitional Sinitic Language

Submitted by

LU Wen

for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at The University of Hong Kong in June 2018

This study provides a concise description of aspects of the phonology, morphology and syntax of a little-studied Hui variety of Sinitic language, Tunxi Hui, with only about 70,000 speakers. Conducted within the framework of linguistic typology, this dissertation makes use of both spontaneous and elicited data, transcribed selectively based on fields of interest. Phonologically, Tunxi Hui possesses twenty consonants, a rich inventory of vowels, especially diphthongs, and a very complex system of tone sandhi patterns. Morphologically, reduplication, affixation and compounding are the three major strategies of word formation of this conservative Sinitic language with high proportion of mono-morphemic words. In terms of syntax, a range of specific syntactic constructions of Tunxi Hui are examined, including the strong and weak personal pronouns, attributive modification and the categoriality of ‘adjectives’, pronominal modification, verbal phrases including serial verb constructions, passive constructions and pretransitive structures, comparative constructions, adverbial modification, the issue of word order and topicalization, and last but not least, coordination and subordination. Many of the above features of Tunxi Hui demonstrate characteristics intermediate between the Northern Mandarin and Southern Sinitic languages (Hashimoto 1976, 1986, Norman 1988, Chappell 2015), which justifies the typological categorization of Tunxi Hui as a transitional type of Sinitic language - a ‘missing link’ between the Northern and Southern type. (211 Words)