Chinese is often defined as a 'textbook example' of an isolating language, with comparatively few affixes, usually etymologically transparent (Sagart 2004). After 'deconstructing' the notion of the isolating morphological type, I shall discuss data from a number of Chinese dialects spread over the Shanxi, Shaanxi, Henan, Hebei and Shandong provinces. I will show that there seem to be some areal clusters with productive morphological phenomena not expected to occur in isolating languages, and which can be explained both by a cross-linguistically widespread tendency towards the reduction of certain items in speech production and, arguably, by processes of convergence among dialects
Arcodia, G. (2015). More on the morphological typology of Sinitic. BULLETIN OF CHINESE LINGUISTICS, 8, 5-35 [10.1163/2405478X-00801001].
More on the morphological typology of Sinitic
ARCODIA, GIORGIO FRANCESCO
2015
Abstract
Chinese is often defined as a 'textbook example' of an isolating language, with comparatively few affixes, usually etymologically transparent (Sagart 2004). After 'deconstructing' the notion of the isolating morphological type, I shall discuss data from a number of Chinese dialects spread over the Shanxi, Shaanxi, Henan, Hebei and Shandong provinces. I will show that there seem to be some areal clusters with productive morphological phenomena not expected to occur in isolating languages, and which can be explained both by a cross-linguistically widespread tendency towards the reduction of certain items in speech production and, arguably, by processes of convergence among dialectsI documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.