The Use of the Passive Marker bei in Spoken Mandarin.
Saved in:
| Title: | The Use of the Passive Marker bei in Spoken Mandarin. |
|---|---|
| Authors: | Cook, Angela1 |
| Source: | Australian Journal of Linguistics. Jan2019, Vol. 39 Issue 1, p79-106. 28p. 1 Chart. |
| Subject Terms: | *Syntax (Grammar), Mandarin dialects, Grammar, Chinese language, Linguistics |
| Abstract: | The passive marker bei has been the subject of a significant quantity of linguistic research; however the bulk of studies to date have focussed on its use in written Chinese. This article provides a snap shot of current usage of bei in spoken Mandarin based on a corpus of Chinese chat show transcripts and assesses the claims made about the bei construction in the literature. Careful examination of the data reveals that this grammatical marker is both less sensitive to a number of constraints outlined in the mainstream literature and, at the same time, more responsive to a range of different contextual factors, some of which seem to have been overlooked in previous treatments of Mandarin grammar. In particular, it is found that many non-grammatical factors play a role in determining the behaviour of the passive marker bei. The analysis demonstrates that spoken data can reveal interesting insights in to the complexity of the grammatical system, insights that may possibly not be so readily apparent on the basis of written texts and grammaticality judgments alone. This suggests that other morpho-syntactic features of Modern Standard Chinese could likewise benefit from a detailed analysis of their behaviour in spoken interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Australian Journal of Linguistics is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | Education Research Complete |
Be the first to leave a comment!
