Introduction

The language that has been chosen for the purposes of this assignment is

Chinese Language, more specifically Mandarin Chinese (which will be referred to as

Chinese Language). It is the most spoken language in the world with 850 million

speakers all around the world (out of the 1.3 billion speakers of all the different

Chinese languages). Chinese Language uses a character-based orthographical

system; most characters are composites of two parts: a semantic radical and a

phonetic component. Chinese language contains more than 40000 characters.

(Katzner, 1977)

Literature Review and Approach

Most of the information that I have laid out here are based on the

observations that I have personally carried out. I have also consulted the works of a

few writers on the subject of Chinese morphology and phonology, especially from

Jerome L. Packard‟s “The Morphology of Chinese” and also the “Oxford Concise

English-Chinese Dictionary” for the examples that I have included in the analysis of

the language, especially on word-formation processes. Besides that, I have taken

information about morphology and phonology from Biber, Conrad and Leech‟s

„Student Grammar of Written and Spoken English‟ and also Hopper and Traugott‟s

„Grammatization‟.

Part of the studies involved in the preparation for this assignment is to read

from as many sources as possible. I have also made some references using

Wikipedia and other printed and electronic media for issues and information

regarding the subject matter. The full list of references is included at the back of the

assignment.
 Before we are able to discuss about the morphology of the Chinese Language

we must first define what a “word” is in Chinese. In English, words can be described

as “basic elements of language that are fixed in their internal form, but are

independent in their role in larger units” (Biber, Conrad, & Leech, 2002). They also

describe the different senses of “word” in English, which could either be orthographic

(written and separated by spaces), grammatical (word classes), or as lexemes (a set

of grammatical words which share the same basic meaning, similar forms and the

same word class).

In Chinese Language, however, the distinction of the meaning of word is not

as the same as it is in English. As students of Chinese Language, we have always

been taught that the basic element in Chinese Language is 字 zì or “word”. This also

lead many to believe that Chinese is a monosyllabic language, as each character

brings with it a certain set meaning.

According to Packard, in Chinese language and culture, 字 is considered as a

“sociological word” (the unit that the society and culture takes to be the salient,

critical subcomponent of an utterance). He also states that 字 has two different

meanings: either as a morpheme (instead of the form of words that we usually take it

for) and as individual characters in Chinese orthography. (Hoosain, 1992). Packard

also argues that Chinese speakers do not “distinguish these two meanings of 字

when they use the term.

In his book, Packard also states that the term for word that is distinct from

“character” in Chinese is called 词. He primarily uses this syntactic definition of word

in Chinese morphology, which defines word as the “smallest independently useable

part of language, or the Chinese 词, while the characters 字 are designated as

morphemes.

Free and Bound Morphemes

The free and bound statuses of morphemes in Chinese Language are clearly

definable, except in some cases, where the issue is some morphemes can be free or

bound when used in different contexts (Packard, 2000). The resolution for this

problem is that a morpheme can possess varied characteristics, and that each of

these varied characteristics is stored as separate entries in the mental lexicon of a

Chinese Language user.

One example that can illustrate this is the morpheme 木, which is a bound

morpheme when used as “tree” or “wood”. But it is a free morpheme when it is used

to mean “numb”, as in 我的舌头木了 “my tongue is numb”. In this case, the usage of

木 involves two separate lexical entries and each of these entries have a separate

status. (Packard, 2000)

Besides the free-bound status in the language, there is also a need to discuss

the distinction of „content‟ and „function‟ morphemes in Chinese Language. Most 字

in Chinese Language has traditionally been divided into content (实 or real) and

function (虚 or empty) morphemes. The main differences lie in their usage. Content

words are used to „report or describe things, actions and qualities‟, while function

words can be defined as words that „indicate relationships of nominals to each other,

to link parts of discourse, to indicate whether entities in a discourse are already

identified or not, and to show whether they are close to the speaker or the hearer‟.

(Hopper & Traugott, 1993)

 Using the information that we have, we can divide Chinese morphemes based

on both the free-bound status and content-function criteria. Below is a table to

indicate the different types of morphemes that can be distinguished using these

criteria.

Function Content
Free Function word Root word/ word
Bound Affix Bound root

Also, generally, function words do not freely combine with other morphemes

to form larger words. Therefore, most of the word-forming processes will only involve

the other three morpheme types (root word, bound root and affix).

In terms of affixes, there are two subcategories of affix: word-forming affix and

grammatical affix. The table below illustrates the differences of the characteristics of

word forming affixes and grammatical affixes.

Word- forming affixes Grammatical affixes

may change form class of items to which Never changes the word class of
they attach morphemes they attach to
are applied selectively are completely general
newly formed words may have new words have constant predictable
unpredictable meaning meaning
may be attached to free words and must be attached to free words
bound roots

Based on the table above, we can see that word-forming affixes in Chinese

Language resemble what we call derivational affixes in English, and grammatical

affixes resemble inflectional affixes.

Besides that, determiners are considered free words, and classifiers are word-

forming affixes, and numerals are considered as bound roots.

 Based on the different types of morphemes, we may then determine the

different word types that can be formed by these morphemes. When two roots are

attached together, they form a compound word. If a root word is attached to a bound

word or if a bound word is attached to a bound word they form a bound root word; if

a bound root or a root word is attached to a word-forming affix they form a derived

word; if a word is attached to a grammatical affix they form a grammatical word.

(Packard, 2000)

Nouns 名词

Nouns in Chinese Language can be formed by using the word formation processes

listed above. The list below gives examples of how the different morphemes can be

combined to form new Chinese words.

Noun compound words

Noun word + noun word 冰山 ice-mountain „iceberg‟, 火山 fire-mountain „volcano‟.

Verb word + noun word 投手 throw-hand „pitcher‟, 摇鼓 shake-drum „drum toy‟.

Noun word + verb word 事变 thing-change „incident‟, 锅贴 pot-stick „fried dumpling‟.

Verb word + verb word 动作 move-do „activity‟, 买卖 buy-sell „business‟.

Noun bound root words

Noun word + noun bound root 电脑 electricity-brain „computer‟, 球迷 ball-fan „fan‟

Noun bound root + noun word 足球 foot-ball „soccer‟, 敌人 enemy-person „enemy‟

Noun bound root + noun bound root 木板 wood-plank „board‟.

Verb word + noun bound root 租金 rent-money „rent‟, 飞机 fly-machine „airplane‟

Verb bound root + noun word 助手 help-hand „helper‟.

Verb bound root + noun bound root 导弹 guide-bullet „guided missile‟.

Noun bound root + verb word 板擦 board-rub „eraser‟, 耳挖 ear-dig „earpick‟

Noun word + verb bound root 节奏 section-play „rhythm‟, 电视 electric-see „television‟

Noun bound root + verb bound root 秋决 autumn-decide „autumn execution‟.

Verb bound root + verb word 构造 compose-create „structure‟.

Verb word + verb word 经理 manage-manage „manager‟, 导游 guide-travel „guide‟.

Verb word + verb bound root 学究 study-research „pedant‟

Noun derived words

Noun bound root + word-forming affix 房子 house-AFF „house‟ 鼻子 nose-AFF „nose‟.

Noun word + word-forming affix 皮子 skin-AFF „skin‟, 人性 person-AFF „reason‟.

Verb word + word-forming affix 扣子 button-AFF „button‟, 骗子 deceive-AFF „swindler‟.

Verb bound root + word-forming affix 悟性 realize-AFF „power of understanding‟

Word-forming affix + noun bound root 阿国 AFF-country „state-run enterprise‟

Word-forming affix + noun word 阿哥 AFF-brother „brother‟

Word-forming affix + verb word 阿飞 AFF-fly „juvenile delinquent‟.

Verbs 动词

Verbs are also formed in a similar way to nouns, and the possible types of

combinations are listed below, accompanied by examples.

Verb compound words

Verb word + verb word 借用 borrow-use „borrow‟, 呼吸 exhale-suck in „breathe‟

Verb word + noun word 闹鬼 make noise-ghost „haunt‟, 创树 create-tree „to establish‟

Noun word + verb word 毒杀 poison-kill „kill with poison‟, 油炸 oil-fry „fry in oil‟

Verb bound root words

Verb word + verb bound root 帮助 help-help „help‟, 死亡 die-die „die‟.

Verb bound root + verb word 享受 enjoy-accept „enjoy‟, 购买 buy-buy „buy‟.

Verb bound root + verb bound root 辩论 debate-discuss „debate‟

Verb word + noun bound root 开刀 open-knife „operate‟, 睡觉 sleep-sleep „sleep‟

Verb bound root + noun word 疑心 doubt-heart „suspect‟, 充电 fill-electricity „recharge‟

Verb bound root + noun bound root 殖民 breed-people „colonize‟.

Noun bound root + verb word 沟通 ditch-connect „communicate‟

Noun word + verb bound root 枪毙 gun-kill „execute by gunfire‟

Noun bound root + verb bound root 体现 body-manifest „embody‟

Noun bound root + noun bound root 左右 left-right „to influence‟

Verb derived words

Word-forming affix + verb word 复发 AFF-occur „to relapse‟.

Word-forming affix + verb bound root 可怜 AFF-pity „to pity‟

Word-forming affix + noun word 可脚 AFF-foot „to fit one‟s feet‟

Word-forming affix + noun bound root 可体 AFF-body „to fit‟

Verb word + word-forming affix 开化 open-AFF „to civilize‟.

Verb bound root + word-forming affix 归化 return-AFF „to naturalize‟

Noun word + word-forming affix 毒化 poison-AFF „to poison‟

Noun bound root + word-forming affix 石化 stone-AFF „petrify‟

Adjectives 形容词

According to Wikipedia, Chinese adjectives are different from English

adjectives because „they can be used as verbs, and are sometimes described as

stative verbs by linguists‟. (Chinese Adjectives, 2009)Their formation is not described

in detail in Packard‟s book, but can be seen as generally formed as shown in the

examples below. It should also be noted that there are also monosyllabic adjectives,

such as 好‟good‟, 坏‟bad‟, 大‟big‟,小‟small‟, 红‟red‟, 老‟old‟, 凹‟concave‟, 凸‟protruding‟.

Noun + noun 哀伤 grief-injury „saddened‟, 恶毒 vice-poison „vicious‟

Noun + verb 愤激 anger-excite „excited‟

Verb + noun 碍口 obstruct-mouth „too embarrassing to say‟.

Verb + verb 闪闪 flash-flash „sparkle‟.

Adjective + noun 上乘 upper-ride „first class‟

Noun + adjective 耳熟 ear-ripe „familiar‟

Verb + adjective 吃紧 eat-tight „tense‟

Adjective + verb 上算 position-count „worthwhile‟

Adjective + adjective 矮小 short-small „undersized‟

Adverb + adjective 安静 peace-quiet „quiet‟

Inflectional processes

Concerning inflection, there is very little inflection in Chinese Language

because of the monosyllabic characteristic of Chinese morphemes. Instead, Chinese

Language speakers use lexical means (such as word order) to achieve inflection in

sentences. (Inflection, 2009). Therefore, word order plays a very important part in

Chinese sentences because it will determine the subject-verb-object relationships

between its constituents.

Packard does discuss the formation of noun grammatical words and verb

grammatical words, in which a grammatical affix is added to the word in the case of

nouns, where it would (in most cases) signify plurality (such as 们 , 家 ). If a

grammatical affix is added to a verb it would signify tense (了, 过, 正). Possession is

usually signified using the particle 的; comparative and superlative morphemes are

signified with morphemes like 更, 最. When added to adjectives they signify the

degree and therefore function as inflectional morphemes.

Morphs and Allomorphs

Morphs can be defined as the surface form or phonetic realization of a

morpheme. In the case of Chinese Language, the realizations are typically written

out using a Romanized system called Hanyu Pinyin. It was introduced in 1958 to be

used to teach school children Chinese, as well as internationally to teach Chinese as

a second language. (Pinyin, 2009)

There are no recorded cases of allomorphs in Chinese Language that I was

able to find, nor was the issue of allomorphs discussed in any of the books that I

have read in preparation for this assignment. This could be because each morpheme

in Chinese Language has a strict set of pronunciation(s), and the fact that Chinese

Language is rarely inflected that has caused a lack of allomorphs in the language.

Even though there are a lot of characters in Chinese Language that has more

than one pronunciation, each of these pronunciations is specific for different lexemes

represented by the same character, and therefore has different entries in the mental

lexicon.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the phonological and morphological processes of Chinese

Language are very different compared to English, as it is not as inflectional as

English, and also because the word-forming processes are different. However, there

also seems to be a universal trend, that Chinese Language morphology and

phonology can also be explained and discussed using similar terminology and

methodology as English linguistics.

References

Allomorph. (2009, September 16). Retrieved September 23, 2009, from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allomorph

Biber, D., Conrad, S., & Leech, G. (2002). Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English. Essex:
Longman.

Chinese Adjectives. (2009, September 20). Retrieved September 24, 2009, from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_adjectives

Chinese Grammar. (2009, Spetember 21). Retrieved September 22, 2009, from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_grammar

Chinese Languages. (2009, September 19). Retrieved September 22, 2009, from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_languages

Hopper, P., & Traugott, E. (1993). Grammaticalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Inflection. (2009, September 21). Retrieved September 24, 2009, from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflection

Katzner, K. (1977). The Languages of the World. New York: Routledge.

Mandarin Chinese. (2009, Spetember 21). Retrieved September 22, 2009, from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandarin_Chinese

Manser, M. H. (2003). Oxford Concise English-Chinese Chinese-English Dictionary, 3rd edition. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.

Packard, J. L. (2000). The Morphology of Chinese. Cambridge: Cambridge.

Pinyin. (2009, September 22). Retrieved September 25, 2009, from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanyupinyin

Shueh, P.-c. T. (2002). Modern Chinese: A Basic Course. New York: Dover Publications.

Standard Mandarin. (2009, September 21). Retrieved September 22, 2009, from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Mandarin