Hsueh, Fengsheng
Linguistic Sciences.
2004, 3(6):
67-73.
In Chinese linguistics, study of syntax was a rather belated development, confined from the very beginning by the frames of “Latin grammar”. As a result, many Chinese sentences are often improperly analyzed, or simply misinterpreted. So some scholars have questioned this approach, and advocated that “the special character of the Chinese language ”should be considered, or that “the European preconceptions” should be cast away , but no one has told us clearly how to do that. Y. R. Chao never mentioned this problem, but his unique way of analyzing “Spoken Chinese ” even before the question was raised is highly inspiring. The author of the present paper once proposed that there are about eight “special features” in Chinese sentence formation, and argued that proper interpretation of both the meaning and the structure of Chinese sentences can be reached only when these features have been seriously considered. In this paper , he further explains that those “special features ” are really derived from Chao's unique ideas about Chinese sentences, including his new definitions for “sentence”, “minor sentence ”, “full sentence ”, “subject as topic ”, “predicate as comment”, etc. Therefore, this proposal of “special features” in Chinese sentence formation can be appreciated, only when we can appreciate and accept those new definitions Chao proposed earlier.