introduction mandarin

Chinese as a Second Language , 2023

Introducing Chinese Linguistics: A Handbook for Chinese Language Teachers and Learners (henceforth ICL) provides a comprehensive, accessible and innovative introduction to Chinese linguistics, covering key topics such as Chinese phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, the writing system and the role of social and cultural factors in Chinese language use. Although a number of introductory textbooks on Chinese linguistics are available on the market (e.g., Norman, 1988; Sun, 2006; Shei, 2014), ICL is distinctive in that it is tailored to the needs of L2 Chinese language educators and learners. It highlights common challenges encountered by adult L2 learners of Mandarin Chinese and offers pedagogical suggestions based on research findings in Chinese second language acquisition. ICL consists of eight chapters. The first chapter starts with basic concepts in general linguistics and second language acquisition and then moves to a survey of language varieties under the umbrella term of "Chinese language" and a brief history of Mandarin Chinese with emphasis given to dispelling common misconceptions about linguistics and the Chinese language. The following two chapters focus on Chinese phonetics and phonology: Chapter 2 is dedicated to consonants, vowels, syllable structures, and Chinese annotation systems, whereas Chapter 3 discusses tones, intonation, and stress. Chapter 4 examines Chinese morphology and decodes how words are structured in Mandarin Chinese with insightful examples and explanations. The next two chapters attend to important issues in Chinese syntax, with Chapter 5 addressing basic syntactic structures, such as lexical categories, noun and verb phrases and Chapter 6 explaining noncanonical Chinese sentence structures, such as the ba and bei constructions. Chapter 7 is devoted to demystifying the Chinese writing system, a very challenging aspect for L2 learners to acquire. This chapter covers a variety of topics crucial to the Chinese writing system, including an overview of Chinese script evolution, formation of Chinese characters, the basic strokes, components and radicals of Chinese characters as well as Chinese script reforms. The last chapter investigates how social and cultural factors shape Chinese language use. This chapter introduces important concepts in Chinese pragmatics and Chinese language variation

Education Quarterly Reviews, 2019

This paper reports on a study investigating features related to Chinese linguistic complexities among international students enrolled in Chinese courses in China. The main objective of this study is to highlight the major feature of Chinese complexities encountered by international students and explore whether international students' native languages interfere the process of learning Chinese. The study used a survey questionnaire to collect the data from 147 male and female Bachelor, Master and PhD students enrolled in basic Chinese classes in two universities in China. Based on certain Descriptive and ANOVA calculations, findings of the study indicate that the participants indeed experienced Sound Similarities, Chinese Characters and Chinese Tones as the main features related to Chines linguistic complexities. Moreover, the results also revealed the participants' native language interference in the process of learning Chinese. The study ends in several recommendations to Chinese teachers as well as to foreign Chinese language learners with regard to teaching and learning Chinese.

Although Mandarin Chinese is shared by Chinese communities such as Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, linguistic differences are frequently found among regional uses, ranging from pronunciation, orthography, vocabulary, grammar, and discourse. Along with the increasingly recognized notion of " World Chineses " in recent years, the study of the regional variations has also become more linguistically, socially, and culturally significant. Such a study facilitates more efficient communication among speakers of different varieties, reflects the social and cultural differences of the Chinese speaking communities from a linguistic perspective, and contributes to the theoretical discussion of language variation and change. With specific examples of the linguistic features exhibited in Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore Mandarin Chinese, this chapter is an overview of the current studies, methodologies, and motivations of variation.

The systematic study of foreign language acquisition involves a multidisciplinary approach of which linguistics is but one component, along with psychology, neuroscience, social science, cultural studies, computer science, and other fields. This article foregrounds linguistic issues involved in the teaching and learning of Chinese by non-native learners. For the sake of brevity, some limitations and generalizations are inevitable. First, non-native learners in this article are understood as Western learners. Questions surrounding heritage learners, i.e., ethnic Chinese learners with a Sinitic L1 background learning Mandarin outside China, are not considered (for a representative publication, see He and Xiao (2008). The background of Western learners also needs to be distinguished from that of South Korean and Japanese learners who have a higher degree of exposure to and therefore a greater competence in Chinese writing. Second, no systematic distinction is made between Chinese as a foreign language (CFL), i.e., the teaching of Chinese outside a Chinese language environment, and Chinese as a second language (CSL), i.e., the teaching of Chinese within a Chinese language environment. Instead, the acronym TCFL in general terms refers to the teaching of Chinese in classroom situations, irrespective of the regional context. The underlying idea of this article is that second language (L2) teaching in general and of CFL in particular entails making decisions as to what and how to teach. After a brief historical overview, the first section explains to what extent and how linguistic theories have inspired TCFL methodology. The following sections introduce three important areas of TCFL, i.e., the teaching of pronunciation, morphosyntax and writing; decisions that are made within these areas; and the assumptions and theoretical concepts that underlie these decisions. 1. CHINESE LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LINGUISTICS INSIDE AND OUTSIDE CHINA The history of Chinese language study by Western learners can roughly be divided into three stages: 1. The initial stage saw the sporadic establishment of discrete and special purpose programs and/or the design of curricula for Chinese language learning in Asia. The beginning of the initial stage can be traced back to the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries when Jesuit missionaries established the first systematic Chinese language study program. Although earlier Chinese-Western encounters must have involved

The Routledge Handbook of Chinese Applied Linguistics, 2019

Although Mandarin Chinese is shared by Chinese communities such as Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, linguistic differences are frequently found among regional uses, ranging from pronunciation, orthography, vocabulary, grammar, and discourse. Along with the increasingly recognized notion of "World Chineses" in recent years, the study of the regional variations has also become more linguistically, socially, and culturally significant. Such a study facilitates more efficient communication among speakers of different varieties, reflects the social and cultural differences of the Chinese speaking communities from a linguistic perspective, and contributes to the theoretical discussion of language variation and change. With specific examples of the linguistic features exhibited in Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore Mandarin Chinese, this chapter is an overview of the current studies, methodologies, and motivations of variation.

Chinese Language and Discourse, 2016

In the study of language learning, researchers sometimes ask how languages in contact are related. They compare the linguistic features of the languages, how the mental grammars of each language sub-system are represented, put to use in performance, and how they interact. Within a linguistic family, languages can be closely related or distantly related, an interesting factor, for example, in understanding bilingualism and second language development. Dialects, on the other hand, are considered to be variants of the same language. While there is no way to always draw a sharp line between the categories of language and dialect, it is necessary to distinguish between the two kinds of language variation by the application of uniform criteria. The distinction between dialect and language is important for designing bilingual instructional programs, both for students who already speak two languages and for beginning second language learners.