Textbooks | Course Requirements | Weekly Schedule
Chinese 430 -- Fall 2005
ADVANCED CHINESE GRAMMAR
Course Information and Syllabus

Instructor: R.VanNess Simmons [back to main page]

This is a course in Chinese grammar. The goal of the course is to increase your understanding of Chinese grammar in order to improve your mastery of Chinese. A secondary goal is to explore the nature of Standard Chinese grammatical structure in general and learn how and where it differs from the grammars of other languages, such as English and Chinese dialects. The course will be heavily discussion oriented; we will approach our topic through analysis and dialogue. We will look at Chinese sounds, word structure and formation, sentence grammar, and paragraph structure, using a variety of techniques, from analysis to problem solving. This course will demand that students actively participate; and you will be expected to frequently present your own ideas and understand all examples in Chinese. Hence to take this course, students must have studied Chinese up through the level of 302 or the equivalent. (Others may be allowed to take the course with special permission from the instructor.)
Textbooks
Required:

1. Ju Dershi.  Yeufaa jeangyih.  Beeijing: Shangwuh yinnshugoan, 1998.  Paper. ISBN: 7-100-02001-8.

2.  Li Dejin and Cheng Meizhen.  A Practical Chinese Grammar for Foreigners.  Beijing: Sinolingua, 1988.  Paper.  ISBN: 7-80052-067-6.

The above are available as a COURSE PACKET at Pequod Printing, 119 Somerset Street.

To be placed on reserve at the library for supplementary reading and reports:

Chao, Yuen Ren. A Grammar of Spoken Chinese. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968. ISBN: 0-520-00219-9. {ALEX PL1137.S6C5 1968}

Chao, Yuen Ren. Language and Symbolic Systems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968. ISBN 0-521-09457-7. {ALEX P106.C5}

Chao, Yuen Ren. Mandarin Primer. Cambridge, 1961. {EASIA PL1125.E6C45}

Chappell, Hilary, ed. Sinitic Grammar: Synchronic and Diachronic Perspectives.  New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Li, Charles N. & Sandra A. Thompson. Mandarin Chinese: A Functional Reference Grammar. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981. ISBN: 0-520-04286-7 {ALEX PL1107.L5}

Newnham, Richard. About Chinese. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1971. ISBN: 0-14-02.1131-4 {ALEX PL1111.N4}

Norman, Jerry. Chinese. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988. Paper. ISBN 0-521-29653-6 {ALEX PL1075.N67}

Yip Po-Ching and Don Rimmington.  Chinese: An Essential Grammar.  New York: Routledge, 1997. {Paul Robeson (Camden) PL1107.Y57 1996}

Other titles held by the library that may be of use to you:

DeFrancis, John. The Chinese Language: Fact And Fantasy. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1984. Paper. ISBN: 0-8248-1068-6 {ALEX PL1171.D38}

Eccles, Lance. Shanghai Dialect: An Introduction to Speaking the Contemporary Language. Maryland: Dunwoody Press, 1993. {ALEX PL1940.S53E33 1993}

Kratochvil, P. The Chinese Language Today. {ALEX PL1087.K7}

Pullum, Geoffrey K. & William A. Ladusaw. Phonetic Symbol Guide. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986. ISBN: 0-226-68532-2. {ALEX P221.P85 1986}

Ramsey, S. Robert. The Languages of China. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987. Paper. ISBN: 0-691-01468-X {ALEX PL1071.R34}

Wang, W. S-Y. Languages and Dialects of China. Journal of Chinese Linguistics Monograph Series No. 3. Berkeley: Journal of Chinese Linguistics, 1991. {ALEX PL1510.L36 1991}

General Requirements

Attendance: Attendance is of utmost importance and you are expected to come to every class. Beginning with the second class you miss, your final grade will be lowered by 1/3 of a grade for each day you are absent without bona fide medical or religious cause.

Assignments: In addition to the readings, you will be required to write one short report (a minimum of eight to a maximum of twelve typed, double-spaced pages), due Tuesday, April 24th. The report must follow normal conventions of style for college term papers and must include a bibliography. The reports must be written in English, but contain extensive illustration and examples in Chinese.  These examples whould account for about 50% of the total content of the report and be written in Chinese characters AND Romanized Chinese AND glossed in English.  Below is a list of suggested topics; if you wish to write on another topic, please first check with the professor:

In addition, there will be occasional other written assignments. Assignments must be handed in on time; late papers will not receive full credit.

Tests: There will be at least two tests. The first will be on the sound system of modern standard Chinese and two romanization systems -- Pinyin and Gwoyeu Romatzyh. The second will be on Chinese grammatical terminology (in Chinese and English). I will provide you with further information on these tests later. No make-ups will be given for missed tests.  Additionallay, short quizzes may also be given as necessary.

Exams: There will be a midterm and a final exam covering the material presented in class and the readings.

Grading: Final grades will be based on attendance and participation in class, written assignments and the report, quiz results, the midterm, and the final. Your final grade will be calculated approximately as follows (subject to revision as necesssary):

  1. attendance/participation 10% (or more)
  2. assignments/report 20%
  3. quizzes 10%
  4. midterm 30%
  5. final 30%
Chinese 430 -- Fall 2005
WEEKLY SCHEDULE

Week 1 ++ Week 2

1. Sounds of the modern standard language, pinyin & other romanizations

Readings:

Week 3 ++ Week 4

2. The structure of words and parts of speech

Readings & Exercises:

TEST 1: Th9/22 -- The sound system of modern standard Chinese and romanization systems.

Week 5 ++ Week 6

3. Substantives, Predicatives, & Pronouns

Readings & Exercises:

Week 7

4. Subject-Predicate and Verb-Object Constructions

Readings & Exercises:

Week 8 ++ Week 9

5. Complement Constructions

Readings & Exercises:

MIDTERM EXAM: Th10/20

Week 10

6. Modifier-Head Constructions

Readings & Exercises:

Week 11

7. Coordinate Constructions and Predicates in Series

Readings & Exercises:

Week 12

8. Prepositions and Adverbs

Readings & Exercises:

TEST 2: T11/15 -- Chinese grammatical terminology (in Chinese and English)

Week 13

9. Interrogative and Imperative Sentences

Readings & Exercises:

Week 14

10. Particles and Complex Sentences

Readings & Exercises:

Week 15

11. Omission and Inversion; Catch-up of missed material

Readings & Exercises:

Report due: Th12/8

Week 16

Review

FINAL EXAM: Thursday, December 22, 9:00 to 11:00 am (Note: This begins one hour later than the time listed in the Schedule of Classes as the exam will not take more than two hours.)

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