Textbooks | Course Requirements | Weekly Schedule
Chinese 430 -- Summer 2009
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 ability to teach 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. Selections from 朱德熙著.  《语法讲义》.  北京:  商务印书馆, 1982.  Ju Dershi.  Yeufaa jeangyih.  Beeijing: Shangwuh yinnshugoan, rpt. 1998.  Paper. ISBN: 7-100-02001-8.

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

3. Selections from 卢福波著.  《对外汉语教学实用语法》.  Beijing Languages and Culture University Press, 1996.  Paper.  ISBN 978-7-5619-0474-9

NOTE:  The above three will be available on the course Sakai website.  The below two are available at the University Bookstore at One Penn Plaza, opposite the New Brunswick train station, and probably also from New Jersey Books.

3. Jianhua Bai, Ed. Chinese Grammar Made Easy—A Practical and Effective Guide for Teachers. Yale University Press, 2009.  ISBN: 0300122799

4. C. -T. James Huang, Y. -H. Audrey Li, and Yafei Li.  The Syntax of Chinese.  Cambridge University Press, 2009. ISBN: 0521590582

On reserve at Alexander 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 Thursday, June 25th. 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 are in this class because you are planning to teach Chinese and/or are in the MAT program, I strongly urge you to choose the first topic.  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 & exams: There will be four tests. The first will be on the sound system of modern standard Chinese and two romanization systems -- Pinyin and Gwoyeu Romatzyh. The second will include a section on Chinese grammatical terminology (in Chinese and English). I will provide you with further information on these tests in class.  Additionally, short quizzes may also be given as necessary.

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 (grade will be reduced 10% or more for poor attendance)
  2. assignments/report 20%
  3. tests 80%
Chinese 430 -- Summer 2009
WEEKLY SCHEDULE

Day 1 ++ Day 2

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

Readings:

Day 3 ++ Day 4

2. The structure of words and parts of speech

Readings & Exercises:

TEST 1: Tu6/2 -- The sound system of modern standard Chinese and romanization systems.

3. Substantives, Predicatives, & Pronouns

Readings & Exercises:

Day 5 ++ Day 6

4. Subject-Predicate and Verb-Object Constructions

Readings & Exercises:

5. Complement Constructions

Readings & Exercises:

TEST 2: Th6/11 -- Morphemes, Words & Parts of Speech

Day 7 ++ Day 8

6. Modifier-Head Constructions

Readings & Exercises:

7. Coordinate Constructions and Predicates in Series

Readings & Exercises:

TEST 3: Tu6/18 -- Chinese grammatical terminology (in Chinese and English), Sentence Structure, Aspect, & Complement Constructions
Day 9 ++ Day 10

8. Prepositions and Adverbs

Readings & Exercises:

9. Interrogative and Imperative Sentences

Readings & Exercises:

10. Particles and Complex Sentences

Readings & Exercises:

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

Readings & Exercises:

Report due: Th6/25

Day 11

Review

TEST 4: Tuesday, June 30 -- All course content, with emphasis on material from final weeks

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