Course Description & Syllabus
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Chinese Dialects - Description and History

Catalog Description:

Introduction to the Chinese dialects and their description with an emphasis on their relationships, historical origins, and development from earliest evidence of diversity to the present.  Prerequisite: 01:165:302, 304 or equivalent

Course Meeting Time and Location:

Spring 2009 -- Tuesdays and Thursdays, 5th period (2:50-4:10), Scott Hall, Room 204

Course Instructor:

Richard VanNess Simmons

  • Office: Scott Hall 327  ** Office Hours: W 11:15-12:15
  • Office Phone: 932-5597 ** Email: rsimmon@rci.rutgers.edu
  • Web: http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~rsimmon/
    • Course Design and Objectives:

    This course will survey the major Chinese dialects, their modern forms, their geographical distribution, and their history, from their earliest discernible origins to the present. Emphasis will be on issues of description of the modern dialects, and how comparative description is used to uncover clues to dialect relationship and historical development. Special attention will also be paid to questions of how social history, geography, and population movement affect dialect history.

    Spoken Chinese has been characterized by great diversity for most of China's history. This course will use the diversity of the modern Chinese dialects as a lens through which to view and understand the diversity of the Chinese languages in earlier times. In addition to modern description and methodology, the course will introduce the fundamentals of traditional Chinese descriptive methods as reflected in early texts, including the Shuowen jiezi, rhyme books, and rhyme tables. Students will learn how the diverse historical forms of Chinese that underlie these texts are, or are not, reflected in the present day Chinese languages.

    Textbooks:

    The below text should be available from the University Bookstore at One Penn Plaza, opposite the New Brunswick train station, and from New Jersey Books, 108 Somerset St. Other materials and assignments may be provided or assigned as the course progresses.  Most of these will be provided on the course Sakai site; so please check it frequently.

    Class Format and Student Evaluation:

    The class will be conducted in a lecture and discussion format, supplemented by audio recordings illustrating dialects and their sounds and features. Students will have weekly assigned readings in both primary and secondary sources.  You will also be given various assignments and exercises to help you understand the methods and skills used in investigating and describing dialects.  To consolodate and synthesize the skills gained in the class, certain dialects dialects will be selected for in depth description and study.  The specific dialect(s) selected may vary from year to year.

    Grading:

    Students will be evaluated on the basis of quizzes (for example, on the basics of linguistic description, Chinese history, and geography), a midterm, a final report, a final exam, and class discussions.  Final grades will be based on attendance and attentiveness in class, written assignments and the group presentation/report, quiz results, the midterm, and the final. Your final grade will be calculated approximately as follows:

    1. attendance 10% (or more)
    2. assignments/reports 20%
    3. tests & quizzes 10%
    4. midterm 30%
    5. final 30%

    Course Agenda:

    Quizzes and Exams--There will also be occassional unscheduled quizzes and/or tests:

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