Sihong Dialect Syntax Research

Sihong dialect is one of the dialects in the Jiang(the Changjiang River) Huai(the Huaihe River) regions. Up to now, there has been no monographic research article on its grammatical system except for some fragmentary records in Sihong County Annals as well as in Dialect Records of Jiangsu Province . This paper, based on the dialectal facts, is to describe in detail the grammatical aspects of the dialect, with a view to analyzing them with some related theories of descriptive linguistics, structural linguistics and semantics.This paper consists of eight chapters with Chapters One to Six as the key parts.Introduction: The paper introduces some related cultural activities, geographical aspects and the phonetic system in Sihong. The subjects of the research and methods, the source of language data, and the specification of symbols are also introduced.Chapter One: Address by using "小". Such terms in Sihong dialect include repetition, prefixes with "头" and "子", and the changed sound of "小(young)" as its prefix in the form of "小(young) [(?)i(?)55] X". Terms with a changed tone of "小(young)", very typical of the dialect, can indicate endearment or disgust, which provides some references for the study on "我把你个/这……" in modern Chinese.Chapter Two: Vivid expressions of adjectives. This chapter describes the formation of attachment and repetition of adjectives in Sihong dialect. There exists some difference in implications when adjectives are used together with words expressing degree, emotion, and description. The prefix indicating a reduced amount lays emphasis on the description of internal characteristics while the suffix showing increased amount places a stress on the description of internal degree, and therefore the prefix of the former type cannot be repeated, but the suffix of the latter can be repeated a second time or even a third time. A changed tone can be found both in the attachment form and in the repetition form, which results in a variety of vivid adjectives. Their grammatical functions are mainly that they can be used as a predicate, an adverbial, an object complement, or as an independent element.Chapter Three: Words indicating placement. The semantic symbols of placement include prepositions and nouns of direction or locality. The preposition "待在(stay at…)" in Sihong dialect can mean "at, from, to". However, the semantic form of placement that follows a verb will rely on a NP rather than the use of preposition. The symbols of placement in Sihong dialect, in function, have a sequential system in which they tend to go from stems to suffixes and to the independent use with some differences of implication. Some general terms of placement "宁,海,块" can be attached to some proper nouns indicating a name of a person or a place as well as to some common nouns, etc. Some words of placement (PPC "待宁/海/块") can be in the progressive form. Chapter Four: Aspects expressed by verbs. Aspects by verbs in Sihong dialect can be in perfect form, progressive form, experiencing form, beginning and ending form and continuous form. The symbols of aspect in Sihong dialect belong to grammar words, phonetic elements and repetitive forms. The source of the materials of this kind and their usage are discussed in this chapter.Chapter Five: Passive form. The passive voice in Sihong dialect can be divided into two kinds: stressed form "挨,给" and weakened form "嫽,倒[t(?)55]". Verbs in the passive in Sihong dialect are mainly those with one syllable, indicating strong dynamic features. From a prepositional perspective, there can be the passive that takes no preposition, takes only one preposition, takes double prepositions, and takes the same preposition shared by both the agent of the action and its recipient. The analysis on types of prepositions show that there are more sentences beginning with words indicating aspects of verbs than those in Putonghua (Mandarin Chinese) and that it is favorable to put the recipient at the beginning.Chapter Six: Disposal Construction. Prepositions used in the disposal construction in Sihong dialect can be divided into two types: the stressed one which includes using words "帮" and "给", and the weakened one which using words "拿", "赶" and "搞". Verbs of this type are mainly free verbs with one syllable. From a prepositional perspective, the treatment model takes different forms: used with the absence of prepositions, with the presence of only one preposition, double prepositions, and compound prepositions. There exists a pragmatic difference in whether the speaker's attitude and the information conveyed are clear and outstanding when synonymies are used. The interchangeable forms of the treatment model, the passive voice and SVO model show that there are more sentences beginning with words indicating aspects of verbs than those in Putonghua (Mandarin Chinese) and that it is favorable to put the recipient at the beginning.Chapter Seven: Conclusion. The grammatical characteristics of Sihong dialect are summarized and the defects of the present paper are pointed out in this part.