The Research On A Grammar Of The Chinese Colloquial Language (1857)

This study focuses on the morphological and syntactic part of A Grammar ofthe Chinese Colloquial Language, which describes the colloquial mandarin andpublished in the middle19th century. This study contains careful researches onmorphology and syntax of this work, aiming to try to understand the grammatic viewof Edkins, furtherly to know the colloquial mandarin framework.The study contains five parts: preface, analysis of morpheme and word,syntactic parsing, evaluation, conclusion and appendix. The whole system describesthe grammar step by step according to Edikins’s method, to deacidize Edkins’s trainof thought.The preface firstly introduces Edkins’s life in China, main thoughts and works.then reviews the language material and research significance of A Grammar of theChinese Colloquial Language, definiting it as a Chinese textbook for foreigners withprofound theory.A Grammar of the Chinese Colloquial Language has eleven word class, Edkinsexplains modality and grammatical category of every word class and lists largeamount of examples. This chapter concentrates on the main features by what Edkinsdescribes the word class, and also evaluates it chiefly combining modern Chinese.Although the chapters of morphology and syntax are separate, the two of themconnect tightly. Edkins describes the generation and classification of the sentences.The chapter of syntax occupies a less portion, but it is very important, especiallyrhetoric which is rarely valued and noticed by the formers.Chapter four will summarize the revelation and evaluated A Grammar of theChinese Colloquial Language, and evaluate A Grammar of the Chinese ColloquialLanguage objectively. Its description is based on Chinese reality, but it’s still a workapplying mechanically for western grammatic system, which leads to a confusion ofconception on words and sentences. Appendix one and appendix two are the translation of prefix and grammaticpart of A Grammar of the Chinese Colloquial Language.