《当代语言学》第 6 卷 2004 年第 3 期 193-288, 北京
Abstracts of Articles
Zhu, Xiaonong, Intimacy and high pitch
In linguistics there is a principle that the relationship between sound and meaning is arbitrary. An
exception to the principle is that high pitch is often used to express intimacy, submission, or to ask
for cooperation (e.g. Ohala 1983). Ohala calls it “frequency code”. Applied with this ethological
theory, the current paper explores various forms of the so-called “diminutive tone” in Chinese
dialects. Furthermore we extend it to other high-pitched linguistic phenomena such as “female
Mandarin”, Taiwan “meimei” (美眉), etc., which have not been explained satisfactorily. It is
proposed that the diminutive tone originates from child language.
He, Yuanjian, The loop theory in Chinese morphology
Previous studies on Chinese synthetic compounds that adopted the lexicon-syntax interface
theories were unsatisfactory, for they did not resolve paradigms involving those compounds. This
paper re-examines the issue within the framework of the Loop Theory of Pinker (1999), and at the
same time examines the wider picture of Chinese morphology in the framework as well. Chinese
synthetic compounding displays two prominent features: one of word order and the other of
morpheme syllables. The two features combine to form complex and sometimes confusing
paradigms. Word-order-wise, the canonical word order in Chinese synthetic compounding is
(O)VS, just opposite to that of Chinese syntax, which is SV(O). As a result, if a synthetic
compound conforms to the (O)VS or (O)VX word order, it is purely a lexical structure, to which
we have identified five types of compound (OVS, OVX, VS, VX and XVX). In contrast, if a
syntactic word order shows up in compounds, such as VOS and SVX, it contains a stem that is a
syntax-generated VP (instantiating either VO or SV) that is looped back from syntax to lexicon to
become a stem of a compound. Looping, however, occurs only where V, O and the preverbal S are
disyllabic respectively. In cases where these items are monosyllabic, the resultant structures, e.g.
VO and SV forms of words, are not VPs but rather roots. The monosyllabic VO or SV form of
word in question is believed to be a VP once in history but has evolved to become a root,
presumably through associated pattern memory. If it is true, which we believe is, Chinese
morphology has provided strong evidence for the looping theory, and for the economy principle of
grammar based on the interaction between memory and the computing act of the mind.
Fang, Jingmin, The reference of third-Person pronoun and its contextual constraints in
Mandarin Chinese
This paper examines contextual constraints of exophoric and anaphoric references of third-person
pronoun in Mandarin Chinese. It argues, in general terms, that the use of third-person pronoun is
always constrained by the information principle. More specifically, when used exophorically in
introducing, the third-person pronoun is only constrained by the information principle. When used
exophorically in conversation, on the other hand, it is constrained by the politeness principle.
Likewise, when used anaphorically, third-person pronoun is constrained by the functional
principle. When used both anaphorcially and exophorically, it is partially constrained by the
politeness principle. Furthermore, the paper explores functional differences between Chinese and
Japanese in the use of third-person pronoun, and structural differences between the two pronoun
systems.
Wu, Dongying, Qi,, Xiubai and Wu, Boji (NG Pat-kei), Orality in Hong Kong Print Media
The study aims to examine how the societal and the generic constraints of the media genres have
led to the use of orality in the Chinese print media of present-day Hong Kong. The data for the
study are drawn from the four major newspapers in Hong Kong--Ming Pao Daily News, Sing Tao
Jih Pao, Apple Daily News, and Oriental Daily News — from 2000 to 2002, both the advertising
and the news texts being included. Various forms of orality that are mingled in the different types
of written media discourse are identified, and the functions and values of these orality-oriented
features or strategies are discussed. Finally, implications and suggestions are provided for a
dynamic approach towards language use and cultural expressions in a society.
Turner, Ken, A note on the neo-Gricean foundations of societal pragmatics
Societal pragmaticists accuse (Neo-)Gricean pragmatics of ignoring socio-cultural factors, and of
being ethnocentric. Attardo (1998) presents a useful and timely defence of Neo-Gricean
pragmatics, but he shares with critics the mistaken belief that Grice was principally interested in
the question of the design of a theory of conversation. Many criticisms of Gricean pragmatics in
fact can be defused if it is remembered that it is conceptual analysis, and not sociological analysis,
that underpins the Gricean inquiry. It is also pointed out that one of the Gricean themes that has
not attracted the attention in the linguistics community that it deserves is his defence of material
implication.