Reviews research examining whether children can use information in the Chinese writing system to pronounce characters. Argues that the overarching graphophonological insight in reading Chinese characters is the phonetic principle --the principle that the phonetic components of compound characters provide information about character pronunciation.…

Focuses on the acquisition of linguistic devices used for discourse cohesion in Chinese and French. Particular attention is paid to how two types of learners acquire the linguistic means for marking topics, in particular French "dislocation," and its discourse-pragmatic functions. Data consist of narratives based on picture sequences, produced in…

Presents a description of textual cohesion in Modern standard Chinese (MSC), and describes three types of relations as discourse and text features that contribute to the overall unity or coherence of a text. (24 references) (Author/VWL)

Investigates the relationship between traditional and simplified characters of Chinese to determine the systematic ways in which traditional forms are simplified. The one thousand most frequently used characters and their simplified forms, if any, are listed in order of frequency of use. (DJD)

This quantitative, diachronic study of the object markers "ba" and "jiang" in Mandarin Chinese challenges the view that these markers have undergone the same process of grammaticalization and have acquired the same function over time. Evidence is provided that shows that, in texts where both are used, each has its own distinctive functions. (36…

Differential sensitivity for frequency was compared between six native speakers of a tone language, Mandarin Chinese, and six native speakers of a nontone language, English. Subjects judged whether variable tones, at increments within the frequency range of a level tone-phoneme category, sounded the same or different in pitch than standard tones…

Discusses how the use of body language in Chinese fiction strikes most Westerners as unusual, if not strange. Considers that, although this may be the result of differences in gestures or different conventions in fiction, it is a problem for translators, who handle the differences by various strategies, e.g., omission or expansion. (NKA)

Notes that the practice of borrowing kinship terms to address people outside the extended Chinese families, heavily reflected in modern Chinese fiction, causes much difficulty for the English translator. Reviews common translation approaches to such culture-related problems and possible distortions resulting from such practices. (NKA)

Discusses the close relationship between historical linguistics and dialectology, pointing out, through analysis and reconstruction of Taiwanese dialects, that the tasks of dialectologists do not stop at the making of linguistic atlases and must go beyond those tasks to reconstruct the proto-forms. (two references) (Author/CB)

Identifies motives for the inversion of various preverbal elements to the end of sentences in Beijing conversational discourse, focusing on such communicative functions and organizational mechanisms as thematization, repair, and afterthought appendage. (32 references) (CB)

Reviews a wide-ranging formal analysis of Chinese syntax that explores the role of case theory in the phrase structure of Chinese. (15 references) (CB)

Advocates a macroscopic view in examining the habitual linguistic differences between English and Chinese in their organization of thought in prosaic sentences and discourse. Awareness of these differences would be helpful in translating from English into Chinese and vice versa and Chinese language teaching. (Contains four references.) (JP)

This article presents a brief history of the Chinese braille system and the Chinese character structure, discusses the present Chinese sound-generated braille system and its limitations, and proposes some refinements of the present system and some techniques for instruction. (Author/JDD)

Analysis of the on-line reading performance of reading-disabled and nonhandicapped Chinese elementary school students revealed that all readers used various language cues suggesting a universal aspect of reading process, although disabled readers were unable to use spoken speech to understand seemingly disjointed Chinese characters or to decipher…

In this first of three excerpts from seminars sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution on collaborative knowledge generation in the arts, the sciences, and the humanities, two art curators and a filmmaker discuss the meaning of collaboration in their fields. Topics discussed include twentieth-century artists and art curators, Chinese art, and…