Outline of Classical Chinese Grammar

About this book

Outline of Classical Chinese Grammar is a comprehensive introduction to the syntactical analysis of Classical Chinese. Focusing on the language of the high classical period, which ranges from the time of Confucius to the unification of the empire by Qin in -221, the book pays particular attention to the Mencius, the Lunyu, and, to a lesser extent, the Zuozhuan texts. Renowned for his work in Classical Chinese, Edwin Pulleyblank opens the book with a brief historical overview and a discussion of the relationship between the writing system and the phonology. This is followed by an outline of the overall principles of word order and sentence structure. He then deals with the main sentence types - nominal predicates, verbal predicates, and numerical expressions, which constitute a special type of quasiverbal predication. The final section covers topics such as subordinate constituents of sentences, non-declarative sentence types, and complex sentences. Clear and well organized, Outline of Classical Chinese Grammar is an authoritative study and will be an invaluable resource tool for anyone involved in Chinese language studies.