Buckeye East Asian Linguistics 9 (BEAL 9)

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https://kb.osu.edu/handle/1811/105411

We are pleased to deliver the ninth volume of Buckeye East Asian Linguistics. This volume includes a Chinese transcript and English translation of the convener’s opening remarks as well as twelve proceedings articles from the 27th International Conference on Yue Dialects in 2023. Hosted by the Ohio State University, this is the first time that this conference has been hosted overseas from Mainland China and Hong Kong in the forty years of its existence.

Front Matter
pp. i-v
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Welcoming Remarks by Professor Zhan Bohui, Convenor
Zhan Bohui pp. 1-5
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Negative Wh-Constructions in Cantonese Revisited
Tsun Hei Choi pp. 6-21
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Definitely Acquired: Cantonese Children's Acquisition of Definiteness
Ian Chow and William Synder pp. 22-31
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Evolving Pre- processing of Raw Corpus: The Digitization Initiative of Cantonese Material at the Sino-Vietnamese Border in the Late 19th Century
Junxin Huang and Joeng-zit Lai pp. 32-51
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Investigating Linguistic Features of Narration Among Non-Chinese Speaking Students in Hong Kong
Cindy Man-fong Lam, Kevin Kin-wing Chan, and Sheung Ping Wong pp. 52-69
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Developing a CEFR-aligned Test in Hong Kong: Cantonese Oral Proficiency Examination (COPE)
Chaak Ming Lau, Raymond Pai, Kwan Hin Cheung, Bun Ching Chow, Yik-Po Lai, Cindy Wan Yee Lau, Roy Shing Yu, Hugo Wing-Yu Tam, Mei-ying Ki, Vienna Hoi Yung Lam, Edward Yu and Sik-Lee Dennig pp. 70-82
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What’s borrowed, and What’s Not: Revisiting the Which-Constructions in Hong Kong Cantonese
Tommy Tsz-Ming Lee pp. 83-93
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Variation in Cantonese Acceptability Judgements Due to Language Contact: An Investigation of Word Order Preferences in the Resultative Construction
Justin R. Leung and Dave Kush pp. 94-113
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Analyzing Maintenance of Heritage Languages in Migration Context: Insights from Cantonese Heritage Language Users in the Netherlands
Aholi So pp. 114-133
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Literary and Colloquial Variations: A Study on the Acquisition of Cantonese by Mandarin-speaking Students in Hong Kong Tertiary Institutions
Li Chenxi and Leung Wai-mun pp. 144-162
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Man1 in Ngzhau Cantonese: A Study of Language Contact between Yuehai and Goulou Yue
Liang Zinan and Huang Junxin pp. 163-179
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A New Examination of the Hypothesis of Implosive Onsets of bāng(幫) and duān(端) in Yue Dialects are Kra-Dai Substratum
Pang Qingwen pp. 180-197
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The Language Choices in the Personal Social Domain of the Kuala Lumpur Yue Community: Cases Analysis and Comparison of Three Female Yue Community Members
Wong Kam-Pang pp. 198-219
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Now showing 1 - 14 of 14

Front Matter (Volume 9, 2024)
(Ohio State University. Libraries, 2024-11) Buckeye East Asian Linguistics
Welcoming Remarks by Professor Zhan Bohui, Convenor
(Ohio State University. Libraries, 2024-11) Bohui, Zhan
Text of Professor Zhan Bohui's speech at the 27th International Conference on Yue Dialects.
Negative Wh-Constructions in Cantonese Revisited
(Ohio State University. Libraries, 2024-11) Choi, Tsun Hei
Negative wh-construction (NWHC) refers to the non-canonical use of wh-words to express strong negation. The syntax and semantics of NWHC have been studied thoroughly by Cheung (2008, 2009). The main purpose of this paper is to revisit some major arguments in Cheung (2008). Providing novel evidence from Cantonese, I propose that the NWH-word is generated below TP and that NWHC involves an Agree relation between the NWH-word and the expressive component, which shares the same structure with other post-subject rhetorical expressions. The findings not only shed light on a syntactic approach to rhetorical questions, but also contribute to studies in peripheral structure and expressive component.
Definitely Acquired: Cantonese Children's Acquisition of Definiteness
(Ohio State University. Libraries, 2024-11) Chow, Ian; Snyder, William
This study aims to assess Cantonese-speaking children’s ability to express definiteness through classifiers in an adult-like manner. Despite the fact that Cantonese lacks determiners, as shown by the NP/DP and nominal mapping parameters, scholars claim that Cantonese can still achieve several functions of determiners through classifiers, and that bare classifiers [Cl+N] specifically are capable of expressing definiteness, similar to English’s the. Past studies have shown that English-speaking children exhibit sensitivity to definiteness through the at ages 1-3. We claim that there is likewise the existence of early-age sensitivity to definiteness in Cantonese-speaking children, and that there is support for Cheng and Sybesma’s claim that bare classifiers in Cantonese are comparable to definite articles in English.
Evolving Pre-processing of Raw Corpus: The Digitization Initiative of Cantonese Material at the Sino-Vietnamese Border in the Late 19th Century
(Ohio State University. Libraries, 2024-11) Huang, Junxin; Lai, Joeng-zit
The linguistic diversity in the Gulf of Tonkin (GoT) is intricately documented in the late Qing materials, notably in Lagarrue’s (1900) textbook, which composes Cantonese using the Vietnamese alphabet, deviating significantly from the standard utilization of the Latin alphabet. This valuable resource contains over 2,400 vocabulary items, 2,500 unique characters with pronunciation, pronunciation guides, dialogues, and classical Chinese pleadings with Cantonese phonetics written in Vietnamese alphabet. Furthermore, the corpus includes trilingual vocabulary, idioms translated into French, and a comparison with late 19th-century Guangzhou Cantonese. The study focuses on developing a comprehensive pre-processing workflow for Lagarrue’s corpus, involving technology-enhanced text organization (manual organization, optical character recognition (OCR), machine translation), conversion of Lagarrue’s text to Jyutping++, extraction of linguistic insights through statistical analysis. The methodology includes a Jyutping++ transcription scheme for enhanced reversibility and frequency priority, a Vietnamese alphabet decomposing algorithm, useful regular expression patterns for Jyutping++ and the establishment of an open-access online corpus with search capabilities for worldwide research (got.jyutdict.org). Preliminary linguistic findings (Lai, et al., 2023), such as the merging of rhymes 豪 and 侯, along with the 陽 rhyme merging with the colloquial reading of the class 梗, and noticeable instances of the rising tones 古上聲 are recorded. They highlight significant phonological characteristics of the Cantonese dialect at the Sino-Vietnamese border in the late 19th century. This underscores the importance of the pre-processing workflow, facilitating deeper dialectal exploration and emphasizing the significance of digitization and open-source efforts in linguistic research.
Investigating Linguistic Features of Narration Among Non-Chinese Speaking Students in Hong Kong
(Ohio State University. Libraries, 2024-11) Lam, Cindy Man-fong; Chan, Kevin Kin-wing; Wong, Sheung Ping
In existing research on Chinese as a second language (CSL) acquisition in Hong Kong, the Cantonese oral proficiency of non-Chinese speaking (NCS) students receives far less attention than the challenge of developing their literacy skills in standard written Chinese (SWC). This study focuses on the second language (L2) Cantonese oral language abilities of NCS students with advanced speaking proficiency, describing several salient linguistic features in their Cantonese speech based on elicited oral narrative speech data. The test group comprises 16 senior secondary students of Pakistani heritage recruited from a single school in Hong Kong (mean age = 16.44 years), with an average duration in formal Cantonese learning experience of 12.50 years. Students’ oral performance was assessed through a storytelling task using the wordless illustrated storybook Frog, Where Are You? (Mayer 1969). Prominent linguistic features observed from audio recording transcriptions include the extensive blending of SWC elements across various lexical and morphological categories, English code-mixing retaining source-language morphosyntax, and a limited inventory of classifiers. Comparison with native Cantonese speaker controls reveals systematic errors (Corder 1967) involving such features, suggesting the emergence of a new interlanguage variety of spoken Cantonese among South Asian NCS students in Hong Kong. The findings of this study offer valuable insights regarding how advanced adolescent CSL learners in Hong Kong simultaneously acquire multiple Chinese varieties in their formal education. This research carries significant implications for pedagogy and curriculum design that aims to improve Cantonese oral proficiency among this group of learners.
Developing a CEFR-aligned Test in Hong Kong: Cantonese Oral Proficiency Examination (COPE)
(Ohio State University. Libraries, 2024-11) Lau, Chaak Ming; Pai, Raymond; Cheung, Kwan Hin; Chow, Bun Ching; Lai, Yik-Po; Lau, Cindy Wan Yee; Yu, Roy Shing; Tam, Hugo Wing-Yu; Ki, Mei-ying; Lam, Vienna Hoi Yung; Yu, Edward; Dennig, Sik-Lee
This paper addresses the current state of Cantonese proficiency assessments and introduces a new test aligned with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). This new test fills gaps in existing evaluations by focusing on Cantonese oral proficiency for less advanced learners (CEFR levels A1, A2, and B1) without requiring prior knowledge of English, Written Chinese, or Mandarin. Its design also considers cultural neutrality and avoids assumptions about Hong Kong-specific knowledge, emphasizing oral communication without bias towards accent or precise pronunciation. Conducted via one-to-one video conferencing, the test features a variety of tasks to assess interactive communication skills. This test aims to meet the sociolinguistic needs of diverse Cantonese learners globally and to encourage further promotion and development of relevant learning materials.
What's Borrowed, and What's Not: Revisiting the Which-Constructions In Hong Kong Cantonese
(Ohio State University. Libraries, 2024-11) Lee, Tommy Tsz-Ming
This paper discusses an understudied, emerging type of relative constructions in Cantonese code-mixing speeches. The signature property is the usage of the English relative pronoun which, and it constitutes a relative construction that resembles its English counterpart. Earlier studies suggest that the constructions instantiate a case of lexicosyntactic transferences, involving both (i) lexical borrowing of the English relative pronoun which and (ii) syntactic borrowing of relative structures of English. However, I suggest that neither English-style relative structures nor post-modification gets into Cantonese grammar. More specifically, drawing on data collected from online forums, blogposts, magazines, and so on, I argue that the parallels between which-RCs and English RCs are only superficial. The lexical item which is lexically borrowed as a clausal-level grammatical marker that introduces a discourse relevant proposition. The grammatical function of which as a relative pronoun is bleached, and it bears a minimal relation to the head noun.
Variation in Cantonese Acceptability Judgements due to Language Contact: An Investigation of Word Order Preferences in the Resultative Construction
(Ohio State University. Libraries, 2024-11) Leung, Justin R.; Kush, Dave
This study investigates the acceptability of different word orders in the resultative construction among Cantonese speakers in Canada (heritage) and Hong Kong (homeland). In an auditory acceptability judgement experiment, heritage speakers of Cantonese and English-dominant speakers were found to have higher acceptance of the English-influenced Means-Object-Result word order than homeland speakers and Cantonese-dominant speakers, respectively. These results give support to models of bilingual/multilingual grammars that propose that the extent of cross-linguistic influence is proportional to language dominance (Filipović and Hawkins 2019, Putnam and Sanchez 2013). We argue that these results demonstrate a system-altering change in the grammar of heritage/English-dominant speakers due to contact with English, where the functional features of English are temporarily/permanently drawn upon despite incompatibilities between the grammars of the two languages. We discuss possible mechanisms of change within the framework of Feature Reassembly (Lardiere 2009).
Analyzing Maintenance of Heritage Languages in Migration Context: Insights from Cantonese Heritage Language Users in the Netherlands
(Ohio State University. Libraries, 2024-11) So, Aholi
Despite the global decline of Sinitic varieties other than Mandarin, there is an absence of research on the heritage language maintenance on the user’s level. This study proposes the Heritage Language Attitude model to explore the dynamics of heritage language maintenance by analysing the experiences of 1.5- and second-generation Dutch Cantonese descendants. Through constructivist grounded theory, four dimensions emerged: Necessity, Perception of the World, Cultural Heritage, and Pragmatic Reasoning. These dimensions reveal how individual experiences intersect with broader cultural and societal factors, influencing language attitudes and intergenerational transmission outlook. The findings contribute towards a more inclusive and effective heritage preservation and heritage language policies. The study calls for community-driven research to address the needs of heritage communicative communities, urge rethinking heritage language maintenance in migration contexts, and offers an analytical framework to accomplish this.
Literary and Colloquial Variations: A Study on the Acquisition of Cantonese by Mandarin-speaking Students in Hong Kong Tertiary Institutions
(Ohio State University. Libraries, 2024-11) Li, Chenxi; Leung, Wai-mun
This study adopts a sociocultural theory framework and targets Mandarin-speaking Cantonese second language learners in Hong Kong tertiary institutions. Using surveys and in-depth interviews, it contrasts the use of literary and colloquial readings between native Mandarin and Cantonese speakers when reading the “List of Hong Kong Cantonese Literary and Colloquial Readings.” The findings indicate that native Cantonese speakers tend to maintain colloquial readings, while Mandarin speakers struggle with distinguishing literary and colloquial readings and face challenges in acquiring different vowel lengths. Besides, native Mandarin speakers often use dual readings for the same word but are better at literary readings. This paper recommends integrating teachings on literary and colloquial readings into current Cantonese second language curriculum design, using phased and situational communicative teaching methods to aid Mandarin speakers in mastering these distinctions.
Man1 in Ngzhau Cantonese: A Study of Language Contact between Yuehai and Goulou Yue
(Ohio State University. Libraries, 2024-11) Liang, Zinan; Huang, Junxin
Ngzhau Cantonese (梧州白話) is a Yuehai (粵海片) dialect island in Guangxi, surrounded by Goulou (勾漏片) varieties. Although Ngzhau is lexically and grammatically highly similar to other Yuehai varieties, it has a distinct functional morpheme man1, used in the words dim2man1 (“why”,“how”) and gam2man1(“in this manner”). This man1 morpheme is absent in Yuehai and its origin is obscure. We conduct a cross-comparison of the forms and functions of man1 between Ngzhau Cantonese, Standard Cantonese, and nearby Goulou varieties in historical records and fieldwork data. We find that Goulou varieties show a more flexible use of man1, either alone or compounded. This flexibility supports our hypothesis that man1 in Ngzhau was borrowed from Goulou Yue. Our analysis suggests that Ngzhau initially adopted gam2man1 and dim2man1 from Goulou, later replacing dim2 joeng2 with these borrowed forms. This case study provides evidence of contact between Ngzhau Cantonese and Goulou Yue. There is a possibility of other potential influences between these varieties. The case study highlights the importance of examining individual morphemes to understand the dynamics of language contact within Yue varieties in Guangxi Area.
A New Examination of the Hypothesis of Implosive Onsets of bāng(幫) and duān(端) in Yue Dialects are Kra-Dai Substratum
(Ohio State University. Libraries, 2024-11) Pang, Qingwen
The article attempts to uncover substratum loanwords from the Kra-Dai languages in Yue dialects, and it compares and summarizes the correspondences of implosive consonants in Kra-Dai languages with those in Yue dialects. It is found that, in substratum loanwords, the Kra-Dai ɓ corresponds to m in Yue, and Kra-Dai ɗ corresponds to l in Yue. Therefore, it is suggested that there was no period in the history of Yue Dialects when substratum loanwords, bāng, duān onsets, were simultaneously pronounced as implosives. The implosives must have first weakened into m and l, then bāng and duān onsets underwent implosivization. The pronunciation of bāng and duān onsets as implosives is considered a later change. Whether the incorporation of implosives into Yue dialects’ phonological system occurred through ‘language contact’ or ‘independent evolution’ remains to be studied.
The Language Choices in the Personal Social Domain of the Kuala Lumpur Yue Community: Cases Analysis and Comparison of Three Female Yue Community Members
(Ohio State University. Libraries, 2024-11) Wong, Kam-Pang
While Yue is the predominant language in certain regions of Malaysia, previous sociolinguistics studies have mostly focused on the usage of other Sinitic languages in the local context. The discussion of the situation of Yue in certain regions is relatively limited. The author conducted a survey with three Chinese female members of the Kuala Lumpur Yue Community from August 2023 to May 2024 to investigate their language choices. This paper summarizes the findings of the survey, describing and comparing the interviewees’ language choices in the family and friend occasions, which are parts of the personal social domain. It then contrasts these findings with existing large-scale language surveys conducted in Malaysia, aiming to enhance the sociolinguistic understanding of the Kuala Lumpur Yue Community.

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Buckeye East Asian Linguistics 9 (BEAL 9)

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