A Typological Description of Modern Mandarin Chinese
A Typological Description of Modern Mandarin Chinese
A Typological Description of Modern Mandarin Chinese
The paper tends to simply describe the typological classification of Mandarin Chinese, a
member of the Chinese branch of the Sino-Tibetan family. Mandarin is the major Chinese
language in that (1) it is the native language of more than half of the people of China, (2) these
native speakers inhabit about 75 percent of the land area of China, (3) it is the official language
of both mainland China and Taiwan, SAR Hongkong and Macau, Singapore and world-wide
Chinese population. and (4) the written language is structurally and lexically closer to Mandarin
than to any of the other Chinese languages. Mandarin was called guānyŭ (Official Language) in
Chinese. The word Mandarin comes, via Portuguese, from the Sanskrit word mandari
(commander). The Portuguese used the term to refer both to the Chinese people and their
language) in China, Guóyŭ (national language) in Taiwan, and Huáyŭ (Chinese language) in
Singapore and Malaysia, and other areas. As to the scope of the research, the paper tends to deal
Due to geographical and historical features and reasons, a number of Chinese languages
are mutually unintelligible. This mutual unintelligibility is largely due to phonological and
lexical factors; from the grammatical point of view, these languages are rather similar. Thus,
most of the typological features of Mandarin discussed in this paper, with some differences of
of typologically salient features. Phonologically, Mandarin Chinese is a toned language, and its
syllable structure is highly constrained. Grammatically, the most noteworthy feature is the fact
Phonological Typology
consist of three distinctive elements: initial sound, final sound and tone. The initial sounds are
consonants and the final sounds contain at least one vowel. Some syllables consist only of an
initial sound or a final sound. Unlike in European languages, initials and finals (not consonants
and vowels), are the fundamental elements in pinyin ( the new phonetic systems used to
transcribe the Mandarin Chinese language). Nearly each Chinese syllable can be spelled with
exactly one initial followed by one final, except in the special syllable er and when a trailing -r is
Even though most initials contain a consonant, finals are not simple vowels, especially in
compound finals, i.e., when one "final" is placed in front of another one. For example, [i] and [u]
are pronounced with such tight openings that some native Chinese speakers (especially when
singing) pronounce yī (clothes), officially pronounced /i/ as /ji/, wéi (to enclose), officially as
/uei/) as /wei/ or /wuei/. The concepts of consonant and vowel are not incorporated in pinyin or
many linguists like Trubetzkoy (1939), Hockett (1955), Furguson (1963), Greenberg
(1966,1978), Lass (1984) and others. In phonological aspects, the implicational universals are
2. The number of high vowels tend to be greater than that of low vowels.
True: MC has three high vowels /i, ü, u/, three mid vowels / , , o/ and one low vowel /a/.
True: MC front vowels are unrounded, and back vowels are rounded. But front ü and the
4. All languages have oral vowels. If a language has nasal vowels, the number of oral ones is
True: MC has 7 oral vowels and no nasal vowels. However, oral vowels may be nasalized
when followed by nasal consonant /n/ or /-ng [ŋ]/. And those are the only consonants
that can be syllable codas following the nuleus. E.g. “hen” /hən/, Bei-jing /bei- t iŋ/
a Mandarin “e” which sounds like the “e” in “hers.” This “e” sound is finished with the “r”
b) Sonorant Inventory
True: MC has three voiced approximants / r [ɻ], y [j] [ɥ], w/ and lateral voiced
approximant / l /.
6. All languages have at least one nasal, and its frequency hierarchy is :
Alveolar < Labial < Velar < Palatal < Retroflex < Uvular
True: MC has an alveolar /n/, a labial /m/ and a velar /ŋ / (allophone), and its frequency
True: MC has 6 voiced sonorants and no voiceless sonorants. MC’s sonorant consonantal
8. The number of voiceless obstruents is usually greater than the number of voiced, or equal.
9. Languages usually have at least three simple oral stops, most likely / p, t, k/
10. All languages have consonants and vowels, and consonants outnumber vowels.
-Stops: Alveolar < Labial < Velar < Palatal < Uvular
True: MC has 6 stops: 2 alveolars /t, d/, 2 labials / p, b /, and 2 velars /k, g/ of the
-Fricatives: Alveolar >Labial >Palatal >Velar >Velar (The glottal /h/ is excluded)
d) Tones
The Mandarin language has a fundamental difference from Western languages: it is tonal.
Tones are one of the biggest features in the Modern Mandarin Chinese language. Incorrect tones
homophonic words than most other languages. Apparently tones help the relatively small number
of syllables to multiply and thereby alleviate but not completely solve the problem. Learning
The tone of a syllable may change in some situations. For example, 达 dá in 发达 fādá
(developed, advanced), as separate character it is pronounced as /dá/, but when put together with
fā , it may become toneless due to fast speech. In term of markedness, Chinese words with first
tone (high and level) is the least marked, and the fourth tone (from top to bottom) the most
marked. (Fig. 5)
constituent order apply to Modern Mandarin Chinese in aspects of word orders and
morphological classification.
a) Word order
1. In declarative sentences with nominal subject and object, the dominant order is almost
True: In Mandarin Chinese, the dominant order is SVO in declarative sentences with
2. In languages with prepositions, the genitive almost always follows the governing noun,
True: Chinese is the language with postpositions, the genitive always precedes the noun it
governs.
e.g. Nǐ de xiézi zài chuáng dǐ xià. (Your shoes are under the bed)
You –GEN shoe exist/lie bed- bottom under (你的鞋子在出纳各地下窗底下)
3. If in a language with dominant SOV order, there is no alternative basic order, or only OSV
as the alternative, then all adverbial modifiers of the verb likewise precede the verb. (This is the
True: MC is a language with dominant SVO order. The word order OSV is the alternative
word order due to topicalization, and all adverbial modifiers of the verb precede the
verb it modifies.
e.g. Wǒ lǎozǎo jiù zhidào zhè gè xiāoxi le. (I’ve already known this news long
ago.)
I long-ago -ADV. know this -CLASS news –PAST (我老早就知道这个消息了)
4. With well more than chance frequency, when question particles or affixes are specified in
position by reference to the sentence as a whole, if initial, such elements are found in
True: MC Chinese is the language with postpositions, the Yes-no question particles are
e.g. Nǐ xǐhuān zài yángguāng xià yóuyǒng ma? (Do you like swimming under the sun?)
You like –PART sun-shine under swim –Q.Part (你喜欢在阳光下游泳吗?)
5. Inversion of statement order so that verb precedes subject occurs only in languages where
the question word or phrase is normally initial. This same inversion occurs in yes-no questions
True: In MC, there’s no inversion of statement order for the verb to precede subject in any
types of questions; the question word or phrase is not initial but posited at the place
6. In conditional statements, the conditional clause precedes the conclusion as the normal
True: Conditional clause precedes the conclusion as the normal order in MC.
7. When the descriptive adjective precedes the noun, the demonstrative and the numeral, with
True: MC descriptive adjective precedes the noun, so do demonstrative and the numeral.
8. When the general rule is that the descriptive adjective follows, there may be a minority of
adjectives which usually precede, but when the general rule is that descriptive adjectives
True: MC has the general rule that descriptive adjectives precede, and there are no
exceptions.
9. When any or all of the items (demonstrative, numeral, and descriptive adjective) precede
the noun, they are always found in that order. If they follow, the order is either the same or its
exact opposite.
True: Any or all of the items (demonstrative, numeral, and descriptive adjective) precede
the noun, and the order is almost fixed. (Dem > Num > A > N)
e.g. Nà wǔ zhī lǎnsàn de hēi zhū (Those five sluggish black pigs)
That five –CL sluggish –ADJ.MAR black pig. (那五只懒散的黑猪)
10. If some or all adverbs follow the adjective they modify, then the language is one in which
the qualifying adjective follows the noun and the verb precedes its nominal object as the
dominant order.
False: In MC, the qualifying adjective precedes the noun, the verb precede its nominal
object as the dominant order, and all adverbs precede the adjective they modify.
True: MC is the language which in comparisons of superiority the only order is standard-
12. If the relative expression precedes the noun either as the only construction or as an
alternate construction, either the language is postpositional, or the adjective precedes the noun or
both.
True: In MC, the relative expression or clause precedes the noun, and this is the only
- “zhǎo dào” is the combination of verb and its resulative complement that indicates the
result of action. In English, the verb “hear” has two semantic units, the sensory action ‘to listen’
and perception as a result of the action. The verb ‘see’ also has two semantic units with one
indicating the action of looking and the other indicating perception as the result. Therefore, there
are no such verbs as ‘hear’, ‘see’, ‘find’, ‘kill’ and so on in Chinese. For example, the verb tīng
听 (to listen) and kàn 看 (look) do not indicate whether the sound has been heard or whether the
object has been seen. Not having a built-in semantic unit indicating result, Chinese verbs have to
called the resultative complement. It is placed immediately after the verb to indicate the result of
the action. In the case of dào 到 (to attain) must be used as a complement to form combos that
i.e. zhǎo(look for ) + dào (attain the expected result) = zhǎo dào (find)
Universal 13. If the pronominal object follows the verb, so does the nominal object.
True: Chinese both pronominal and nominal object follow the verb.
b) Morphology
14. No language has a trial number unless it has a dual. No language has a dual unless it has a
plural.
True: MC has a dual and trial number pronouns. But it limits only the first person plural
pronoun.
e.g. wǒmen 我们: the exclusive plural “we”, but without “you".
zánmen 咱们: inclusive dual “we”, including “you” and “I”. (Fig. 3)
15. All languages have pronominal categories involving at least three persons and two
numbers.
True: MC has pronominal categories involving at least 3 persons and 2 numbers. (Fig. 3)
16. If a language has gender distinctions in the first person, it always has gender distinctions
second and third person in written characters. However, the phonetic transcripts are
indistinctive. (Fig. 3)
e.g. Nǐ : 你 you (m), 妳 you (f); nǐmen : 你们 you (m. pl.) , 妳们 you (f. pl.)
(they [m. pl.], they [f. pl.], they [n. inani. Pl], they [n. ani. Pl., respectively )
17. If there are any gender distinctions in the plural of the pronoun, there are some gender
True: MC has gender distinctions in the plural of the personal pronouns, and it also has
Lexical typology in is becoming an important field of linguistic research and draws attention
of more and more researchers, as, for example, Newman (ed.) 2002, Goddard (ed.) 2008,
Bowerman et al. 2004 and Majid et al. 2007, Majsak & Rakhilina (eds.) 2007; for a recent
overview see Koptjevskaja-Tamm 2008. Generally, a study in lexical typology aims at (i)
discovering parameters of variation relevant for a given lexical group, and (ii) describing how
The Mandarin Chinese language has a rich lexicon. The major word classes are verbs and
nouns. At this part of the paper, the article will provides accounts of possible parameters of
semantic variation within the Mandarin Chinese language in color and kinship terms.
Traditionally, Chinese considers only five colors basic: bái 白“white”, hēi 黑 “black”, chì
赤 /hóng 红 “red”, huáng 黄 “yellow”, and qīng 青 “dark blue”, and even though, like many
other languages, Chinese recognizes eleven basic color terms: bái 白 “ white”, hēi 黑 “ black”,
hóng 红“red”, huáng 黄“yellow”, lǜ 绿 “green”, lán 蓝“blue”, huī 灰“grey”, zōng 棕“brown”,
júhuáng 橘黄“orange”, zĭ 紫 “purple” and fĕnghóng 粉红“pink” (cf. Baxter 1983, Hardin &
Maffi 1997). For each color term, three types of meanings are identified: original meaning,
* Extended meaning : referring to the meaning extended from the original meaning through
metaphor.
* Abstract meaning : referring to the meaning that has been further abstracted from the
extended meaning.
- Object-colored terms:
Of the semantic functions, some of the color can be categorized into several types with a
special semantic meanings. Among them, bái”(white) has the most common types with its
particular meanings. For example, “white clean” as qīngbái 清白(guiltless), “clear understand”
as báihuà 白话, “white eye/ dislike” as báiyăn 白眼. In some situation, “white” in Chinese is
associated with the meaning of invalidation and terror, for example, “bǎida” 白搭 (all in vain)
and “bǎiqū” 白 区 (enemy controlled area). Some common examples to indicate “white
In contrast to some Indo-European language kinship terms, the Chinese kinship system is
very complicated. Generation, age, and gender (bèifēn 辈分, niánlíng 年龄, xìngbié 性别) are
the base of hierarchy. Confucianism is the leading dominant philosophy of the Chinese people.
Confucianism provides a protocol for family life. Therefore, the hierarchy of generation-age-
gender defines an individual's position, role, privileges, duties, and liabilities within the family
order accordingly. Family members should know precisely where in the family they stand by
referring to this order: to whom each owes respect and obedience. Position in the family is more
important than personal idiosyncrasies: people of the elder generation are superior to those of the
absolutely superior to women (Baker 1979). Everyone in the family owes obedience to the eldest
Kinship is one of the most important principles of social organization in Chinese society.
This general hierarchy as Chinese traditional term “wǔdài tóngtáng” 五代同堂 (Five generations
in the same hall/house) can be viewed from generational hierarchy universal below (Croft,
1990):
Patrilineality (agnatic kinship) is a system in which one belongs to one's father's lineage; it
generally involves the inheritance of property, names or titles through the male line as well, this
(Great-great-grandfather, great-grandfather, grandfather, father and self, self and son, son and
grandson)
“Zì zǐ sūn zhì xuán zēng, nǎi jiǔ zú rén zhǐ lùn” (自子孫至玄曾, 乃九族人之倫)
From son and grandson, on to great-grandson and great-great-grandson. These are the nine
agnates, constituting the kinships of man. ( From Three Character Classic or Trimetric Classic)
This paper has attempted to briefly describe the Chinese language in terms of phonological,
morphological, lexical and language structural typology. Chinese language is considered as one
of the analytic (isolating) languages, Chinese words tend to consist of free morphemes, i.e., they
are monomorphic. Nearly half Chinese words are monomorphic, and also monosyllabic. Since
analytic languages usually have relatively few derivational or inflectional morphemes, they tend
to form words by combining free morphemes into compounds. Thus a preponderance of both
simple and compound words tend to be a feature of analytic languages. Nearly half of all
Chinese words are monomorphemic, and most of the rest are compounds such as diànhuà 电话
vision. Morphologically, in some ways, Chinese can also be treated as a synthetic (inflected)
language, a language which uses inflectional forms, such as affixes, as a primary means of
indicating the grammatical function of the words in the language. Many examples given in the
paper somehow reflect the synthetic features of the Chinese language in terms of word formation
and concept creativeness. Lexically, Chinese language consists of variety of cultural and moral
concepts, plentiful color terms and complicated kinship relationship. Chinese kinship system is a
unique form of Chinese indigenous terms that has its roots deep in Chinese culture. It is the
This scrupulous system of kinship terms not only reflects “certain aspects of the Chinese value,
but also carries several communicative functions, namely, the linking function, the mentation
function, and the regulatory function, in speech communication. It deserves some attention from
those who are interested in intercultural communication studies. (Huang and Jia) This paper only
serves as a brief description of this interesting and yet almost untouched phenomenon in cross-
APPENDIX 1