Chinese 580 THE CHINESE LANGUAGE Description and Analysis Winter Quarter 1998
Professor Marjorie Chan Dept. of East Asian Languages & Literatures 366 Cunz Hall | 292-3619 The Ohio State University F 1-3 pm, or by appt. chan.9 @osu.edu (close the gap)

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1. Required: The Languages of China. By S. Robert Ramsey. (Princeton: Princeton U. Press, 1987. Paperback.)
2. Optional: The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy. By John DeFrancis. (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1984. Paperback. (Excerpts: Chapters 4,5, and 7.)
3. Additional Readings to be on Reserve in Main Library.

This is a survey course introducing important elements of the Chinese language -- its structure, dialects, and writing system -- as well as such topics as language acquisition, language planning, and language use in society. The course can serve as a third writing course and is taught in English.

The course aims to give students an overview of important elements of the Chinese language, its use, and other topics concerning the Chinese language. The course also has a three-fold objective with respect to the intellectual growth and development of the students: (1) to improve their skills in expressing themselves with clarity both orally and in writing, (2) to develop their ability to read carefully and critically demanding texts, and to analyze and synthesize the ideas and concepts in them, and (3) to improve their research and library skills through individual research projects.

The course will be conducted through lectures combined with class discussions of assigned readings, individual and small-group assignments in class, and students' presentation of homework assignments and their individual research project. Course work includes students' selection of a research topic, their bibliographic search in the library system for relevant materials, and a term paper (circa 10 pages, typed and double-spaced) demonstrating ability to analyze critically the selected research topic. Students are expected to make full use of the World Wide Web to search for on-line materials. Students with interest in web-authoring and posting an on-line version of their term paper project will have opportunity to do so.

1. Read and reflect on all assigned readings prior to class lectures and discussion.
2. Attend and participate in class discussions.
3. Turn in a term paper (circa 10 pages, double-spaced). (Obtain approval of term paper topic from the instructor no later than Week 5.) An on-line version (HTML or DOC file, or some other format) may be submitted in addition to, or in lieu of, a hardcopy.

Homework assignments (2)	20%
Class discussions/participation	30%
Research project (all phases)	50%
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	100%

WEEK 1		INTRODUCTION
T	1/6	Orientation and Introduction
R	1/8	Background	Discussion of readings: . Ramsey, Ch. 1: "A language for all of China" . Ramsey, Ch. 2: "China, North and South"

WEEK 2		MODERN STANDARD CHINESE: SOUND SYSTEM I
T	1/13	Spread of Northern Influence	Discussion of readings: . Ramsey, Ch. 3: "The spread of Northern influence"
R	1/15	The Standard (Pronunciation)	Discussion of readings: . Ramsey, Ch. 4: "The standard (pronunciation)" (Pp.41-45: Initials and finals) Assignment: Homework 1

WEEK 3		MODERN STANDARD CHINESE: SOUND SYSTEM II
T	1/20	The Standard (Pronunciation)	Classroom recording and speech analysis Discussion of readings: . Ramsey, Ch. 4: "The standard (pronunciation)" (Pp.45-47: Tone, stress, and intonation)
R	1/22	Comparison between Pinyin and Wade-Giles	Discussion of: . Ramsey, Appendix B (Pp.297-300) Discussion of Homework 1. Turn in Homework 1.

WEEK 4		MODERN STANDARD CHINESE: GRAMMAR I
T	1/27	The Standard (Grammar)	Discussion of readings: . Ramsey, Ch. 5, "The standard (grammar)" (Pp.49-65: classification, word-formation)
R	1/29	(cont'd)	Discussion of readings: . Ramsey, Ch. 5, "The standard (grammar) (Pp.65-73: Sentences (topics...adjectives) Turn in project proposal and select references. Assignment: Homework 2

WEEK 5		MODERN STANDARD CHINESE: GRAMMAR II
T	2/3	The Standard (Grammar) cont'd	Discussion of readings: . Ramsey, Ch. 5, "The standard (grammar)" (Pp.73-83: Sentences (verbs and coverbs)
R	2/5	(cont'd)	Discussion of readings: . Ramsey, Ch. 5, "The standard (grammar)" (Pp.83-86: Sentences (s. types & linking) Discussion of Homework 2. Turn in Homework 2.

WEEK 6		MODERN DIALECTS OF CHINESE
T	2/10	Classification: Northern & Central dialects	Discussion of readings: . Ramsey, Ch. 6, "Today's dialects" (Pp.87-97)
R	2/11	The Southern dialects	Discussion of readings: . Ramsey, Ch. 6, "Today's dialects" (Pp.98-115) Students' presentation of their research topic.

WEEK 7		LANGUAGE AND SOCIETY
T	2/17	Language and Gender	Discussion of readings: . Chan (1998), "Gender differences in the Chinese language"
R	2/19	Complimenting	Discussion of readings: . Ye (1995), "Complimenting in Mandarin Chinese" NB: Due Monday, 23 February 1998, 12:00 noon: First draft of research paper. (Permission granted to turn in draft in class on Tuesday, 24 February 1998.)

WEEK 8		HISTORY OF THE LANGUAGE
T	2/24	History of the Chinese Language	Discussion of readings: . Ramsey, Ch. 7, "History" (Pp.116-142)
R	2/26	History of the Chinese Language (continued)	Discussion of readings: . Ramsey, Ch. 7 (cont'd)

WEEK 9		THE CHINESE WRITING SYSTEM
T	3/3	The Chinese Writing System	Discussion of readings: . DeFrancis (1984), Ch.4: "What's in a name?" . DeFrancis (1984), Ch.5: "From pictographs to what?"
R	3/5	The Chinese Writing System (continued)	Discussion of readings: . DeFrancis (1984), Ch.7: "How do Chinese characters convey meaning?" . Ramsey, Ch.8: "Chinese writing today"

WEEK 10		FINAL WEEK CLASS ACTIVITIES
T	3/10	Student presentations of their research project
R	3/12	Student presentations of their research project Due 3:00 p.m. Friday, 13 March 1998: Revised research paper.

1. Chan, Marjorie K.M. 1998. "Gender differences in the Chinese language: a preliminary report". Proceedings of the Ninth North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics (NACCL-9), 2 volumes, edited by Hua Lin. Volume 2, pp. 35-52. Los Angeles: GSIL Publications, USC.

2. Ye, Lei. 1995. "Complimenting in Mandarin Chinese." In: Pragmatics of Chinese as Native and Target Language, edited by Gabriele Kasper. Honlulu: U. of Hawaii Press. Pp. 207-302.

Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA) [WWW (OSU Columbus Only)]

J. of the Chinese Language Teachers Association: Authors and Topics Indices (1966- ).

EALL 683: Scripts of East Asia: taught by our Dept. chair, Prof. James Unger.

Marjorie Chan's ChinaLinks (ChinaLinks.osu.edu -- Homepage with Table of Contents to 4 satellite pages and their contents)

1. ChinaLinks1: General Resources for Chinese Studies: search engines, publishers, etc.
2. ChinaLinks2: Chinese Language Software & AV Programs: downloadable CJK fonts and decoders, downloadable RealPlayer, etc.
3. ChinaLinks3: Chinese Language and Linguistics: Chinese dialectology (including links to websites with Chinese dialect sound files), Chinese linguistic associations, conferences, etc.
4. ChinaLinks4: General Linguistics and Internet Resources: general references (including link to the searchable, on-line Oxford English Dictionary and other dictionaries and references), other internet resources, linguistic software and tutorials (including G. Dillon's Resources for Studying Human Speech), web-authoring tools, etc.

Marjorie Chan's Courses and Sample Syllabi

Contains readings and references that may provide a handy source to look for research topics.

[ MC's Home Page | DEALL Home Page | MC's ChinaLinks ]
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Copyright © 1997-98 Marjorie K.M. Chan. All rights reserved. Created 15 October 1997 and revised since. Last update: 16 November 1998. (Archived as c580-w98.htm on 3/19/1999, with 558 hits.) URL: http://people.cohums.ohio-state.edu/chan9/c580.htm