A book review by Tao Hongyin in Pragmatics, 2002, 12.4, pp 506-7.
Yuyong Pinlu Xiaoying Yanjiu [Studies in frequency effects of language use], by Zou Shaohua. Beijing: Shangwu Yinshuguan, People's Republic of China. 2001. 298 pp. Paperback Remninbi 17.00.
This is a collection of papers by the same author over a period of nearly two decades (1984-2001). Even though Zou is a structural linguist by training, these studies demonstrate his deep insights into the role of language use in shaping the grammar of the Chinese language, and the results provide strong, independent support for the dynamic view of linguistic structure, as advocated by such Western scholars as Joan Bybee, Paul Hopper, John Sinclair, and Sandra A. Thompson, that has become the focus of much functional linguistic work in recent years.
After a brief introduction, where the author describes the need to use frequency to explain structural (ir)regularities in Chinese, the book quickly turns to discussions of eleven topics in Chinese grammar. A number of topics have to do with how language use gives rise to subjective connotations of lexical items. In chapter one, for example, Zou shows that, shuiping ‘level/standard', a semantically neutral item, evokes a positive meaning of 'high leve1/standard' or 'advanced superiority' when combined with an existential verb. Zuo (sic) explains this shift in meaning in terms of the context in which shuiping typically appears: It is often used in connection with gao 'high', and the collocation pattern is stored in memory and gives rise to the positive connotation that it inherently lacks. A similar explanation is applied to many other nouns as well as the negative connotations associated with the distal demonstrative form nage.
The second set of topics are concerned with grammatical items and syntactic and syntactic structures, including postpositions, various ambiguous constructions, the VP+NPl+de+NP2 construction, serial verb constructions and comparative constructions. Zuo (sic) points out that the postposition li 'inside' is freer to be dropped out than its counterpart wai 'outside'. He attributes this asymmetry to the facts that li has a much higher frequency and a wider scope of use than wai, and high frequency makes it more predictable and thus easier to be omitted in discourse. Chapters six through nine demonstrate the preferred interpretations of some otherwise ambiguous syntactic structures, and contextual information can help determine that the second clause, rather than the first clause, in a serial verb construction is the main component of the utterance. He also shows the preference for comparatives to be used in a positive context, which explains why the syntax of positive comparatives is less restricted than its negative counterpart.
Finally, the author advocates in chapters ten and eleven that parts of speech considerations in dictionaries and language policy making in general would benefit greatly from considering frequency information obtained from real texts.
Overall his book shows convincingly that frequency of use is a central factor in explaining why grammars the way they are and attention to language use can provide realistic accounts for regularities in grammar. Even though the author appears to have limited access to Western discourse theory, his results fit surprisingly well with current research in discourse functional linguistics.
Hongyin Tao
Yuyong Pinlu Xiaoying Yanjiu [Studies in frequency effects of language use], by Zou Shaohua. Beijing: Shangwu Yinshuguan, People's Republic of China. 2001. 298 pp. Paperback Remninbi 17.00.
This is a collection of papers by the same author over a period of nearly two decades (1984-2001). Even though Zou is a structural linguist by training, these studies demonstrate his deep insights into the role of language use in shaping the grammar of the Chinese language, and the results provide strong, independent support for the dynamic view of linguistic structure, as advocated by such Western scholars as Joan Bybee, Paul Hopper, John Sinclair, and Sandra A. Thompson, that has become the focus of much functional linguistic work in recent years.
After a brief introduction, where the author describes the need to use frequency to explain structural (ir)regularities in Chinese, the book quickly turns to discussions of eleven topics in Chinese grammar. A number of topics have to do with how language use gives rise to subjective connotations of lexical items. In chapter one, for example, Zou shows that, shuiping ‘level/standard', a semantically neutral item, evokes a positive meaning of 'high leve1/standard' or 'advanced superiority' when combined with an existential verb. Zuo (sic) explains this shift in meaning in terms of the context in which shuiping typically appears: It is often used in connection with gao 'high', and the collocation pattern is stored in memory and gives rise to the positive connotation that it inherently lacks. A similar explanation is applied to many other nouns as well as the negative connotations associated with the distal demonstrative form nage.
The second set of topics are concerned with grammatical items and syntactic and syntactic structures, including postpositions, various ambiguous constructions, the VP+NPl+de+NP2 construction, serial verb constructions and comparative constructions. Zuo (sic) points out that the postposition li 'inside' is freer to be dropped out than its counterpart wai 'outside'. He attributes this asymmetry to the facts that li has a much higher frequency and a wider scope of use than wai, and high frequency makes it more predictable and thus easier to be omitted in discourse. Chapters six through nine demonstrate the preferred interpretations of some otherwise ambiguous syntactic structures, and contextual information can help determine that the second clause, rather than the first clause, in a serial verb construction is the main component of the utterance. He also shows the preference for comparatives to be used in a positive context, which explains why the syntax of positive comparatives is less restricted than its negative counterpart.
Finally, the author advocates in chapters ten and eleven that parts of speech considerations in dictionaries and language policy making in general would benefit greatly from considering frequency information obtained from real texts.
Overall his book shows convincingly that frequency of use is a central factor in explaining why grammars the way they are and attention to language use can provide realistic accounts for regularities in grammar. Even though the author appears to have limited access to Western discourse theory, his results fit surprisingly well with current research in discourse functional linguistics.
Hongyin Tao
