Singapore Mandarin Grammar I

Book excerpt: As the first volume of a two-volume set that presents a comprehensive syntactical picture of Singapore Mandarin, this title discusses the distinguishing characteristics of the Chinese language and describes the grammar of Singapore Mandarin. The book first provides an overview of the grammar of Singapore Mandarin and compares it with Chinese Mandarin (Putonghua). As a variety of Mandarin Chinese, Singapore Mandarin is also characterised by syntactic rules taking precedence over morphological rules. Therefore, it is argued that word order and functional words are specifically important in the study of Singapore Mandarin. Then the author explicates the properties and functions of the following nine grammatical components: the five most basic phrase types, word classes, sentences, subjects and predicates, predicates and objects, predicates and complements, attributes and adverbials, complex predicate phrases, and prepositions and prepositional phrases. With rich and authentic language examples, the book will serve as a must-read for learners and teachers of Mandarin Chinese and linguistics scholars interested in global Chinese and especially Singapore Mandarin.