Cantonese: A Comprehensive Grammar is a complete reference guide to Cantonese as spoken by native speakers in Hong Kong. It presents a fresh and accessible description of the language, concentrating on the real patterns of use in current Cantonese. This makes it the ideal reference source for all learners and users of Cantonese, irrespective of level, in schools, colleges, universities and adult classes of all types. Moreover, it will provide a lasting and reliable resource for all fluent speakers of the language.
The book is organized to promote a thorough understanding of Cantonese grammar. Arranged by both syntactic categories and language functions, the Grammar provides an in-depth treatment of structures and pays special attention to idiom and speech registers. Explanations are full, clear and free of jargon. An extensive index, numbered paragraphs and generous use of headings and cross-references provide readers with easy access to the information they require.
Features include:
Comprehensive pronunciation section
Full use of examples from films, advertising and authentic conversations
Cantonese-English parallels highlighted throughout the book
All examples given in characters as well as pinyin
Table of Contents:
Chapter 01 Introduction; Chapter 02 Phonology: the Cantonese sound system; Chapter 03 Word structure: morphology and word formation; Chapter 04 Syntactic categories: parts of speech in Cantonese; Chapter 05 Sentence structure: word order and topicalization; Chapter 06 Pronouns; Chapter 07 The noun phrase; Chapter 08 Prepositions and expressions of location; Chapter 09 The verb phrase; Chapter 10 Adjectival constructions: description and comparison; Chapter 11 Adverbial constructions; Chapter 12 Aspect and verbal particles; Chapter 13 Modality: possibility and probability; Chapter 14 Negation; Chapter 15 Quantification and existential sentences; Chapter 16 Relative and noun-modifying clauses; Chapter 17 Coordination and subordinate clauses; Chapter 18 Questions; Chapter 19 Sentence particles and interjections; Chapter 20 Imperative sentences: commands and requests; Chapter 21 Cantonese speech conventions: politeness and terms of address; Chapter 22 Numerals and times;
About the Author :
Stephen Matthews
Review :
Reviews of the first edition:
'It is fortunate that the long-felt need for a Cantonese grammar should have been so competently met at the first attempt. This is an excellent book, down to earth, up-to-date, full of insights, replete with well-selected and illuminating examples, and written with minimal reliance on jargon, so that it is accessible to all who are interested in Cantonese.' - Professor Hugh Baker, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies
'Cantonese: A Comprehensive Grammar represents the latest effort in writing a dialectal grammar, a grammar that aims to serve language students, teachers, and linguists alike with both challenge and elegance.' - Professor Samuel H.N. Cheung, International Review of Chinese Linguistics
'A cover-to-cover reading leaves the impression that Matthews and Yip's work is undoubtably the reference grammar of Cantonese that we have been waiting for.' - Professor Alain Peyraube, International Review of Chinese Linguistics
'Matthews and Yip make a formidable team in putting together what is, in essence, the first full-length treatment in English to date of the grammar of modern spoken Cantonese.' - Professor Marjorie Chan, Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association
'The lack of a comprehensive reference grammar of Cantonese has long been a curious and embarrassing situation. Matthews and Yip's work therefore constitutes a landmark in Chinese linguistics.' - Professor Jeroen Wiedenhof, Glot International
'Matthews and Yip have indeed written a comprehensive grammar, which addresses the needs of Western learners of Cantonese and of general linguists in a thorough and detailed way... the authors have given the Cantonese language a long overdue, rightful place and a proper prominence within the descriptions of Chinese.' - Professor Gisela Bruche-Schulz, Cahiers de Linguistique Asie Orientale
