Semantic Primitives of Time and Space in Hong Kong Cantonese  

Oleh:

Tong, Malindy ; Yell, Michael ; Goddard, Cliff

Jenis: Article from Journal - ilmiah internasional
Dalam koleksi: Language Sciences (Full Text) vol. 19 no. 3 (1997), page 245-261.
Fulltext: 19_03_Tong.pdf (950.01KB)

Isi artikel

This paper takes a subset of the semantic primitives currently proposed in the Natural Semantic Metalanguage theory (Wierzbicka, 1996) and addresses two questions: Do these meanings have lexical equivalents in Cantonese? If so, does their combinatorial syntax conform to Wierzbicka's hypotheses? The temporal primitives (WHEN/TIME, NOW, BEFORE, AFTER, A LONG TIME, A SHORT TIME) are all found to have clear Cantonese exponents which can be combined as predicted with other metalanguage elements--but for two exceptions: the combinations A VERY SHORT TIME and BEFOaE/AFTER NOW are apparently not possible in Cantonese. We also argue that the Cantonese evidence suggests that 'when-time' (as in the phrase AT THIS TIME) and 'frequency time' (as in IT HAPPENED TWO TIMES) may be distinct semantic primes. As for the spatial primitives (WHERE/PLACE, HERE, NEAR, FAR, INSIDE, SIDE, ABOVE, BELOW), they all appear to have Cantonese exponents with the predicted syntax, but the tentative proposal that ON may be a universal primitive is challenged by the apparent lack of an equivalent expression in Cantonese.

Opini Anda

Klik untuk menuliskan opini Anda tentang koleksi ini!

Kembali