Establishing Central Sinitic Languages as a Linguistic Sprachbund - Transitional and Area-specific Features (UGC/FDS24/H18/22) (HK$756,800)

The Chinese language family comprises ten phylogenetically affiliated ‘dialectal’ groups, namely Mandarin, Jin, Wu, Hui, Gan, Xiang, Min, Hakka, Yue, Ping groups, according to the second edition of Language Atlas of China (2012). Among them, some varieties share more grammatical features in common than the others, therefore scholars have proposed several linguistic areas within Chinese languages. Hashimoto (1976, 1986), for instance, proposed a north-south divide among Chinese languages by the geographic Qinling-huaihe Line. For example, Northern Chinese languages like Beijing Mandarin have fewer tones, higher ratio of polysyllabic words, and a passive marker from CAUSATIVE-meaning verbs, whereas Southern Chinese languages like Cantonese possess more tones, higher ratio of monosyllabic words, and a passive marker from GIVE-meaning verb. Norman (1988) refined Hashimoto (1976)’s division by adding a ‘transitional’ zone, which sometimes demonstrate features of Northern Chinese languages, and at other times features of Southern Chinese languages. In addition to the Northern and Southern features, Chappell (2015) revealed plausible area-specific features for the ‘transitional’ zone and proposed a five-zone distinction among Chinese languages. Later Szeto (2019) carried out a quantitative study on 213 Chinese languages based on the Northern and Southern features, and concluded with a four-zone analysis.
Despite the advancement of the study on linguistic areas in Chinese languages, no study is dedicated to the Central Transitional Area, let alone the ‘fluctuating’ features and area-specific features which can categorize such a linguistic area, probably due the scarcity of research on the Central Chinese dialects themselves, especially Hui dialects.
Leveraged on our pilot study of a comprehensive description of a little-studied ‘transitional’ Chinese language, namely Tunxi Hui, we're able to select 18 ‘fluctuating’ features and 4 candidate area-specific features as the feature pool for further investigation. Therefore, this proposed study, first of its kind, will embark on a typological investigation of the grammatical features of the Central Transitional Sinitic languages, mainly Wu, Hui, Gan, Xiang, Jianghuai Mandarin and Southwestern Mandarin varieties. In specific, we will select around 15 representative ‘dialects’ of Transitional Sinitic languages, analyzed against 18 ‘transitional’ features affiliated with either Northern or Southern Chinese languages, and 4 candidate area-specific features unique to this area. In doing so, we aim to
(i) Investigate distributions of transitional and area-specific typological features in Central Sinitic languages; and
(ii) Reveal the relationship between such distributions, in characterizing a Central Transitional linguistic area of Chinese languages; and
(iii) To evaluate if the area in question can be evaluated as a (transitional) linguistic area
In sum, it is hoped that this project will bridge the gap in the little-studied Central Chinese languages, by revealing more on their transitional and unique features as transitional ‘dialects’ between Northern type of Chinese, e.g. Mandarin, and Southern type of Chinese, e.g. Cantonese.