This paper discusses the syntactic function of Nuclear Stress Rule (NSR) in Chinese; it is argued that the NSR is a central mechanism developed in the theory of prosodic syntax under which the interface effects between prosody and syntax are derived. It is shown that the NS not only carries the normal sentential stress but also manifests wide scope focus information. In answering confusions and criticisms raised by students and scholars in recent years, this paper provides some new facts with new analyses motivated by the Government-based Nuclear Stress Rule in Chinese.

There are two ‘mighty hierarchies’ in Chinese syntax. One is meaningful individual characters which are equivalent to morphemes. The other is character-groups composed of meaningful individual characters which belong to bonding phrases. The two mighty hierarchies lead to syntacticization of Chinese character-groups, which expands to compound words. On the other hand, of the same importance is that the bonding phrases have the tendency to lexicalize potentially once they are integrated through blending. Those with high solidification thereupon become the compound words. The two processes (syntacticization and lexicalization) have complementary effect. The two processes will be demonstrated respectively in this paper. Meanwhile the motivation and hierarchy of word integration will be analyzed by using concrete examples.

Based on the following minimal pairs, i.e., da pipan ‘big criticism’ vs. *hen da pipan ‘very big criticism’, *da xianzhi ‘big restriction’ vs. hen da xianzhi ‘very big restriction’, “da pi ‘big criticize > to criticize harshly’ vs. *da xian ‘big restrict, intend: to restrict harshly’, *hen da pipan ‘very big criticism’ vs. hen da xianzhi ‘very big restriction’, this paper argues that (1) the monosyllabic form pi ‘to criticize’ in da pi ‘big criticize’ is different form pipan ‘criticism’ in da pipan ‘big criticism’, pi is a verb while pipan is a noun; (2) there are different degrees of nominalization between disyllabic verbs like pipan ‘criticism’ in *hen da pipan ‘very big criticism’ and xianzhi ‘restriction’ in hen da xianzhi ‘very big restriction’; and (3) since the structure [hen da X] has a stylistic feature of being formal, X selects either abstract nouns (i.e., shijian ‘event’) or disyllabic verbs (i.e., xianzhi ‘restriction’) with higher degree of nominalization. The argument made here claims that disyllabicity is a necessary condition for verbal nominalization in Mandarin, and thus, prosody is a type of morphological device in Chinese.

Mair and Mei 1991 suggest that the Sanskrit terms laghu and guru are the origins of “level” and “deflected” tones, which are the key concepts of Chinese Prosody. By re-evaluating the definition of Qingqing Zhongzhuo with the aid of Bunkyoohihuron and Siddhaṃ corpus, this paper arrives at the conclusion that Mair and Mei’s argument is flawed. This paper also reviews two blind spots of current research on Qingqing Zhongzhuo as well as the definition of relevant terms such as Tongyun（通韵）, Luoyun（落韵）, Qingyun（清韵）and Zhuoyun（浊韵）. These terms are found to be related to the initials of Chinese and Sanskrit phonology.

This paper mainly discusses the usage of <咱> and the distribution synonymous characters <喒> <昝> <偺>. As basic material, we mainly used Yuan Qu <元曲> published in Yuan Dynasty. Result of discussion, we lead to consequences such as the following: at first, the first person pronouns to be used in Yuan Qu published in Yuan Dynasty, we can see <咱> <喒> <我> <俺> <吾> <自家> <咱家> and <昝>, not seen <偺>. There is a case to be complementary distribution <咱> <喒>; secondly, <咱> is pronounced [tsa], belonged to Jia-ma-yun (rhyme), but in some case it belonged to Jiang-yang-yun (rhyme) in the late of Yuan Dynasty.

In volume 11 of Isis, a well-known periodical of the nineteenth century, in an article the existing literature on linguistics has paid scant attention to are more than 950 Cantonese syllables written in the Roman alphabet by German naturalist Lorenz Oken with the assistance of a Chinese informant named Aho. This paper examines the Romanized transcription for Cantonese pronunciation in this historical text, analyzes the phonological system, and then specifies the basic dialect for it to show that it combines distinguished features found today in only the Dongguan-Bao’an group dialects. The paper concludes Aho’s hometown was Huangpu of Xiangshan County.

This study discusses the historical development of Southern Chinese demonstrative pronouns (proximal and distal) by classifying and mapping their types according to consonant based analysis. Based on the observation of maps, we assume that the oldest type was “ t-(proximal)-k-(distal)” which later underwent the following changes: 1) T-K/TS-K>K-K>K-N; 2) T-K>Ø-K; 3) T-K>N-K. These changes may have been motivated by the grammaticalization of numerals and classifiers as well as by analogy and homonymic collision, while some changes may have been triggered by the external influence of the northern types.

This paper insists that “perception verbs -不得” indicates the reception and expresses the meaning of psychological unacceptability. It describes an agent that cannot hear or see an object because of a psychological cause. “Perception verbs -不得” has the following features: it cannot be topicalized, it takes a subject-predicate phrase as an object, and it can be used with ‘最’ while it cannot be used with ‘-了’. These features are obtained through comparison with “perception verbs - 不了” and “perception verbs -不下去”.