NEWS & EVENTS

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Appliable Linguistics Seminar 29
(Seminar on Language Science and System Science 95)

 

Time: 16:00, 19 October 2016
Venue: #304, School of Foreign Languages

Speaker: Wang Pin
Title: A functional grammatical study of verbal groups in Manchu: based on a folktale in Manchu Veritable Records
Abstract: This paper investigates the functional grammar of the Manchu language with principal focus on verbal groups, based on a folktale in Manchu Veritable Records. The verbal group is positioned as the final structural element of a Manchu clause, involved in creating experiential (event, voice, tense), interpersonal (mood, polarity) and logical (clause complexing) functions. Some of the functions are performed at group rank by auxiliaries, some at word rank by suffixation on the verb. Manchu is a Tungusic language in the Altaic family; it was the native language of the Manchu people and one of the official languages of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911). At present, there are very few native Manchu speakers, and most Manchu people use Chinese as their first language. Listed as one of the “critically endangered” languages by UNESCO, the Manchu language has not yet been described, recorded or analyzed from the systemic functional perspective. Within the theoretical framework of systemic functional grammar, this paper attempts to account for one particular aspect of Manchu grammar, in a bid to expand the appliability of SFL and make it contribute effectively to the description and preservation of endangered languages.