Book Title

Chinese-English Contrastive Grammar: An Introduction

Authors

David C. S. Li (Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies), Zoe Pei-sui Luk

Publisher

Hong Kong University Press

Year of Publication

2017

ISBN

9789888390861

Introduction

The main objective of Chinese-English Contrastive Grammar: An Introduction is to familiarize the reader with a subset of the learning difficulties and common errors in ESL/EFL pronunciation and lexico-grammatical structures encountered by Chinese learners and users of English, in Hong Kong and beyond. It also helps readers understand some of the ways in which the Chinese language has undergone structural change as a result of Europeanization. The book begins with a review of Cantonese-English contrastive phonology and is followed by a detailed analysis of lexico-grammatical deviations found among Chinese ESL/EFL learners. It concludes with a brief history of the Europeanization of the Chinese language and a discussion of commonly encountered lingua-cultural problems encountered by Chinese users of English in intercultural communication settings.

This book is written primarily for teachers and students specializing in language-related disciplines. Scholars who wish to understand the acquisitional challenges for Chinese students in the process of learning English as an additional language will also find the book an informative reference.

David C. S. Li is a professor and head of the Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies (CBS) at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Zoe Pei-sui Luk is an assistant professor in the Department of Linguistics and Modern Language Studies at the Education University of Hong Kong.

Table of Contents:

Preface

List of Illustrations

List of Tables

List of Abbreviations

1. Conversation Analysis, Error Analysis, and Cross-linguistic Influence

2. Cantonese-English Contrastive Phonology

3. Transitivity and Syntactic Structures

4. Passive Voice

1. Tense and Aspect

6. Determiners: Articles and Demonstratives

7. Subject-Prominence and Topic-Prominence

8. Europeanization: Influence of English on Chinese Grammar

9. Being Chinese, Speaking English: Pragmatic Norms and Speaker Identity

Suggested Answers to Questions and Activities

References

About the Authors

Index

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