Primary Lessons in Swatow Grammar/Lesson XXX
It may be of service to enumerate here a few of the more prominent usages of Chinese Syntax, as exhibited in the preceding pages.
I. There are no inflections of any kind to denote declension or conjugation.
II. Moods, tenses, cases, and degrees of comparison are learned from the connection, or formed by the aid of auxiliaries.
III. Many words are used, as occasion may require, without change of form, as verbs, nouns, and adjectives.
IV. A marked preference is shown for the use of active voice rather than passive voice forms of speech: — He struck me, rather than, I am struck by him.
V. In expressing the action of verbs, stress is often laid on the stage of the process rather than on the time when of the process.
VI. The frequency with which some one important word, — the object of the verb’s action, — is put in the fore part of a sentence to begin with, is a marked feature in Chinese construction. The oar—he broke it, as well as, he broke the oar. The box—he dropped it. The book—he read it. Wood—it is now a dollar a load. The sugar—he sold it. The horse—he led it away.
VII. The mark of the Genitive (kâi) is placed after instead of before words, clauses, and sentences which have a Genitive sense. In English we would say, The heat of the summer day; The tops of the distant mountains of Fokien; The custom of the of ancient Rome. The Chinese reverse the order and say, The summer’s day’s heat; Fokien’s distant mountain’s tops; Ancient Rome’s people’s custom.
VIII. Adjectives are constantly used as adverbs without any change of form.
IX. Prepositions follow, rather than precede, the associated nouns. In English we would say, on the floor, in the house, through the gate, along side the wharf, over the door, under the canopy. The Chinese would say, the floor on, the house in, the gate through, the wharf along side of, the door over, the canopy under.
X. The preposition “to”, or its equivalent, before the dative is commonly omitted. Before the infinitive, “to” is not used at all. We would say, He went to town to seek a friend; He went to Canton to see the mandarin; He went to Shanghai to sell sugar; He went to the sea to catch fish; He went to the field to bring grain. The Chinese would say, He went, or rather, He go town seek friend; He go Canton see mandarin; He go Shanghai sell sugar; He go sea catch fish; He go field bring grain.
XI. There is a habit in common conversation of omitting conjunctions in cases where in English their use would be indispensable. This is notably true of certain copulatives, as kũa, pẽng, íⁿ-ki̍p, kah, signifying and. We would say, He bought sugar, tea, and spices; He went into the shop and got a saw; Father and mother; Teacher and pupil. The Chinese drop the “and” and say, He bought sugar, tea, spices; He went into the shop, got a saw; Father mother; Teacher pupil.
XII. It is the peculiarity of certain interjections to be used after, instead of before, their associated words. The Chinese say, John, Oh! and not, Oh, John.
XIII. Connectives, or words which join together clauses or sentences, are numerous; but they are so frequently dropped, or hurried over in speech, that the attention of a learner is often severely taxed to keep track of them. Some few, however, refuse to be dispensed with. Such are chiũ, then thereupon; where upon, and liáu, finished; also; moreover; furthermore. The reason, perhaps, why “liáu” is so common, is the habit of summarizing some part of a previous sentence as a prelude to the next one; thus, úa khí húe-lôu, khí-hó--liáu, úa chiũ pû-pn̄g, I will build a fire, it being built, I will then cook rice. But this may be shortened, úa khí-húe-lôu......liáu, chiũ pû-pn̄g, I will build a fire.....finished, I will then cook rice, or as we would say, and also cook rice.
Of course, the minor parts of speech,—conjunctions, prepositions, &c,—act an important part here. Besides these, are various ejaculatory expressions which show that a break has been reached, and that a new sentence is about to begin, such as, taⁿ, now: now then, hó, well, hó--liáu, very well; all right; so far so good, chièⁿ-seⁿ liáu, that being the way of it; and so then, hó—-sĩ, very well—and so. And then, furthermore, there are sundry emphatic and terminal words, such as lī-ī-ī, a-a-a, and intonations which are indescribable, and can be learned only from a man with a glib tongue. Other expressions, again, are correct enough in themselves, bu used in such a way as to make them no better than cant phrases. Still they help mark off sentences. Thus one man will be constantly interlarding his speech with, hó bõi, good or not? Another will be repeating in his narrative with equal volubility, tie̍h a-m̄-tie̍h, right or not right? These ejaculations on the part of the narrator are polite bids for the listener’s approval, but to which a response is not seriously expected.
XIV. Special idioms are very numerous. They must be learned, each one for itself. It will be found, however, after a time, that even in them there is something of method, and that they are susceptible of no little classification.
XV. Aside from special idioms and such inverted collocations as attend, say, the genitive sense (known by that ubiquitous man of all work in Chinese Syntax, — kâi) the construction of ordinary sentences is really simple. The nouns, verbs, and adjectives which enter into a sentence, follow each other in an order which is both logical and chronological. It is the distribution of auxiliaries and particles which give the shades of meaning, and which require the most attention.
This can be shown hest by taking an English sentence and stripping it of its auxiliaries until it bears some resemblence to a Chinese sentence.
Buy land custom—engage middle man—hunt man want sell—have consultation—agree price—write white deed—sign name—no can write?— press thumb mark—go yamen—sue out red deed— mandarin impress seal—give you back—put away strong box—take care dampness, white ants, moths.
This is a mere skeleton sentence. Yet its meaning is discoverable even as it is. The “substantive words” and the “live words” are all there. It is chiefly the auxiliaries or “empty words” that are wanting. When these are added and the sentence is padded out, there is no longer any lack of clearness.
The custom in buying land is this. You must engage the services of a middle man who will hunt up a man who wants to sell. You then have a consultation and agree upon a price. This being done, he writes for you a white deed and signs his name to it. It he cannot write his name he must impress his thumb mark. You then go to a yamen and sue out a red deed. The mandarin impresses his seal and gives it back to you. You then take it home, put it away in your strong box, and have to be careful against dampness, white ants, and moths.