Cantonese: A Comprehensive Grammar (Comprehensive Grammars) [Paperback]

Stephen Matthews (Author), Virginia Yip (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 041508945X | ISBN-13: 978-0415089456 | Publication Date: November 17, 1994 | Edition: 1

Matthews and Yip present a fresh and accessible description of the contemporary language. The book is organised by both syntactic categories and language functions, providing comprehensive treatment of grammatical structures and paying special attention to idiom and speech registers. Grammatical points are illustrated by authentic examples from films, advertising and conversation in Hong Kong.
An extensive index, numbered paragraphs and generous use of cross references provide readers with easy access to the information they require. This grammar will be the standard reference for years to come.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'It is fortunate that the long-felt need for a Cantonese grammar should have been socompetently met at the first attempt. This is an excellent book, down to earth, up-to-date, full of insights, replete with well-selected and illuminating examples, and written with minimal reliance on jargon, so that it is accessible to all who are interested in Cantonese.' - Professor Hugh Baker, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies

'Cantonese: A Comprehensive Grammar represents the latest effort in writing a dialectal grammar, a grammar that aims to serve language students, teachers, and linguists alike with both challenge and elegance.' - Professor Samuel H.N. Cheung, International Review of Chinese Linguistics

'A cover-to-cover reading leaves the impression that Matthews and Yip's work is undoubtably the reference grammar of Cantonese that we have been waiting for.' - Professor Alain Peyraube, International Review of Chinese Linguistics

'Matthews and Yip make a formidable team in putting together what is, in essence, the first full-length treatment in English to date of the grammar of modern spoken Cantonese.' - Professor Marjorie Chan, Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association

'The lack of a comprehensive reference grammar of Cantonese has long been a curious and embarrassing situation. Matthews and Yip's work therefore constitutes a landmark in Chinese linguistics.' - Professor Jeroen Wiedenhof, Glot International

'Matthews and Yip have indeed written a comprehensive grammar, which addresses the needs of Western learners of Cantonese and of general linguists in a thorough and detailed way... the authors have given the Cantonese language a long overdue, rightful place and a proper prominence within the descriptions of Chinese.' - Professor Gisela Bruche-Schulz, Cahiers de Linguistique Asie Orientale

About the Author

The University of Hong Kong The Chinese University of Hong Kong --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (November 17, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 041508945X
• ISBN-13: 978-0415089456
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,727,210 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More than you will ever want to know . . ., May 9, 2000

By 

[e-mail] (Provo, UT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cantonese: A Comprehensive Grammar (Comprehensive Grammars) (Paperback)

This grammar is well written and comprehensive. It is heavy on linguistic terminology, but the language is altogether descriptive. While primarily beneficial to advanced learners, intermediate Cantonese students could find this helpful as well. Matthews also succeeds in lightening up a deep subject with interesting and fun examples. He also helps readers connect with the meanings of the words and phrases by giving both direct translations and the equivalent meaning side-by-side in these examples. The book is the modern definitive work on the Cantonese language. It teaches a complex subject and is complex itself. I recommend the book for anyone interested in understanding the mechanics of Cantonese, or for anyone wanting to find comparisons with Mandarin.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book for advanced students, February 24, 2000

By 

Andrew Ashton (Saskatchewan, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cantonese: A Comprehensive Grammar (Comprehensive Grammars) (Paperback)

Cantonese is traditionally a spoken language, but these days a language must have a standard written grammatical structure in order to survive. This book provides the first intensive study of written Cantonese, often providing a reference to a related Colloquial structure. Great for advanced students or those studying grammatical structure of languages.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Well Organized and Documented Concepts, March 5, 2006

By 

Joaquin Menchaca (San José, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cantonese: A Comprehensive Grammar (Comprehensive Grammars) (Paperback)

This book is very well written, but is pretty heavy on the linguistic terminology. Nevertheless, I found it quite profound on how all the grammatical concepts are organized and documented. Some of the concepts are even applicable to Mandarin (Putonghua), which makes this great for contrast and comparison to that language. I have yet to find any book that organizes and quantifies grammatical structures in Mandarin; This is ironic considering the instruction of Cantonese seems dissmissed in mainland.

The only one thing that I can fault this book, is the lack of Chinese characters. It uses Yale romanization system to document the concepts, which in and of itself is not bad, but one needs the written Chinese characters in order to understand how a single character can fulfill many grammatical roles. Despite this, this book is invaluable supplement for anyone serious about learning Cantonese.