Australian Journal of Linguistics

Vol. 10, no. 1 (1990)

Articles

Purposive constructions in English	Thor May	1-40
On Mandarin Tone 4	Xiaonan Susan Shen	41-59
The usages of kinship address forms amongst non-kin in Mandarin Chinese: The extension of family solidarity	Yongyi Wu	61-88
Language and the law: An Australian introduction	Diana Eades	89-100

Bibliography: Publications on Australian linguistics, 1989 Harold Koch & Geraldine Triffitt 101-107

Book reviews

Form and meaning in word formation: A study of Afrikaans reduplication (Rudolf P. Botha)	Anne Dineen	109-113
Generative and non-linear phonology (Jacques Durand)	John Newman	113-117

Shorter notices

Talking straight: Dugri speech in Israeli Sabra culture (Tamar Katriel)	Maya Bradley	119-121
The relation of theoretical and applied linguistics (O. M. Tomic & R. W. Shuy, editors)	Michael Clyne	121-123
Language topics: Essays in honour of Michael Halliday, vols I & II (R. Steele & T. Threadgold, editors)	Peter Collins	123-125

Abstracts

Purposive constructions in English

Thor May

Abstract: This paper explores some of the syntactic and semantic properties of Purposive Constructions in English. The term "purposive" is recognised as a semantic concept which finds regular expression in a small range of syntactic configurations. Purpose Clauses (PCs) and Rationale Clauses (Rat.Cs) are examined in some detail. Briefer reference is made to several other configurations, notably Because Clauses, So That Clauses and Infinitival Relatives. In general Purposive Constructions comprise rather fuzzy semantic categories. Nevertheless, the main syntactic features are fairly clear. Interpretation of the constructions requires a systematic account of the control of empty slots (ellipted NPs) by thematic elements in the matrix clause. General conditions of Government and Binding appear adequate to predict the distribution of gaps in most Purposive Clauses. However, the relationship between propositions predicated of a common argument in these constructions is found to sometimes require matching conditions too subtle for syntax alone to predict. A concept of Thematic Coextensiveness is introduced to account for such matching.

On Mandarin Tone 4

Xiaonan Susan Shen

Abstract: This paper attempts to consider empirically the acoustical manifestation of Mandarin Tone 4, a high falling tone, as opposed to its auditory dimension observed first by Y. R. Chao (1948). Chao noticed that a Tone 4 followed by another Tone 4 does not fall to the bottom of the register; he called this tonal variation tone sandhi and set up a sandhi rule: 51 + 51 > 53 + 51. The present study acoustically analyses 240 Tone 4s spoken by two native Mandarin speakers through a monitoring process with the target Tone 4 in the following tonal environments: Tone 4 + Tone 1, Tone 4 + Tone 2, Tone 4 + Tone 3, Tone 4 + Tone 4, and Tone 4 + Tone 0. The results show that Tone 4 holds its fall before any full lexical tone, that is, before Tone 4 as well as before Tone 1, Tone 2 and Tone 3; it falls to its extremity before Tone 0 or a pause. This is because the tonal onsets of the following full lexical tones block the fall of the preceding Tone 4 owing to anticipatory coarticulation, while the inertia of Tone 0 and a pause do not impede the fall of the preceding Tone 4. Therefore, the half fall of Tone 4 is more accurately interpreted as a language-independent coarticulatory phenomenon than a language-specific sandhi phenomenon. The perturbations of Tone 4 caused by anticipatory effects may be summarised by the following formula: 51 > 53 / _ full tone. Because tonal coarticulation occurs across languages and tones, it is unnecessary to set up a specific rule.

Last update: 3 May 2000
Comments to Tim Curnow