Cover not available

Article In: Chinese Language and Discourse: Online-First Articles

A comparative study on lexical and syntactic features of Chinese news texts in Malay Archipelago

 | Guangdong University of Foreign StudiesGuangzhou
 | National University of Defense TechnologyChangsha
 | Guangdong University of Foreign StudiesGuangzhou
 | Software Engineering Institute of GuangzhouGuangzhou
 | Guangdong University of TechnologyGuangzhouGuangdong
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
Chinese in the Malay Archipelago has evolved into distinct regional written varieties due to adaptation to local languages and cultures, requiring exploration of their lexical and syntactic differences from standard written Chinese. In this paper, we conduct a quantitative analysis on Chinese news texts collected from five Malay Archipelago regions, trying to figure out their differences with the texts in standard written Chinese from a lexical and syntactic perspective. The statistical results show that the regional written Chinese varieties used in these five regions are quite different, diverging from their modern Chinese mainland counterpart. All these discrepancies reflect how Chinese evolves overseas, and demonstrate the profound impact of local societies and cultures on the development of Chinese.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Terminology
      • 1.1.1Standard written Chinese
      • 1.1.2Spoken sinitic varieties
      • 1.1.3Malay Archipelago
    • 1.2Background
    • 1.3Research questions
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1Studies on Taiwan-Mainland and Macao-Mainland variation
    • 2.2Studies on Southeast Asian Chinese varieties
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Research material
    • 3.2Lexical metrics
    • 3.3Sentence metrics
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Vocabulary measurement results
    • 4.2Sentence measurement results
    • 4.3Feature words
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Competing interests declaration
  • Declaration of interest statement
  • Data availability statement
  • Notes
  • Author queries
  • References
References (41)
References
Biber, Douglas. 1991. Variation across speech and writing. Cambridge: Cambridge university press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chanicha, Kidprasert. 2016. The Difference of Writing Pattern between Thai ‘Huayu’ and Mandarin. PhD diss., Heilongjiang University.
Chao, Yuen Ren. 1965. A Grammar of Spoken Chinese. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chen, Heng. 2016. Quantitative Studies of Chinese Word Length. PhD diss., Zhejiang University.
Chen, Qi. 2008. Research on Singapore Chinese Words and Expressions. PhD diss., Fudan University.
Crossley, Scott A. 2020. “Linguistic Features in Writing Quality and Development: An Overview.” Journal of Writing Research 111, no. 31: 415–43. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
DeFrancis, John. 1984. The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fan, Jingjing. 2020. “A Study on the Current Situation of Chinese Language Education in the Philippines.” Master’s thesis, Xi’an Shiyou University.
Gildea, Daniel, and David Temperley. 2010. “Do Grammars Minimize Dependency Length?” Cognitive Science 34, no. 2: 286–310. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Han, Xiaoming, and Ping Chen. 2022. “A Study of the Types and Functions of the Extraterritorial Variants of Chinese Based on Southeast Asian Huayu.” Journal of Yunnan Normal University (Teaching and Research on Chinese as a Foreign Language) 20, no. 6: 1–8.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hawkins, John A. 1994. A Performance Theory of Order and Constituency. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
He, Hongxia, and Yinghui Wu. 2021. “Research on the Language Usage in the Chinese-Speaking Community in Singapore.” Journal of Research on Education for Ethnic Minorities 32, no. 3: 154–60.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Huang, Shuiqing, and Dongbo Wang. 2019. “Construction, Performance and Application of New Era People’s Daily Segmented Corpus (I) — Construction and Evaluation of Corpus.” Library and Information Service 63, no. 22: 5–12.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jia, Yimin, and Yingchun Xu. 2005. “The Supplementary Examples of Singapore Chinese and Its Variance Analysis with Mandarin.” Journal of College of Chinese Language and Culture of Jinan University, no. 4: 32–38, 49.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ke, Yonghong. 2009. “The Contrast of Educational Policies for Chinese Language Teaching in Malaysia and Singapore.” Around Southeast Asia, no. 10: 48–52.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Levelt, Willem J. M. 1993. Speaking: From Intention to Articulation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Liu, Haitao. 2009. “Probability Distribution of Dependencies Based on a Chinese Dependency Treebank.” Journal of Quantitative Linguistics 16, no. 3: 256–73. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2011. “A Study on the Use of Non-General Chinese Characters in the Main Chinese Media of Southeast Asia.” Journal of College of Chinese Language and Culture of Jinan University, no. 1: 1–6, 20.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2018. Advances in Quantitative Linguistics. Hangzhou: Zhejiang University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Liu, Haitao, and Xiaxing Pan. 2015. “Quantitative Properties of Chinese Contemporary Poetry.” Journal of Shanxi University (Philosophy and Social Science Edition) 38, no. 2: 40–47.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lu, Jianming. 2023. Singapore Mandarin Grammar II. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Martináková, Zuzana, Ioan-Iovitz Popescu, Ján Mačutek, and Gabriel Altmann. 2008. “Some Problems of Musical Texts.” Glottometrics, no. 16: 80–110.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pan, Xiaxing. 2015. Quantitative Studies on Chinese New Poetry. PhD diss., Zhejiang University.
Popescu, Ioan-Iovitz, and Gabriel Altmann. 2006. “Some Aspects of Word Frequencies.” Glottometrics, no. 13: 23–46.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2008. “Hapax Legomena and Language Typology.” Journal of Quantitative Linguistics 15, no. 4: 370–78. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Popescu, Ioan-Iovitz, Radek Čech, and Gabriel Altmann. 2011. “Vocabulary Richness in Slovak Poetry.” Glottometrics, no. 22: 62–72.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Qi, Xiaomiao. 2014. “A Research on the Differences in the Vocabularies between Singapore Chinese and Mandarin Chinese and on the Vocabulary Teaching.” Master’s thesis, Henan University.
Sang, Yanlin. 2020. “Study on the Differences between Indonesian Chinese and Putonghua Written Words and the Corresponding Teaching Strategies.” Master’s thesis, Shandong Normal University.
Sui, Ruishan. 2016. “The Analysis of the Chinese Education in Philippines during the Marcos Administration.” Master’s thesis, Fujian Normal University.
Sun, Chaofen. 2006. Chinese: A Linguistic Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wang, Xiaomei, Wanying Zhu, and Xinyi Zhang. 2023. “Similarities and Differences in Language Attitudes between Mandarin and Chinese Speakers — A Case Study of Mandarin in Malaysia.” Journal of Hainan Normal University (Social Sciences) 36, no. 1: 130–40.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wang, Zulei. 2018. A Study on the Correlation between Chinese Language Dissemination in Five Southeast Asian Countries and China’s National Image Cognition. PhD diss., Minzu University of China.
Wen, Andong. 2015. “Investigation and Research on the Current Situation of Chinese Education in Brunei — Taking Malay Yi Zhonghua Middle School as an Example.” Master’s thesis, Shanxi Normal University.
Xu, Lei, and Quan Li. 2019. “A Multi-Feature Metrological Comparative Study of Language Used in Sports News on the Two Sides of the Taiwan Straits.” Jianghan Academic 381, no. 31: 111–18.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yang, Yang. 2011. “A Study on the Language Differences of Media across the Taiwan Strait.” Master’s thesis, Shandong Normal University.
Yao, Shuangyun, and Yi Huang. 2014. “A Quantitative Study of the Lexical Differences in News Discourses between Macau and Mainland.” Applied Linguistics, no. 21: 27–37.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zhang, Luchang. 2010. “Analysis of the Language Situation of Chinese Newspapers and Periodicals in Indonesia.” Overseas Chinese Education, no. 1: 33–39.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zhang, Ping, Xing Chang, and Jiao Li. 2015. “Comparative Study of Chinese Words of Sports News in and outside China Based on Quantitative Analysis.” Journal of Social Science of Hunan Normal University 44, no. 1: 134–39.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zhang, Zhiguo, and Caixia Guo. 2016. “Research on Brunei’s Language Policy and the Enlightenment to China.” Journal of Xi’an International Studies University 24, no. 3: 28–31.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zhou, Wei, and Dong An. 2019. “On Code-Switching in Mandarin Conversations of Ethnic Chinese in Malaysia, Indonesia and Northern Thailand.” Journal of Yibin University 19, no. 3: 88–94.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zhu, Xiangyan, and Shuping Huang. N.d. “A Survey on Discrepancies of Vocabulary between Modern Chinese and Oral Mandarin in Medan, Indonesia.” TCSOL Studies, no. 11: 54–62.
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue