Which is the best Chinese linguistics book?

[Gharial]

OneEye, I've been meaning to ask you, did you lose your good eye to Chinese studies?

[Gharial]

That's the opposite of my sister. She's a solicitor and prefers that I spell her name Su rather than Sue.

[Elizabeth_rb]

Ah well, them's the breaks.  Takes all sort of funny folk (aka absolute weirdos) to make a world!!

 

Good news though, some of those linguistics titles (including Norman, Ramsey & Ping Chen) are in the local uni library, some in multiple copies, so I'm in luck.  Just need Sir now.... 

[Yadang]

Does your public library have an inter-library loan system? Usually you can find all sorts of crazy stuff via inter-library loan...

[Elizabeth_rb]

It does, Adam, yes, but it's £5 per item (about US$7-.  I've got a reader card for 2 of the 3 libraries at the uni where my hubby is doing his PhD, including the one with the CJK collection, so I'll ask him to borrow what I need from there for free.

[Kobo-Daishi]

If the books are too expensive and your local library doesn't stock it and/or charges exorbitant fees for inter-library loans, there is always the Internet.

For instance, of the books mentioned in this thread I already had the Ramsey and Norman books, but, not the Sun and DeFrancis books.

Usually when I read about a book I don't have I would try to find a copy online in pdf format.

This particular time I hadn't.

But by sheer coincidence, while downloading videos on the peer-to-peer networks I happened to check out the shared library of another downloader and found a treasure trove of Chinese-related books. Many of which I hadn't come across before. And one of them was Sun Chaofen's "Chinese: A Linguistic Introduction".

I clicked on it and had a copy within minutes.

I didn't know that "er hua" thing was called "rhotacization". And there are rules on how to do it?!?! Now, I'm going to read about tone sandhi.

The download speed was also incredibly fast. Usually it would take hours just to get a small file.

I know you're kind of tech-phobic, but still the convenience factor trumps all.

Now if someone'd scan the DeFrancis books?

Kobo.

Edit: I just discovered Jerry Norman died about a year and a half ago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Norman

And his Manchu name meant "raccoon dog".

And his academic advisor was Chao Yuen Ren.

[lakers4sho]

I'm taking a undergraduate Chinese linguistics class, and we use Mobo Gao's as textbook. Now, I don't know what a comprehensive Chinese linguistic textbook ought to contain, but for the most part I've been largely unimpressed by Gao's. I guess to someone who's learned a little bit of the language already, his textbook offers little to nothing new. I thought the treatment of the subject was rather shallow. I guess it is best suited for English speakers who wish to learn the basic features of Mandarin. Not to mention that the writing style is extremely dry and unappealing, I can never find the motivation to read through the book. I certainly wouldn't have if it wasn't required for the class.

 

Anyways, just my two cents. I'll try to find another book once I get the time.

 

lakers4sho