Yip Chi Wing. / "August 2000." / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese.

Lam, Wai Man. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 189-192). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / ABSTRACT --- p.i / ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS --- p.iii / Chapter CHAPTER 1 --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Overview --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Data collection --- p.3 / Chapter 1.3 --- Defining connected speech --- p.5 / Chapter 1.4 --- Theoretical framework: Optimality Theory --- p.6 / Chapter 1.4.1 --- Basic principles --- p.6 / Chapter 1.4.2 --- Conflicts between markedness and faithfulness --- p.7 / Chapter 1.4.3 --- Rationale of using OT in the study of connected speech phonology --- p.7 / Chapter 1.5 --- Principles of speech production --- p.10 / Chapter CHAPTER 2 --- APPROACHES TO SYLLABLE CONTRACTION --- p.12 / Chapter 2.1 --- Descriptive work on Cantonese syllable contraction --- p.12 / Chapter 2.2 --- The experimental approach to syllable contraction --- p.13 / Chapter 2.3 --- The acoustic approach to syllable contraction --- p.15 / Chapter 2.4 --- The templatic approach to rime change --- p.17 / Chapter 2.5 --- The autosegmental approach to syllable contraction --- p.18 / Chapter 2.6 --- The prosodic approach to syllable contraction --- p.21 / Chapter 2.7 --- The optimality-theoretic approach to syllable contraction --- p.22 / Chapter 2.8 --- Hypotheses --- p.25 / Chapter CHAPTER 3 --- PATTERNS OF SYLLABLE CONTRACTION --- p.26 / Chapter 3.1 --- The σ1-m2I-σ2 string --- p.28 / Chapter 3.1.1 --- Segmental issues --- p.28 / Chapter 3.1.1.1 --- σ1-m21 contraction --- p.28 / Chapter 3.1.1.1.1 --- The role of the onset --- p.30 / Chapter 3.1.1.1.2 --- Open syllables --- p.31 / Chapter 3.1.1.1.3 --- Offglides --- p.34 / Chapter 3.1.1.1.4 --- Checked syllables (obstruent coda) --- p.35 / Chapter 3.1.1.1.5 --- Nasal coda --- p.38 / Chapter 3.1.1.2 --- m21-σ2 contraction --- p.40 / Chapter 3.1.1.2.1 --- The glottal fricative [h] --- p.40 / Chapter 3.1.1.2.2 --- The glottal stop [？] --- p.41 / Chapter 3.1.2 --- Tonal issues --- p.43 / Chapter 3.1.2.1 --- σ1-m21 contraction --- p.43 / Chapter 3.1.2.2 --- m21 -σ2 contraction --- p.47 / Chapter 3.1.3 --- Summary of the σ1-m21 -σ2 string --- p.49 / Chapter 3.2 --- The σ1-σ2-m21-σ3-σ4 string --- p.50 / Chapter 3.3 --- The σ1-m21 -σ2-σ3 string --- p.53 / Chapter 3.4 --- The m21-σ1 string --- p.55 / Chapter 3.5 --- Summary of this chapter --- p.57 / Chapter CHAPTER 4 --- CONSTRAINT INTERACTION IN SYLLABLE CONTRACTION --- p.58 / Chapter 4.1 --- Basic syllable structure constraints --- p.58 / Chapter 4.2 --- Avoidance of syllabic nasals through syllable contraction --- p.59 / Chapter 4.3 --- Coda issues --- p.65 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- Obstruent coda deletion --- p.65 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- Nasal coda --- p.73 / Chapter 4.4 --- Onset issues --- p.75 / Chapter 4.4.1 --- Illegal m21-σ2 contraction --- p.75 / Chapter 4.4.2 --- Glottal transparency --- p.80 / Chapter 4.5 --- Tonal issues --- p.85 / Chapter 4.5.1 --- σ1 -m21 contraction --- p.88 / Chapter 4.5.2 --- m2I-σ2 contraction --- p.90 / Chapter 4.6 --- Summary of constraint interaction in syllable contraction --- p.96 / Chapter CHAPTER 5 --- PROSODIC CONSTRAINTS GOVERNING SYLLABLE CONTRACTION --- p.98 / Chapter 5.1 --- Prosodic structure of various A-not-A strings --- p.98 / Chapter 5.2 --- Predicting the result of syllable contraction by constraint ranking --- p.102 / Chapter 5 .3 --- Summary of prosodic factors --- p.105 / Chapter CHAPTER 6 --- VARIATIONS AND CONSTRAINT RE-RANKING --- p.106 / Chapter 6.1 --- Variations on the number of morae --- p.110 / Chapter 6.2 --- Variations on the deletion of segments --- p.115 / Chapter 6.3 --- Variations on the number of syllables --- p.117 / Chapter CHAPTER 7 --- CONCLUSION --- p.121 / APPENDIX I --- p.125 / APPENDIX II --- p.155 / APPENDIX III --- p.170 / APPENDIX IV --- p.185 / LIST OF REFERENCES --- p.189

本论文报告了三个研究，旨在探讨声母是否为广东话口语产出过程中的基本加工单元。研究一通过三个不同的实验范式（即，图片命名内隐准备范式、词汇联想内隐准备范式和词图干扰范式）对比了声母和音节的准备效应。结果显示，广东话的声母准备效应比较微弱，只能通过图片命名内隐范式得到；相比而言，广东话音节的准备效应非常稳定，在三个实验范式中都非常明显。研究二旨在探索声母准备效应的时间进程。行为结果显示，只有当准备间隔等于500毫秒时，才能得到稳定的声母准备效应。脑电结果也与此呼应，同质条件和异质条件的神经电活动的差异出现于400-650毫秒之间。具体表现为：同质条件下的关联负变化（contingent negative variation, CNV）波幅在400-450和600-650毫秒间比异质条件下的CNV波幅更大；在异质条件下，CNV电波在700-750毫秒时就从早成分转向了晚成分；而在同质条件下，CNV早成分到晚成分的转换时间提前到了600-650毫秒。研究三旨在考察音节频率是否能够调节声母准备效应。结果显示，声母准备效应只能在低频音节中得到，而无法在高频音节中得到。综合所有的研究结果，在广东话语音编码过程中，1）声母是可以作为基本加工单元的，但其效应受到更高层因素的调节（如：准备时间和音节频率）；2）音节下加工单元（sub-syllable units）能够直接启动发音运动准备过程，而无需等待音节中的其它加工单元。最后，根据本论文的结果，我们建议能够用一种普适词汇产出的观点来调和关于基本加工单元是否为语言特异性的争议。 / Three studies were conducted to investigate whether the onset can be a basic planning unit in Cantonese spoken word production. In Study 1, the onset- and syllable-preparation effects were tested through three frequently used paradigms: the picture-naming implicit form-preparation (picIP) paradigm, the word-associative naming implicit form-preparation (waIP) paradigm and the picture-word interference (PWI) paradigm. The onset-preparation effect was weak in Cantonese and could be obtained only through the picIP paradigm, while the syllable preparation effects were much robust and could be obtained using all of the paradigms. Study 2 was aimed at exploring the time course of onset preparation. The behavioral data showed that the onset-preparation effect was significant only when the foreperiod was 500 ms. The event-related potential (ERP) data echoed this finding; different neural activities between the homogeneous and heterogeneous conditions were found 400650 ms after the time cue. Study 3 showed that the syllable frequency could moderate the onset-preparation effect, which was significant for low-frequency syllables but not for high-frequency syllables. These results indicate that 1) the onset can be a basic planning unit in Cantonese, but its function and effect size are moderated by some higher-level factors, such as preparation time and syllable frequency, and 2) sub-syllable units could directly initiate articulation without waiting for the remaining parts within a syllable. A language-universal position is suggested to reconcile the debates between the language-specific and language-general hypotheses regarding the basic planning units in spoken word production. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Ning, Ning. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 92-98). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese; appendixes includes Chinese. / English abstract --- p.iii / Chinese abstract --- p.v / Acknowledgements --- p.vi / Table of contents --- p.vii / List of tables --- p.x / List of figures --- p.xi / Chapter Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1. --- The basic planning units in word production --- p.2 / Chapter 1.1.1. --- The phonological encoding process in word production --- p.3 / Chapter 1.1.2. --- The properties of the basic planning units --- p.5 / Chapter 1.1.3. --- Ways to approach the basic planning units --- p.7 / Chapter 1.2. --- Debates surrounding the basic planning units --- p.11 / Chapter 1.2.1. --- Sub-syllable units, syllable units or both --- p.12 / Chapter 1.2.2. --- Language specific vs. language general --- p.18 / Chapter 1.2.3. --- Instantaneous vs. delayed response --- p.20 / Chapter 1.3. --- Characteristics of Cantonese word production --- p.21 / Chapter 1.3.1. --- Phonological properties of Cantonese --- p.21 / Chapter 1.3.2. --- The basic planning units in Cantonese word production --- p.22 / Chapter Chapter 2. --- Overview of the present studies --- p.25 / Chapter 2.1. --- Motivations --- p.25 / Chapter 2.2. --- The present studies --- p.27 / Chapter Chapter 3. --- Study 1 - Onset effects in Cantonese word production - the sensitivity of different paradigms --- p.30 / Chapter 3.1. --- Aim and predictions --- p.30 / Chapter 3.2. --- Materials --- p.31 / Chapter 3.3. --- Experiment 1 - The picture-naming IP paradigm --- p.33 / Chapter 3.3.1. --- Method --- p.33 / Chapter 3.3.2. --- Results --- p.36 / Chapter 3.4. --- Experiment 2 - The word-associative naming IP paradigm --- p.38 / Chapter 3.4.1. --- Method --- p.38 / Chapter 3.4.2. --- Results --- p.38 / Chapter 3.5. --- Experiment 3 - The PWI paradigm --- p.40 / Chapter 3.5.1. --- Method --- p.40 / Chapter 3.5.2. --- Results --- p.41 / Chapter 3.6. --- Discussion --- p.43 / Chapter 3.6.1. --- The onset as a basic planning unit --- p.43 / Chapter 3.6.2. --- The “rightward incremental“ pattern in unit association --- p.44 / Chapter 3.6.3. --- Independence between the word-length effect and the preparation effect --- p.46 / Chapter Chapter 4. --- Study 2 - The time course of onset preparation --- p.48 / Chapter 4.1. --- Aim and predictions --- p.48 / Chapter 4.2. --- Materials --- p.51 / Chapter 4.3. --- Experiment 4 - Evidence from a behavioral experiment --- p.52 / Chapter 4.3.1. --- Pilot experiment --- p.52 / Chapter 4.3.2. --- Method --- p.53 / Chapter 4.3.3. --- Results --- p.54 / Chapter 4.4. --- Experiment 5 - Evidence from an ERP experiment --- p.55 / Chapter 4.4.1. --- Method --- p.55 / Chapter 4.4.2. --- Data analyses --- p.58 / Chapter 4.4.3. --- Results --- p.59 / Chapter 4.5. --- Discussion --- p.63 / Chapter 4.5.1. --- The relationship between the behavioral and ERP indices --- p.64 / Chapter 4.5.2. --- ERP correlates of the onset-preparation effect --- p.65 / Chapter 4.5.3. --- A technique issue --- p.67 / Chapter Chapter 5. --- Study 3 - The moderation of syllable frequency on the onset-preparation effects --- p.68 / Chapter 5.1. --- Aim and predictions --- p.68 / Chapter 5.2. --- Experiment 6 --- p.69 / Chapter 5.2.1. --- Method --- p.69 / Chapter 5.2.2. --- Results --- p.71 / Chapter 5.3. --- Experiment 7 --- p.72 / Chapter 5.3.1. --- Method --- p.72 / Chapter 5.3.2. --- Results --- p.73 / Chapter 5.4. --- Discussion --- p.74 / Chapter 5.4.1. --- The “early locus“ hypothesis --- p.74 / Chapter 5.4.2. --- The reversed syllable-frequency effect --- p.75 / Chapter 5.4.3. --- Comparisons with other studies --- p.76 / Chapter Chapter 6. --- General discussion --- p.78 / Chapter 6.1. --- What is new in the present study? --- p.79 / Chapter 6.1.1. --- A sensitive paradigm --- p.79 / Chapter 6.1.2. --- A sensitive foreperiod --- p.80 / Chapter 6.1.3. --- Neural correlates of the onset-preparation effect --- p.81 / Chapter 6.1.4. --- Locus of the syllable-frequency effect --- p.82 / Chapter 6.2. --- Contributions to the three debates --- p.83 / Chapter 6.2.1. --- Syllable vs. sub-syllable units --- p.83 / Chapter 6.2.2. --- Language specific vs. language general --- p.85 / Chapter 6.2.3. --- Instantaneous vs. delayed response --- p.86 / Chapter 6.3. --- Limitations and future directions --- p.88 / Chapter 6.3.1. --- Dissociation between seriality and incrementality --- p.88 / Chapter 6.3.2. --- More time points for foreperiod length --- p.89 / Chapter 6.3.3. --- The lack of onset-preparation effects for high-frequency syllables --- p.89 / Chapter 6.3.4. --- Other moderators and cross-language studies --- p.90 / Bibliography --- p.92 / Appendices --- p.99 / Chapter Appendix A. --- Prime and target pairs for Experiment 2. --- p.99 / Chapter Appendix B. --- Methods and detailed results of pilot study for Experiment 4. --- p.100 / Chapter Appendix C. --- Response words for Experiments 6 and 7. --- p.102

¹The transcriptions for Cantonese syllables presented in this paper are based on the Cantonese Romanization Scheme proposed by the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong (Chinese Character Database: With Word-formations, 2003). The number besides each syllable marking denotes the lexical tone. / Five experiments were conducted to investigate how phonological information is processed in Cantonese spoken word production using the picture-word interference (PWI) paradigm. Participants were asked to name aloud individually presented pictures and ignore an accompanying auditory word distractor. In the first three experiments of the present study, the target picture names were Cantonese mono-syllables with a consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) structure. Participants' picture naming latencies were found faster when the target (e.g., /sing1/l¹, "Star") and the distractor (e.g., /ging 2/, /sik6/, or /soeng3/) shared two identical segments (irrespective of the segments' syllable-internal position), than when they were unrelated, whereas no reliable effects were obtained when they shared only the vowel (e.g., /dim3/), the coda (e.g., /hu ng2/), or together with the tone (e.g., /bit1/ or /fung1/). Furthermore, the facilitation effect observed in the consonant+consonant+tone-related condition (e.g., /soe ng1/) was found reliably larger than that in the consonant+consonant-related condition (e.g., /soeng3/). In Experiment 4, the syllable structure of the targets was manipulated such that half of the picture names were mono-syllables with a consonant-vowel (CV) structure (e.g., / so1/, "comb") and the other half a CVC structure (/sing1/). A significant syllable (without tone) related facilitation was found irrespective of the target type, whereas no reliable effect was observed when the target and the distractor (e.g., /se6/ and /sam2/, for CV and CVC targets, respectively) shared only the onset consonant. Furthermore, Experiment 5 investigated whether phonetic factors modulate the facilitation effect observed in a PWI task. To this end, the sonority level and duration of the target's rhyme component were manipulated in Experiments 5A and 5B, respectively. A significant rhyme-related priming effect was found in both Experiments 5A and 5B, and such effect was neither affected by the sonority level nor duration of the target's rhyme component. These results are in line with the notions that (1) a single segment does not have a significant impact on Chinese spoken word planning, (2) sub-syllabic constitutes such as rhyme is an important processing unit, (3) the lexical tone has a unique role to play during phonological encoding, and (4) segmental and tonal retrieval are operated in an interactive manner. Based on all the available results from Cantonese PWI research, an interactive model of Cantonese spoken word production is proposed. / Wong, Wing Kuen. / Adviser: Hsuan-Chih Chen. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 72-04, Section: B, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-117). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese.

Chen, Hui. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 126-132). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / 摘要 --- p.iii / Acknowledgments --- p.iv / Table of Contents --- p.ix / List of Tables --- p.xii / List of Figures --- p.xiii / Chapter Chapter One --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Nature of vowel length --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1.1 --- Definitions of vowel quantity and vowel length --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1.2 --- Vowel length in relation to language prosody --- p.3 / Chapter 1.2 --- Acquisition of vowel length distinction --- p.5 / Chapter 1.3 --- Current study on the acquisition of vowel length in Cantonese --- p.9 / Chapter 1.4 --- Organization of thesis --- p.10 / Chapter Chapter Two --- Vowel length in Cantonese --- p.11 / Chapter 2.1 --- Long and short vowels in t h e Cantonese vowel system --- p.11 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- The syllable template of Cantonese --- p.11 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- The phonetic inventory of Cantonese vowels and their distributions --- p.12 / Chapter 2.1.3 --- Two competing analyses of Cantonese vowels --- p.17 / Chapter 2.1.4 --- Status of vowel duration in Cantonese vowel length contrasts --- p.26 / Chapter 2.2 --- Vowel length and the prosodic structure of Cantonese syllables --- p.32 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Durational properties of Cantonese vowel length and syllable structure --- p.33 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Towards a constant syllable weight/size --- p.41 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- A prosodic model of Cantonese Syllables --- p.43 / Chapter Chapter Three --- Acquisition of vowel length in Cantonese --- p.50 / Chapter 3.1 --- Cantonese vowel length: the acquisition task --- p.50 / Chapter 3.2 --- Previous studies relevant to the acquisition of vowel length --- p.51 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Previous studies on vowel length and prosodic development --- p.51 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- Previous studies on Cantonese vowel development --- p.62 / Chapter 3.2.3 --- Kong (1997) on prosodic development in Cantonese --- p.64 / Chapter 3.3 --- Insights and Inadequacies of previous studies --- p.67 / Chapter 3.4 --- Research questions --- p.68 / Chapter Chapter Four --- Vowel length acquisition and prosodic development in Cantonese: A naturalistic case study --- p.70 / Chapter 4.1 --- Objectives of the study --- p.70 / Chapter 4.2 --- Method --- p.70 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Database and subject --- p.71 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- Transcription and acoustic measurement --- p.72 / Chapter 4.3 --- Data analysis --- p.76 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- Age of onset of vowel quantity --- p.76 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- Development of vowel length and prosodic structure in Cantonese . --- p.83 / Chapter Chapter Five --- Acquisition of vowel length and its contrastive function: Experimental studies --- p.90 / Chapter 5.1 --- Objectives of the experimental studies --- p.90 / Chapter 5.2 --- Experiment I - Actual Word Test --- p.91 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- Subjects and materials --- p.91 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- Procedure --- p.92 / Chapter 5.2.3 --- Results --- p.93 / Chapter 5.2.4 --- Summary of findings of the Actual Word experiment --- p.96 / Chapter 5.3 --- Experiment II - Novel Word Test --- p.97 / Chapter 5.3.1 --- Experimental design: --- p.97 / Chapter 5.3.2 --- Subjects and materials --- p.98 / Chapter 5.3.3 --- Procedure --- p.100 / Chapter 5.3.4 --- Results --- p.103 / Chapter 5.3.5 --- Summary of findings of the Novel Word experiment --- p.104 / Chapter 5.4 --- Overview of the two experiments --- p.105 / Chapter Chapter Six --- Conclusions and discussions --- p.106 / Chapter 6.1 --- Vowel length in child Cantonese: Key findings --- p.106 / Chapter 6.2 --- Factors affecting acquisition: the role of vowel quantity in the vowel length contrast --- p.109 / Chapter 6.3 --- Vowel length development viewed as an integral part of the development of prosodic structure --- p.111 / Chapter 6.4 --- Acquiring vowel length as a phonological opposition --- p.113 / Chapter Appendix I --- Results of the complete set of data in the naturalistic longitudinal study --- p.115 / Chapter Appendix II --- The list of words tested in the Actual Word experiment --- p.118 / Chapter Appendix III --- Examples of the test pictures used in Actual Word Test for each of the vowel pairs in various coda environments --- p.119 / Chapter Appendix IV --- "Examples of test pictures used in the Novel Word Test for the Repeat Condition, the Non-contrastive Condition, the Contrastive Condition, and the Control Condition" --- p.122 / References --- p.126

Thesis (Ph.D.)--The University of Connecticut, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references.

published_or_final_version / Chinese / Master / Master of Philosophy

In Cantonese, there are mainly two types of gratitude expressions, mh-goi and do-jeh, that are frequently used in everyday conversation. Although the importance of these gratitude expressions in social interaction is obvious, clear definitions of these words and in-depth explanations on how to use them correctly and idiomatically are lacking in Cantonese textbooks. It is also a hard task for native Cantonese speakers to gener-alize simple rules of use of mh-goi and do-jeh. Moreover, there seems to be no lin-guistic studies on the grammatical and semantic properties of these expressions so far. The present thesis investigates the usages of mh-goi and do-jeh in various utter-ance situations, and subsequently analyzes their similarities and differences on the syntactic, lexical semantic and sentence semantic levels, using the approach of Inte-grational Linguistics (IL). The phenomena related to the use of mh-goi and do-jeh are first discussed informally as a theoretical background, followed by formal syntactic and semantic analyses. The purpose of this thesis is, therefore, two-fold: first, to achieve a fairly comprehensive linguistic analysis of mh-goi and do-jeh in Cantonese, and second, to give both Cantonese teachers and learners of Cantonese a clearer idea of the rules of use of mh-goi and do-jeh based on their syntactic and semantic fea-tures. / published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts

Chinese is noted for its rich inventory of particles that help to form sentences. However, a precise definition of particle is hard to achieve due to its wide range of forms and functions. Most words that are hard to categorize are dumped into this class. Naturally, there are two consequences that come out of this: 1) the difference is huge among groups and subgroups; 2) there seems to be no interconnectedness between groups. In these circumstances, this study mainly aims to address two issues: a) to establish particle as a theoretical construct that is distinguishable from other well-established constructs, and b) to present a unified analysis of the syntax of particles in Chinese. Through a close examination on particles in the cross-linguistic literature, it is found that particles in Mandarin Chinese are characterized by syntactic deficiency, i.e. inability to project. This study thus defines a Chinese particle as a ‘non-projecting word which is adjoined to X^(0,). A systematic account of particles in Chinese has remained as a conundrum due to their diversity. This study concerns two groups of particles in Mandarin Chinese, namely the structural particles and the verbal particles. The former has long been discussed in Chinese literature, while the latter is evolved out of this study. It is adequately shown that the so-called ‘verb-complement compounds’ in traditional Chinese literature are indeed ‘verb-particle combinations’. Accordingly, three types of verbal particles are specified in this study: aspectual, resultative, and directional. The syntactic behaviours of the structural particles and the verbal particles are intensively explored in this study. A unified analysis of these particles is achieved under the framework of Lexical-Functional Grammar. It turns out that all of them share the same representation at c-structure. As a non-projecting category, the particle is head-adjoined to X and thus the formation of a syntactic construct. In other words, the particle is syntactically combined rather than lexically combined, represented by two nodes in a tree diagram. Their grammatical functions can be captured at f-structure with two possibilities: a co-head or an XCOMP. The same analysis is generalized to the syntax of the particle ge and the verbal particles in Cantonese. It is proved that particles in Cantonese also feature syntactic deficiency (i.e. inability to project). This dissertation is among the first of its kind to provide a unified analysis of the syntax of particles in Chinese. It is observed that certain particles are quite distinguishable from other word classes by their phrase structural realization. Different from previous studies that have tried to classify particles mainly according to their meanings and functions, this study explores another possibility: particles in Chinese can be captured structurally as a coherent group. / published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Linguistics / Master / Master of Philosophy