Cantonese Zhuang Diao Language Issue: Attached grammar, semantics, and vocabulary issues for discussion

Author: Liu Shuxin
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-01-01
Features: Twenty years ago, the collection of essays Studies on Lexicology and Lexicography was published, bringing a sense of relief, but also a sigh in a poem: "Vast ocean of literature, a drop in the tide; Time flies swiftly, nearing half a century." Indeed, at that time, I had already reached half a century old before publishing this collection of essays! Moreover, this was the first book I had written as a sole author. Nine years later, the second collection of essays New Explorations in Semantics and Lexicology was published. Three years passed, and then the third collection Fleeting Insights into Grammar emerged. Finally, I felt I had made up for lost time, not too late, and thought I had done justice to myself and society. However, it also gave rise to some satisfaction, as I believed I had cultivated several fields of linguistics, and three specialized collections of essays should suffice. This idea did not last long, as I soon realized it was incorrect. About several months before the third collection was published, due to the development needs of the Chinese Language and Literature doctoral program, I had already shifted most of my time and energy to studying the relationship between Zhuang-Dai and Cantonese relational terms, while also deepening my interest in researching some issues in Cantonese. Over the years, I made multiple trips to ethnic minority areas and the Dongjiang River Basin for linguistic and dialect surveys, gathering firsthand materials and gradually producing some research results. By this summer, I had accumulated several substantial papers in these areas, which could be compiled into a specialized collection. As long as the work naturally progresses and meets practical needs, there should be no fixed quota for personal specialized collections—more is better. Over the past decade, the few papers I wrote in other fields of linguistics are scattered and diverse, not suitable for compiling into a specialized collection alone, and their total word count is also insufficient to form a complete book. Now, I have appended them to the Cantonese and Zhuang-Dai section of this collection, which seems quite appropriate. On one hand, they do not overshadow the main part of the collection but rather complement it, making it stand out; on the other hand, they significantly expand the research scope, helping to cater to a broader readership with diverse interests. In fact, most of them are the result of painstaking effort, and I feel they are quite satisfactory, adding weight and color to the collection.