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Review
Reviews of the first edition:
'It is fortunate that the long-felt need for a Cantonese grammar should have been so competently met at the first attempt. This is an excellent book, down to earth, up-to-date, full of insights, replete with well-selected and illuminating examples, and written with minimal reliance on jargon, so that it is accessible to all who are interested in Cantonese.' - Professor Hugh Baker, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies
'Cantonese: A Comprehensive Grammar represents the latest effort in writing a dialectal grammar, a grammar that aims to serve language students, teachers, and linguists alike with both challenge and elegance.' - Professor Samuel H.N. Cheung, International Review of Chinese Linguistics
'A cover-to-cover reading leaves the impression that Matthews and Yip's work is undoubtably the reference grammar of Cantonese that we have been waiting for.' - Professor Alain Peyraube, International Review of Chinese Linguistics
'Matthews and Yip make a formidable team in putting together what is, in essence, the first full-length treatment in English to date of the grammar of modern spoken Cantonese.' - Professor Marjorie Chan, Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association
'The lack of a comprehensive reference grammar of Cantonese has long been a curious and embarrassing situation. Matthews and Yip's work therefore constitutes a landmark in Chinese linguistics.' - Professor Jeroen Wiedenhof, Glot International
'Matthews and Yip have indeed written a comprehensive grammar, which addresses the needs of Western learners of Cantonese and of general linguists in a thorough and detailed way... the authors have given the Cantonese language a long overdue, rightful place and a proper prominence within the descriptions of Chinese.' - Professor Gisela Bruche-Schulz, Cahiers de Linguistique Asie Orientale
Product Description
Matthews and Yip present a fresh and accessible description of the contemporary language. The book is organised by both syntactic categories and language functions, providing comprehensive treatment of grammatical structures and paying special attention to idiom and speech registers. Grammatical points are illustrated by authentic examples from films, advertising and conversation in Hong Kong.
An extensive index, numbered paragraphs and generous use of cross references provide readers with easy access to the information they require. This grammar will be the standard reference for years to come.
An extensive index, numbered paragraphs and generous use of cross references provide readers with easy access to the information they require. This grammar will be the standard reference for years to come.
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Learners of any language will often have to refer to a grammar reference sometime in their studies. The authors of this grammar also have other grammars out for various levels of study, but the comprehensive one, is perhaps killing several birds with one stone.
I rate this 4 stars, because it does a very good job in presenting Cantonese grammar and syntax in a way which is understandable and enjoyable. But, for people who have learnt Chinese in another form, say Mandarin, don't think this is an easy book, because you can read Chinese. There is, in fact, no chinese characters in it at all. It would have been very helpful had they put them in, but over the years, having been a speaker of a similar language - Hakka, I've come to the conclusion that to learn another Chinese language from already knowing one initially, it is probably more work, but ultimately less fallable if you start anew, and not resting on your laurels just by getting the gist from Chinese characters. Often, Cantonese surprises you with constructions and vocabulary totally different to Mandarin, and Matthews and Yip's choice not to put in Chinese characters (for me at least) is sound. Some people will not like it for that reason.
I rate this 4 stars, because it does a very good job in presenting Cantonese grammar and syntax in a way which is understandable and enjoyable. But, for people who have learnt Chinese in another form, say Mandarin, don't think this is an easy book, because you can read Chinese. There is, in fact, no chinese characters in it at all. It would have been very helpful had they put them in, but over the years, having been a speaker of a similar language - Hakka, I've come to the conclusion that to learn another Chinese language from already knowing one initially, it is probably more work, but ultimately less fallable if you start anew, and not resting on your laurels just by getting the gist from Chinese characters. Often, Cantonese surprises you with constructions and vocabulary totally different to Mandarin, and Matthews and Yip's choice not to put in Chinese characters (for me at least) is sound. Some people will not like it for that reason.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is very comprehensive, providing an academic approach to the language. Students of linguistics would be comfortable with this book, but it is still accessible to people who are at least comfortable with basic linguistics terms like nouns and verbs. For those readers who might need a reminder, an appendix provides a glossary of terms used.
Concepts are explained with many examples using Yale romanisation. Ideas are laid out in a very structured manner, as you might expect of a textbook. As said in a previous review there are no characters at all (due to the high level of inconsistency between spoken and written Cantonese), so bear in mind this is a book for people interested in speaking the language.
The only downside in my opinion was the high price of this book (probably due to the relatively specialist area). If you are seriously considering studying Cantonese however, this is the best book I've come across - the content more than makes up for this downside. If you have a more casual interest, you might find "Colloqiual Cantonese" by Keith S.T. Tong and Gregory James a good start.
Concepts are explained with many examples using Yale romanisation. Ideas are laid out in a very structured manner, as you might expect of a textbook. As said in a previous review there are no characters at all (due to the high level of inconsistency between spoken and written Cantonese), so bear in mind this is a book for people interested in speaking the language.
The only downside in my opinion was the high price of this book (probably due to the relatively specialist area). If you are seriously considering studying Cantonese however, this is the best book I've come across - the content more than makes up for this downside. If you have a more casual interest, you might find "Colloqiual Cantonese" by Keith S.T. Tong and Gregory James a good start.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5 reviews
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful
More than you will ever want to know . . .
10 May 2000
Format:Paperback
This grammar is well written and comprehensive. It is heavy on linguistic terminology, but the language is altogether descriptive. While primarily beneficial to advanced learners, intermediate Cantonese students could find this helpful as well. Matthews also succeeds in lightening up a deep subject with interesting and fun examples. He also helps readers connect with the meanings of the words and phrases by giving both direct translations and the equivalent meaning side-by-side in these examples. The book is the modern definitive work on the Cantonese language. It teaches a complex subject and is complex itself. I recommend the book for anyone interested in understanding the mechanics of Cantonese, or for anyone wanting to find comparisons with Mandarin.
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Excellent book for advanced students
24 Feb 2000
Format:Paperback
Cantonese is traditionally a spoken language, but these days a language must have a standard written grammatical structure in order to survive. This book provides the first intensive study of written Cantonese, often providing a reference to a related Colloquial structure. Great for advanced students or those studying grammatical structure of languages.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Very Well Organized and Documented Concepts
5 Mar 2006
Format:Paperback
This book is very well written, but is pretty heavy on the linguistic terminology. Nevertheless, I found it quite profound on how all the grammatical concepts are organized and documented. Some of the concepts are even applicable to Mandarin (Putonghua), which makes this great for contrast and comparison to that language. I have yet to find any book that organizes and quantifies grammatical structures in Mandarin; This is ironic considering the instruction of Cantonese seems dissmissed in mainland.
The only one thing that I can fault this book, is the lack of Chinese characters. It uses Yale romanization system to document the concepts, which in and of itself is not bad, but one needs the written Chinese characters in order to understand how a single character can fulfill many grammatical roles. Despite this, this book is invaluable supplement for anyone serious about learning Cantonese.
The only one thing that I can fault this book, is the lack of Chinese characters. It uses Yale romanization system to document the concepts, which in and of itself is not bad, but one needs the written Chinese characters in order to understand how a single character can fulfill many grammatical roles. Despite this, this book is invaluable supplement for anyone serious about learning Cantonese.
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