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Cantonese: A Comprehensive Grammar (Comprehensive Grammars) [Paperback]

Stephen Matthews , Virginia Yip
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
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Book Description

20 Oct 1994 Comprehensive Grammars
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.

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Product details

  • Paperback: 448 pages
  • Publisher: Routledge (20 Oct 1994)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 041508945X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0415089456
  • Product Dimensions: 22.8 x 15.6 x 3.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 52,339 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • See Complete Table of Contents

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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

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

The University of Hong Kong The Chinese University of Hong Kong --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Customer Reviews

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars A comprehensive grammar 20 Jun 2006
By Dyl.
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.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Very detailed look at Cantonese 4 Nov 2006
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.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Very comprehensive! 13 Mar 2013
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I like this book because as it says on the book 'comprehensive'. I was quite surprised that they even had the traditional chinese text in it because their previous ones didn't have any of that. As a Cantonese speaker, I love books with the pinyin and traditional chinese text. Absolutely a must have book if you are considering learning Cantonese!
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