Studies in Chinese Language, the eighth volume in the Collected Works of Professor M. A. K. Halliday, approaches the Chinese language from several interesting vantage points, ranging from studies of medieval to modern grammar, phonology, and discourse. Professor Halliday's doctoral thesis, 'The Language of the Chinese, Secret History of the Mongols, provides the basis for the first section of this volume, with extracts from the book as well as the original Chinese text, which is one of the earliest known texts written in Mandarin, included in full on the accompanying online resources. The second section focuses on modern Chinese grammar, while the third looks at Chinese phonology. The final section, Grammar and Discourse', includes papers on grammatical metaphor and scientific discourse in both Chinese and English.

Author Biography

Professor M. A. K. Halliday (b. 1925) was Foundation Professor of Linguistics at the University of Sydney, Australia, until his retirement and has taught as a Visiting Professor around the world. As a self-styled 'generalist' he has published in many branches of linguistics. Professor Jonathan J. Webster is Head of the Department of Chinese, Translation and Linguistics at the City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.