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International Journal of Knowledge www.ijklp.org

and Language Processing KLP International ⓒ2014 ISSN 2191-2734

Volume 5, Number 1, 2014 pp.41–-58

A comparative study on the JIU in Mandarin Chinese and Taiwan Mandarin

Wei Chin

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China

No.15, Fuxing Road, Haidian District, Beijing, China

jinwei@istic.ac.cn

Received March 2014; revised March 2014

ABSTRACT. Along with the frequent exchange between Mainland China and Taiwan, a

comparative study of the language involved in the communication is getting much more

popular. In studying the written language of JIU in Mandarin Chinese (henceforth MC)

and Taiwan Mandarin (henceforth TM), Tianyuan found that “JIU +...” is rarely used in

TM. However, it is found that “JIU +...” is frequently used in the spoken language of

TM in our study. In this study, we will focus on the spoken language of MC and TM and

we will compare the differences of adverb JIU in subjective quantity, semantic focus, and

structural distribution. It is found that TM adverb JIU does not express the low

subjective quantity, and the usage of immediate cohesive marker usage is dying. TM

adverb JIU has two main functions: to bring out a focus and bring out a sequence. The

relations of sequence can be divided into the time of an event and the time of a discourse.

Keywords: Mandarin Chinese, Taiwan Mandarin, JIU, JIUSHI, Cohesive marker

1. Introduction. Along with the frequent exchange between Mainland China and Taiwan,

more and more people find there are many interesting differences between Mandarin

Chinese (MC) and Taiwan Mandarin(TM). Accordingly, many scholars have made some

research on the differences. However, most studies focus on the differences in lexicon,

leaving the differences in grammar less discussed. In this article, we intend to study the

differences of grammar in MC and TM by analyzing the differences of adverb JIU.

Tian yuan analyzed the written materials of MC and TM and found the string “JIU +…”

is rarely seen in Taiwan Mandarin.[1] However, there are a large number of “JIU +…”

found in daily communication, as (1)-(2).

What is the function of “JIU +…”？Is “JIU+…”in MC and TM different? Are there any

differences on the structure, semantics, and function of JIU in MC and TM? These are

questions that we will focus on in this paper.

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(1)a: Nimen dui xuexiao de fulishe you shenme nanwang de huiyi ma?1

You to school Mod retail.shop have what unforgettable Mod memory Q

‘Any unforgettable memories on the school retail shops?’

b: JIU yiqian guozhong de fulishe mai de dongxi dou henhaowan.

JIU formerly junior.high Mod retail.shop sale Mod things all very funny.

‘Um, the things sold there were very interesting.’

c: JIU wo gen wo pengyou dou henxihuan ezuoju, women JIU xihuan mai…

JIU I and my friends all like practical.joke, we JIU like buy…

‘Um, my friends and I liked to make practical jokes. Therefore, we bought…’

(2)a: Zhe jian yifu zenmeyang?

This CL clothes how.about

‘How about the clothes?’

b: JIU juede nali uaiguaide.

JIU fell somewhere strange

‘I just feel that somewhere goes wrong.’

In this paper, we use the spoken language as the main research data. The data from the

corpus and websites is taken as a supplementary to the spoken language data. In this line,

MC corpus and TM corpus are distinguished. For MC, “Beijing kouyu yuliaoku”(The

Corpus of Spoken Language in Beijing Dialect) (“BJKY”)2 is adopted as the main data,

supplemented with the data from a TV talk program called “Chengzhang bu fannao”

(Growing up with no anxieties) and the data from a TV soap opera called “Wo ai wo jia (I

love my family);3 For Taiwan Mandarin, the spoken language data is from the TV

programs such as “Kangxi lai le”(Kangxi is coming), “Guanjian shike”(Critical moment),

“Mingyun haohaowan”(Fate is funny), with a reference to the spoken data in Chan Yuli’s

Master thesis [2] and “The NCCU Corpus of Spoken Chinese” 4 . In the following, we

first discuss the differences of adverb JIU in MC and the TM. Then we will further explore

the nature of JIU in TM.

2. JIU and subjective quantity in MC and TM. In line with Chen Xiaohe, “subjective

quantity’ is the quantity on subjective evaluation, which is the counterpart of “objective

quantity”.[3] JIU could bring out the difference in quantity, as shown in (3), in which 1.8

meters may be interpreted as a high number (as in 3b) or a very low number (as in 3a). It is

found JIU shows some difference in subjective quantity in MC and TM.

1 The abbreviations used in the glosses are as follows: CL:classifier, Inch: Inchoative marker, Interj:

interjection, Q: question marker, Mod: Modification, Perf: Perfective tense marker, Past: Past tense marker,.

2“BJKY”

http://www.baidu.com/link?url=hUwvzUvIHYE8W66FnJ5FgevfiE2qJOyo-tOcEpP1tRo_n0l9TvLTG4NGQi0

lJNmxQTMFv1EEbuQN_H7CfN9Kji8kvCjTZOLeGyx7eRkp6xG

3 Mandarin Chinese (MC) is generally assumed to be based on the Beijing Dialect, though there are some

differences in lexicons between MC and Beijing Dialect. As we mainly concentrate on the grammar in this

paper, it is still not implausible to adopt the BJKY as our MC spoken language data.

4 The NCCU Corpus of Spoken Chinese is available at http://140.119.172.200/

43

(3)Ta shengao JIU yi mi ba.

he height JIU one meter eight

a. He is only 1.8 m.

b. His height is over 1.8 m, not talking about other things.

2.1. High subjective quantity. Without considering contrastive stress, the co-occurrence of

JIU and quantity phrase in MC is often used to express large subjective quantity, which is

listed as follows. (4a) is a piece of news headline. The news reveals that the fine is too high

and such a deed is unreasonable. We assume that the JIU in (4a) should express high

subjective quantity. However, in (4b), comparing with jin ‘only’, ‘ten thousand yuan’ after

JIU should denote a large quantity.

(4)a. …luan fankuan zhangkou JIU wu qian.

Disorderly fine open.mouse JIU five thousand

‘Five thousand (yuan) is charged once a fine is made.’

b. Ta yueshouru jin 1000, er nuer meinian jin xuefei JIU yao yiwan.

she monthly.income only 1000 but daughter every.year only tuition JIU need 10,000

‘Her monthly income is only 1000 (yuan); however, the tuition of her daughter each

year requires 10,000 (yuan).’

We also find some cases of ‘JIU+ five thousand’ and ‘JIU + ten thousand’ in the corpus of

TM, as in (5). Comparing with zhi ‘only’ and sanqianwubai zhi siqian ‘three thousand five

hundred (TW$) to four thousand’, wuqianyuan ‘five thousand yuan’ is relatively high in

quantity in (5a). (5b) is a piece of news headline. It says the KMT legislators criticized the

high cost of applying for the college entrance examination. Here, yi wan ‘ten thousand’

followed by JIU expresses the high amount in quantity.

(5)a. Yiban chaojia zhi tichu yi san qian wu bai yuan zhi

normal speculator only raise use three thousand five hundred TW$ to

si qian yuan shougou, dan fugui nanu chujia JIU wuqian yuan...

four thousand TW$ purchase but rich people offer JIU five thousand TW$

‘Normal speculators quoted only three thousand yuan to five thousand, however,

the rich ones quoted from five thousand yuan.

b. Kao daxue baogao JIU yiwan liwei: ba kaosheng dang tikuanji.

take college apply.for JIU ten.thousand legislators: take examinees as ATM

‘Ten thousand TW$ to apply for the college entrance exam. Legislators: don’t take

examinees as ATMs.’

Leaving the contrastive focus aside, the co-occurrence of JIU and quantity phrases,

denoting high subjective quantity, in MC and TM show no difference in semantics and

function.

2.2. Low subjective quantity. In searching for “JIU+ quantity phrase” in MC, it is found

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that there are some cases of them denoting “low subjective quantity”, which is derived from

the context. As shown in (6a), wuqian ‘five thousand’ is low in amount, which is shown

through lian yipian boke de wenzi dou bugou ‘the number (of words in Tao Te Ching) is

less than the number of a blog article’. In (6b), wan ba kuai qian ‘around ten thousand’ is

shown to be low in amount through the strings neng qu zuo shenme ‘what can it be used to

do?’

(6)a. Yi bu daodejing ye JIU wuqian wenzi, lian yi pian boke de

one CL Tao Te Ching too JIU five thousand word, even one CL blog Mod

wenzi dou bu gou, que rang duzhe ruchiruzui le ji qian nian.

words all not enough but let readers enjoy Perf several thousand year

‘Tao Te Ching has only around five thousand characters, which is less than the

number of a blog article. However, it has been popular for several thousand years.’

b. Shoutoushang JIU wan ba kuaiqian, neng qu zuo shenme?

hand JIU ten.thousand around yuan can go do what

‘There is only ten thousand yuan. What can we use it to do?’

Next we turn to the data in TM. In (7), yi ge tou ‘one head’ introduced by JIU forms a

contrast with quanshen ‘whole body’ and yi ge tou is relatively low in amount. In spite of

this, the function of JIU is not to emphasize the amount ‘one head’, but to stress that ‘only

the head is clear’, which implies that the rest of the body is ‘out of consciousness’. From

this point of view, we assume that the main function of JIU in TM does not aim to bring out

the subjective quantity.

(7)Canfei, cong bozi yixia wanquan shiqu zhijue. Yi ge ren JIU shengxia bozi yishang

disable from neck below all lose conscience one CL person JIU leave neck above

yi ge tou shi qingxing de, …

one CL head be conscious Mod

‘The body below the neck is out of consciousness. When a person has nothing but a

head is conscious, …(Academia Sinica Balanced Corpus of Modern Chinese)

When “JIU + quantity phrase” is expressing low subjective quantity, JIU often collocates

with zhi ‘only’, as in (8a), or cai/eryi ‘only’, as in (8b).5 JIU in (8) doesn’t express the

subjective amount, but has the function of bringing out a focus. Instead, the meaning of low

quantity is brought out by zhi, cai, or eryi ‘only’.

(8)a. Zhe yi qunqun de yegou, zaoyi bu jian zongji,

this a group Mod wild.dogs already not see trace

JIU zhi sheng liang san tiao…

JIU only leave two three CL

5 Tian yuan assumes that zhi and cai is a counterpart of JIU in TM when the strings express ‘the time is short,

fast or the quantity is low’[1] However, we do not agree with her on this point. Instead, we think JIU does not

express subjective quantity and it has some other functions instead. This could be evidenced from the

collocation between JIU and zhi/cai, in which zhi/cai brings out the small quantity.

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‘The flocks of dogs have already disappeared and only two or three are left.’

b. Neng duo po yixie tu ma?...

can more put some pictures Q

‘Can we put some more pictures?’

Zenme JIU cai yi zhang PCHOME de xiangzi eryi, haodai ye yong ge PSV …

how JIU only one CL PCHOME Mod case only, in.any.case too use CL PSC

‘Why is there just one PCHOME box? Why not use a PSV box?’

Finally, we come back to discuss the data in MC, as in (9), in which both JIUa and JIUb

co-occur with a number phrase. In (9), ‘JIU + wu jin’ means low subjective quantity;

however, ‘JIU + 6.4 jin’ means large subjective quantity. This is dependent on the context.

JIU in MC can express subjective quantity, however, this is not its main function.

(9)36 zhou de shihou daifu shuo haizi ye JIUa wu jin de yangzi,

36 week Mod time doctor say child too JIU five 500g Mod seem

keshi sheng chulai de shihou JIUb liu jin si liang le.

but born out Mod time JIU six 500g 4 50g Inch

‘According to the doctor, the child was only around 2500g when s/he was 36 weeks

old; however, the weight went up to 3200 g when s/he was born.

In MC, the co-occurrence of JIU and quantity phrases can be used to distinguish low

subjective quantity from high subjective quantity with the help of context or contrastive

focus. However, JIU in TM does not express subjective quantity, but only brings out an

emphasis.

3. The “semantic focus” of JIU in MC and TM. Jiang Jingzhong and Wei Honghua

pointed out that JIU in cataphoric reference has two functions: the exclusive focus, for

instance, the X4 in {X1, X2, X3, X4, X5, X6... }. This is exemplified in (10a), in which the

sentence means there is only one station, that is Zhengzhou Station. The other one is to

exclude the other options beyond the signal word (for instance X4), as the underlined

elements in {X1, X2, X3, X4, X5, X6... }. This reading is shown in (10b). In this situation,

(10) is interpreted as ‘the train will not go to any other station which is beyond Zhengzhou

station (X4), such as the Beijing Station (X5, X6...).’ [4]

(10)Huoche JIU dao Zhengzhou zhan.

train JIU arrive Zhengzhou station

a. The train has just one stop and it is Zhengzhou Station.

b. The last stop of the train is Zhengzhou Station.

In the following, we are going to investigate and analyze JIU in TM from these two

kinds of semantic functions.

3.1. Exclusive Focus. We look at some examples of exclusive focus in MC, such as (11).

In (11a), it says if you want to buy a fund, you must buy it in the ‘fund-trading website’.

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JIU focuses on the only website, that is ‘fund-trading website’, and rejects other websites.

In (11b), it means that if you want to know ‘I’ more, the only option is to ‘go to my world’.

The function of JIU rejects all the other options besides the one followed by JIU.

(11)a. Mai jijin JIU dao jijin maimai wang.

buy fund JIU to fund buy.sell net

‘If you want to buy a fund, just visit the fund-trading net.’

b. Xiangyao liaojie wo JIU dao wode shijie lai.

want understand me JIU to my world come

‘If you want to know me, just come to my world.’

Next we come to discuss JIU in TM. (12a) is a piece of real estate advertisement, which

highlights the apartment’s closeness to the MRT station. In this example, JIU does not

trigger a focus from many options. As for (12b), the function of JIU is just to bring the

focus onto ‘a paintbrush’.

(12)a. Nanbu fangdichan zhuanji: jifufa “wujiaxinxiang” buxing JIU dao jieyunzhan.

south real.estate collection housing estate name on.foot JIU to MRT

‘An issue on southern real estate. wujiaxinxiang, several steps away from MRT.’

b. Ta xihuan mei hua yi bi JIU huan yi zhi huabi.

he like each draw one stroke JIU draw one CL drawing.pen

‘He likes to change a drawing pen after each stroke.’

From the above discussion, we know that the exclusive focus usage of JIU shows no

difference in MC and TM.

3.2. The Exclusion of the rightward item introduced by JIU. As discussed above, Jiang

Jingzhong and Wei Honghua consider that JIU in MC has two functions: exclusive focus

and the exclusion of the rightward items of the JIU modified item. In this line, the three

sentences are ambiguous in (13). [4] Taking (13a) as an example, ‘JIU five bottles’ triggers a

set of scalar items, as {one bottle, two bottles, three bottles, four bottles, five bottles, six

bottles,... }. The exclusive function of JIU pinpoints to five bottles and the exclusion of

rightward items eliminates the possibility of 5 bottles or beyond. The exclusion of

rightward items may be related to the low subjective quantity of JIU in MC.

As for JIU in TM, it is not used to denote subjective quantity, but to emphasize a certain

thing. Accordingly, in (13a), only the exclusive focus meaning is available. The situation

may like that there are two people discussing how many bottles of wine to buy, one said:

‘JIU five bottles’. Here the function of JIU is to bring out the exclusive focus. Actually, the

subjective quantity of ‘five bottles’ is depending on the context, not introduced by JIU.

However, there is another situation, in which two people are drinking and A wants B to

drink more. Under this situation, B says ‘JIU five bottles’, indicating his ultimate goal. In

this case, several options seem to be involved; however, this is still determined by the

context but not introduced by JIU.

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(13c) in MC has two interpretations: one is to emphasize ‘I have five dollars’, the other is

to say ‘I have only five dollars’. However, only the first reading is available in TM. If the

second reading is to be expressed, zhi or eryi ‘only’ is applied to denote low subjective

quantity, as in (13d). When a train’s scheduled terminal is Beijing Station; however, it

ended at Zhengzhou station unexpectedly today, the speaker of TM will say (13f), instead

of (13e).

(13)a. JIU wu ping.

JIU five bottle

‘Just five bottles.’

b. Zhi wu ping.

only five bottle

‘Only five bottles.’

c. Wo JIU you wu kuaiqian.

I JIU have five yuan.

‘I have just five yuan.’

d. Wo zhi you wu kuaiqian (eryi).

I only have five yuan (only)

‘I have just five yuan.’

e. JIU dao Zhengzhou zhan.

JIU to Zhengzhou station.

‘The train only arrives at Zhengzhou Station’

‘The train does not go beyond Zhengzhou Station.’

f. zhi dao Zhengzhou zhan (eryi)

only to Zhengzhou station (only).

‘The train does not go beyond Zhengzhou Station.’

In (14a), three readings are available in MC. The first reading is that ‘I will go to visit

him immediately’; the second reading is that ‘I only plan to visit him, but not to do other

things’; the third reading is that ‘I insist on going to visit him in spite of your or someone

else’s disagreement’. However, only the third reading is available in TM. If the speakers in

TM want to express the meaning like (14ab), a lexical word zhi or eryi ‘only’is used. From

this observation, we may assume that JIU in MC is something like zhi or eryi in this

situation. However, there are some examples which seem to show JIU in TM also triggers

some scalar items, as in (15).

(14)a. Wo JIU qu ta naer kankan.

I JIU go his place look

‘I will go to visit him immediately.’

‘I only plan to visit him, but not to do other things.’

‘I insist on going to visit him in spite of your or someone else’s disagreement’

b. Wo JIU zhi qu ta naer kan yi xia, bu zai ta jia chifan.

I JIU only go his place look one Cl not at his home eat

‘I just went to his place to have a look. I did not eat there.’

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c. Wo JIU qu ta naer kan yi xia eryi, bu zai ta jia chifan.

I JIU go his place look one Cl only not at his home eat

‘I just went to his place to have a look. I did not eat there.’

The chengdu ‘degree’ in the question of (15a) seems to trigger a series of options and the

answer to (15a) is describing a limit, which is not compatible with zhi or eryi. In spite of

this observation, we don’t think the scalar meaning is introduced by JIU in TM. Instead, we

assume the scalar meaning is introduced with the help of the context.

(15)a. S: Ni yao ba toufa liu dao shenme chengdu?

you want take hair keep to what extent

‘How long do you want your hair to be?’

b. H: Jiu/(*zhi) bu neng renshou de chengdu.

JIU/only not able bear Mod degree

‘When I could not bear it.’

In this section, we have discussed some differences on JIU in MC and TM. It is found

that JIU in MC has two semantic possibilities, while JIU in TM has just one option, that is,

to introduce the exclusive focus.

4. The structural distribution of JIU in MC and TM. Tian Yuan compared the adverb

JIU respectively in MC and TM and found that sentence-initial JIU is rarely seen in Taiwan

Mandarin; however, sentence-initial JIU is quite common in MC, as in (16). [1] One thing to

note is that Tian yuan mainly analyzed the written data, but not the oral data. In this section

we will mainly investigate the oral data and it is found there are many cases of

sentence-initial JIU in the daily communication in TM.

(16)a. JIU san ge ren.

only three CL people

‘Only three people’

b. JIU ni zhe dian benshi

only you this point ablity

‘Your ability is not strong enough to do…’

In the following part, we would like to compare the structural differences of JIU in MC

and TM. We will first briefly discuss sentence-internal JIU, then we will focus on the

sentence-initial JIU in MC and TM.

4.1. Sentence-internal JIU. First, we come to discuss (17). In MC, (17) has the following

3 readings: (a) I just want to go to his place, not other places, (b) I will go to his place

immediately, and (c) I insist on going to his place, even though there is someone who does

not want me to go there. In this line, the JIU in MC can express low subjective quantity,

immediate cohesion and emphasis. As for TM, (17) can only be interpreted as the third

meaning. Therefore, JIU in TM has only the usage of expressing an emphasis.

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(17)wo JIU qu ta nar

I JIU go he place

a. I just want to go to HIS PLACE.

b. I will go to his place IMMEDIATELY.

c. I INSIST ON going to his place, though someone does not like it.

The following are some more examples in TM to illustrate this. In (18), two people are

discussing an interesting game. First they discuss how to fight. Gradually they became

good friends. Usually being a good friend takes some time. However, if mashang

‘immediately’ is added before JIU, the sentence is still good.

(18)Cai kangyong: Suoyi qingwen ni weihe ba Xiaojingteng

So ask you why take Xiaojingteng

nairu nide wanban zhong?

put your friend in

‘Why did you take Xiaojingteng as one of your friends?’

Heiren: Shi ta xian tiaoxin de.

is he first challenge Mod

‘It was he who challenged me first.’

Cai kangyong: Shi ni ma? Ni ziji zhao shang men de a?

is you Q you self find to door Mod Q

‘Were you the guy who came to challenge him?

Xiao jingteng: Wo xiang yixia JIU women yiqi taolun dao zhege youxi

I hink a.bit JIU we together discuss to this game

ranhou dangran JIU hui taolun dao dade zenmeyang a

then of.course JIU will discuss to play how interj

na zuihou JIU yao tiaozhan a

then finally JIU will challenge interj

‘Let me think a bit. We discussed the game. Gradually we came to

discuss how to play the game and then I challenged him.

(A talk program ‘kangxilaile’)

In example (19), the subject is asked to present his feelings after watching a film. During

the narration, he used several ‘ranhou + JIU’. ‘ranhou + JIU’ in this place is not used to

mean immediate cohesion, but to denote the time sequence.

(19)Na baba dao tade fangjian ne, ranhou JIU kan tadongxi a ,

That Dad to his room Interj then JIU read he thing um

ranhou wo JIU xiangshuo ei, weishenme baba hui qu kan yige, yi ge

then I JIU want say um, why Dad may go see one CL one CL

xiaopengyou de fangjian a! wo hai buzhidao yuanyin, ranhou JIU jixu

small child Mod room um I still not know reason then JIU continue

genzhe baba de nazhong xinqing xiaqu, baba kan ta, kai tade diannao,

follow Dad Mod that CL feeling down, Dad read him, open his computer

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kai tade chouti, ranhou JIU…JIU huamian JIU daidao na ge keting qu…

open his drawer, then JIU… JIU picture JIU come.to that CL living.room to. [3]

‘The Dad came into the room. Then he looked around and then I want to ask, why did the

Dad come into a child’s room. I didn’t know the reason. Then I followed Dad’s motions.

He opened the child’s computer and opened and then he opened the drawer. After that the

picture moves to the living room…’

4.2. Sentence-initial JIU. Tian Yuan pointed out that MC and TM are different in the

strings of “JIU + …”. Most of JIU in “JIU+…” in MC collocates with a numeral phrase to

express “short time”, “fast” or “low quantity”. On the other hand, “JIU+......” is randomly

seen in Taiwan Mandarin.[1] However, after investigating the oral data in TM, it is found

that there are many cases of sentence-initial or clause-initial JIU, and the number of this

type of JIU in oral corpus is surprisingly higher than the number of sentence or

clausal-internal JIU. One thing to note is that “JIU+…” in TM does not denote “short time”,

“fast”, or “low quantity”, but brings out “emphasis” and “sequence”. The following comes

to the details of these two functions.

4.2.1. Emphasis. (20) is related to the work of an on-duty Taiwan traffic police. In this

example, JIU is used to introduce an example, which descries the hardness of being a traffic

police. JIU in (20) can be replaced by “even”.

(20)Hai jingchang you tongren cheliang huo luguo cheliang, wushiyu ben dui

Even often have colleague cars or pass by cars ignore our team

renyuan zhi zhihui, dang xing bu xing uo jia su chongci JIU cengjing

staff Mod command should pass not pass will add speed sprint JIU once

fasheng guo yi wei tongren, bei jishierguo de chezi zi jiaobei nian guo…

happen Past one CL colleague get fast Mod car from instep grind Past

‘There are some cars who ignore the commands of our colleagues… Once there was a

colleague, whose instep was crushed by a speedy car.’

( Academia Sinica Balanced Corpus of Modern Chinese)

In (21), the “JIU henmiao” is similar to a parenthesis, which is used to evaluate the

following matter.

(21)Baojie: Laogong you duoshao?

CPC have how much

Xiping: Laogong you 1063 dun

CPC have 1063 tons

…you yi jian shiqing fasheng le JIU hen miao jiushishuo bu yao ba huangjing

have one CL thing occur Perf JIU very good in.other.word not will take gold

cun zai meiguo

keep in the United States

‘The CPC has 1063 tons. One thing happened. That is, it was interesting. They

did not want to store gold in USA.’

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(A talk program ‘GUANJIANSHIKE’)

The emphasis use of JIU is quite common in MC, such as (22). JIU is to highlight “the

courtyard”, “two small rooms”. In this way it can make the listener clearly know what the

object is.

(22)wo niujie duo nian, wo mei likai niujie zhu guo,

I street name many years I not leave street name live Past

JIU zhe yuanzi, JIU zhe yuanzi shinian le ba,

JIU this yard JIU this yard ten years Inch interj

JIU zhe liang xiao jian zher shi, zher you yi ge chufang…

JIU this two small CL here is here have one CL kitchen

‘I have lived at Niujie for many years and have never left it. On this yard, on this yard, it

has ten years. Talking about these two small rooms, there is a kichen…’

(Corpus of CCL)

4.2.2. Sequence. In the previous section, we mentioned that JIU in TM is losing the

meaning of “immediate cohesion”. The left meaning is related to “sequence”. The meaning

of “sequence” can be divided into two types: (a) the time of event, (b) the time of discourse.

In (23)(=19), “ranhou JIUa” is cohesive marker of the time of event which is related to the

father’s going to his son’s room and watching his child’s stuff. “JIUb” bring out of the

speaker's feeling, which belongs to "the time of discourse". Here “JIUb” is not a cohesive

marker of the time of event but the time of discourse. “ranhou JIUc” follows the mood of

the father and “JIUc” refers to “the time of discourse”. “ranhou JIUd” is denoting “the time

of event”, and “ranhou JIUe” is related to the feeling and denotes “the time of discourse”.

Therefore, it is found that JIU in this paragraph can be interchangeably used, that is: the

time of event the time of discourse the time of discourse the time of event the

time of discourse.

(23)na baba dao tade fangjian ne, ranhou JIUa kan tadongxi a, ranhou wo JIUb

xiangshuo ei,weishenme baba hui qu kan yige, yige xiaopengyoude fangjian a! wo

hai bu zhidao yuanyin, ranhou JIUc jixu genzhe babade nazhong xinqing xiaqu,Baba

kan ta, kai tade diannao, kai tade chouti, ranhou JIUd…JIU huamian JIU daidao nage

ketin qu, Ranhou JIUe juede ei… daodi weishenme baba hui qu… hui

qu kan yig fang, xiaopengyoude de fangjian…[2]

Then, we see (24). The host asked the guests to talk about their unforgettable memories

in school retail shops. When everyone presented their opinions, they used JIU to introduce

the sentences. Here, JIU could be substituted for by JIUSHI.

(24)a: nimen dui xuexiao de fulishe you shenme nanwang de huiyi ma?

You to school Mod canteen have what unforgettable memory Q

‘Any memory on the school canteen?’

b: JIU yiqian guozhong de fulishe mai de dongxi dou henhaowan.

JIU formerly junior high school Mod canteen sale Mod. things all very funny.

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‘Um, the things sold there were very interesting.’

c: JIU wo gen wo pengyou dou henxihuan ezuoju, women JIU xihuan mai…

JIU I and my friends all like practical joke, we JIU like buy…

‘Um, my friends and I liked to make practical jokes, therefore, we bought…’

( A talk program ‘MOFANBANGBANGTANG’)

It is found that the JIU in TM can be used to mark “the time of event” or “the time of

discourse”. Its function is similar to ranhou ‘then’ in MC or “well” in English. In this line,

when the speaker uses a sentence/clause-internal JIU in a conversation, we know the

speaker doesn’t finish his conversation yet.

In this line, it is tempting to make such an assumption that JIU in TM is equivalent to

JIUSHI in MC. The only difference between the two lies in the shi ‘be’ was dropped in TM.

In (27) , there are several JIUSHI in the beginning of sentence. Also Tian Yuan considered

JIUSHI as JIU.[1] So we assume that “sequence”-denoting JIU in TM is derived from

JIUSHI. In the following, we will discuss the differences between JIU and JIUSHI of

Taiwan Mandarin.

(25)Nage shihou JIUSHI… ta ta ta you…ta you yi ge na zhong yuce de

that time that.is he he he have he have one CL that kind predict Mod

na ge yingpian…hoaxiang shi… meiguode yi ge shenme…yi ge daoyan ta

that CL film seems like is American one CL what one Cl director he

pai de… JIUSHI… paishe shuo…eh… JIUSHI weilai… JIUSHI…

shoot Mod that.is shoot say interj that is future that.is

dang shijie mori fasheng zhihou …

when world last.day happen time

‘At that time, that is, he, he had a film on prediction. It seems that it was made by an

American director. That is, shot. Um, that is the future. That is, when the world comes to an

end.’

(The NCCU Corpus of Spoken Chinese)

5. The differences between JIU in TM and JIUSHI in MC and TM. Zhang Yisheng

pointed out that JIUSHI can roughly represent 6 different semantic relations under different

situations: concession, explanation, progression, condition, option, and transition. In other

words, we can say JIUSHI has 6 different types of cohesive effects. In addition, he pointed

out that JIUSHI SHUO ‘that is to say’ can be taken as a parenthesis from the perspective of

information expression; however, from the cohesive perspective, it seems better to be

analyzed as a cohesive marker. [5]

According to previous research, there are 3 points shared by MC JIUSHI and TM JIU: (a)

They are both used to explain a certain thing, (b) They can be analyzed as a parenthesis

from the perspective of information expression and a cohesive word from the perspective of

cohesion, and (c) They are similar with “conjunction word” in communication. Below we

would like to discuss much more on these two words.

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5.1. Structural description. Wang Honglei proposed that JIUSHI is an independent

Turn-Constructional unit and should be taken as a Hesitation Marker. When the speaker

hesitates, as in (26a), or there is something hard to say, as in (26b), Hesitation Marker

JIUSHI is used, which helps the speaker to gain time to find the right words and let the

hearer easily understand the speaker's meaning. [6]

(26)a. ni ganjue yixia en JIUSHI JIUSHI wo xiede zenmeyang

you feel a while pause JIUSHI JIUSHI I write how

‘Just fell. Um, that is, that is, how did I write?’

b. wo houlai qu le yici JIUSHI JIUSHI en

I later go to once JIUSHI JIUSHI pause

natian xiawu wo juede ting JIUSHI JIUSHI en ting buhaoyisi

the day afternoon I feel so JIUSHI JIUSHI pause so embarrassed

‘That afternoon, I felt so , that is, that is, Um, so embarrassed.’ [6]

Zhang Yaming also pointed out that in Zhuxi dialect and Yunxi dialect, JIUSHI has the

function of pause, as in (27). [7]

(27)JIUSHI nage, jiao ni xie zi, jiao ni xie xin, JIU na yi ge,

JIUSHI that teach you write character teach you write letter JIU that one CL

haiyou JIUSHI……nage, gaoge shazi yong sha zi,

besides JIUSHI that do what use what word

jiao ni zhu pinyin……[7]

teach you mark PINYIN

‘That is that one, who to teach you to how write, teach you how to write letters. That one,

and there is another one, that is, to teach you which words to use and how to note

Pinyin…’

We compared JIU and JIUSHI in TM, as in (28). When JIUSHI appears, it is usually

under the situation when the guest could not find a right word. The usage of JIUSHI helps

the speaker to find the time to find a more appropriate word. Notably, the ‘ze’ shows pause,

which is similar to ‘well’ in English. However, when JIU appears, the speaker did not

hesitate, and there is no pause involved. JIU is closely linked with the following clause(s).

Therefore, JIU cannot be regarded as an independent Turn-Constructional unit as JIUSHI in

TM.

(28)Cai kangyong: Nina baba mama dangchu

name father mother at the beginning

duiyu yao jiagei zhe ge ren youmeiyou yijian

to will marry this CL man have-not-have opinion

‘Nina, did your parents have any opinions on your marrying this man?’

Nina: you a wo ba

have interj my father

‘Yes, he had.’

54

Cai kangyong: ta juede

he feel

‘He felt…’

Nina: JIUSHI hen (ze) hen buneng jieshou

JIUSHI very pause very can.not acceptable

‘That is, He couldn't accept it.

Xiao S: jieguo houlai zenme dadong ta

finally later how impress he

‘Finally, how did you persuade him?’

Nina: JIU wo gen wo ba zhengzhi le JIUSHI yinggai lengzhan

JIU I and my father dispute Perf JIUSHI should cold war

chabuduo liang san ge yue ba yinwei ta qiuhun zai feiji shang

about two three CL months interj because he propose in airplane on

suoyi wo ba kandao baozhi cai zhidao suoyi hen qi ranhou

so my father read newspaper then know so very angry then

JIUSHISHUO ranhou wo ba JIU qing pengyou qu souxun ta yixie (hehe)

JIUSHISHUO then my father JIU invite friends go search his some

yiqian de shiqing ranhou huilai gen wo JIU jiang henduo

before thing then come home with JIU talk much

JIU shuo zenme hui xuan ta zheyangzi

JIU say how will choose he like. this

‘Then we had a dispute. That was, it should be a cold war. It lasted almost two or three

months. Beacause he asked me to marry him on the plane, and then my dad saw the

newspaper and knew that and got very angry. and then, that is, then my dad asked his

friends to search for his news, (HA HA) about my boyfriend. And then, Dad went

back to tell me a lot, and asked why I chose a guy like him?’

(A talk program ‘KANGXILAILE’)

5.2. The comparison of function.Wang Honglei pointed out that JIUSHI, as an

independent Turn-Constructional unit, has two kinds of function: Hesitation Marker and

Reformulation Marker. Reformulation Marker is used to supply much more information, as

(29). JIUSHI in this example is used to present the feeling that “something goes wrong” in

the previous information. [6] Similar usage of JIUSHI is also found in Zhuxi Dialect and

Yunxi Dialect, as in (30), in which JISHI helps to make detailed description on the

fore-mentioned girl.

(29)Houlai ne wo qu guo tade bangongshi

later Interj I go Past his office

nage laoshi dui wo daoshi ting hao danshi wo zong juede

that teacher to I really very good but I always feel

buduijin zenme shuo ne JIUSHI ye bushi buduijin

something.goes.wrong how say Interj JIUSHI also not something goes wrong

55

JIUSHI juede xinli zong youdianr guijiugan he zibeigan…[6]

JIUSHI feel in.the.heart always a.little sense. of. quilt and inferiority

‘Later, I went to his office. The teacher was very nice to me, but I thought something

went wrong anyway, how to say? That is, something went wrong. That is, I had a little

guilty and inferiority complex...’

(30)A: Ta hoaxing zai zhui yige nusheng

he seem is running.after a girl

‘He seems to be dating a girl’

B: nage nusheng a?

which girl interj

‘Which one?’

A: JIUSHI nage nusheng a zou zui qiantou, chuan qipao na ge nusheng

JIUSHI that girl nterj walk most front wear cheongsam that CL girl

‘That is the one, who is walking in the front and wearing the cheongsam.’

Another example is (31), in which the speaker talks about the speaking habits in Beijing.

“JIUSHIa” brings out an example for shu yidian shuohua "a chat between acquaintances".

"JIUSHIb" is the further interpretation of the acting of jugong ‘bow’. "JIUSHIc" further

illustrates shu yidian shuohua ‘a chat between acquaintances’, such sa like ning ting hao

de ? ‘How are are?’

(31)en Beijinghua a, xiang Beijing de na ge fengsu xiguan ya, fanzheng,

um Beijing.dialect Interj like Beijing Mod that CLcustoms habits Interj anyway

shi bijiao, en, shou yidian shuohua, ai, JIUSHIa, birushuo,

is relatively um back a little talk interj that.is for.example

women yao, yaoshi nage yiqian haoxiang jialibianr haoxiang bijiao youqian yidianr

we if if that before seem family seem relatively rich a.little

a, JIUSHISHUO, en, yaoshi lai ge keren shenme de, doushi cong,

interj that.is um if come CL guest what Mod all from

cong nage mendao, da mendao jinlai, nage JIU kaishi nage jugong.

from that doorway big doorway come.in that JIU start that bow

JIUSHIb wangqian, haoxiang JIU, en, yiban zuoyi,

that.is forward seem JIU um at the same time make. a.bow.with.hands

yibianr jugong de. Ranhou JIUSHIc gen jialibianr de na ge zhangbei ya shuohua,

at.the.same.time bow Mod then that.is with family that CL elder Interj talk

“ninhao!” nin jinlai, nin ting hao de?”

Hello you recently you very good

‘Um, Beijing dialect, like the customs and habits of Beijing ah, sort of, um, when chatting

with friends, um, that is, for example, for those families who were a bit rich, that is, Um, if

a guest came to visit, they got inside from the doorway, and began to bow. That is to come

forward, and make a bow with hands folded in front. Then that is, to talk to the elders at

home with greetings like “Hello!” “How are you?” ’

(BJKY)

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The function of JIUSHI in MC is shown in Figure 1. JIUSHI brings some more

information. Its function is not to extend something, but to further illustrate and explain a

fore-mentioned topic. As shown in (31), the biggest rectangle a means “customs and habits

in Beijing”. JIUSHI brings out a smaller rectangular b, which explains “bowing”.

Rectangular c denotes “the way of bow”, and triangular d means “language courtesy in

Beijing”.

FIG. 1. AN EXAMPLE OF THE FUNCTION OF JIUSHI

The JIU in TM refers to the “sequence”. It is not to further explain or illustrate another

thing, but to be used as a cohesive marker for signaling the time of event (such as “JIUa” in

(32)) or the time of discourse (such as “JIUb”). As for “JIUc”, it aims to bring the attention

of the listener.

(32) Interviewee: ranhou turan you yudao kan…kan ta yiqian bang

then suddenly again run.into see see he before help

guo de na ge funu, ranhou JIUa zheyang JIU jieshu le, dui a,

Perf Mod that CL woman then JIU such JIU finish yes interj

JIUb meiyou…meiyou hen wanzheng de yi ge ending, dui a!

JIU no no very complete Mod one CL ending yes interj

suoyi jiushi zheyangzi. Ranhou juede hai man youqu de,

so that.is like this then feel still very unteresting Mod

dui a, zhuobielin de na ge biaoyan fangshi hen qingsong huixie,

yes interj Chaplin Mod that CL performance way very relaxed witty

dui a, JIUSHI zheyangzi.

yes interj that.is like this

‘Then suddenly he run into the woman he had helped before. Then is is over. Yes,

there is not a complete end. Yes. So, that is the way. Then, I felt very interesting. Yes,

Chaplin’s way of acting is funny. Yes, that is the way.’

Interviewer: hai you ma? Meiyoule?

still have Q nothing

JIUc ni hai huibuhui jixu jiang?

JIU you still will-not-will continue speak

‘Anything else? No? Then will you continue to say?’[2]

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We look at some data in which JIU and JIUSHI co-occurr, as in (33). JIU marks the

event sequence between kan ta da lanqiu ‘watch hising play basketball’ and ‘feel he does

not play by rules’. However, JIUSHI further explains that why she thought he didn’t obey

the rules.

(33)Xaio S: yinwei women congxiao kan ta dalanqiu

because we since childhood watch he play basketball

JIU juede ta hao zang o

jiu feel he very dirty interjection

JIUSHI lian women zhezhong menwaihan dou kandechulai

That.is even we this kind layman all can tell

ta shi zai anzhong gongji bieren

he is in secretly attack others

‘Because we have been watching him play basketball since our childhood. We feel he is

very not obey rules. That is, even the laymen like us could tell he attacked others secretly.’

(A TV program ‘KANGXILAILE’)

Based on the above discussion, it is assumed that sequence-denoting JIU in TM is

different from JIUSHI in MC and TM. JIU in TM is not to introduce progressive meaning,

but to show the time sequence, as depicted in Figure 2.

FIG. 2. AN EXAMPLE OF THE FUNCTION OF JIU IN TM

Table 1 is a detailed comparison between sequence-denoting JIU in TM

and JIUSHI in TM and Chinese Mandarin.

TABLE 1 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SEQUENCE-DENOTING JIU IN TM

AND JIUSHI IN MC AND TM

JIU in TM JIUSHI /JIUSHISHUO in TM and

MC

1.emphasis

2. Sequence Marker

1. Reformulation Marker

2. Hesitation Marker

A dependent turn-Constructional unit An independent turn-Constructional unit

6. Conclusion. Along with the frequent exchange between Mainland China and Taiwan,

the comparative study of the language involved in the communication is getting more

popular. This paper is to highlight the function of adverb JIU in TM by analyzed JIU in MC

and TW. JIU is studied from the perspectives of "subjective quantity" and "semantic focus".

It is found that JIU in TM is not used to express subjective quantity, but to bring out a focus.

From the textual point of view, when TC adverb JIU is in the middle of a sentence, it

doesn’t denote "immediate cohesion", but to mark the “sequence” of "the time of event" or

"the time of discourse". We compare sentence-initial JIUSHI and sentence-initial JIU in

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TM and MC. It is found that sentence-initial JIUSHI in TM and MC has two functions: it is

used as (a) hesitation markers, in which JIUSHI often brings out a pause, or as (b)

Reformulation Marker, in which JIUSHI helps to illustrate further information. However,

sentence-initial JIU in TM could not be used as a pause marker. It just represents the time

sequence. To sum up, JIU in TM has fewer functions than JIU in MC. JIU in MC mainly

has two functions: to highlight the focus and mark the sequence of time.

REFERENCES

[1] Tian, Yuan. Ambiguities of The Evaluative Adverb JIU(评定副词“就”的歧义现象). Peking University

Press, Beijing, 2006.

[2] Chan, Yuli. A Cross-linguistic Study of Narrative Strategies between Taiwanese Chinese and American

English(台湾与美国叙述策略之跨语言研究). Master's degree thesis of Yuan Ze University, 2009.

[3] Chen, Xiaohe. A tentative investigation into Subjective Quantity By Talking About “Jiu”, “Cai”,

“Dou”(主观量问题初探——兼谈副词“就”、“才”、“都”). Chinese Teaching In the World, vol.30, no.4,

pp.18-24, 1994.

[4] Jiang, Jingzhong, Honghua Wei. The Semantic Differences between Focus-Sensitive Operators Cai and

Jiu in Cataphoric Refernce(焦点敏感算子“才”和“就”后指的语义差异). Studies In Language and

Linguistics, vol.30, no.4, pp.43-50, 2010.

[5] Zhang, Yisheng. A study of The Function of Textual Cohesion And Its Grammaticalization Process of

“Jiushi”(“就是”的篇章衔接功能及其语法化历程). Chinese Teaching In the World, vol, 61, no.3,

pp.80-90, 2002.

[6] Wang, Honglei. An Analysis of the Function of JIUSHI as a Pragmatic Marker(“就是”的语用标记语功

能分析). Master's degree thesis of Jilin University, 2005.

[7] Zhang, Yaming. Grammaticalization of Jiushi in Dialect Speech(方言口语中“就是” 的语法化).

Journal of Yunyang Teacher’s College, vol.29, no.5, pp.57-61, 2009.