A Systemic Functional Grammar of Cantonese: From Clausal Grammar to Discourse Semantics

A Systemic Functional Grammar of Cantonese adopts Systemic Functional Linguistics to describe the grammar of Cantonese, and to push the description beyond the clausal level to the discourse level. The book provides a comprehensive description of the Cantonese language, starting from the social and historical background, and the sound and word structure of Cantonese, including word, group, and phrase, to the grammar of clause and sentence.It then advances into the discourse of Cantonese, examining the compound and complex sentences, as well as the flow of information in Cantonese discourse and the elements which regulate the flow. This volume will be informative for scholars and students studying the Cantonese language, and will provide a good starting point for those researching the language.