Chinese Dialectology: A Historical and Social Overview

This book explores one of the richest dialect families in the world: Chinese dialects. It covers all aspects of Chinese dialectology, from descriptive investigations, to dialect geography and philology, history, variation, language contact and sociolinguistics, and also includes a unique bibliography of dialect works by Western missionaries, explaining profound theories in simple language with colorful examples from all over China. Based on a unique framework and focusing on what other work on Chinese dialectology lacks, it combines a theoretical perspective with field research, and also links Western theory to the Chinese dialect tradition. This book is a breath of fresh air, providing new data as well as a bibliography of dialect translations of the Old and New Testaments not available elsewhere. Re-assessing old views and offering new perspectives based on rigorous research, it is an indispensable resource for researchers.