Diachronic change in Southern Min, a Sinitic language - Changement diachronique en min méridional, langue sinitique – DIAMIN

This proposal represents the first large scale investigation of diachronic change in syntax for a Chinese dialect other than Mandarin, and is to be conducted by an international team of French and Taiwanese scholars. It includes analysis of the earliest grammars of Chinese, written by European missionaries in the early 17th century, which describe the Southern Min or Hokkien dialect, as well as a 16th century opera play, the Li Jing Ji, whose dialogue is also in Southern Min. The pathways of grammatical change will be identified and examined between Archaic Chinese, Medieval Chinese, Southern Min of 16th-17th centuries and the contemporary Min dialects. We will assess the importance of internal mechanisms of change (analogy, reanalysis, grammaticalization, exaptation etc.) with respect to external factors of evolution (borrowing through contact). In order to do this, a very large corpus of vernacular texts from each period will be used, in particular, Buddhist texts. The expected results of this pioneering research into a Sinitic language other than Standard Mandarin, will be the identification of new linguistic processes which, undoubtedly, will not only enrich our knowledge in the domain of the evolution of grammar in Sinitic languages but also the more general issue of universals of linguistic change.