A Diachronic Study of the Phenomena of Personal Pronouns with Attributives in Southeast Asia Huayu

LU Yue-li

Based on the phenomenon of personal pronouns with attributives， this paper investigates the development and evolution of grammar in Southeast Asia Huayu. The results showed that the personal pronouns with attributives have shown an upward development trend in the centuries-old Huayu， as evidenced by the increasing number and frequency of their use， and the expansion of the range of personal pronouns that can carry attributives as well as the types of attributives. In addition， investigating the use of this linguistic phenomenon in Huayu， Putonghua， and Mandarin in a global perspective， it can be found that the three maintain a greater consistency.

Keywords： in Southeast Asia Huayu， personal pronouns， diachronic study

Introduction

The phenomenon of personal pronouns with attributives is ancient and has been extensively and thoroughly studied by scholars， such as Wang Li （1984， p. 485）， Diao Yan-bin （2006， pp. 345-348； 2007， p. 52）， He Yang（2008， p. 86）， Wei Zhi-cheng （2007） and Zhang Feng-qin and Feng Ming （2004） and Shao Li and Wang Ke-fei（2018）， covering such issues as the modifiable personal pronouns， the frequency of use of this structure， and its sources. However， these studies mainly focus on early Mandarin and Putonghua， while the phenomenon of personal pronouns with attributives in Huayu has received little attention， and only Lu Jian-ming （2018， pp. 425-426） has been seen discussing the use of personal pronouns with attributives in Singaporean Huayu. Therefore， the development and changes of the phenomenon of personal pronouns with attributives in centuries-old Huayu are yet to be examined and analyzed in order to form a more objective and comprehensive understanding of this grammatical phenomenon.

Saussure （1959） states， “Every part of language is subjected to change. To each period there corresponds some appreciable evolution. Evolution may vary in rapidity and intensity， but this does not invalidate the principle” （p. 140）. Although grammar changes more slowly than vocabulary and has a great deal of solidity， it is inevitable that some changes will occur in Huayu， which has been spread and used in Southeast Asia for a hundred years. This paper takes a “historical” look at the evolution of the personal pronouns as attributives in Southeast Asia Huayu， with Singaporean and Malaysian Huayu as the target languages1. Referring to the historical staging of Huayu by Ser Wue-Hiong （2012） and Liu Xiao-mei （2016）， and based on specific linguistic facts， the article divides the Southeast Asian Huayu into three stages， namely， 1919-1945， 1945-1980， and 1980-present. The corpus of this study consists of two main series： literary corpus and journalistic corpus. The literary corpus mainly comes from representative works in Southeast Asia， such as The Great Series of New Malaysian Literature， Selected Malaysian Literary Works， and The Great Series of Malaysian Literature， etc.； the journalistic corpus comes from more representative newspapers in Southeast Asia， such as Lat Pau， Sin Chew Daily， and Kwong Wah Yit Poh. 3 million words per phase， taking into account the balance of style and time.

II. Diachronic Changes of Personal Pronouns with Attributives

In the first stage， the use of the personal pronoun with attributives is very common， see examples：

（1） 这样环境支配下的我，怎样地过下去呵！（《海丝》， 1927）

I， who am under such circumstances， am not sure how I can go on living. （Sea Silk， 1927）

（2） 这对于也是几个编者之一的你 （君苹），感想是：“半推半就”的，然而却颇有点“沾沾自

喜”。 （《狮声》， 1936）

For you （Jun Ping）， who is also one of the editors， the feeling is： “half-hearted”， but a bit “complacent”.（The Lion’s Voice， 1936）

（3） 她觉得眼前的他，太过憔悴了。（《狮声》， 1934）

She felt that he was too haggard， who was in front of her. （The Lion’s Voice， 1934）

（4） 李阮破产的危机在呈现着，一触即发，一点没有经济活动力的她，对此怎么能不忧惧？（《一触即发》， 1932）

The crisis of Lee Ruan’s bankruptcy is presenting itself， and how can she， who has no economic activity at all， not be afraid of it？ （A Touch of the Wind， 1932）

Similarly， the plural forms of the first， second， and third person pronouns can also have attributives， see examples：

（5） 只顾耕耘工作，不计酬报的几十万的农工大众，也使海外的我们深致无上的敬意。（《棉兰文化界的新生》， 1941）

The hundreds of thousands of peasants and workers who work without any reward also make us， who are from overseas， pay the highest respect to them. （The New Life of the Medan Cultural Community， 1941）

（6） 我们要尽所知道报告关于不仁而凶暴的家长的阴谋计划，给我亲爱的你们！（《混沌》， 1928）

We would like to report all we know about the conspiracy plan of the unkind and violent parents to you， my dear ones！ （Chaos， 1928）

（7） 你看这里的她们，凡是赴会、见客，尤其结婚的时候，无论如何，这双高跟鞋，是必要穿上，万万不可少的。（《星光》， 1925）

Look at the women， who are here， whenever they go to a meeting or meet a guest， especially when they get married， they must wear these high-heeled shoes， no matter what， they are indispensable. （Starlight， 1925）

Entering the second and third stages， the use of personal pronouns with attributives increases， the ratio of the three stages is 56：96：269， and the increase is mostly in the examples of third person pronouns with attributives， see examples：

（8） 李發伯想呀想的，突然厂门外又传来一阵雄壮的歌声，使仍在担忧的他，又不得不走出车间来观望着。（《星洲周刊》， 1956）

Li Fa-bo thought and thought， but suddenly a majestic song came from outside the factory door， so that he， who was still worried， had to come out of the workshop to watch again. （Sin Chew Weekly， 1956）

（9） 奶奶哭红了双眼数落他的不是，不曾有过主意的她，面对着一个颓废的生命，更是无可奈何。（《马华文学大系》， 1994）

The grandmother cried her eyes red and counted his faults， and she， who had never had an idea， was even more helpless in the face of a decrepit life. （The Great Series of Mahua Literature， 1994） In addition， there are some new cases of “oneself” with attributives in the second stage， such as：

（10） 那熱恋着黄昏的女孩就在林里守着迷失的自己，久久不去。（《马华文学大系》， 1971）

The girl who was passionately in love with the dusk was guarding herself who was lost in the forest for a long time. （The Great Series of Malaysian Huayu Literature， 1971）

（11） 在漂浮里，他能寻回失落的自己么？（《写作人》， 1979）

In the floating， can he find himself who is lost？ （The Writer， 1979） In the third stage， the use of “oneself” with attributive increases， and the ratio is 13：9 compared with the previous stage， e.g.

（12） 黄昏时回到书房，扭开灯火扭开一片书扉，常常感觉那才是原来的自己。（《马华文学大系》， 1981）

When I return to my study at dusk， I turn on the light and open a book， and often feel that I am the original myself. （The Great Series of Malaysian Literature， 1981）

（13） 真的画像因而再显见美丽，又怎么样？于是，老的美女对着画中过去年轻的自己自怜。（《南洋商报》， 1994）

So what if the real portrait reveals its beauty again？ So， the old beauty pities herself on her past self who was young in the painting. （Nanyang Siang Pau， 1994）

It can be seen that the personal pronouns with attributives in Southeast Asia Huayu have been used more and more frequently and in a wider and wider range during the century， showing an “upward” development trend， and the specific changes of the three stages of usage are shown in Figure 1.

In addition， the following points should be noted about the phenomenon of personal pronouns with attributives：

First of all， the personal pronouns that can carry the attributives are mainly “I/we， you/you， he （she）/they（they）， oneself”， etc. The literary personal pronouns and “others， everyone， everybody” rarely carry the attributives. In addition， we searched the corpus of other 5 million words of Kwong Wah Yit Poh and Sin Chew Daily （2015-2020） and found only one case of “everyone” with attributive：

（14） 在烈日下，参加工作坊的大伙儿都笑开了。（《星洲日报》， 2020）

Under the scorching sun， everyone who participated in the workshop laughed. （Sin Chew Daily， 2020）

The first and second stage personal pronouns with attributives are mainly “I/we”， the third stage is mainly“he （she）/they”， and the second personal pronouns are less frequent with attributives. Some studies have explained this phenomenon， such as Diao Yan-bin （2007， p. 52）， who points out that “the reason why this type of usage is rare is that the expressions generally do not need to qualify the other party of the conversation or lay out the statement”； He Yang （2008， p. 86）， on the other hand， argues that “This may indicate that the usage of personal pronouns subject to modification is more written and less applicable in dialogue， as second-person pronouns are commonly used in dialogue descriptions.” The fact that second-person pronouns in Huayu rarely carry attributives may be related to both of these factors.

Secondly， the syllable length of the attributives shows a decreasing trend. The specific changes in the average number of words used in the attributives in the three stages are 505/56 ≈ 9.018 in the first stage， 786/96≈ 8.188 in the second stage， and 2201/269 ≈ 8.182 in the third stage2， indicating that the structure shows a certain trend of simplification. In the first stage， the syllables of this structure are the longest， such as “I， who was in a ‘sad’ colony with all my cells on the way to wander， I， who lived in Singapore for four or five years， I， who was forced to come out from the lively world， we， who stood here with no way to go and no pursuers behind”， etc. The syllable length of the second and third stage of the attributives is shorter， especially in contemporary Huayu， and the attributives are more simple， such as “I outside the curtain， I in the photo， we in fun， you in tears， you in dexterity， him in front of me， him in restraint， them in front of the anchor， her beside me， her after marriage， her in unemployment”， etc. In this regard， the French linguist A. Martinet （1988） suggests that the “principle of linguistic economy” can provide a plausible explanation for the characteristics and causes of this structural evolution. A. Martinet （1988， p. 168） points to a set of contradictions in language change. “On the one hand， communication requires more and more specialized linguistic units， but each unit appears less frequently in utterances； on the other hand， there is human inertia， which leads to a decrease in actual linguistic units， but a generalization of meaning and an increase in usage.” This illustrates the relationship between the length of linguistic units and their frequency of use， i.e.， generally the more frequently they are used， the shorter they are. In the case of personal pronouns with attributives， as the frequency of use of this form increases， there is a need for more concise and efficient expressions for ease of use， so the syllable length of attributives is compressed to a certain extent， which is in line with the trend of language simplification.As A. Martinet （1988， p. 169） puts it， “The principle of linguistic economy is the constant search for a balance between the conflicting needs that must be satisfied.”

Finally， the types of attributives also changed to some extent. We examined the most common “noun/noun phrase， verb/verb phrase， and adjective/adjectival phrase” and found that the ratio of the three types in the first stage was 19：15：17， with a more balanced distribution of the three types of stative. see examples：

（15） 他们公演过许多次，可惜他们的票价太高，穷光蛋的我，当然无法去光顾。（《新国民日报》， 1937）

They have performed many times， but unfortunately their ticket prices are too high for me， who is a poor man， to go to. （Sin Kuo Min， 1937）

（16） 泉下的母亲呀！在人世实在没有意味了，除了生我的你，和爱我的伊确实没有人能够安慰我，而令我快活呵！（《荒岛》， 1927）

O mother in heaven！ There is no meaning in this world， except for you who gave birth to me， and her who loves me， who can comfort me and make me happy. （The Deserted Island， 1927）

（17） 但是慎重的他，却局促地留意到前面树荫下两个胶工，狠恶地眼睁睁在猜忌。（《民国日报》， 1932）

But the prudent man， who was in a hurry， noticed two rubber workers in the shade in front of him， viciously eyed in suspicion. （Republic of Daily， 1932）

By the way， example （15） differs from other usages in that， in general， attributives can be divided into two kinds： modifying and restricting， and attributives of personal pronouns， either purely modifying or purely restricting， but， in the case of most attributives of personal pronouns， they are both a restriction of personal pronouns （pointing out their scope and category， etc.） and a modification of them （depicting their nature， state and action， etc.） （Diao Yan-bin， 2007， pp. 54-55）. In this case， “穷光蛋 poor man” is cognate with “I”， while the other cases are modifiers. In the second and third stages， there are similar uses， such as “I of her grandchildren， I of his daughter， and he of the assistant editor-in-chief of the Nanyang Business Daily”. Furthermore， “穷光蛋 poor man” is a three-syllable word， while the attributives in several other cases are a two-syllable word； “穷光蛋 poor man” is a word， while “生我 born me” is a phrase. In the second stage， the ratio of the above attributive types is 41：25：28. In this stage， some time noun / noun phrases appear， such as“The former me， the present me， the childhood me， the future me，the old us，the present him， the four-year-old him， the 90 year old him”， etc. Specific use examples：

（18） 好食、爱美，原是天性啊，也难怪年幼的我，在饱食之余不舍得象别人一样，把它弃在车座底下。（《夕阳勒马忆当年》， 1974）

It was natural for me to love food and beauty， so it’s no wonder that when I was young， I didn’t want to leave it under the car seat like others did after eating. （The Sunset Reminiscences， 1974）

（19） 你仍是大学时代的你，沉默加上几分厚道，谈话总是慢条斯理。（《马华文学大系》， 1966） You are still the same person you were when you were in college， silent with a little bit of generosity， always talking slowly and carefully. （The Great Series of Malaysian Literature， 1966）

（20） 這期间，三十多岁的他，似乎苍老得多了。（《拉让文艺》， 1957）

During this period， in his thirties， he seemed much older. （Rajan Literature and Arts， 1957）

In the third stage， the ratio of attributive types is 75：112：73， and some new multi-syllabic verbs/verbal phrases appear， such as “I who went up to the blue sky， we who live in the late 80s， you who have cancer of the mind， you who are lying on the floor， you who have painted your eyebrows and eyes with pink blush， he who has opened a tutorial center， he who has cooked well， he who has been painting for half a century， he who is sitting in the back of the boat”， etc. See examples：

（21） 來，为了累积多一点能量，现在无所事事的你，和我一起读首诗吧。（《星洲日报》， 2020）

Come， in order to accumulate more energy， you who have nothing to do now， read a poem with me.（Sin Chew Daily， 2020）

（22） 这名男子为黄志雄（37岁），患有精神衰弱症，遭到追税的他，幸获得公正党布先支部主席陈煌协助，一同到税收局交涉。（《光华日报》， 2019）

The man， Huang Zhixiong （37）， who suffers from mental retardation and is being pursued for taxes， was fortunate to be assisted by Chen Huang， chairman of the Busian branch of the Justice Party， who went to the tax office to negotiate with him. （Kwong Wah Yit Poh， 2019）

In summary， the phenomenon of the personal pronoun with the attributive in Southeast Asia Huayu shows an “upward” trend， with many examples already existing in the early Huayu， and a good transmission of this sentence over the centuries， with an expansion of the personal pronouns that can take the attributive and types of attributives.

III. The Developmental Featufres of the Personal Pronouns with Attributives in the Global Huayu Perspective

Huayu are distributed all over the world， and Diao Yan-bin （2018， p. 26） clarifies the “three-dimensional”pattern of global Huayu. Under the top-level concept of “global Huayu”， it is a conceptual system of Putonghua-Mandarin-Huayu：

From Figure 2， it can be seen that there are three main lines of development of the global Huayu： （1） the history of the emergence， development and evolution of Putonghua； （2） the history of the emergence， development and evolution of Mandarin； and （3） the history of the emergence， development and evolution of Huayu， which have roughly the same starting point3， and different development processes. Lee， Y. M. （2017） points out that “Greater Huayu has several Huayu variants， the most important being Huayu on the mainland， Mandarin in Taiwan， Mandarin in Hong Kong and Macau， Huayu in Singapore， Malaysia， Indonesia and Brunei， Huayu in North America is taking shape， and Huayu in Europe is slightly embryonic.” From the previous survey， it can be seen that the phenomenon of personal pronouns with attributives shows an upward trend in the three stages of Huayu， i.e. “more-more-very much”. Diao Yan-bin （2006， pp. 345-348） discusses the use of the attributive before the personal pronoun in the four stages of modern Chinese， and points out that the overall trend is “more-less-more”. This shows that the personal pronoun with the attributive is very common in contemporary Putonghua， and that Southeast Asian Huayu and Putonghua are consistent. See examples：

（23） 现在的我们，是生活在无线电波的海洋里。（《福建日报》， 2006）

Nowadays， we are living in a sea of radio waves. （Fujian Daily， 2006）

（24） 除了自己以外不相信所有的人的你，相信自己是最强的你，全世界最固执的你！向她道歉？（《虫之歌》， 2007）

You who don’t believe in all but yourself， believe you are the strongest you， the most stubborn you in the world！ Apologize to her？ （Song of the Worm， 2007）

（25） 我们只好停了音乐，相约下次再相聚，今天就到这里吧，把更多的时间留给你和你心仪的他（她）单独相处。（《都市快讯》， 2003）

We had to stop the music and meet again， that’s it for today， leave more time for you to be alone with the one you love. （Urban Express， 2003）

We can also see many use cases in Mandarin of Hong Kong and Taiwan， as well as in the Huayu of Europe， the United States， Australia， etc.， showing the consistency of Huayu， Putonghua and Mandarin. For example：

（26） 百年偉业展闭幕 没去成的你快来“云看展” （《香港文汇网》， 2021）

The Centennial Exhibition closes. You who didn’t make it come to the “Cloud Watching Exhibition”.（www.wenhuipo.com， 2021）

（27） 在有线电视台工作了二十年的我，过去因为受到法规的限制，捡骨师的三字国骂是绝对不可能播出的。（《台湾联合新闻网》， 2021）

I， who have been working in cable TV for 20 years， used to be restricted by regulations， and the three-word national curse of the bone picker could never be aired. （Taiwan United News Network， 2021）

（28） 格策希望承担更多责任：人们总期待一个完美的我 （《西班牙侨网》， 2014）

G？tze wants to take more responsibility： people always expect me who is perfect （Spanish Expatriate Network， 2014）

（29） 人格如何形成的？ 什么构成了今天的你？ （《美国中文网》， 2021）

How is personality formed？ What makes you who you are today？ （American Chinese Network， 2021）

（30） 因此亲密关系是一面镜子，可以很好的照到那一部分受伤的我们，提醒我们那些等着被看见，被疗愈的过去的创伤。（《新西兰中文先驱网》， 2021）

Thus intimacy is a mirror that shines a good light on that part of us who are wounded， reminding us of those past wounds that are waiting to be seen and healed. （New Zealand Chinese Herald， 2021）

Accordingly， it is clear from the above examples that the grammatical phenomenon of personal pronouns with attributives is common in headlines as well as in the text.

The above survey shows that personal pronouns with attributives are common in global Huayu， and that Huayu， Putonghua， and Mandarin maintain a greater consistency. Diao Yan-bin （2018， p. 26） points out that“The once widened distance between Putonghua and Mandarin/Huayu has begun to narrow， or their individuality is decreasing and commonality is increasing， and thus they are experiencing convergent development and change.” The use of personal pronouns with attributives in Putonghua， Huayu and Mandarin also verifies the above judgment from one perspective or aspect. Zhou Qing-hai （2008） has pointed out that“After China’s reform and opening up， the gap between Putonghua and other regional Huayu is gradually closing because of the need for application and frequent language contact with the outside Huayu-speaking world.” From this， it can also be predicted that the three will be further integrated in the future development under the background of globalization.

IV. Conclusion

Based on the above investigation and analysis， three conclusions can be drawn：

First， the phenomenon of personal pronouns with attributives has been inherited in Southeast Asia Huayu， and it belongs to the type of “full-scale” development， that is， it is used in all three stages without a “break”.

Secondly， the number and frequency of the use of this structure have increased in the century-old Huayu， and the range of personal pronouns that can take the attributive has expanded， showing an upward trend. In addition， as the frequency of use increases， the length of the linguistic unit shortens， indicating that the law governing people’s speech activities is the principle of economy.

Third， the use of personal pronouns with attributives in Huayu， Putonghua and Mandarin has remained more consistent in the global Huayu perspective， thus indicating that the gap between the three languages has begun to narrow in contemporary times and that a gradual integration is inevitable.

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