45

International Journal of Knowledge www.ijklp.org

and Language Processing KLP International ⓒ2013 ISSN 2191-2734

Volume 4, Number 2, 2013 pp. 45-57

On Typical Formats and Research Significances on Typology of

Tautology in Modern Chinese

Wu Chunxiang1 and Zhang Wenzhe

2

1Shanghai International Studies University

No.550, Dalianxi Road, Hongkou District, Shanghai, China

shdwchx@126.com

2School of Chinese Language and Literature,

Qilu Normal Univesity,

No.36, Lishan Road, Lixia District, Jinan, China

xcbbo@163.com

Received March 2013; revised April 2013

ABSTRACT. Tautology phenomena exist in many languages, among them modern

Chinese seems to have the most types of Tautology forms. Not only copula“是”（is）or

“adjectives +是(is)”can act as associate items, but also other verbs, even some adjectives

can act as associate items independently. Some words like nouns, numerals, pronouns.etc.

act as tautology items, even the words like verbs、adjectives could also act as tautology

items. Different tautology formats have their own syntactic features. we compare them

with that in some other languages, like English、Spanish、Japanese、Korean、Vietnamese

language，and find out some valuable problems of Linguistic typology.

Keywords: Tautology; Modern Chinese; Linguistic typology category feature

1. Introduction. Tautology is a special language phenomenon with "paradoxical"

characteristic. It can be found in modern Chinese and many other languages. Chen

Wangdao, a Chinese scholar, once mentioned this phenomenon in his book The Origin of

Rhetoric (1932). Another Chinese scholar, Zhang Gong defined it as “同语式” (literally

Chinese Tautology) in 1963, more and more Chinese scholars have paid attention to these

phenomena since the 1980s. They have made much research on Chinese tautology from

various perspectives, such as structures, semantics, cognitive, pragmatics and rhetoric.

However, they scarcely did the research in the world linguistic background and seldom

compared the Chinese phenomena with that in other languages. In this paper we try to

analyze the common features of some strictly defined typical Chinese tautologies. Focusing

on these common features; we are trying to discover the typological significance of

tautologies in modern Chinese by comparing with some other languages.

46

2. Definition of Tautology

2.1. Inadequacies existing in previous definition. Chinese scholars conducted much study

on the issue of „what is tautology, and what‟s the scope of tautology‟. Zhang Gong is the

earliest Chinese scholar who defined it as the subject and predicative in one sentence are

the same words, forming a simplified judgments sentence, which is called tautology. It is

said that this definition is the most accurate, and this language phenomena exists in many

languages. Later, many scholars also made definitions and explanations of tautology,

among them, Wang Dechun(1987), Tang Songbo and Huang Jiang‟s view(1989: 270) are

the most similar to the Zhang‟s.

The scholars who had a breakthrough in Chinese Tautology are Wu Shiwen（1986:

92-94），Cheng Weijun、Tang Zhongyang、Xiang Hongye(1991) and Wang Xijie(2004:

373-375) etc. Wu Shiwen defined the Chinese tautology as that: tautology is a structure

with two or three same words. Scholars such as Cheng Weijun believes that by using the

same phrases in one sentence as the different elements of the sentence, so as to present

some new ideas, and make expressions vivid, and powerful. While in Wang‟s view

Tautology can be called symmetric repeat, that is to say, the exact same word or phrase

symmetrically appears in the same sentence. It is in fact a special format of repeat. But the

difference from the repeat is that the same words in one sentence come up symmetrically.

But there are at least three inadequacies of these arguments: 1.Not all Chinese

Tautologies are judgment sentences, it may be interrogative or other statement, such as "你

怎么回事你？"(ni zenme huishi ni: what‟s the matter with you?)、“说什么说？”（shuo

shenme shuo: say nothing over nothing）“三百就三百。”(sanbai jiu sanbai: three hundred

is OK )“去就去。”(qu jiu qu: if you want me go, then I go) etc. 2. The Chinese Tautology

dose not necessarily serve as a sentence, it can be a simple sentence or a clause, or a phrase

structure. For example: the structure“朊友归朊友”(pengyou gui pengyou: Although we are

friends)in the sentence“我们朊友归朊友……” is a phrase; 3.There are too many structures

in which the same words serve as the subject and predicative , and appear symmetrically,

such as“看一看”(kan yi kan: have a look at )、“人人为我，我为人人(renren wei wo,wo

wei renren: All for one and one for all)”, which lead to a wide scope of Chinese Tautology.

So it‟s necessary to discuss the defining of the scope and type of Tautology.

2.2. Tautology re-classification.

2.2.1. The strictly defined principles and standards to tautology. There is a considerable

disagreement in Chinese academic circles on tautology classification. Wu Chunxiang(2013)

argued that to any study objects‟ classification, it must be based on scientific principles and

standards especially for a collection of many subjects, like semantic categorization. There

are two principles of semantic categorization：1. The object of study must have the

universality of internal and external exclusive trait. 2. The classification of the study objects

should be eligible for the study purposes.

From the classification criteria, there are rigorous and vague category definitions.

Tautology is a kind of "paradoxical" special language phenomenon, with relatively fixed

47

form and meaning, therefore, only the rigorous defined Tautology can be introduced to

demonstrate the value and significance of the study on the Tautology.

2.2.2. Types of Typical Tautology. Wu Chunxiang(2013)redefined the Tautology as

following: its form is X1AX2，in which X1, X2 are components of Tautology, collectively

called the X, serving as the Tautology items. A is associated components, referred to as the

“系联项”(department of associated items)。As a typical Tautology sentence, X1 and X2

must be exactly the same, the same meaning, same form, and at the same level; meanwhile,

X and A have no affiliation relationship, they are different and independent syntactic

components. In a typical Tautology sentence, X and A can make only limited expansion.

For example, in the Tautology“X是X”(X is X) form, the sentences “我的是我的”(Wo

de shi wo de: mine is mine)，can be expanded like“我的书是我的书”（Wo de shu shi wo

de shu: My book is my book), or “我的书就是我的书”（Wo de shu jiushi wo de shu: My

book must be my book). And X1AX2 should have a fixed overall meaning, that is to say,

every kind of Tautology sentence has its own meaning. For example, “X就X”(X just X)

has a meaning of “generously”; when X is verbs or adjectives, “X是X”(X is X)has the

meaning of “making concessions”.

Based on the above analysis, we can get two categories of the typical Tautology, one is

that subject and object of one sentence are the same form; the other is that the predicate

repeats in one sentence.

The tautology form with the subject and object are the same in one sentence includes: X+

是+X(X is X), X+副词+是+X(X adverb is X),你+A+你(you A you), X+就+X(X just X）,

X 不 X, Y 不 Y（X is not X, Y is not Y). In the structure of that subject and object are the

same form, X is substantive component, and the A in the structure“你+A+你”( you A you)

can be “怎么”（how）、“怎么回事”(what‟s wrong)，or “动词”（verb）、“动词+

什么”（verb+what）etc.

The predicate repeated tautology are X+就+X、X+是+X、X+倒没+X(X have no X)、

X+归+X(X although X)、X+什么+X(X what X)。In these clauses only predicate words can

serve as X.

The structures of “你+A+你” and “X+什么+X”are relatively special samples, but

it still can be classified as the Tautology.

3. The classified features of Modern Chinese Tautology. In spite of typical definition of

tautology, there are a large number of modern Chinese tautologys in various forms. In the

following analysis we take associated item as a reference point in classifying and analyzing

modern Chinese tautologys which are divided into the following four types:

3.1 Associated item works as a verb

3.1.1. X be X. When the associated item is a verb in an expression of tautology, the most

typical structure is, of course, “X be X”. In this type of tautology, X can be a noun, a

numeral, a pronoun, and the corresponding subject word. For example:

48

朊友是朊友,事情是事情，为小福子的事,她得把屋子收拾得好好的,既须劳作，也得多花些钱，难道置买笤帚簸箕什么的不得花钱么？(老舍《骆驼祥子》)

Pengyou shi pengyou, shiqing shi shiqing, wei xiaofuzi de shi, ta deiba wuzi

shoushidehaohaode, jixu laozuo, yedei duohuaxieqian, nandao zhimai saozhou boji

shenmede budei huaqianme (Lao She's "Rickshaw Boy")

Making friends and doing things should be distinguished. For Xiaofu’s sake, she had to

clean up the house properly, involving both laboring and spending money. Don’t you think

broom and dustpan wouldn’t cost money?

人们通常认为，理工科的学习一是一、二是二，没有任何想象和臆造的余地，应该是最踏实可靠的。（《人民日报》1995.8）

Renmen tongchang renwei, ligongkede xuexi yi shi yi, er shi er, meiyou renhe xiangxiang

he yizaode yudi, yinggai shi zui tashi kekaode. ("People's Daily" 1995.8)

It is generally believed that the study of science and engineering should be

unambiguous; there is no room for imagination and conjecture; and it should be the most

practical and reliable.

诸位放心，从此，她是她，我是我，再也不吵嘴。(老舍《骆驼祥子》)

Zhuwei fangxin, congci, ta shi ta, wo shi wo, zaiye buchaozui. (Lao She's "Rickshaw

Boy")

Please be at ease, from then on, she and I are clear, no more quarrels.

X can also act as a verb, an adjective or a corresponding predicate word. For example:

去是去，就是出发的具体时间不知道。

Qu shi qu, jiushi chufa de juti shijian buzhidao.

Although we’ll go, we do not know the specific time of departure.

这块布的颜色红是红，但我不太喜欢。

Zhekuai bu de yanse hong shi hong, dan wo butai xihuan.

Although the color of the cloth is red, I do not like it.

The semantics of the structure “X be X” can be divided into two categories: one is to

emphasize a confirmed fact including people, things and objects. In this way the tautology

structure is generally used in conjunction; the other is concession, although certainly, the

entire sentence has preinstalled the significance of denial, in which case the Tautology is

generally used alone.

In “you A you”, there are not many words can be served as A, ”see”, while ”look”, ”say”

are quite common. Recently, ”you A you” is solified as discourse markers, showing

discontent of the speaker,

While in “you A shenme you”,there are many words can be served as A,”you A shenme

you” used in interrogative sentence is showing discontent of the speaker, or forbidding

others to do something, instead of truly having doubt.

3.1.2. X bushi X. “X shi X”has a corresponding negative form “X bushi X”, but its

function and meanings are not exactly the same with “X shi X”. For example, “X” in “X

bushi X” can be nouns, numerals, verbs, adjectives, but except pronouns. For example:

*诸位放心，从此，她不是她，我不是我，再也不吵嘴。

49

Zhuwei fangxin, congci, ta bushi ta , wo bushi wo ,zai ye bu chaozui.

Relax, from now on, she is not her, i am not me either, we won’t quarrel any more.

In addition, we can put temporal words like “zao”,”zai”,”zaiye”,”yijing” in front

of “bu” in the form “X bushi X”,but we can’t put these words before “shi” in the form “X

shi X”. For example:

家早不是家了。(杨朔《三千里江山》)

Jia zao bushi jia le.

Our home has already broken up.

“X bushi X” only shows denial of the fact without a tone of concession.

3.1.3. “X+adverb+shi +X”. Guchuanyu(1989) made a investigation about how adverbs

modify “shi”. He checked 597 adverbs both from reading materials and oral tests, finding

that about 300 adverbs can modify “shi”. We input these adverbs in Peking university

corpus and baidu search to find out which can be used in the tautology

“N+adverb+shi+N”.as a result, we found that 32 adverbs can be used in this structure and

can be supported by more example sentences, namely, these words are used more

frequently. They are: bijing(毕竟), bukui(不愧), cai(才), dangzhen(当真), dao(倒),

daodi(到底), dique(的确), dou(都), guoran(果然), hai(还), haodai(好歹), huoxu(或许),

jiu(就), jiujing(究竟), ke(可), queshi(确实), sihu(似乎), suiran(虽然), suishuo(虽说),

ye(也), yexu(也许), yongyuan(永远), zhen(真), zhi(只), zhibuguo(只不过), ziran(自然),

zhong(终), zhonggui(终归), zhongjiu(终究), zhongjing(终竟), zong(总), zonggui(总归);

for example:

听到这件事后，郁局长也很吃惊，但局长毕竟是局长，吃惊潜藏在了心里，脸上表现得倒是平静谦和。

Tingdao zhejian shi hou, Yujuzhang ye hen chijing, dan juzhang bijing shi juzhang,

chijing qianchang zai le xinli, lianshang biaoxian de dao shi pingjing qianhe.

Director Yu was very surprised after heard the news,after all, director is director, he

kept his emotion to himself and pretend to be calm.

领导到底是领导，我和防办的丁主任在会议室等了半个多小时，泡好的白茶冷了两茬，领导的脚步声才由远及近，姗姗来迟。

Lingdao daodi shi lingdao, wo he fangban de dingzhuren zai huiyishi deng l ban ge duo

xiaoshi ,paohao de baicha leng le liang chai, lingdao de jiaobusheng cai

youyuanjijin,shanshanlaichi.

Leadership is leadership, director ding and me waited the leader for 7 hours and a half

in the meeting room, even the white tea has gone cold twice,finally, the footsteps of the

leader came from far and near.

If we consider “X+adverb+shi +X” as a transformation of “X shi X”, we can still

classified it into two groups, the first group shows[+conformation],they are: bijing,

bijing(毕竟), bukui(不愧), cai(才), dangzhen(当真), daodi(到底), dique(的确), dou(都),

guoran(果然), hai(还), haodai(好歹), huoxu(或许), jiu(就), jiujing(究竟), queshi(确实),

sihu(似乎), ye(也), yexu(也许), yongyuan(永远), zhen(真), zhi(只), zhibuguo(只不过),

50

ziran(自然), zhong(终), zhonggui(终归), zhongjiu(终究), zhongjing(终竟), zong(总),

zonggui(总归); the other group shows [+concession], they are: dao(倒),ke(可),suiran(虽

然),suishuo(虽说).

3.1.4. The case of A is other verbs. In the form of subject and object are the same words,

besides verb “是（is）”，there are other words can act as the associate items as: “象(like)”、

“归(belong to: though)”、“成(become)”、“为(for)”、“做(make)”、“说(say)”

etc. And there are correspondence forms of denying to the form “X像(like)X”as “X不

像(don‟t like)X, for example:

他都过五十的人了，还家没个家，日子不象日子。（杨朔《三千里江山》）

Ta dou guo wushi de ren le,hai jia mei ge jia, rizi buxiang rizi.

He has already been over 50 years old. However, he is still alone and live a lonely life.

父子俩全然不象父子里。（张天民《末流演员》）

Fuzi quanran buxiang fuzi li.

The relationship between the father and son is totally different from others.

And the cases of the three words “成(become)”、“为(be)”、“说(say)”act as association

items are seldom to be used..

我不管你们在我背后闹些什么，反正家已不成一个家了。（曹禺《北京人》）

Wo buguan nimen zai wo beihou nao xie shenme, fanzheng jia yi bucheng yige jia le.

No matter what you have done behind me, our home has already been broken.

抗日说抗日，拿差说拿差，根本是两回事！（方纪《者桑树下的故事》）

Kangri shuo kangri, nachai shuo nachai, genben shi liang hui shi.

The anti-Japanese is completely different from being forced to join the army.

While the tautology form“X 归(belong to)X”can be subject and object with the same

word, also can be the form of coming up by juxtaposed. Sometimes, a whole part can act as

the Predicate of the sentence. For example:

没有意义,即没有对事物的反映,那么声音归声音,现实现象归现实现象,相互之间无从建立联系。(叶蜚声、徐通锵《语言学纲要》)

Meiyou yiyi,ji meiyou dui shiwu de fanying,name shengyin gui shengyin, xianshi

xianxiang gui xianshi xianxiang, xianghu zhijian wu cong jianli lianxi.

No meaning is no reflection of the object,so there is no relationship between the voice

and the phenomena of reality

当初归当初，现在归现在；他是他，咱是咱。(王润滋《内当家》)

Dangchu gui dangchu , xianzai gui xianzai ;ta shi ta ,zan shi zan.

The past is gone and we live at present; who we are is not based on who he is.

咱们朊友归朊友，可你的钱我一定得还。

Zanmen pengyou gui pengyou ,ke ni de qian wo yiding de huan.

Although we are good friends, I have to return your money back.

There are other two Special form of verbs act as associate items of a tautology form. As

“你 A 你（you A you）”、“你 A 什么你(you A what you)”, in these two forms, X is “你

（you）”，and generally speaking

51

A is the mono-syllabic verb. For example:

你看你，这么粗心大意。

Ni kan ni, zheme cuxin dayi.

See, how careless you are!

这不关你的事，你看什么你？

Zhe bu guan ni de shi ,ni kan shenme ni?

It is none of your business, what are you looking at?

In “ni A ni”, there are not many words can be A except for “kan”, “qiao”, “shuo”, at

present, “ni A ni”is solified into discourse markers, showing the discontent of the speaker.

While in “ni A shenme ni”,there are a lot of words can be used as A, “ni A shenme ni”

used in interrogative sentence doesn‟t mean the speaker really doubt about something, but

to show his discontent of other person‟s actions, or forbid someone to do something,

3.2. The associated item works as an adverb

3.2.1. X adverb X. The Tautology structure with typical associated item is: X jiu X. In this

Tautology, X can also be a noun, a verb, an adjective, or a number phrase. For example:

老哥就老哥吧！我又降了一级……（X 为名词）

Laoge jiu laoge ba! Wo you jiang le yiji. (X is a noun)

Brother is fine by me! I demoted a level again.

去就去，怕什么？（X 为动词）

Qu jiu qu, pa shenme! (X is a verb)

Let’s go, Why scare?

矮就矮吧，我还得找只长颈鹿不成？（X 为形容词）

Ai jiu ai ba, wo haidei zhao zhi changjinglu bucheng. (X is an adjective)

It may be short, but do I have to find a giraffe?

三百就三百。可是我凭什么相信你？（X 为数量短语）

Sanbai jiu sanbai. Keshi wo pin shenme xiangxin ni? (X is a number phrase)

I am ok with 300. But why should I trust you?

This Tautology form can express two types of meaning; one represents an affirmation of

fact, and the "jiu" is equivalent of "jiushi"; the other represents a positive attitude towards

certain behavior and express the approval or disapproval to it, Wu Chunxiang, Tian Jie

(2009) thought that this form means [+ agree]. We take X as verb as example:

工作就工作，下班就下班，不要把工作与生活混在一起。

Gongzuo jiu gongzuo, xiaban jiu xiaban, buyao ba gongzuo yu shenghuo hun zai yiqi.

Work is work, no connection with off- work. Do not mix work with life.

听报告就听报告，不要只顾着自己看报纸。

Ting baogao jiu ting baogao, buyao zhi guzhe ziji kan baozhi.

Listen to the report , do not indulge yourself only in reading the newspaper.

In the above two cases, "jiu" can be replaced by "jiushi".

嫁就嫁，怕你啊。(电影《恋上你的床》)

Jia jiu jia, pa ni a. (The film "Good Times, Bed")

Marrying is fine by me, why scare?

52

儿子左思右想，接近二十五岁，登记就登记，于是轻而易举拿到了结婚证.(龙金《复印结婚证》)

Erzi zuosiyouxiang, jiejin ershiwusui, dengji jiu dengji, yushi jingeryiju nadao le

jiehunzheng. (Long Jing "Copy marriage certificate")

The son thought a lot that he is close to the 24-year-old, and is fine by registration, then

he got a marriage certificate easily.

In the above two cases, Tautology expresses the “agree”, so the “jiu” can‟t be replaced

by “jiushi”.

3.2.2. X not X-Y not Y. In Chinese there is a kind of tautology with a negative adverb

"not" as an associated item. but requires cited form: " X is not X, Y is not Y", in which both

“X” and “Y” are usually single syllable nouns and adjectives. For example:

你跟岳书记说干脆把我押了杀了，省得我一天人不人鬼不鬼地受洋罪……”陈忠实（《白鹿原》）

Ni gen yueshuji shuo ganzui ba wo ya le sha le, shengde wo yitian ren bu ren gui bu gui

de shou yangzui……’’ (Chen zhongshi<Bai Lu Yuan>)

You could tell secretary Yue Shuji to simply lock up and kill me, saving me from bitterly

living ...... "

韦宏波突然阴不阴阳不阳地冒出来一句：“你还在这种时候去跟吴奶奶的弟弟相面，真有闲情逸致呵！”（张欣《梧桐梧桐》）

Wei hongbo turan yin bu yin yang bu yang de mao chulai yiju: "ni haizai zhezhong

shihou qu gen wunainai de didi xiangmian, zhen you xianqing yizhi he!" (Zhang Xin "Indus

Indus ")

Wei Hongbo suddenly said with a strange air: "On such occasion, you still give the face

reading to grandmother Wu's brother’ , how funny you are!

This kind of tautology can be extended to "X bu shi X, Y bu shi Y". For example:

父亲抬头看去，只见母亲的脸被一坨坨黑不是黑白不是白的东西所覆盖着。（《月照秋林》）

Fuqin taitou kanqu, zhijian muqin de lian bei yituotuo hei bushi hei bai bushi bai de

dongxi suo fugai zhe. ("Autumn forest in the moon")

Father looked up, and saw the mother's face was covered with lumps of ambiguous

items.

最近又出了一个爱装明白的，人不是人兽不是兽的。

Zuijin you chu le yige ai zhuang mingbai de, ren bushi ren shou bushi shou de.

Recently came out a man pretending to understand everything, neither fish nor fowl.

3.2.3. "X suisran X" and "X suishuo X". The associated items are adverbs "suiran"

"suishuo". They are synonymous."Suishuo" is used only in spoken language, and the

Tautology form can be written as: "X suisran X", "X suishuo X" and X should be an

adjective. If this kind of Tautology is used at the beginning of a sentence, it means

concession. For example:

今天冷虽然冷，可是还能坚持。

53

Jintian leng suiran leng, keshi haineng jianchi.

Although it is cold today, still I can hold on.

这件衣朋便宜虽说便宜，但颜色不太适合我。

Zhejian yifu pianyi suishuo pianyi, dan yanse butai shihe wo.

Although the dress is cheap, the color is not right for me.

The meaning and function of this usage is the same as that of "X suisran X" and "X

suishuo X".

3.2.4. "X daomei X" and "X daobu X". Modern Chinese dictionary hasn‟t recognized

"daomei", "daobu" as adverb. But according to the language fact, the two adverb structures

have been very solidified and "dao", "mei", "bu" here are adverbs , so we temporarily treat

them as adverbs.

"X daobu X" can be regarded as the negative form of "X daoshi X". In the form of "X

daobu X", what acts as X is an adjective. For example:

这小伙子人品坏倒不坏，就是有点懒。

Zhe xiaozi renpin huai dao buhuai, jiushi youdian lan.

The young man was not a bad guy, but just a little lazy.

这不是才到！热倒不热，这汗都是急出来的！（冯志《敌后武工队》）

Zhe bushi cai dao! Re dao bu re, zhe han doushi ji chulai de! (Feng Zhi "The military

team behind the enemy ")

Just arrived! It’s not hot, the sweat comes out of hurry!

In the form of "X daomei X", what act as X is a verb. For example:

这样的话他说倒没说，不知大家是怎么想的。

Zheyang de hua ta shuo dao meishuo, buzhi dajia shi zenme xiang de.

He hasn’t said such words, I do not know what you think.

王老板走到没走，但现在向他汇报恐怕时间来不及了。

Wang laoban zou daomei zou, dan xianzai xiang ta huibao kongpa shijian laibuji le.

Boss Wang hasn’t left, but time isn’t probably enough to report to him.

3.3. The associated item is a pronoun

3.3.1. X shenme X. In this form of tautology, the associated item is a interrogative pronoun

"what" and X can only be a verb. The meaning and usage of this form is the same as that of

"you A shenme you", which is used in questions, expressing dissatisfaction with the

behavior by others, or prohibit what others do, not really doubt. For example:

一说就吵，还说什么说？只是一想起这事，就闷闷不乐。（电视剧《中国式离婚》）

Yi shuo jiu chao, hai shuo shenme shuo? Zhishi yi xiangqi zhe shi, jiu mengmengbule.

(TV series "Chinese-style divorce")

Once talking, they quarrel. Say what? Just thinking of this makes me unhappy.

看见我们院墙头站满人，就朝我们吆喝：看什么看，找打呢。（王朔《看上去很美》）

Kanjian women yuanqiangtou zhan man ren, jiu chao women yaohe: kan shenm kan,

zhao da ne. (Wang Shuo "looking beautiful")

Seeing outside our yard are full of people, he yelled towards us: See what? Want to be

54

beaten?

3.3.2. Special form. In modern Chinese, there are some other special forms, just for "you

shenme you", "you zenme you" and "you zenme huishi you".

This form is generally used single as interrogative sentence, expressing dissatisfaction

with the words and behavior of others, but not really question. For example:

你什么你？你有天大的理也不能在这儿打人，啊。（电视剧《编辑部的故事》）

Ni shenme ni? Ni you tianda de li ye buneng zai zheer daren, a. (TV series "editorial

story")

So what? Even if it is reasonable, you could not beat people here.

你怎么你？（电视剧《青春期撞上更年期》）

Ni zenme ni? (TV series "puberty hit menopause")

So what?

你怎么回事你？（电视剧《青春期撞上更年期》）

Ni zenme huishi ni? (TV series "puberty hit menopause")

What’s wrong with you?

4. The existing forms of tautology in various languages. For Tautology, we investigated

the Sino-Tibetan language, Indo-European and Altaic family. Also We have broadly look

into Vietnamese, English, Spanish, Japanese, Korean and preliminary investigated French

and Russian, which shows that tautology exits in many different languages.

Through the investigation we found that the most typical form of tautology is "X be X",

which exists in various languages. And X can be a noun, a numeral, a pronoun, and the

corresponding subject word, which is the same in all kinds of languages. The following

examples are listed according to their language family.

4.1. Tautology phenomena in the Indo-European language. Among Indo-European

languages, we made a comparison between English and Spanish and found that there are

big differences in Tautology. there is only one category of Tautology form in English

language ,that is Subject-Object Tautology. In this form, only nouns and pronouns could be

used as Tautology items, while verbs, adjectives, numerals, number-phrase structure could

not, and it‟s associated items are "is", "will be "," would be " only. For example:

War is war.

That is That.

Boys will be boys.

But in Spanish language, there are two types: the form of subject and object are the same

word and the predicate repeated form. In the subject and object with the same word

structure, both nouns and pronouns could be used as Tautology items, except numerals. For

example:

Negocios son negocios.

Trading is trading.

Yo soy yo y él es él, no nos compares.

I am I, he is he, don’t take comparison.

55

In Spanish, the first personal pronouns and the second personal pronouns have case‟s

change, however, they are kept prototype in the Tautology sentences.

The Spanish when verb or adjective act as Tautology items, the associated item omitted.

And there is noticeable pause in the spoken language, but Tautology items must be

separated by commas in written language. For example:

De que es alto, es alto; pero no lo suficiente para el puesto de trabajo.

High is high, but this position is not high enough.

De que vamos, vamos; pero no sabemos la hora exacta de salida.

Going is sure, but the time is uncertain.

Comparing with Chinese, there is no “X+不是+X”("X + not + X")、“X+什么+X”("X +

what + X")、“X 不(no)X-Y 不(no)Y”categories.

4.2. Tautology phenomena in Altaic language. Among Altaic language, we mainly

choose Japanese and Korean as the Study material. we found that both languages have the

Tautology of subject and object with the same word form and the predicate repeated form.

And the part of speech which take as Tautology items are the same as Chinese. While, there

are some differences between Japanese and Korean.

For subject-Object with the same word type:

In Japanese, when Tautology items are substantive, the associated item“is” usually

should be omitted. And it is allowed that Tautology items don‟t make changes. For

example:

内は内、よそはよそ。

My home is my home, and his home is his home.

腕時計は腕時計、ほかに説明しようがない。

Watch is watch, there is no other names.

But when Tautology items are verbs, the associated items can not be omitted, and the

Tautology items need to make corresponding changes. For example:

行くは行くけど、出発の具体的な時間はわからない。

to go is sure, but the specific departure time is uncertain.

探すは探すけど、どこを探したらいいかわからない。

I am looking for it , but I do not know where to look for.

In Japanese, adjective could not act as the Tautology items of "X 就 X" form.

In Korean, associated items could not be omitted. And verbs、adjectives can‟t be

subjects directly it needs to be changed into nouns, such as 가다 “go” → 가기 곱다

"beautiful" → 곱기 etc. For example:

오긴 오는데,내 생각 에 교통 체증 때문에 아직, 안 도착한, 것 같다

My coming is sure, but the traffic is so crowded, so I can’t come around right away.

말하는 것은 말하는 것이고 일하는 것은 일하는 것이다. 일 하는데 영향 주지

말아라.

Whatever you say and do, don’t affect work.

이옷 은 싸긴 싼데, 별로 안 예쁘다.

56

Although this dress is cheap, but not very good for looking.

When the associated item appears in Japanese、Korean Tautology, the word order is

XXA . Both Japanese and Korean has "X + adverb + X +" form. For example:

田中さんはさすが田中さんだ、今回もテストで１位だった。

Tanaka is real Tanaka, he still won first place this time.

여자 는 필경 여자 다.

Women are women.

Both Japanese and Korean have "X 就 X" form, but there are differences. In Japanese,

nouns, verbs and Quantity structure can act as the Tautology items, but adjective can‟t. In

Korean, nouns, verbs, adjectives can act the Tautology items, but we did not find that

quantity structure act as Tautology items.

And in Japanese and Korean, there is no "you+ A + you" 、" X + what + X "," X no

X,Y no Y "type.

4.3. Sino-Tibetan language. In the Sino-Tibetan language,besides Chinese, we

investigated the Vietnamese. Vietnamese Tautology types is in consistent with the Chinese,

especially in the Vietnamese, there are also exist "you+ A + you", "X + what + X" type, it‟s

worthful to pay much attention. For example:

Anh nói gì mà nói?

What did you say? (Deny what the others said.)

Anh làm gì mà làm.

look, what you’v done?(Deny what the others done.)

Anh xem lại anh đi.

Look at yourself.(it means let the other people examine his own behavior.)

There are no the usage of“你什么你”(you 什么 you )、“你怎么你”(you 怎么 you)、“X

不 X,Y 不 Y”(X no X,Y no Y) 。

5.The Research value of Chinese typology. From the previous analysis, we find that some

subject-object Tautology as "X + is + X, X + adverb + is + X" exist in a variety of

languages, it is widely used and very typical. it can be called the most typical language

style. If we remove the special forms of“你什么你”、“你怎么你”、“你怎么回事你”，以

及“X不X-Y不Y”等特殊形式, we may find the Vietnamese and Chinese are highly

consistent with each other.

However, as the same as a language system, Japanese and Korean are slightly different,

while the difference between English and Spanish is very large, based on this, we steeply

studied French and Russian, and found out a slight difference between French with Spanish,

The Tautology forms in Russian is less than the Spanish, but much more than the English.

We also find many more interesting features, for example, in inflected language; the

Spanish personal pronouns in Tautology have no need to change case. While as the same

Agglutinative language, the declensional endings of Japanese and Korean are different. All

these issues coming up are challenging the typology of word and syntactic structure

typology.

57

From this analysis, it confirmed that our Tautology rigorous definition and category are

necessary. We regard modern Chinese as a reference point, to explore the value and

significance of tautology under a view of typology. While the language typology described

material with indirect language materials, which led us worrying about the reliability and

the accuracy of the raw materials. We will try to expand the investigation materials; find

the implicational universals, typicalness and type mode‟s interactions among different

forms of Chinese tautology, as well as the outside factors of Chinese tautology.

REFERENCES

[1] Chen,Wangdao(陈望道). The rhetoric introduction.Shanghai:Fudan University press.2008[1932].

[2] Cheng Weijun(成伟均), Tang Zhongyang (唐仲扬), Xiang Hongye (向宏业). Rhetoric history. Beijing:

China youth press, 1991.

[3] Han Yu-guo (韩玉国). Semantic Unscrambling of Chinese Quasi-contradictory Sentences. Chinese

Language Learning. no.5, pp.14-19,2002.

[4] Yutaka Furukawa(古川裕). Investigation about“是”Modified by Adverbs. Chinese Language, vol. 208 ,

no.1, pp.19-27, 1989.

[5] Hu Shuxian(胡树鲜).To make a exploration on Modern Chinese Grammar Theory. Beijing: Renmin

University of China press,1990.

[6] Lv Shuxiang(吕叔湘) .Outline of Chinese Grammar. Beijing: Commercial Press, 1982.

[7] Shao Jingmin(邵敬敏). Discussion on Typology. Linguistic Researches, no.1,pp.13-19,1986

[8] Tang,Songbo(唐松波), Huang,Jianlin(黄建霖). Chinese rhetoric grid Dictionary. Beijing: International

Radio of China press, 1989.

[9] Wang,Dechun(王德春). Rhetoric Dictionary. Hang zhou: ZheJiang education press,1987.

[10] Wang,qin(王勤).The General Theory of Chinese Rhetoric. Wu Han: Huazhong University of Science

and Technology press, 1995.

[11] Wang,Xijie(王希杰). Chinese Rhetoric. Beijing: Commercial Press,2004.

[12] Wu Chunxiang and Tian Jie(吴春相,田洁). The Hierarchy of Generosity and the Rhetoric Motivations

of the Echoing-copying Structure in Contemporary. Chinese.Rhetoric Learning. no.3, pp. 9-16, 2009.

[13] Wu,Chunxiang(吴春相 ). The re-definition of Tautology in Modern Chinese and Related issues.

Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language press, Sep.12th, 2013.

[14] Wu,Shiwen(吴士文). A discussion on Rhetoric. Shanghai: Shanghai education press.1986.

[15] Zhang,Gong(张 弓). Modern Chinese Rhetoric. Shi Jiazhuang: Tianjin People's Publishing House,1963.