ABSTRACT
This chapter identifies areas of inadequacy in the existing literature on written Chinese. There seem to be three main shortcomings in the existing literature. First, attention has focused on the single dichotomous distinction between spoken and written styles, without situating it in the broader context of stylistic variation, in languages in general as well as in Chinese. Second, conceptual fuzziness is widespread. Finally, most of the previous observations have been largely piecemeal and introspective, without firm empirical support. The excessive focus on classical Chinese elements has also diverted attention away from other important aspects of stylistic variation, such as the more subtle stylistic profiles of grammatical structures, structural markers, literate/literary conventions and even punctuation marks. Previous observations about written Chinese are largely impressionistic, based on introspection and anecdotal evidence, without empirical and quantitative support. Dictionaries are by no means exhaustive in their markings. While introspection is definitely useful in rendering grammaticality judgments, it can also be both misleading and limiting.
