Originally published in 1973, this was the second in a series of dialect studies planned and produced by the Princeton Chinese Linguistics Project. Professor Hashimoto, Director of the Project, describes the formation and distribution of the Hakka dialects, gives a synchronic analysis of the phonology and syntax, and carries out a systematic comparison with Ancient Chinese, providing the readers with an exhaustive list of words and phrases arranged according to all the known phonological categories of Ancient Chinese. The twenty pieces of dialogue included in this book for syntactic analysis, with their extensive grammatical notes and glossary, can be used as a manual of Hakka. The appendix includes an extensive bibliography of Hakka studies. The series represented the most systematic and detailed linguistic analysis ever attempted for the Chinese languages. It made available to specialists an indispensable working-tool and a comprehensive library of reference.
