Contrastive Analysis of English & Chinese

Contrastive Analysis of English & Chinese

Teaching Plan Teaching Contents: • 1. An introduction to Chinese language from the views of language family, Language types, Writing system, Phonetics, Vocabulary, Word order, Function words, Sentence structure, Style, etc. • 2. An introduction to English language from the views of language family, Language types, Writing system, Phonetics, Vocabulary, Word order, Function words, Sentence structure, Style, etc. • 3. Comparison and Contrast of C-E languages

Teaching Plan Teaching Aims: • To make students get the general idea about Chinese and English languages and their similarities and differences Teaching Focus: • The similarities of C-E languages • The differences between C-E languages Teaching Methods: • teacher-oriented lecturing • Discussion (group work, then class work) Teaching Approaches: • Multi-media aided. Teaching Procedures:

1 Introduction of language families • English ---- the Germanic branch of the Indo-European(印欧语系 ) language family; • Chinese ---- the Sino-Tibetan(汉臧语系) language family

1.2 Language types • Synthetic language vs. Analytic language • A synthetic language is characterized by frequent and systematic use of inflected forms to express grammatical relationships. e.g. German, Old English. • An analytic language is characterized by a relatively frequent use of function words, auxiliary verbs, and changes in word order to express syntactic relations, rather than of inflected forms. e.g. Chinese.

1.3 Writing system • Chinese: 表意文字 (ideographic) 表意音文字 (ideo-phonographic) • 1)不带表音成分: 象形(pictograph) 指事(indicative character) 会意(associative character) • 2)带表音成分: 形声字据统计，目前汉字库形声字比重已超过90%。

1.3 Writing system • English: 拼音文字(alphabetic) • 由26个字母构成词语。 • 不表意。

1.4 Phonetics • Chinese is tone language. (声调语言) • English is intonation language. (语调语言)

1.5 Vocabulary I. Sematic contrast 一. 词语语义对比： 1. 汉语: “历史悠久” 英语: “融汇百川” 2. 汉英词汇对应的依据: 客观世界大体相同人的生理结构一样 3. 汉英词汇不对应的原因: 文化 (自然环境、社会历史、思维方式、宗教信仰、风俗习惯等）表现为：词汇空缺、词汇冲突

1.5 Vocabulary II. Grammatical contrast of vocabulary • Similarities: 1.词类数量大致相等,类别基本对应。 2.名词、动词、形容词三大类开放性词类在词汇中占较大比重。汉语：实词（名词、动词、形容词、代词、副词、数词和量词）虚词（连词、介词、助词、叹词）英语：实词（Noun, Verb, Adjective, Adverb, Numeral, Pronoun) 虚词（Preposition, Conjunction, Article, Interjection)

1.5 Vocabulary II. Grammatical contrast of vocabulary • Differences: 1. 从词类划分比较: 汉语没有冠词, 英语没有量词 2. 从数量上比较: 副词: 汉语中少, 为虚词英语中多, 为实词介词: 汉语中少, 30个左右英语中多, 数不胜数 (包括简单介词、复合介词、短语介词）连词：有类似不同

复杂而有趣的量词 • 一本书、两枝笔、三扇窗、四把锁、五只鸡 • 一炷香、一抔土、一尾鱼、一床被、一叶小舟、一顶帽子、一方砚台、一出戏、一把锁、一眼井、一笔钱、两撇胡子、一椽破屋 • 一弯新月、一轮明月、一缕炊烟、一抹斜阳、一带远山、一江春水、一派风光、一树梅花、一川烟草、一袭花香、一泓清泉、一垄土地、一缕乡愁 • 一团和气、一丝希望、一门心思

1.6 Word order • English ---- SV structure • Chinese ---- inner logic and semantic relations • Sentence Examples: • 1) These are the best dictionaries about English idioms which we have in the library. • 2) This morning I came back by train from Beijing where I had visited some of my former classmates after I had finished my task there. • 3) We had been dismayed at home while reading of the natural calamities that followed one another for three years after we left China in 1959. • 4) Rocket research has confirmed a strange fact that had already been suspected there is a "high temperature belt" in the atmosphere, with its center roughly thirty miles above the ground.

5)政府主导的医疗改革如果仅仅意味着加大对医疗市场的限制的话，那我们可要三思而后行了。5)政府主导的医疗改革如果仅仅意味着加大对医疗市场的限制的话，那我们可要三思而后行了。 • 6) 她每天清晨在室外高声朗读。 • 7) 救死扶伤，实行革命的人道主义。 • 8) 英国是第一个承认人民中国的西方大国。 • 9) 如蒙早日寄来样品或产品册，不胜感激。

1.7 Function words • Function words are articles, prepositions, auxiliaries, coordinators, subordinators and so on. • 1) a fish / a hill / a well / a book / a marriage / a limited view / a good intention • 2) He has an eye for beauty / an ear for music. • 3) Johnson is the man for the job. / This is the drink for hot weather. • 4) To the Chinese, theirs was not a civilization, but the civilization. (中国人认为他们的文化不是文化中的一种，而是唯一的文化。) • 5) This was the period when Einstein began the research which resulted in the creation of his famous Theory of Relativity. • 6) 我们应当逐步消灭城乡差别。 • 7) 晚霞映红了半边天。 • 8) 老人走南闯北，去过的地方很多 • 9) 群众齐心了，一切事情都好办。 • 10) 耳朵是用来听声音的器官，鼻子用来嗅气味，舌头用来尝滋味。

1.7 Function words 从词类使用的频率上分析 *汉语多用动词而英语多用名词 *英语中代词、介词、连词的使用频率高 *汉语的数词使用得多, 因为汉语的成语及缩略语靠数词构成 *汉语的量词使用频率高, 正如英语的冠词一样

汉英词类划分的理据比较 及对汉译英的意义 1.汉英词类划分的理据汉语词类的划分主要依据词义，即词义的实与虚、动与静、具体与抽象等；英语的此类划分依据是语法，此类与句子成分有严格的对应关系，词义倒在其次。结果: 汉英词类名同实异, 同名异质语言现实中: 形异实同因此: 转类法

2. 对汉英翻译的意义(启示） *由于汉英词汇意义存在不对应现象, 翻译时应通过各种手段对译入语加以补充或限定, 技巧上表现为词语的增减阐释借用音译等手段的运用; *由于词汇使用频率不对应, 翻译是时不能拘泥与字面的对应, 而应该以整体意义为重,灵活变通. *由于词类的性质不同, 词类转换便成了汉英翻译中经常使用的技巧.

英语中词类转换, 一词兼几 类的现象比较普遍 • “You can happy your friends, malice or foot your enemy, or fall an axe on his neck.” --- Shakespeare

Who chaired the meeting? • It can seat 1000 people. • We should shoulder these responsibilities. • I hope we can room together. • They breakfasted at the guesthouse.

第二节汉英句子对比 • 汉语语法呈隐含性 (covertness) • 英语语法呈外显性 (overtness)

Contrastive Analysis of English & Chinese (II) • I. Hypotaxis vs. Parataxis • Hypotactic: the dependent or subordinate construction or relationship of clauses with connectives • Paratactic: the arranging of clauses one after the other without connectives showing the relation between them • English ---- a grape-cluster structure (All clauses grow from the main stem ----the SV structure); architecture style; overt cohesion • Chinese ---- a bamboo-shaped structure (The Chinese sentence can develop in depth along with the flow of thought or the necessity of narration without worrying about the bounding of subject); chronicle style (streamline the thoughts) / linear expansion; covert coherence

Examples: • 1) Fred takes it home with him and returned it a few days later beautifully bound. • 2) He was puzzled that I did not want what was obviously a “step” toward what • all Americans are taught to want when they grow up: money and power. • 3) The isolation of the rural world because of distance and the lack of transport • facilities is compounded by the paucity of the information media. • 4) Coming out while you were poised unsteadily on the icy, springy brush they • made difficult shooting and I killed two, missed five, and started back pleased • to have found a covey close to the house and happy there were so many left to • find on another day. • 5) With the third party acting as an intermediary, to take the interest of the whole • into account we strongly demanded with frankness and sincerity many times at • the end of the autumn of the same year that you should compensate all of our • losses. • 6) Before my graduation from Columbia, the family met with severe financial • reverses and I felt it my duty to leave college and take a job. Thus was I • launched upon a business career ---- which I always think of as the wasted • years.

Examples: • 7) 抓住了主要矛盾，一切问题就可以迎刃而解。 • 8) 不吃苦中苦，哪知甜中甜？ • 9) 他为人善良，乐于助人，工作勤苦，深受大家喜欢。 • 10) 招商代表团吸引了许多东南亚客商来新加坡洽谈项目。

11) 近年来，中、泰两国国民经济发展迅速，为两国的经济、贸易合作提供了良好的基础。 • ① In recent years the national economies of China and Thailand have quickly developed, providing a good foundation for economic and trade cooperation between the two countries. • ② Recent years have witnessed the rapid development of the national economies in China and Thailand, which has prepared for good economic and trade cooperation between the two countries. • ③ China and Thailand, with the rapid development of their national economies in recent years, have laid a good foundation for their economic and trade cooperation. • ④ The rapid development of the national economies of China and Thailand in recent years has laid a sound foundation for economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.）

12) 中国政府将继续坚定不移地奉行独立自主的和平外交政策，同世界各国建立和发展友好关系，反对霸权主义和强权政治，维护世界和平，推动社会发展，促进人类进步。 • The Chinese government will unswervingly pursue its independent foreign policy of peace by establishing and developing friendly relations with other countries and opposing hegemonism and power policies so as to safeguard world peace and promote social development and the progress of mankind.

II. Compactness vs. Diffusiveness • English ---- SV structure & SV-concord (Subject-Predicate)：grammatical concord; notional concord; principle of proximity; formal cohesion • Chinese ---- TC structure (Topic-Comment); semantic coherence. e.g. • 警察抓住了小偷；三个小偷都抓住了；昨晚抓住了三个小偷；公共汽车上抓住了三个小偷。 • 1) The strong walls of the castle served as a good defense against the attackers. • 2) That dirty old house is an offence to everyone who lives in the street. • 3) My shock and embarrassment at finding mother in tears on Wednesday was a perfect index of how little I understood the pressures on her. • 4) Now the integrated circuit has reduced by many times the size of the computer of which it forms a part, thus creating a new generation of portable minicomputer. • 5) In the midst of the party comes unexpectedly over the radio the announcement of the President of the United States declaring a state of emergency for suspected enemy missiles approaching.

II. Compactness vs. Diffusiveness • 6) 开车他没有经验。/ 婚姻的事我自己做主。 • 7) 全市到处在兴建新工厂。/ 现在正下着毛毛雨。 • 8) 我从乡下跑到城里，一转眼已经六年了。 • 9) 他有个女儿，在北京工作，已经打电话去了，听说明天就能回来。 • 10) 他于是很快讲了下面的话，语调十分引人注意，大家也都安静地听。

Suggested Reading: • *1. 孙致礼《新编英汉翻译教程》 p.67-80 • 2. 陈宏薇《新编汉英翻译教程》 p.33-53

Exercise • 生命中，不断地有人离开或进入。于是，看见的，看不见了；记住的，遗忘了。生命中，不断地有得到和失落。于是，看不见的，看见了；遗忘的，记住了。 • 然而，看不见的，是不是就等于不存在？记住的，是不是永远不会消失？

汉语句子: (parataxis) 语义型或意合型 依仗意义，即内在的逻辑关系组织语言的手段。“以意统形” • 英语句子: (hypotaxis）语法型或形合型依仗形式（包括词的形态变化，词汇的衔接等）将语言符号由“散”（个体的词）到“集” （词组乃至语篇）的语言组织手段 ---王力《中国语法理论》

只有四婶，因为后来雇用的女工，大抵非懒即馋，或者馋而且懒，左右不如意，所以也还提起祥林嫂。只有四婶，因为后来雇用的女工，大抵非懒即馋，或者馋而且懒，左右不如意，所以也还提起祥林嫂。 • Only my aunt, because the maids taken on afterwards turned out to be lazy or greedy, or both, none of them satisfied her, still spoke of Xianglin’s Wife. • My aunt was the only one who still spoke of Xianglin’s Wife. This was because most of the maids taken on afterwards turned out to be lazy or greedy, or both, none of them giving satisfaction. （杨宪益、戴乃迭译）

①我常见许多青年的朋友，②聪明用功，③成绩优异，④而语文程度不足以达意，⑤甚至写一封信亦难得通顺，⑥问其故则曰其兴趣不在语文方面。①我常见许多青年的朋友，②聪明用功，③成绩优异，④而语文程度不足以达意，⑤甚至写一封信亦难得通顺，⑥问其故则曰其兴趣不在语文方面。（梁实秋《学问与趣味》）

①I have come across a great many young friends, ②bright and diligent, ③do exceedingly well in studies, ④but they are rather weak in Chinese, ⑤even can’t write a smooth Chinese letter. ⑥When asked why, they’ll say they are not interested in Chinese.

I have come across a great many bright and diligent young friends who have done exceedingly well in their studies, but are rather weak in Chinese. They cannot even write a letter in correct Chinese. When I asked them why, they said they were not interested in the Chinese language.

The isolation of the rural world, because of distance and the lack of transport facilities, is compounded by the paucity of the information media. • 由于距离远，又缺乏交通工具，使农村社会与外界隔绝，而这种隔绝，又由于通讯工具不足而变得更加严重。 • Because there is a great distance and there are not enough transport facilities, the rural world is isolated. This isolation has become more serious because there are not enough information media.

It is a curious fact, of which I can think of no satisfactory explanation, that enthusiasm for country life and love of natural scenery are strongest and most widely diffused precisely in those European countries which have the worst climate and where the search for the picturesque involves the greatest discomfort. AIdous Huxley: The Country

Basic sentence structure of modern English • 1) SV（主－谓） • 2) SVO（主－谓－宾） • 3) SVC（主－谓－主补） • 4) SVA（主－谓－状） • 5 SVOD（主－谓－间宾－直宾） • 6) SVOC （主－谓－宾－宾补） • 7) SVOA（主－谓－宾－状）

英语句子的谓语只有动词才能充当。作谓语的动词对句子其他成分的形式和句子的结构有很大的影响。 • 汉语的谓语也是句子中非常重要的成分，但是汉语的谓语除了用动词充当，还可以用形容词、名词或其他词语充当。

4. 汉英语言特征比较 • 汉语： • 主题显著的语言 (topic-prominent language), 采用主题-述题(topic-comment)的句式 • “话语 ---说明结构” • 汉语句子建立在意念主轴 (thought-pivot)上

英语： • 主语显著的语言 (subject-prominent language), 几乎都采用主语-谓语(subject-predicate) 的句式 • “主语 --- 谓语结构” • 英语句子建立在形式(或主谓)主轴(form-pivot)上

译文主语的选择 • 原文：这件事你不用操心。译文1： This you don’t need to worry. 译文2: You don’t need to worry about this.

3. This is not something you need to worry about. • 4. It is unnecessary for you to worry about this. • 5. There is no need to worry about this.

我的头疼的要命 • My head aches badly. • My head is killing me. • I have a terrible headache. • I have a splitting headache. • I have a migraine.

中国的人均农业土地面积比不上世界上其它许多国家中国的人均农业土地面积比不上世界上其它许多国家 • China’s per capita agricultural land cannot compare with that of many other countries in the world. • In its amount of agricultural land per capita, China compares unfavorably with many other countries. • China compares unfavorably with many other countries in terms of per capita agricultural land.

懒惰的人不会成功 • A lazy person will never succeed. • Laziness makes it impossible for one to succeed. • Laziness makes success impossible.

这位母亲很为有个聪明漂亮的女儿而骄傲 • The mother is very proud to have an intelligent and pretty daughter. • The intelligence and beauty of the daughter makes her mother very proud.

5. 汉英句子结构比较 汉语： • “板块型” 或 “竹节型” • 汉语句子往往是句子较短,结构紧凑,好似“万倾碧波层层推进” • “左分支” 结构 (left-branching) • “后重心”：重要信息放在后面。 • “狮子头”（头大尾小）

英语: • “多枝共干型” 或“葡萄串型” • 英语句子如“老树参天, 枝杈横生”, 句子长, 插入成分多, 形成复杂嵌套结构. • “右分支” 结构 (right-branching ) • “前重心”：主要信息放在主句中，放在句首。前重后轻。 • “孔雀尾”：头小尾大

句子扩展模式 • 汉语：逆线性延伸首开放性 (open-beginning) 尾封闭性(close-ending) • 英语：顺线性延伸首封闭性 (close-beginning) 尾开放性 (open-ending)

Contrastive Analysis of English & Chinese