Contrastive-Linguistics

ContrastiveLinguisticsTenBigDifferencesBetweenEnglishandChineseQuestions:•1.WhatisContrastiveLinguistics?•2.WhydowehavetofrequentlycontrastEnglishandChinese?•3.Whatsimilaritiesanddifferencescanwefindbetweenthetwolanguagesatdifferentlevels?•4.GiveoneortwoexamplesofdifferencesandillustratehowthesedifferenceshelpyouunderstandanduseEnglishinabetterway.1.WhatisContrastiveLinguistics?•apractice-orientedlinguisticapproachthatseekstodescribethedifferencesandsimilaritiesbetweenapairoflanguages;2.WhydowehavetofrequentlycontrastEnglishandChinese?•Contrastivelinguistics,sinceitsinceptionbyRobertLadointhe1950s,hasoftenbeenlinkedtoaspectsofappliedlinguistics,•e.g.,•1).toavoidinterferenceerrorsinforeign-languagelearning,asadvocatedbyDiPietro(1971)(seealsocontrastiveanalysis);•2).toassistinterlingualtransferintheprocessoftranslatingtextsfromonelanguageintoanother,asdemonstratedbyVinay&Darbelnet(1958)andmorerecentlybyHatim(1997)(seetranslation),•3).tofindlexicalequivalentsintheprocessofcompilingbilingualdictionaries,asillustratedbyHeltai(1988)andHartmann(1991);•4).......3.Whatsimilaritiesanddifferencescanwefindbetweenthetwolanguagesatdifferentlevels?•Contrastivedescriptionscanoccurateveryleveloflinguisticstructure:•1).speechsounds(phonology),√•2).writtensymbols(orthography),•3).word-formation(morphology),•4).wordmeaning(lexicology),•5).collocation(phraseology),•6).sentencestructure(syntax),•7).completediscourse(textology)•Contrastivelinguisticstudiescanalsobeappliedtothedifferentialdescriptionofoneormorevarietieswithinalanguage,suchasstyles(contrastiverhetoric),dialects,registersorterminologiesoftechnicalgenres.1).speechsounds(phonology),•1.1DifferencesbetweenChineseandEnglishConsonants;•WhenpronouncedisolatedlytheChineseconsonantsarecombinedwithvowelswhiletheEnglishonesarenot;•Thedifferencesbetweenthelabio-dentals:•/f/(Chinese)—theteethrightonthetopofthelowerlip•/f/(English)—theteethontheinnersideofthelowerlip•/v/--nosuchavoicedconsonantinChinese•Thedifferencesbetweenpalatals•Bothlanguageshave//(sh)butthepositionsaredifferent;•TheChinese/r/soundliketheEnglish//,whiletheEnglish/r/isproducedasaliquid.•1.2DifferencesbetweenChineseandEnglishVowels;•1.3DifferencesbetweenChineseandEnglishinSyllables;•Chinese---allchinesewordsareone-syllabledwordsexceptforthosewith“er”sound,thuseachsyllablebearingsimilarstress•English---one-syllabled,two-syllabled,multi-syllabledwords,onlyonesyllablebearingaprimarystress,andtheothersunstressed•1.4TheDifferencesbetweenChineseandEnglishinRhythm•Chinese---asyllable-timedlanguage:steady,eachwordofaboutthesamelengthoftime•English---astress-timedlanguage:stressedsyllableslongerthanunstressedones•1.5TheDifferencesbetweenChineseandEnglishinIntonation•Chinese---atonelanguage:meaningdependsontones•English---atunelanguage:meaningdoesnotdependontonesDifference1:EnglishfocusesonstructurewhileChineseonmeaning.•一、英语重结构，汉语重语义•我国著名语言学家王力先生曾经说过：“就句子的结构而论，西洋语言是法治的，中国语言是人治的。”(《中国语法理论》，《王力文集》第一卷，第35页，山东教育出版社，1984年)•Example1:•Childrenwillplaywithdollsequippedwithpersonalitychips,computerswithinbuiltpersonalitieswillberegardedasworkmatesratherthantools,relaxationwillbeinfrontofsmelltelevision,anddigitalagewillhavearrived.Difference2:EnglishuseoftenlongsentenceswhileChineseuseshortones.•二、英语多长句，汉语多短句•由于英语是法治的语言，只要结构上没有出现错误，许多意思往往可以放在一个长句中表达；汉语则正好相反，由于是人治，语义通过字词直接表达，不同的意思往往通过不同的短句表达出来。•Example2:•Interestinhistoricalmethodshadarisenlessthroughexternalchallengetothevalidityofhistoryasanintellectualdisciplineandmorefrominternalquarrelsamonghistoriansthemselves.•人们对历史研究方法产生了兴趣，这与其说是因为外部对历史作为一门知识学科的有效性提出了挑战，还不如说是因为历史学家内部发生了争吵。Difference3:EnglishusemoresubordinateclauseswhileChineseusemorecoordinateclauses.•三、英语多从句，汉语多分句•英语句子不仅可以在简单句中使用很长的修饰语使句子变长，同时也可以用从句使句子变复杂，而这些从句往往通过从句引导词与主句或其它从句连接，整个句子尽管表面上看错综复杂却是一个整体。汉语则喜欢用短小句，这样结构相对松散，思路相对清晰，但有时逻辑性、严谨性上面有一定不足。•Example3:•Onthewhole,suchaconclusioncanbedrawnwithacertaindegreeofconfidencebutonlyifthechildcanbeassumedtohavehadthesameattitudetowardsthetestastheotherwithwhomheiscompared,andonlyifhewasnotpunishedbylackofrelevantinformationwhichtheypossessed.•总的来说，得出这样一个结论是有一定程度把握的，但是必须具备两个条件：能够假定这个孩子对测试的态度和与他相比的另一个孩子的态度相同；他也没有因缺乏别的孩子已掌握的有关知识而被扣分。Difference4:EnglishoftenusenounsandprepsitionswhileChineseoftenuseverbs.•四、英语多用名词和介词，汉语多用动词•英语多用静态语言，汉语多用动态语言。Difference5:EnglishoftenusepassivesentenceswhileChineseoftenuseactiveones.•五、英语多被动，汉语多主动•英语比较喜欢用被动语态，科技英语尤其如此。汉语虽然也有被、由之类的词表示动作是被动的，但这种表达远没有英语的被动语态那么常见，因此，英语中的被动在汉译中往往成了主动。下面我们先看一组常用被动句型的汉译：•Itmustbepointedoutthat...必须指出……•Itmustbeadmittedthat...必须承认……•Itisimaginedthat...人们认为……•Itcannotbedeniedthat...不可否认……•Itwillbeseenfromthisthat...由此可知……•Itshouldberealizedthat...必须认识到……•Itis(always)stressedthat...人们(总是)强调……•Itmaybesaidwithoutfearofexaggerationthat...可以毫不夸张地说……•Anditisimaginedbymanythattheoperationsofthecommonmindcanbynomeansbecomparedwiththeseprocesses,andthattheyhavetoberequiredbyasortofspecialtraining.•许多人认为，普通人的思维活动根本无法与科学家的思维活动相比，认为这些思维活动必须经过某种专门训练才能掌握。Difference6:EnglishoftenusevarioussentenceswhileChineseoftenuserepeatedones.•六、英语多变化，