Comparison-and-Contrast-between-Chinese-and-Englis

ComparisonandContrastbetweenChineseandEnglishIdiomsbyZhangHongdaAthesispresentedtotheSchoolofFurtherEducationofXi’anInternationalStudiesUniversityinpartialfulfillmentoftherequirementsforthedegreeofBachelorofArtsApril15th,2006StudentIDNO.:2004016O025Class:18Grade:2004Advisor:ZhuChunyanEmail:[e-mail]betweenChineseandEnglishIdiomsbyZhangHongda1ComparisonandContrastbetweenChineseandEnglishIdiomsTableofContentsⅠ.Abstract………………………………………………………….2Ⅱ.Introduction……………………………………………………..3Ⅲ.GeneralRemarksaboutIdioms…………………………………….…4IV.LanguageFeaturesofChineseandEnglishIdioms………………..51.PhonologicalFeatures……………………………………………….52.LexicalFeatures……………………………………………………..83.StructuralFeatures…………………………………………………..94.SemanticFeatures…………………………………………………..105.RhetoricFeatures…………………………………………………..10V.ClassificationofIdioms……………………………………………...121.IdiomsinRelationtoGeography…………………………...122.IdiomsinRelationtoReligion…………………………………...133.IdiomsinRelationtoLivingStyle…………………...…………..154.IdiomsinRelationtoLiterature……………………………….....165.IdiomsinRelationtoOthers……………………………………..17VI.TranslationofIdioms……………………………………………19VII.Conclusion…………………………………………………….21VIII.Reference……………………………………….…………………22ComparisonandcontrastbetweenChineseandEnglishIdiomsbyZhangHongda2I.AbstractThisresearchpaperconcentratesonthecomparisonandcontrastbetweenChineseandEnglishidioms,basedontheirspecificculturalbackground.Amongthevariousanglestostudythiscenterofinterests,thepaperisinclinedtotakeuptheviewpointofthatlanguage,asystemofarbitraryvocalsymbolsusedforhumancommunication,isthecarrier,containerandmirrorofculture;Therelationshipbetweenlanguageandcultureisnotjustthatbetweenapartandthewholeandtheyintrinsicallydependoneachother,eachinfluencingandshapingother;Aboveall,thecloserelationshipbetweenlanguageandcultureismostreadilyseeninidiomsofalanguage,becauseidiomsasoneofthebasicunitofmeaning,arethecreamandcrystallizationoflanguageandtheymanifesttheculturalcharacteristicsoflanguage.Therefore,thesignificanceofthispaperisinimprovingculturalattainmentsbymakingcomparisonsandcontrasts.Tosupportthisthesis,thepaperisdevelopedintofourmajorparts.Thefirstpartdealswiththegeneralremarksaboutidioms.ThesecondpartfocusesonthelanguagefeaturesofChineseandEnglishidioms.ThethirdpartpresentstheclassificationofChineseandEnglishidiomsfromculturalscope.Thefourthpartisaimedatthetranslationofidiomsbetweentwolanguagesunderdiscussion.Theconclusionhighlightstherelationshipbetweenlanguageandcultureandrestatesthethesisofthepaper.ComparisonandcontrastbetweenChineseandEnglishIdiomsbyZhangHongda3II.IntroductionSincetheknowledgeandbeliefsthatconstituteapeople’sculturearehabituallyencodedandtransmittedinthelanguageofthepeople,therelationshipbetweenlanguageandculturecannotabsolutelybeseparated.Ontheonehand,languageasanintegralpartofhumanbeing，permeateshisthinkingandwayofviewingtheworld,languagebothexpressesandembodiesculturalreality;Moreover,differentlanguagesmayreflectcultures;Differentculturesentaildifferentlanguageexpressions.Idiomsascreamandcrystallizationindifferentorigins,naturallydemonstrateculturaldifferences.Culturalisahistoricalandnationalphenomenon.Eachnationhasbeenlivinginitsuniquegeographicalandhistoricalframeworkinwhichauniqueculturehasbeenestablishedandisdeveloping.Asthereareintwolanguagesintheworldwhichareidenticalineveryway,theyarenotwocultureswhicharethesameineveryaspect.Eachcultureisunique,butthisisnottosaythattherearenosimilaritiesbetweencultures,peoplelivingindifferentnationalboundariesareallhumanbeingslivinginthesameworld.Thereshouldbeintheoryandareinrealitymanysimilaritiesamongnationalcultures.Theseculturalsimilaritiescanbereferredtoasculturaluniversals.Theseculturaluniversalsmayleadtolinguisticuniversals.ThepaperisengagedinacomparativeanalysisofthedifferencesorcontrastsinidiomsbetweenEnglishandChineseculturesinthefollowingsections.ComparisonandcontrastbetweenChineseandEnglishIdiomsbyZhangHongda4III.GeneralremarksaboutidiomsGenerallyspeaking,alllanguageshavethreemajorcomponents,asoundsystemoflexicogrammar,andasystemofsemantics.Thevocabularyinalanguageisasystemofcombinationofsoundandmeaning,includingsuchtwopartsaswordsandidioms.Wordisaminimalfreeformofalanguagethathasagivensoundandmeaningandsyntacticfunction.Idiomsareexpressionsthatarenotreadilyunderstandablefromtheirliteralmeaningofindividualelementsandconsistofsetphrasesandshortsentencesthatarepeculiartothelanguageinquestionandloadedwiththenativecultureandideas.EnglishandChineseareallhighlydevelopedlanguagesthatareaboundinginidioms.Inbroadsense,idiomsmayincludeproverbs,catchphrases,colloquialisms,andallusionsetc.MosttermofidiomsinEnglishhavecounterpartsintheChineselanguage,otherwisetranslationfromEnglishintoChineseorviceversawouldbeimpossible.Inthismatter,however,thecorrespondingtermofidiomsinthetwolanguagesmaynotconveytheidenticalmeaning.asthefollowingchartshows:汉语English（总称）熟语或习语成语Idioms(Generalterms)Idioms谚语Proverbs格言，警句Maxims,Catchphrases歇后语典故Allusions惯用语ColloquialismsThispaperisinclinedtoselectidioms