Chapter2ContrastivestudiesofEnglishandChinese.pptVIP

A brief introduction to the histories of the two languages The nine language families of the world English belongs to the Endo-European family(印欧语系) Chinese belongs to the Sino-Tibetan family(汉藏语系) The seven ages of English Pre-English period(--c.AD450) Early old English(450-c.850) Later old English (c.850-1150) Middle English (c.1150-1450) Early modern English (c.1450-1750) Modern English(c.1750-1950) Late modern English(c.1950--) The five major linguistic influences on English Celtic (before the Roman invasion) Latin (the Roman invasion in c.55 BC introduced Latin to Britain; an important influence through church, education, etc.) Anglo-Saxons (Anglo-Saxon invasion in c. AD 499; Germanic dialects) Scandinavian( Scandinavian invasion; Danes, Norwegians, etc) French (the Norman conquest; Norman French ) Some major factors affecting Chinese  第一部汉语语法马氏文通 五四运动, 白话文,普通话,现代汉语 汉语重悟性, 英语重理性 表意文字, 拼音文字 汉语来源单一,不如英语来源混杂多元,汉语外来词相对较少,不如英语开放 汉语多种文体和风格 儒释道三教影响,历代名人,名作等造就无数典故,成语,格言,箴言,名言. English VS. Chinese: synthetic vs. analytic Synthetic (综合语) frequent use of inflected forms(屈折变化) to express grammatical relationships eg. The two scholars have completed their books. Having been given such a chance, how could I let it slip away? English VS. Chinese: rigid vs. supple English : rigid （刚性语言） rigid S-V concord preciseness of grammar Chinese: supple (柔性语言) flexibility of the S-V structure “illogical” expressions run-on sentences 王力指出：“西洋语言是法治的，中国语言是人治的。” hypotactic vs. paratactic：the most striking syntactic deference between E and C  eg.All was cleared up some time later when news came from a distant place that an earthquake was felt the very day the little copper bell fell. 过了些时候，远方传来消息：小铜球坠落当天，确实发生了地震，这一且终于得到了澄清。 eg. 去了也是白去。 Even if you go there, it will be in vain.