On the Linguistic Features of China English and Its Impact on Standard English.doc

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1、论中国英语语言特征及其对英语的影响On the Linguistic Features of China English and Its Impact on Standard EnglishAbstractChina English has aroused great attention along with the increasingly growing number of English learners in China, followed by more and more frequent communication between China and the World. It i

2、s a variety of Standard English, which demands a deep and thorough study from different perspectives. This paper firstly gives the definition and the nature of China English based on the research findings of many scholars. Then it intends to study the linguistic features of China English and analyze

3、s its impact on Standard English accordingly. In addition, the prospect of China English is also discussed. Language is the carrier of culture; China English was deeply affected by Chinese culture; the impact of China English indicates the impact of Chinese culture and implies the enhancement of Chi

4、nas status in the World. This is of greater significance than the mere study on language itself. The study is expected to improve understanding of China English and encourage more researchers to conduct further studies on China English.Key words: China English; Standard English; linguistic features;

5、 impact摘 要中国与世界的交流日益频繁，英语学习者的队伍愈加庞大，中国英语已经引起广泛关注。中国英语作为英语的一种变体，我们需要从各个方面对其进行更加细致深入的研究。本文首先从中国英语的定义着手，旨在众多学者的研究成果之上，总结中国英语的定义，进而分析中国英语的语言特点及其对英语的影响，并对中国英语的发展趋势做出合理预测。语言是文化的载体，中国英语深受汉语影响，并承载了中国文化；中国英语对英语的影响也暗含着中国文化对英语的影响，中国日益增强的国际地位；这要比仅仅研究中国英语本身意义重大得多。作者希望本文能够加深读者对于中国英语的理解，并且希望有更多的学者继续深入探索中国英语。关键词：中国

6、英语；标准英语；语言特征；影响ContentsI. INTRODUCTION1II. THE LINGUISTIC FEATURES OF CHINA ENGLISH32.1 Definition of China English32.2 The Linguistic Features of China English62.2.1 The Phonetic Features62.2.2 The Lexical Features92.2.3 The Syntactic Features122.2.4 The Textual Features142.3 Nature of China Englis

7、h15III. THE IMPACT OF CHINA ENGLISH ON STANDARD ENGLISH173.1 The Impact on Vocabulary173.2 The Impact on Syntax213.3 The Impact on Text Structure23IV. CONCLUSION25WORKS CITED27I. IntroductionChina English has become a hot topic among the research of English varieties. It is widely acknowledged that

8、intercultural communication calls for a common medium, namely, Lingua Franca. English is fitting to play such a role. A study shows that as many as 1.5 billion people are now capable of using English to different degrees, and non-native speakers comprising more than two thirds of its potential speak

9、ers, heavily outnumbering the native speakers by the end of 20th century (Todd 41). English globalization has actually triggered the localization of English language, because each nation possesses different history, culture, political environment, etc. Thus, English, as a tool for international comm

10、unication, is bound to be branded with different national colours. The wide use of English among non-native and native speakers in a diverse range of social and cultural contexts will inevitably produce regional varieties. China owns the largest English learning group in the world. And some experts

11、in the Global Language Monitor said “Today, some 1.53 billion people now speak English as a primary, auxiliary, or business language, with some 250 million acquiring the language in China alone” (languagemonitor). As we know, language used by a huge amount of people may hold more influence. So, it i

12、s of realistic value to study China English.Many studies have been launched on defining China English and its features or impacts on English. For the part of research on the definition of China English, these studies are not precise. For the part of research on the features of China English, these s

13、tudies are not systematic. Although many scholars contribute a lot, these studies are not authoritative or persuasive. Therefore, further verification is necessary. This study is based on the previous conclusions. The limitations of previous research will be taken into consideration. The purpose of

14、this thesis is to analyze the features of China English and its impact on English. It will present the definition and features of China English from phonetic, lexical syntactic and textual dimensions. After that the impact on English will be delineated from different aspects. By verifying previous c

15、onclusions and establishing new findings, the results of the study in this thesis could be more objective and convincing.II. The Linguistic Features of China EnglishEach language has its own special features. English spreads widely in China. It is deeply affected by Chinese language, culture and cus

16、toms. English in China has changed a lot, and now it is called China English. In this chapter, the definition, features and nature of China English will be analyzed.2.1 Definition of China EnglishThe culture of China is respected by the entire world. Foreigners have a great deal of enthusiasm for Ch

17、inese culture. It is inevitable that China English exists in China. China English has some characteristics of Chinese, no one could prevent its development, and Chinese have responsibility to spread China culture and put China English more forward.The expression “China English” was firstly brought i

18、n 1980 by Ge Chuangui in his Rambling about the Chinese-English Translation (15-18). The definition and the standard of China English have been intensively discussed over thirty years. A number of scholars have proposed their definitions of China English from their own perspectives.Wang Rongpei hold

19、s that the definition of China English should cover the following three points. (1) China English is used by Chinese people in China. (2) China English has Standard English as its core. (3) China English has Chinese features (3-5).Li Wenzhong disagrees with Wang Rongpei on the definition of China En

20、glish and maintains that China English is not only used in mainland China (18-19). He argues that quite a few Chinese borrowings have entered the English languages and become part of it by transliteration and loan translation. For examples: tea, kowtow, and Great Leap Forward.Xie Zhijun is against L

21、i Wenzhongs point of view about China English. Xie holds that China English have been influenced by Chinese in all the aspects of lexical, syntactical and textual (7-11). On the basis of his argument, Xie makes his contribution to China English. China English is an interferential English variety use

22、d by Chinese people in cross-cultural communication; its interference is caused by the Chinese language, the way of Chinese thinking as well as Chinese culture. China English is based on normative English and is capable of entering the English languages. Also Jia Guanjie and Xiang Mingyou think that

23、 China English is an English variety used by the Chinese-speaking people and based on Standard English having Chinese characteristics which are unavoidable and useful to spread Chinese culture (11-12).From the various definitions of China English, some of the properties of China English can be summa

24、rized as follows.(1) China English is English used not only by the Chinese but also the people from English-speaking countries. “The Linguistic and Cultural Identities of China English and the Application in Chinese” refers to the Chinese people as those who have grown up in Chinas social and cultur

25、al background to communicate with the English-speaking people.(2) It is based on Standard English (Standard English in this thesis means British English and American English), that is, it is in accord with the grammar of Standard English.(3) It is a transfer variety of English affected by Chinese cu

26、lture.There should be more investigations about the definition of China English. But this thesis defines China English based on the total analysis and study of all kinds of China English. China English must be accepted by the natives, and the existence of China English is affected by Chinese culture

27、. The Chinese culture that affected English can be divided into two categories, material culture and spiritual culture. Only under certain culture and ideology, can China English appear. It includes politics, economy, historic terminology, and literary quotations and so on. China English has its own

28、 words, phrases and syntax.China English is an interferential English variety affected by Chinese language and special habits of Chinese thinking; it is treats normative English as core and expresses special things in China culture; and it can be accepted by English-speaking countries. This paper ma

29、inly discuses China English based on this new definition.2.2 The Linguistic Features of China EnglishChina English, with the international Standard English as its core, spreads Chinese culture, works, minds and tradition into the world by transliteration and loan translation; at the same time, it in

30、tegrates many Chinese features. In this chapter, the features of China English will be mainly analyzed from phonetics, lexicon and syntax.2.2.1 The Phonetic FeaturesThe main phonetic features of China English include adding a vowel after some unvoiced sounds, stressing the prepositions and modifier

31、in the structure of modifier+noun, and lacking in assimilation and continuation and often in falling tones. There are too many accents in China English. Stress position is also different from that of Standard English.The phonetic of China English are influenced by Chinese. Chinese is tone language a

32、nd its meanings are distinguished by tones; however, in English its meanings are distinguished according to sentences. When Chinese people are speaking English, they cannot always effectively control the accent, secondary accent, rising tones or falling tones. Chinese people always like to stress th

33、e second syllable when they pronounce polysyllabic words. One typical example is “hospital /hspitl/, /hspitl/; obvious /b vis/, /bvis/; decade /dekeid/, /dekeid/”.In addition, the intonation is relatively flat. Some people neglect the ending consonant, or add the vowel / after it, such as put, asked

34、. Furthermore, there are 48 phonemes in English, but 40 in Chinese, which lacks /l/, /u/, /ei/, /, /, /, /, and /. Most people find it difficult to pronounce them, and they have no choice but to replace them with similar phonemes. For example, / and / are pronounced as /s/ and /z/, and /w/ and /v/ a

35、re hardly distinguished from each other. And different people with different accents pronounce individual phonemes differently. John T. Platt once mentions that Hong Kong people often use a simple vowel to take the place of diphthong (For example: /tks/, takes), a short vowel to long vowel (For exam

36、ple: /ks/, sharks), which is relevant with the pronunciation of Cantonese accent. Sometimes Shanghainese cannot distinguish /n/, / and /l/, and Shenyang people cannot distinguish /s/ from / (406). These do not constitute the common features of China English.Britain scholar Loreto Todd and American s

37、cholar L. Hancock points out in their International English Usage that the changes of pronunciation in China English is mainly influenced by the native accent of Chinese and foreign teachers from different countries (77-79). They also illustrate 7 kinds of changes including the non-rhotic accents an

38、d the structure of consonant + vowel + consonant + vowel. China English also holds the characteristics of mixing British accent and American English, and sticks to the pronunciation according to dictionaries. Before 1970s, most of the textbooks and audio materials brought in were from Britain, so th

39、e English spoken by Chinese are more similar to RP (Received Pronunciation). English departments at that time took RP as standard pronunciation and take Linguaphone as the main example to learn from. When entered the 1970s, there are more American cultural experts who came to China to teach than Bri

40、tish ones. And many Chinese listen to the programs from America in preparation for TOEFL, thus, GA (General American English Pronunciation) began to take the upper hand gradually. With the influence of Chinese native language, China English does not emphasize stress and its tone is flatter, so the A

41、merican English takes a domain part naturally.The phonetics of China English is definitely based on Standard English; but Chinese students are often studying both British English and American English at the same time, so their pronunciations are always mixed with British and American accents.In term

42、s of phonetic, the main features of China English lie in Suprasegmental phonemes, including stress, tone, intonation, assimilation and so on. For example, Chinese is tone language, and different meanings are embodied in its tones; while English is intonation language, whose intonation and stress det

43、ermine the meaning. So in China English, the stress is always not very clear and the intonation is kind of even.The research on the Suprasegmental characters of China English has just begun; it needs more support from experts and scholars, so that the system of the phonetic characters of China Engli

44、sh can be built.2.2.2 The Lexical FeaturesThe most outstanding feature of China English centralizes in lexical features, which is almost embodies in every field. Because of the different background culture, Chinese people inevitably use words with Chinese characteristics to express Chinese special t

45、hings in English. The vocabulary of China English mainly comes from Chinese borrowed words, loan translation and semantic regeneration. The lexical features of China English are mainly shown in Chinese loan words. The English language enriches its vocabulary by absorbing Chinese words.First, some wo

46、rds with Chinese unique features entered the English language. Quite a lot of words and phrases in China English are directly transliterated according to Putonghua (普通话) in Chinese and other dialects especially Cantonese. The examples are classified from following aspects.(1) History and culture: xi

47、u cai (秀才), yamen (衙门) etc.(2) Recreation and sports: erhu (二胡), gongfu (功夫), taichi (太极拳), mahjong (麻将), weiqi (围棋), wushu (武术) etc.(3) Food, clothing, shelter and transportation: changsam (旗袍), chowmein (炒面), tea (茶), maotai (茅台), ginseng (人参), kaoliang (高粮), jiaozi (饺子), dim sim (点心) etc.(4) Loca

48、l conditions and custom: fengshui (风水), kowtow (叩头), etc.(5) Geographical names: Inner Mongolia (内蒙古), Lhasa (拉萨), Hong Kong (香港) etc.(6) Measurement units: yuan (元), jiao (角), fen (分), mu (亩), li (里) etc.Second, after the reform and opening-up policy, the total number of Chinese borrowings in Engli

49、sh has been increasing rapidly. These Chinese phrases in English are translated by means of word-by-word translation. There are some examples:(1) About Chinese history and culture: Four Books (四书), Five Classics (五经) Paper Tiger (纸老虎), Great Leap Forward (大跃进), leftist (左派), Gang of Four (四人帮) etc.(2) About Chinese reform and opening-up program: laid-off workers (下岗工人), two civilizations (