Comp Stud Trans EN 1

A Contrastive Study of Hypotaxis and Parataxis in English and Chinese 石丽青（202120081521） (The red ellipsis is the part I haven’t figured out yet.)

Abstract: The study of hypotaxis and parataxis is one of the most important research subjects in contrastive linguistic in English and Chinese. It is generally acknowledged that English is a hypotaxis-prominent language while Chinese is a parataxis-prominent language. This paper makes a contrastive study of hypotaxis and parataxis in English and Chinese from perspectives of cultural factors, language manifestation and translation practice. This thesis is composed of five chapters, contents of which are as follows: Chapter 1 discusses the significance and purpose of the study, definitions of hypotaxis and parataxis as well as a general review of previous studies. Chapter 2 analyzes the causes for hypotaxis and parataxis existing in different cultures, proving that the hypotaxis-prominence of English and the parataxis-prominence of Chinese are resulted from the disparities in philosophy and modes of thinking. Chapter 3 elucidates the manifestation of hypotaxis and parataxis in English and Chinese. English is hypotaxis-prominent and connects phrases and clauses by using particles such as relatives, conjunctions and prepositions. English sentences are tree-like pattern and bases on the subject-predicate mechanism. Chinese, on the contrary, is characteristic by parataxis-prominence and connected by its inner logical relations. Chinese sentences follow a bamboo-like pattern and are established on the topic-comment mechanism, attaching great importance to the semantic relations between language elements. However, the contrast between hypotaxis and parataxis is dialectic. Chapter 4 is the core part of this thesis, making an elaboration on the translation practice with reference to the English Version of… Chapter 5 comes to the conclusion that …

Key Words: hypotaxis; parataxis；…

摘要：形合与意合是英汉语言对比的一个重要研究议题。通常认为英语为形合形语言，汉语为意合形语言。本文从文化因素、语言表现及翻译实践对英语的形合与汉语的意合进行对比研究。 本文由五个章节构成。除第一章概述和第五章结论外，其他章节的主要内容为： 第一章讨论了论文的研究意义和目的、形合与意合的定义等基本概念，同时对以往对于形合与意合的研究进行总体性的综述。 第二章分析不同语言形合意合差异的形成原因。证明英语形合与汉语意合之差异的形成是不同哲学和思维方式的产物。 第三章阐明形合意合在两种语言中的表现。英语形合指的是句中的词语或分句之间用语言形式手段连接起来，表达语法意义和逻辑关系。英语复句一般是一种由几个简单句构成的葡萄式结构。汉语意合指的是词语或分句之间不用语言形式手段连接，句中的语法意义和逻辑关系通过词语或分句的含义表达。汉语复句一般是一种由几个简单句构成的竹节式结构。然而，形合与意合的区别并不是绝对的而是辩证的。 第四章是论文的核心部分。阐述… 第五章是论文的总结部分。

关键词：形合；意合；…

Contents Abstract (English) Abstract (Chinese) Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Significance and Purpose of the Study 1.2 Definitions of Hypotaxis and Parataxis 1.3 A General Review of Previous Studies Chapter 2 Causes of Formation of Hypotaxis-Prominence and Parataxis-Prominence 2.1 Superficial Layer—Linguistic Basis 2.2 Deep Causes —A Cultural Explanation of Hypotaxis and Parataxis Chapter 3 Manifestation of Hypotaxis in English and Parataxis in Chinese 3.1 Hypotaxis-Prominence in English 3.1.1 Subject-predicate mechanism 3.1.2 Relatives and conjunctions 3.1.3 Prepositions 3.1.4 Other cohesive devices 3.2 Parataxis-Prominence in Chinese 3.2.1 Topic-comment pattern 3.2.2 Word order 3.2.3 Flowing-water sentence construction 3.2.4 Contracted sentences and four-character construction 3.3 Relativity of the Contrast between Hypotaxis and Parataxis Chapter 4 Implications for Translation Practice of Hypotaxis and Parataxis 4.1 A Brief Introduction to… Chapter 5 Conclusion Bibliography

Chapter 1 Introduction This part mainly discusses the significance of the study, definitions of hypotaxis and parataxis as well as a general review of previous studies. 1.1 Significance and Purpose of the Study Eugene. A. Nida upholds that the contrast between hypotaxis and parataxis is the most important linguistic difference between Chinese and English (Eugene. A. Nida 1982). Rated as one of the most important subjects in comparative linguistics, the study of hypotaxis and parataxis makes an indication that there is a major discrepancy in organizing languages between English and Chinese. Liu Miqing holds the view that hypotaxis versus parataxis is the heterogeneous characteristic featuring English and Chinese texts (Liu Miqing 1985: 31). Chen Fukang made a conclusion in his book A History of Translation Theory in China (2000: 476): “ Translation theory in China, on the one hand is quite abundant, on the other hand still falls behind.” All of theses points of view indicate that the contrastive study of hypotaxis and parataxis is conducive to shedding light on having a better understanding of the nature of these two languages. Therefore, this thesis intends to make clear the nature of hypotaxis and parataxis in order to make some contributions to the study of translation theories in China. 1.2 Definitions of Hypotaxis and Parataxis

Bibliography Nida. Eugene. A. Translating Meaning. San Dmas: English Language Institute, 1982. 陈福康. 中国译学理论史稿. 上海：上海外语教育出版社，2000. 刘宓庆. 文体与翻译. 中国翻译出版公司，1985.