Contrastive Analysis On "Attributes" In Chinese And Vietnamese

The attributive displacement word order of Chinese and Vietnamese is as follows: in Chinese, attribute goes before and subject follows after, while in Vietnamese, subject goes before and attribute follows after. Based on the process from the primary to the secondary and from large scale to small scale, Chinese word order indicates the characteristics of postpositive headword in the expression. Based on the process from the secondary to the primary and from small scale to large scale, Vietnamese word order indicates the characteristics of prepositive headword in the expression. We can see that the distance between these Chinese words, used for limiting and modifying, and the headword meaning is a focus form from big to small, and from left to right is a growing trend. If analyzed from big to small, the internal structure must be sinistrad. In Vietnamese, the distance between these words, used for limiting and modifying, and the headword meaning is a divergent form from small to big, and from right to left is a weakening trend. If analyzed from small to big, the internal structure must be dextrorsal. Therefore, The displacement word order of Chinese and Vietnamese is the reflection of cognition difference between two nations on the two language systems. Through the comparative analysis of attribute in Chinese and Vietnamese, we can understand the similarities and differences between Chinese and Vietnamese in attributive syntactic structure, characteristics and meanings. The well done of this research may help to better understand the language characteristics of our own, as well as help Vietnam study Chinese and foreigners study Vietnamese, especially for Chinese to study Vietnamese. This lays the foundation for the writer to engage translation research of Chinese and comparative research of attribute in Chinese and Vietnamese.'Attribute', with a high frequency of use, is a common syntactic structure both in Chinese and Vietnamese. The phrases and sentences with attributes can be found in spoken or written language. Pro. Chu zexiang indicates that attribute in syntactic structure of Chinese and Vietnamese is a subject worthy of monographic study.The paper is mainly divided into seven parts:The first part is the comparison of word-building of Chinese and Vietnamese. On the surface, Vietnam characters, which are Latin letter, and Chinese characters, which are hieroglyph with Chinese characteristics, have nothing to do with each other. However, Chinese characters, seeming to have nothing to do with Vietnam characters, are the primogenitor of Vietnam characters. Although Vietnamese is greatly impacted by Chinese, their word-buildings are opposite.The second part stresses the definition of attribute. Forming elements of attributes in Chinese and Vietnamese are the same, but their syntactic meanings are different, and semantic relation between attribute and headword is various. Generally speaking, attributes in Chinese are divided into two kinds: restrictive attribute and descriptive attribute, while only restrictive attribute exists in Vietnamese.The third part analyzes attributive word order difference between Chinese and Vietnamese: the former usually modifies the latter in Chinese, namely attribute goes before and subject follows after;in Vietnamese the latter modifies the former, namely subject goes before and attribute follows after. It should be paid special attention that among verbs, verb phrases, adjectives and adjective phrases, some are attributes, and some are not. Structures are various. Meanwhile, interrogative pronouns like 'how, how about' and adverbs and nouns can only be used as predicates.The forth part analyzes the word order of multi attributes in Chinese and Vietnamese, namely consecutive multi-attribute with regular increase of noun phrases formed by different attributes, word orders of which in Chinese and Vietnamese are opposite. In Chinese, restrictive attribute goes before, and descriptive attribute follows after, then noun headword is added;in Vietnamese, the form is noun headword + descriptive attribute+ restrictive attribute. It is noteworthy that the attribute representing quantifier in Chinese is usually put at the last of all, but in Vietnamese the attribute representing quantifier is the first one.The fifth part indicates the noun combination of people forms modifier-noun construction. The name structure of Vietnamese is similar with that of Chinese, the family name goes and the first name follows after. But in Vietnam, family names are few, only more than 200. In order to be distinguished, Vietnamese are used to being called by first name instead of family name, and usually add a courtesy title before he first name according to the other side's identity. We can see that modifier-noun constructions formed by noun combination in Chinese and in Vietnamese are opposite.The sixth part analyzes abbreviating methods of nominal words in Chinese and Vietnamese, emphatically on abbreviating method of selecting-words. In Chinese, the method is to select representative words to form phrases;while in Vietnamese, it uses initial abbreviation, which selects representative letters, to form phrases. Besides shortened form, expansibility also exits in Chinese, and the choices of words are more flexible than Vietnam. On the whole, in Chinese abbreviation is widely used in both spoken language and written language;in Vietnamese abbreviation is limited in written language, and seldom exists in spoken language.The seventh part stresses knowledge about grammatical structure and word order ofChinese and Vietnamese. The grammatical structure of Chinese is opposite to that of Vietnamese. The Syntactic internal structure of Chinese attribute is a relation of increasing constraint from front to back and a program from big to small and left to right. If we make analysis of Chinese attribute, left order will be found. While the syntactic internal structure of Vietnamese attribute is a relation of decreasing constraint from back to front, and a program from small to big and right to left. If we make analysis of Vietnamese attribute, right order will be found. Big>small rule in Chinese may have many concrete representations for differences of the referent of the noun: (l)long> short & first>then in terms of time;(2) general>special in terms of space;(3) high>low in terms of class;(4)leader>underling in terms of interpersonal relation;(5) big>small, attribute >ontology & material >finished products between objects;(6) exterior > interior & concrete >abstract in an object. In conformity to the above rule, the order of attribute represents a gradually increasing order from front to back, left to right. While in Vietnamese, small >big rule may also have many concrete representations for differences of the referent of the noun: (1) short > long & then > first in terms of time;(2) special > general in terms of space;(3) low>high in terms of class;(4) underling > leader in terms of interpersonal relation;(5) small >big, ontology >attribute & finished products > material between objects;(6) interior>exterior & abstract>concrete in an object. In conformity to the above rule, the order of Vietnamese attribute represents a gradually decreasing order from back to front and right to left.By contrastive analysis on attributes in Chinese and Vietnamese, we can conclude that attribute sequences in Chinese and Vietnamese are opposite, which can represent psychological differences in respect of culture cognition. Each nation in the world has its own characters in thinking forms. From history of Chinese philosophical thought, we can see that Chinese people lay stress on seeing issues from the whole and on common nexus. Hence, it forms a thinking form from whole to part and big to small, which leaves deep marks in Chinese. While Vietnamese people have been laying stress on seeing issues from individual and on abstract nexus. Hence, it forms a thinking form from individual to whole and small to big.