A Corpus-based Study Of The Lexical And Grammatical Features Of "China English"

The globalization of English inevitably accompanies its extensive nativization in various social and cultural contexts. As a result, non-native English varieties have developed worldwide. China, as a big and powerful country, with a great population of English learners, whether has had its own regional variety which is based on the Standard English and endowed Chinese features to express Chinese culture.At present, many studies of "China English" have been made both at home and abroad, which covers a wide range of problems and perspectives. In a word, the scholars focus on whether China English exists or not; whether "China English" belongs to English variety or not; the definition of "China English"; the borrowings used in English. In spite of different opinions on "China English", most of the scholars have recognized its existence and concluded its linguistic characteristics in phonology, lexis, sentence and even discourse. However, Most researches of the features listed as characterizing "China English" are based on anecdotal evidence or from limited surveys. The data about characteristics of these varieties are scattered, and the use of quantificational evidence for description is rare.More recently, corpus-based approach has made possible a new, more concrete approach to the lexical and syntactic features, enabling researchers to test opinions about how the non-native variety differs from that of Standard English. Based on previous studies, this thesis points out the existing problems in research and affirms the existence of the phenomenon of "China English". The research problems of this thesis are as follows:(1) whether the language phenomenon of "China English" exists or not;(2) differences between English used in China and Standard English;(3) the features of English used in China at the level of vocabulary and syntax.By the study, from linguistic perspective,"China English", as a regional variety of English, does not have its own stable and special features. From the sociocultural perspective,"China English" does not have an official status, intranational communication function, acceptability and intelligibility. To sum up, it is quick to jump to the conclusion that "China English" has existed and endows its own linguistic features. The study of non-native varieties, especially in the Expanding Circle, is still in its initial stage, so it remains to be further studied.The results of the present study also show that an empirical study is helpful to explore the linguistic features scientifically and to analyze them comprehensively. The study involving quantitative and qualitative analysis of corpus data provides not only a new but effective approach.