A Contrastive Study Of English And Chinese Existential Constructions

Existential Constructions are available in both English and Chinese languages. In the history of the development of linguistic theories, they have received a lot of attention from linguists for their particularity and complexity. So many researchers have made studies on various aspects of this construction and got fruitful results.Although the study of existential sentences has been an aged topic, the research on Existential Construction from the perspective of cognitive linguistics is still in a primary stage. Ever since the establishment of Construction Grammar theory, the research on Existential Construction has attracted more and more attention. Cognitive theories have provided new perspectives for the study of existential constructions. The spatial relations reflected in existential constructions aroused interests of some researchers. However, contrastive study of Frames of Reference applied in existential constructions is still a relatively new domain.This thesis will try to make a contrastive study of existential constructions in both English and Chinese languages with fresh and new examples within the framework of cognitive linguistics from the perspective of Frames of Reference. Some scholars have given some thought upon this perspective, but the similarities and differences of this construction in terms of Frames of Reference are still unclear. Thus in this thesis, the author will try to answer this question through a contrastive study of examples found from travel journals (articles). This contrastive study will be conducted on the macro-level which is based upon a micro-analysis of similarities and differences respectively. On the macro-level, the author explores the underlying psychological, cultural and philosophical motivations that cause these similarities and differences, together with the implications of the results for language teaching and learning, as well as translation.In this thesis, the author mainly applies qualitative method to research upon English and Chinese existential constructions in terms of Frames of Reference. As Frames of Reference usually appear in articles that describe and introduce places, this study selected 102 Chinese travel journals (articles), 69 English ones and an English travel book as data. The examples found from the data are then classified according to Frames of Reference and the results are used to analyze the similarities and differences of Frames of Reference applied in English and Chinese existential constructions.The results of the study indicate that there are some similarities in the application of the three Frames of Reference in English and Chinese existential constructions. Firstly, the frequency of the applications of three Frames of Reference in English language is the same as that in Chinese language, with intrinsic frame of reference on top and relative frame of reference at the bottom. The spatial value and the similarities in thinking patterns of people in the East and the West can explain this phenomenon. Secondly, English and Chinese existential sentences or clauses may contain more than one application of Frames of Reference, which is also a reflection of the similarities in the thinking patterns of people in the East and the West. Thirdly, in the application of absolute frame of reference, both languages use"up"and"down"frequently, which are determined by gravity. In any place on the earth, gravity-determined frame of reference is easy to understand and will not be affected by environment or other elements.Despite some similarities, more differences arise in the study. Firstly, although English and Chinese existential sentences or clauses can contain more than one application of Frames of Reference, this phenomenon is much more frequently seen in Chinese language than in English. This can be explained by the circularity in Chinese people's thinking patterns and the linearity in English thinking patterns (Zuo, 2009a:176). Secondly, in Chinese EC examples, the use of relative frame of reference is quite different from that in English EC examples. Apart from this, Chinese speakers use more relative frame of reference than English speakers. Ancient people in China did not pay much attention to nature or science. Instead, they focused their attention on the improvement of the inner world of themselves. On the contrary, western people focus on the understanding of nature and the development of science and technology. This accounts for the more frequent use of relative frame of reference in Chinese existential constructions. Thirdly, there are some differences in the application of intrinsic frame of reference between these two languages. English language uses more"inside"relations, while Chinese language uses more"between"and"on the sides". This difference may results from the choice of the examples in this study. Fourthly, as to the application of absolute frame of reference, Chinese EC uses much more fixed directions like"north, south, east and west"than English counterpart. This is partly because of the semi-closed continental geographic environment of China and the self-supporting economy resulting in Chinese people's concept that China is the centre of the world. Lastly, English and Chinese EC follow reverse word order. English EC mainly features a Figure-before-Ground word order, while Chinese EC features a Ground-before-Figure word order. This is related to the psychological differences between English and Chinese languages. Chinese language emphasizes subject consciousness, while English language stresses object consciousness compared to Chinese language.The results found in this study have some implications for teaching and learning of English and Chinese as second or foreign languages. In addition, translation of existential constructions between English and Chinese may follow these features in order to make the translation more original and standard.