A Contrastive Study On Lexical Behaviors Of English And Chinese Binomials

A binomial is a sequence of two words which belong to the same part of speech, and which are syntactically coordinated and semantically related. The phenomenon of binomials, being universal in natural languages, has increasingly become the focus of linguistic study. However, few systematic researches have been conducted ever since Malkiel's pioneering research in 1959.The present study, drawing on Sinclair's framework of extended units of meaning, sets out to explore lexical behaviors of English and Chinese binomials from a contrastive perspective.The data for this research are mainly extracted from Jiao Da Parallel Corpus (JDPC), which is part of National Science Research Fund Project"Corpus-based Study of Corresponding Units of Meaning in English and Chinese (07BYY004)". BNC and CCL are used as comparable corpora. Based on the English and Chinese binomials with the highest frequency in JDPC, lexical behaviors and categorizations of English and Chinese binomials are investigated respectively. Constraints influencing sequences of binomials are also discussed from the perspectives of semantics, rhetoric, and pragmatics. Correspondence between English and Chinese binomials is also investigated. The comparative study is conducted at three levels: form, meaning, and function.After a detailed observation and analysis, some major findings have been obtained on lexical behaviors and correspondence of binomials in the two languages.Firstly, differences in form exist between English and Chinese binomials: the linking words are almost indispensable in English binomials while the Chinese language usually omits them, forming more concise lexical sequences.Secondly, in the N+l+N binomial category, correspondence can be reached at three different levels: complete correspondence in form, meaning, and function; correspondence in meaning and function; correspondence only in function.Thirdly, in V+l+V binomial category, there are some distinctions. Although correspondence can be easily reached in form and literal meaning, the communicative functions are hard to be arrived at due to the discrepancies of lexical behaviors between verbs in the two languages. Pragmatic force cannot be conveyed into the target language through literal translation.Fourthly, being the most flexible type, the Adj+l+Adj binomials are quite productive and vividly describe the natures and characteristics of objects in specific context. Different from the verbal binomials, adjectival binomials can be translated literally with equally functional correspondence between Chinese and English.The significance of the study lies not only in the observation and description of lexical behaviors of English and Chinese binomials, but also in its implications for language teaching and learning. As a pioneering study on English and Chinese binomials, it might shed light on the correspondence between the two languages.