Differences Between Chinese And Western Patterns Of Thought Vs. Differences Between Chinese And Western Discourses

The study of discourse has become a specialist stUdy. Usually, Peopledo not give much thOught to the way they say to others, the way theyintroduce their main topics, and the way they draw a conclusion when theyfinish. The question is' Why are people in differellt langUages use differentdiscourses to express exactly the saxne idea? What is the underlying reasonbesides 1ingustic variations? This thesis makes a comParison of Chinesepattems of though with Westem pattems of though, so as to reveal thaChinese and Westemers are largely different in their mentality Which isembodied in differeni discourse organizations.The first chaPter deals with the stUdy of discourse done by earlier andcontemPorary scholars. The definitions of discourse given by differelltscholars are varied and there is no whfied definition yet. In this thesis, theterm "discourse" refers to both spoken language and written langUage. Batthe basic characteristic of a discourse is: it must correspond to semanicand pragmatic rules, and most imPortamly, it must be coherefit. Somerepeesentaive figures including HAns and Labov have all contributed tothe development of discourse analysis, and their works re1ated to discourseanalysis are covered in this pat.The second chaPter is an introduction of research on pattems of though,especially research done by Chinese scholars. The contrastive study ofChinese and Western pattems of thought have been done fOr a long time.Earlier scholars including Yan Fu pointed out some basic differencesbetWeen Chinese and Western pattems of thought. Preseni scholars havemade further achievements. For examPle, Lin Yuang regarded Chinesepattem of though is concrete, Zhang Dainian made an even moresystematic investigation of Chinese diaiectical pattem of thOught andWeStem abstract pattem of thought.The third chaPter sununarizes the major featUres of Chinese andWestem pattems of thought. Basically, Chinese patterns of thought areconcrete, circular and integral While Westem pattems of though areabstract, linear, and analytical.The Fourth chaPter discusses differences betWeen Chinese and Westempatterns of thought as are shown in discourses. Chinese circu1ar pattern ofthought and Westem linear pattern of thought produce the cyclicalstructUre and the linear strucfore in discourses respectively. Chineseintegral pattem of thought induces general-partictilar narrative order whileWestem analytical pattem of thought brings particular-general narrativeorder into practice in discourses. The concretness in Chinese discoursescorrespond to Chinese concrete pattem of thought and the abstraciness inWestern discourses to Westem abstract pattern of though.The fifth chaPter is concerned with implications of the above analysisfOr English foreign langllage acquisition. The fOrmation of "Englishlinguistic sense" will help to avoid the aPpearance of "Chinglish" in thecourse of English leaming.Finally, one theng is worth pointing out' the major featUres of Chineseand Westem pallems of thought and discourses sununedzed in the thesisare only those frequently exPressed in daily cotnmwhcation. There arealso simi1arities besides differences betWeen Chinese and Westem pattemsof though. It is prospective fOr the merge of Chinese and WeStCm pattemsof thought as intercultUral conunwhcations have become more frequentthan befOre.