A Constrastive Study Of Information Distribution In English And In Chinese

The major function of a language is to transmit information. In the process of information transmission, information are not isolated from each other, but related to each other, thus forming a coherent entity to attain the purpose of communication. There are some rules to follow, which can be conceived as the distributive features of information. There is no exception with English and Chinese. Therefore, the thesis compares and contrasts information focus distribution between the two languages on the basis of contrastive linguistics, syntax and functional grammar with the aim to find out the differences and resemblances of information structure and distribution.The thesis consists of six chapters. Chapter 1 introduces the topic and the organization of the thesis. Chapter 2 illustrates the relative theories involved in the thesis: the theoretical basis and application of contrastive linguistics and functional grammar. Chapter 3 analyzes the correlation between information and text. Chapter 4 illustrates some basic concepts and makes a brief contrast between English and Chinese. Chapter 5 and chapter 6, analyze the information distribution inside a clause as well as a text through a great number of concrete instances. It should be noted that information can be highlighted by cleft sentences, pseudo-cleft sentences, fronting, postponement and passivisation. In addition, the given information plays the role of Fulcrum introducing the new information in text, making text move forward to attain the goal of communication.Both English and Chinese have their own devices to give prominence to information focus. The devices can be divided into two levels, one of which is phonological level, the other is grammatical level. The thesis attaches importance to analysis on the grammatical level. The aim of the thesis is to find differences and resemblances of information distribution between the two languages through analysis, thus helping learners to improve reading and translating ability, whichhas a far-reaching effect on practice.