A Contrastive Study Of Inversion Between Chinese And English

Comparative studies between Chinese and English are not a new subject. However, most of the researches were designed to improve the level of translation, and less of them aimed at Chinese teaching as a foreign language. Although the comparative studies between the two languages are relatively rich, from vocabulary to chapter, some of which are pretty thorough, comparisons on inversion are very limited. And it is mainly because that Chinese and English are so different in nature that it is very difficult to formulate an effective contrastive criterion for the contrastive study of inversion between them, since in English, inversions are based on necessity and mandatory of English structures and grammar, which is quite opposite in Chinese. By analyzing different definitions one by one, this paper discussed the reasons that cause such a confusion,.and redefined the concept of Inverse: the position change of a certain language constituent in language usage, especially in spoken language beyond its usual position but meanwhile the meaning of the sentence, semantic relations and semantic orientate remain unchanged, and the changed constituent can be restored back unconditionally, then it can be identified as inversion.Then the paper classifies the inversions in Chinese, that is, there are inversions between subject and predicate, position change of object, attributive and adverbial. And the paper compares the differences between inversions in the two languages to give a further analyze of Chinese inversion.Next, the paper compares and analyzes how syntax, semantics and pragmatics restrict in inversion, and give a particular research on the differences of pragmatic and rhetonical functions of inversion in both Chinese and English.At the end of the paper, there is an attempt on motivations of inversion both in Chinese and English from cognitive perspective.