A Contrastive Analysis Of Chinese And English Thought Patterns From The Perspective Of Language Differences

Language is the result and carrier of human being development. Thought is another essential element and also the source of it. People cannot live without languages. Only through language, can they express what they think. So is there any relationship between language and thought? The American anthropologist-linguist Sapir and his student Whorf put forward that all higher levels of thinking are dependent on language. Linguistic determinism states language determines thought. Linguistic relativism declares that speakers of different languages perceive and experience the world differently because of their different linguistic backgrounds. Besides, Robert B. Kaplan, a professor in applied linguistics in America, conducted an analysis by contrasting his foreign students’ written discourses. He found that the native language prevents the fluency of the second language. He also put forward his assumptions as "Linguistic and rhetorical conventions of a first language interfere with writing in a second language".This thesis contrasts the differences of Chinese and English thought patterns as a result of language differences. As is known to all of us, Chinese differs greatly from English. According to Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, people from different cultures have different thought patterns. This thesis copes with the aspects in which Chinese and English are different and then analyzes the differences of thought patterns caused by linguistic ones. The analysis of language differences is of two parts, semantic and pragmatic respectively. The analysis of thought pattern differences will include the characteristics of both Chinese and English thought patterns.Each country has its own culture in which language is an outstanding feature. The author treats language as a part of culture and culture, a kind of being. People used to be classified by their identity. Only through identity can they feel the being of themselves, which is reality. Language is closely related to thought, and to think is to be. Thought is the most advanced feature that can distinguish human beings from other animals. Thought represents a person’s habits, pattern or even reality, through which language and thought works. Language forms thought, and thought improves language on the contrary. Worldview is the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing the entirety of the individual or society’s knowledge and point-of-view. It is also considered as a kind of reality. It is formed through not only years of thinking, but also experiences. Worldview is much more deeper than thought. People speak different languages may have different worldview towards society, politics, science and religion. In short, culture is the total way in which people live and all kinds of being form the social reality.This thesis is consisted of five chapters. Chapter One is a general introduction to the whole paper by clarifying what this study is mainly about. It includes background information, significance and objectives, and structure. Chapter Two is the literature review. In this chapter, we review the studies that carried out by former researchers; and some key terms such as language and thought pattern are defined. We can conclude that what we get from former studies and their limitations. Chapter Three is the contrastive analysis of Chinese and English, which provides some specific aspects, semantic and pragmatic. Then comes Chapter Four. It mainly deals with thought pattern difference, which comes from Chapter Three. So we will analyze how Chinese think differently from we have discussed in this chapter. Finally is the Chapter Five, including summary, summarizing the findings of the study; limitations, pointing out the limits of this present study and finally some suggestions are provided for further researches.