A Study Of The Formation Mechanism Of Lexical China English From The Perspective Of Conceptual Blending Theory

A great many English varieties are generated as a result of the extensive application of English. Linguists have held a large number of heated discussions about these English varieties. Considering the studies of these linguistic realities as a whole, the extent of the research focusing on each variety varies from each other. Moreover, when these varieties are analyzed separately, the degree of the analysis concentrating on different aspects is also imbalanced.As one linguistic term, China English was first mentioned in 1980 s. So far, compared with the study of other English varieties, both the quantity and the quality of the examinations of China English are inferior. China English shows its Chinese characteristics at each linguistic level, such as lexical level, syntactic level and discourse level, among which, Chinese characteristics are most obviously reflected at the lexical level. The number of the study of China English at lexical level surpasses that of other levels. Hence, the focus of this thesis is also lexical China English.After analyzing the previous materials of lexical China English, it is found that almost all of the preceding analyses are restricted at the descriptive level. In other words, linguists only focus on the definition, nature, feature and classification of lexical China English. And the formation mechanism of lexical China English is only considered to be the simple result of the translation activity between Chinese and English after the communication of Chinese culture and Western culture. Although it is acknowledged now that China English is a kind of English variety with Chinese characteristics, it is hard for people to draw that conclusion just from previous analysis of China English. To put it simply, it is lack of theoretical evidence to illustrate how Chinese characteristics are reflected in lexical China English, and to further prove China English is also a type of English variety with Chinese features.It is incontestable that the translation activity between Chinese and English is an essential step in the forming process of lexical China English. However, it is obvious that the translation activity is not fulfilled by the two languages themselves. In other words, a good deal of human cognition is involved in the translation activity between two different languages. Since it is a theory which is famous for its powerful explanatory power, Conceptual Blending Theory is usually used to explain all kinds of cognitive activities. Thus, it is a good angle to study the translation activity between words with Chinese characteristics and lexical China English from cognitive perspective.According to the words with diverse Chinese characteristics, linguists adopt different translation methods. With regards to the name of people, the name of place, the measurement unit and some special Chinese traditional cultures, linguists prefer to adopt transliteration. The lexical China English thus formed is called transliteration word. To the words reflecting the culture of different times through the history of China, experts intend to use literal translation during the translation activity. And the lexical China English formed in this way is named loan shift. There is another kind of lexical China English generated through the integration of transliteration and literal translation, which is considered as loan blend.Based on the Conceptual Blending Theory, the translation activity can be regarded as the integration of two independent concepts. And these two independent concepts are the original text in source language and the relevant linguistic elements in target language. And this process can be divided into two steps: disintegration of original text and reintegration of the elements acquired in the first step. From the perspective of Conceptual Blending Theory, this paper gives a detailed representation of the formation mechanism of three different types of lexical China English, and a further exploration about how Chinese characteristics are reflected in it. Different from previous studies of China English, this paper offers cognitive theoretical supports to the conclusion made through the previous analysis, and further proves the fact that China English is a kind of linguistic reality with Chinese characteristics.