| At current, the international status of English becomes more and more prominent, and in the meanwhile, in the process of dissemination and use, English is localized and forms varieties with local characteristics under the influence of culture compatibility. This also breaks the monolithic situation, in which the assumed "normative English" is the center, and promotes the formation of World Englishes. Chinese English with its own peculiar features also arises in this historic moment. Being a new member of World Englishes, CE is an inevitable product due to the interaction between Chinese culture and English culture. It is also a carrier of Chinese culture and thoughts, in favor of advocating Chinese identity and spreading Chinese culture."Contact literature", put forward by B.B. Kachru (1986:19), is actually a literary style written in nonnative English varieties. Its enormous success around the world and an increasing number of creations of this form verify that those English varieties are not just a tool but a kind of manifestation of cultural and linguistic identity. Therefore, this thesis aims at exploring CE in contact literature works on the basis of the notable novel Moment in Peking, which is written by Lin Yutang in English, from the perspective of variety validation.At present, few scholars in China make an investigation on CE in contact literature. But those who have ever done research on contact literature are mainly concentrated on the perspectives of translation techniques, cultural broadcasting as well as CE features. Besides, the methodology they applied used to enumerate examples through descriptive language. This thesis starts a new angle for researching contact literature. The author attempts to make an initial inquiry into validating Butler’s fourth criterion which is set for the establishment of a new variety, that is, whether Lin’s CE is written "without apology" (1997:106), by a comprehensive analysis of CE in Moment in Peking. Two main parts are included in this study. One part is to figure out Lin’s English features in four aspects, and the other is to make a survey on readers’(inside and outside China) attitudes to Lin’s CE. Moreover, in order to gain more accurate results, this study combines qualitative and quantitative methods of researching.According to the analysis and discussions, the main findings are listed as follows:1) Based on previous summary of literature reviews of CE linguistic features, the author of this thesis validates the abundant existence of CE in Moment in Peking from the perspectives of phonology, lexis, syntax and text.2) Either in content or in language, native English speakers and native Chinese speakers both show great intelligibility to CE in the novel. However, their attitudes to Lin’s CE vary. Native English speakers in this survey are more likely to accept Lin’s English with an open mind while native Chinese speakers exhibit much less acceptability to Lin’s CE by assuming that Lin’s English is "imperfect" English, which goes astray from the so-called "standard English". Besides, results also suggest that readers in this survey show more tolerance to CE beyond literature field.Above all, contact literature of Moment in Peking shows systematic features of CE on linguistic level, but it is still premature to claim that Lin’s CE in this novel is written without apology. Thus, CE in contact literature fails to meet the condition of a mature variety.The author hopes that this study can contribute a meager strength to the spread of Chinese culture as well as CE studies. |
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