A China-related English Corpus-based Study On The Features And Formational Mechanisms Of English Expressions Of China-specific Words

China-specific words are loaded with cultural information and bear distinctive national characteristics,so a good command of their English expressions is of great significance in facilitating the “Going out of Chinese culture” and boosting the construction of Chinese cultural soft power.Previous studies attribute the formation of English expressions of CSWs to some simple translation methods and they are case studies.So a systematic analysis on their features and formational mechanisms is still a gap to be filled.What's more,the treatment of English expressions of CSWs in CEDs is also short of corpus evidence in terms of the entry selection,arrangement and representation.Therefore,based on China-Related English Corpus(CREC),this study will have a comprehensive analysis on the feature and formational mechanisms of English expressions of CSWs and try to apply relevant findings into CEDs.Corpus-based methods,quantitative and qualitative analysis are adopted by this thesis.Firstly,we extract 1182 English expressions of CSWs from CREC.Secondly,we conduct a descriptive analysis to figure out their classification and linguistic features.Thirdly,we explore their formation mechanism from the perspective of calque and analyze their specific formational mechanisms.Finally,we verify the deficiency of English expressions of CSWs in CEDs and explain their application into CEDs.The present study found out that 1)English expressions of CSWs have distinctive linguistic features and formational mechanisms,which are closely related;2)Calque is their formation mechanisms and English expressions of CSWs formed by calque can facilitate the transmission of Chinese culture and international communication;3)Although different categories of English expressions have different formational mechanisms,phonological calque,and referential calque are the most typical ones;4)The deficiency of the entry selection,arrangement and representation of English expressions of CSWs in CEDs can be ascribed to the lack of corpus evidence;5)English expressions of CSWs in CREC can present Chinese characteristics and Chinese culture to different degrees and are of reasonable motivation and authenticity,so we can apply them into CEDs.