A Contrastive Study Of Pragmatic Negation In Chinese And English

Pragmatic negation(PN)is an important research topic in pragmatics.Previous scholars usually study it from the perspective of distinguishing pragmatic negation from semantic negation.Therefore,pragmatic negation hasn?t been directly researched systematically and profoundly.Few consensuses on pragmatic negation have been reached.These issues include what is the general classification of PN;what are the sub-categories of PN;what are the similarities and differences of Chinese and English PN as well as the explanations for them;and how to use PN in Chinese and English.In order to meet the current need or to achieve a specific purpose,some specific means will be used to negate the felicity of an utterance in a certain context.Thus,some implied or potential negative meaning can be expressed.This is the definition of pragmatic negation.On the bases of previous studies and language materials analyses,pragmatic negation is classified as pragmatic presupposition negation and implicature negation.Furthermore,Chinese and English pragmatic presupposition negation can both be classified as negation of the person or thing with definite meaning,negation or diversion of the topic,and contrastive focus of intonation(nuclear stress shift)in an utterance in context.Chinese and English implicature negations include negations with higher degree,more contents,different text styles or social connotations,and different pronunciations or grammar in the corresponding part.Chinese and English pragmatic negations are similar to each other in two aspects.Frequency of implicature negation with more contents in the corresponding part in Chinese is approximately equal to its counterpart in English.The possible reason may be that pragmatic negation?s function of creating suspense in a conversation.From the perspective of cognitive linguistics,similarities of Chinese and English pragmatic negation are based on the similar cognitive categorization among participants in the dialogue.Specific uses of Chinese and English pragmatic negation are different in two aspects.In terms of pragmatic presupposition negation,negating a person or thing with definite meaning is more frequently used in English than in Chinese.The possible reason is that English speakers usually express things more specifically and directly compared to Chinese ones.Therefore,there are more definite meaning negations in English than in Chinese.In implicature negation,more examples of “with higher degree in the corresponding part” have been found in Chinese than in English.The reason may be Chinese and English speakers come from different cultural backgrounds.Chinese speakers usually do not negate a person?s whole statement.They often add some modifications based on the original statement in order to save the hearer?s face.In general,specific uses of Chinese-English pragmatic negation are different due to different cognitive styles in two languages.The research is both theoretically and practically significant.In theory,pragmatic negation study will deepen the understanding of presupposition and implicature,which will contribute to pragmatic theory in general.Practically,in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language,analyses of similarities and differences between Chinese and English PN enable teachers to explain this linguistic phenomenon by comparison,making it easier for students to understand.In Chinese-English translation,the translator is required to recognize PN in the first place.If PN exists in source language,it is better to equally translate it as a PN in target language according to the fidelity criterion in translation.Moreover,most Chinese and English PN utterances can be translated with “A--B” structure.