A Contrastive Analysis On The Expression Of Motion Events In English And Chinese

Motion events refer to those movements in which Figure relatively changes its spatial position from one place to the other.The study of motion events helps us to analyze how people from different language backgrounds organize their language when describing motion events.This thesis,based on 3,300 sentences including motion event expressions in English and 3,300 sentences in Chinese,analyzes the location and combination patterns of motion event elements and finds out the similarities of motion event expressions as well as differences in English and Chinese from micro perspective.This thesis finds three similarities on motion event expressions in English and Chinese.(1)Both languages have the same minimal combination pattern(Mo P).The two most used combination patterns(FMo PGMa and FMo PMa)are same.(2)Figure-including sentences occupy the majority of the total.Cause is the least included element.(3)Ground can be divided into three categories,indicating starting point,end point and passing point.There are five differences on motion event expressions in English and Chinese.(1)The encoding methods of motion event elements are different.In English,Motion and Path can be encoded by verbs or by verb phrases with Motion encoded by verbs and Path indicated by prepositions.In Chinese,besides verbs and verb phrases,Motion and Path can also be encoded by the combination of verbs.(2)The number of sentences containing these motion elements is different.The quantity of Ground-including sentences expressing passing point in English is 14 times as much as that in Chinese.Sentences including FMo PGMa in English are twice as much as that in Chinese.Sentences including FMo PCMa in Chinese are twice as much as that in English.(3)The characteristics of inanimate Figure are different.In Chinese,inanimate Figure implies moving ability.In English,it is not a necessity.(4)The categories of Path are different.In English,Path can be divided into starting point,passing point and end point.In Chinese,only starting point and end point are included generally.(5)The factors that affect Ground expression are different.In English,Ground is influenced by Path in front of it.In Chinese,when Ground locates behind Path,it indicates end point.When Ground locates before Path,it indicates starting point.