Archives

Volume 4 Number 5 May 2018

The Production of Mandarin Voiceless Sibilant Fricatives by Late Cantonese-Mandarin Bilinguals: an Acoustic Study


Authors: Yuyan Li
Pages: 80-87
Abstract
It has been repeatedly suggested that there are L1 interference and gender-related differences in second language acquisition. This study aims to investigate L1 transfer and sex effect on fricative learning by comparing the spectral peak value of the target fricatives /s  / and F2 onset of their following vowels produced by late Cantonese-Mandarin bilinguals and L1 Mandarin speakers. The results indicated that there were significant gender effects in /s/ and / /, yet no significant gender effect in / /. And there were statistically significant differences in /s/ and / /, but no significant differences in / / between the two language groups.

A Contrastive Analysis Between the Chinese and English Versions of If I Were King from the Perspective of Hypotaxis and Parataxis


Authors: Chen Hongping ; Zheng Yameng 
Pages: 76-79
Abstract
Though sharing some commonalities, English and Chinese do hold their own characteristics. Hypotaxis and parataxis are generally considered to be among the most significant differences between English and Chinese. Though previous studies have analyzed hypotaxis and parataxis from different perspectives, a few of them have applied them to prose translation. If I Were King, a typical essay written by Nie Gannu, is translated by Zhang Peiji (2012) and compiled in his Selected Modern Chinese Essays 1 . This paper is in an attempt to make a contrastive analysis between the Chinese and English versions of If I Were King from the perspective of hypotaxis and parataxis. The first part gives a brief introduction to the previous studies on hypotaxis and parataxis and If I Were King. The second part clarifies the meaning of hypotaxis and parataxis. Methodology is discussed in the third part. As the main part of this paper, the fourth part is the case studies on three levels: the lexical level, syntactic level and discourse level. The final part makes a summary and provides some practical suggestions. Through analysis, this paper aims to make other language learners have a better grasp of hypotaxis and parataxis so as to facilitate translation, especially prose translation. Besides, this paper may also provide enlightenment for scholars of contrastive linguistics.


A Comparative Analysis of Cultural Connotations of English-Chinese Animal Words


Authors: Chen Hongping ; Zhang Shasha
Pages: 70-75
Abstract
As a social phenomena, language carries a lot of social-cultural factors. It is impossible for languages to exist and develop in social vacuum. Proverbs, as a form reflecting language, are greatly connected with culture. They deliver all sorts of information and cultural knowledge. In addition, vocabulary is the most sensitive, active and basic component of language. Therefore, the influence of culture on language is also embedded in vocabulary. Animal words or cultural-loaded animal words are a category of words rich in cultural connotations. Human beings living in the same world have different cultural backgrounds, which leads to different cultural connotations of animal words. This paper will make a comparative analysis of the cultural connotations behind animal words between English and Chinese proverbs. Thus similarities and differences are explored.  And then it makes a further study on the reasons behind differences of cultural connotations. Meanwhile some feasible suggestions on cross-cultural communication will be put forward.