Chinese Interference in Learning English Verbs10.docx

Chinese Interference in Learning English Verbs10.docx

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ChineseInterferenceinLearningEnglishVerbs10

ChineseInterferenceinLearningEnglishVerbs

Mothertongueinterferenceisdefinedastheuseofelementsfromone'snativelanguagewhilelearningasecondone.InstancesofChineseinterferenceinEnglishlearningcanbefoundatthelevelofpronunciation,morphology,syntax,vocabularyandmeaning.

EnglishandChineseverbs,althoughsimilarinmanyaspects,havesomesubtlebutsignificantdifferencesinsemanticcomposition,bringingdifficultiestoChinesestudentsinlearningEnglishverbs.

1.Thesemanticcompositionofverbs

AccordingtoWebster’sNewWorldDictionary,averbis"awordthatcharacteristicallyisthegrammaticalcenterofapredicateandexpressesanact,occurrence,ormodeofbeing...”.Fromthisdefinitionwecanseethatthesemanticfunctionofaverbistodescribeamotion,mayitbeanact,occurrence,ormodeofbeing.

However,motionitselfcannotmakeupamotionevent.Thereareotherelementsassociatedwithmotionsuchasdirection（asin"take"and"bring"）,manner（asin"prance”）,aspect（asin“restart”）andsoon.Alltheseassociativeelements,togetherwithmotion,constituteamotioncomplex.

Semanticelementsarerealizedbylinguisticstructuresofvariousforms.Amotioncomplexisexpressedbywhatwecallaverbcomplex,whichcomprisestheheadverb,theparticleandthereflection.Sincereflectionismoreconcernedwithgrammar,wewilllimitourselvestoaconsiderationofthefirsttwo.

Therefore,herewehavetwosets,asareillustratedinthefollowing:

SetA（motioncomplex）SetB（verbcomplex）

motionheadverb

mannerparticle

direction

cause

result

......

Noticeably,thesetwosets,thatis,thesemanticcompositionanditslinguisticform,areseldominone-to-onecorrespondence.Insomecasesamotioncomplexisrealizedbyasingleheadverb,whichistermedincorporation.

e.g.HecuppedhishandsandIpouredsomewaterintothem.

"Cup"means"toform（esp.thehands）intotheshapeofacup",whichdepictsbothmotionandmanner.

However,sometimesasingleverbisincapableofdepictingamotioncomplex,inwhichcaseparticlesareusedinconjunctionwiththeheadverb,indicatingdirection,manner,aspect,andsoon.

e.g.Iranin.

ManydirectionverbsinChineselike"上去","下来"arecasesinpoint.

Inthefollowingsectionswewilldiscusshowtheheadverbfunctionsinfulfillingincorporationandhowtheparticleplaysanimportantpartintheverbcomplex.

2.AcomparisonofincorporationbetweenEnglishandChineseheadverbs

2.1Incorporationisabundantinlanguage.Let'sseesomeexamplesfromEnglishandChinese:

EnglishverbChineseequivalentMeaning（interpretation）

tosaw锯tocutwithasaw

用锯子切割

totargettoaimatatarget

把......作为目标

totrudgetowalkwithheavysteps

步履沉重地走

tocluttertomakeuntidyorconfused,esp.by

fillingwithuselessorunwantedthings

乱七八糟地堆

AfterabriefcomparisonwecansaythatincorporationisquitecommonwithEnglishverbs,whereasinmanycasestheexactChineseequivalentstotheseincorporateverbscannotbefound.Toencodethemeaning,Chinesereliesonothersentenceelementslikeadverbialandcomplementintheaboveexamples.

NowwehavearrivedatamajordifferencebetweenEnglishandChineseverbs,thatis,theEnglishisrichinincorporateverbswhichallowagreatersemanticspecificityandthusavividdescriptionofthemotioncomplex,whereasinChineseincorporationisnotsocommon.Instead,itisoftenthecasethattoportrayamotioncomplex,theassociativeelementsareseparatelycodedbyothersentenceelements.Thisconclusioncouldbeillustratedasfollowing:

Subject

sentenceelementsobject

otherthantheverbcomplement

adverbial

English...

sentence

motion

theincorporateverbdirection

associativeelementsmanner

result

…

sentenceelementssubject

otherthantheverbobject

...

Chinesesentenceelementsadverbialdirection

Sentencethatrealizethecomplement（toindicate）manner

associativeelementsparticleresult

inamotioncomplex……

thegeneralverbmotion

ThisalsoexplainstheclaimthatEnglishvocabularies,relativelyspeaking,aresemanticallyopaque,whereasChineseoneshaveagreaterdegreeoftransparency.（Itisimportanttonotethattransparencyistheend-pointofacontinuumofdegreesofopacity,muchas"cleanness"istheend-pointof"degreesofdirtiness".）

2.2TogetacomprehensiveunderstandingofincorporationofEnglishverbsandtheirequivalentChineseexpressions,acarefulexaminationisinorder.Hereweclassifyincorporationintoseveraltypes:

A.incorporationfromN--VConversion

WilliamMorrisandMarryMorrispointedoutintheirHarperDictionaryofContemporaryUsage（1975）:

"Theconversionofnounstoverbsisaformoflinguisticchangeasoldasthelanguageitself."Since1980s,N--VConversionhasbeendrawingattentionasanewtrendofModernEnglish,demonstratedinthefollowingremarks:

"Oneofthefastest-growingtrendsisverbing（orthepracticeofconvertingnounsintoverbs）.Afewyearsagowouldyouhaveattendedameetinganddaredtosayyouhadcategorisedyoursubject?

Thentime-linedandagendaedit?

Yetyouhearthisconstantlyineducationandbusiness,Mattersareresourcedandtargeted..."

（EducationalAge/1985）

RandolphQuirkgavesevencategoriesofN--VConversioninhisAGrammarofContemporaryEnglish（1973）.Justtakeoneofthemasanexample.

Toputin/onN

e.g.bottle（toputintoabottle/（把......）装进瓶子）

Themotioncomplexrealizedintheverb"bottle"canbeinterpretedas"motion+path+ground".However,fromitsChinesetranslationwecanseethatinChineseitisseparatedintotwoparts,thatis,ageneralverb"装"andcomplement"进瓶子".

B.Motion+manner

e.g.Hedevouredallthebiscuits.

他狼吞虎咽地吃完了所有的饼干。

"Devour"means"toeathungrilyandinlargequantitiessothatnothingremains",whichisexpressedinChinesebyageneralverb"吃",anadverbial"狼吞虎咽地"andacomplement"完".

Actually"motion+manner"typecoversmostspecificverbsinEnglish,whosevividnessandfreshnesshavebecomeafeatureoftheEnglishlanguage.Itisworthyofnotethatthesamemotioninconjunctionwithdifferentmannersunfoldsdifferentpicturesofthemotioncomplex.ThatexplainswhyEnglishhaslargenumbersofsynonyms,whichshareacentralconceptualmeaning（motion）butdifferinmanner,intensity,style,association,andsoon.NowondertheBritishlinguistF.Palmersaid,“Therearenorealsynonymsandnotruewordshavethesamemeaning.”

Tohighlightthesubtledifferencesamongsynonyms,acomponentialanalysiswouldbeofhelp.Forinstance,whenweintendtoexpress"笑"inEnglish,themostpossiblewordthatcomestoourChinesemindis"laugh"or"smile",themostgeneralonesofitskind.Actually,wehaveaseriesofsynonymstochoosefromaccordingtoagivencontext,analyzedbelow:

chuckle:

+laugh+quietly

giggle:

+laugh+silly+repeatedly+uncontrollably

sniggle:

+laugh+halfsuppressed

grin:

+laugh+teeth-shown

guffaw:

+laugh+loudly+perhapsrudely

ThetwotypesofincorporationsofarlistedarethemostimportantandcommononesintheEnglishlanguage.Besides,wehavesomeothertypesthatwillbesketchedbelow:

C.Motion+direction

e.g.lend/借（给......）

borrow/（向......）借

take/拿走

bring/带来

fetch/取回

Inthefirstpair,Chineseresortstocomplementandadverbialtodenotedirectionandinthesecondgroup,particlesareemployed.

D.Motion+causeorresult

e.g.Thedoorblewopen./门吹开了。

（motion+cause）

Shepersuadedhimtogiveupsmoking.

/她说服了他戒烟。

（motion+result）

Althoughtherearemanyotherexamplesofincorporation,itisbeyondtheintentionofthispapertogiveadetaileddiscussiononeachtype.

3.Particlesintheverbcomplex

3.1.Whenyoungchildrenarelearningtheirnativelanguagetheyveryoftenhearverbphrasessuchas走过来（comeoverhere）,到爸爸那去（goovertoDaddy）,伸出舌头（putoutyourtongue）;orelse"pickitup","putitaway",etc.

Intheaboveexamples,theChinese“过”,“去”,“出”andEnglishones,“over”,“up”and“out”,actasparticlesindirectionalphrasalverbs.Asmentionedinthefirstpartofthispaper,notallthemotioncomplexescanbelexicalizedassingleheadverbs.Quiteoften,particlesareusedbothinEnglishandChinesetoaddinformationlikedirection,aspectandsoon.Thecombinationofaheadverbandaparticleiscalledphrasal,whichpresentstheappearanceofatwo-wordorthree-wordphrasebutfunctionsinmanyrespectslikeasingleword.

ItisprobablytruethatchildrenofEnglish-speakingpeoplelearnEnglishphrasalverbsearlierthananyotherkindofverb,andthatforeignlearnersfindthemdifficulttomaster.Thereasonistwo-fold.

a.Averbcomplexofthistypemayhaveameaning,whichissimplythesumofitsparts,butmayalsohaveameaning,whichbearslittleapparentrelationtothoseparts.

b.Theparticlemayindicatesomekindofdirectionbutmayjustaseasilyhaveameaninglittlerelatedtodirectioninitsspatialsense.

TherearetoomanyphrasalverbsinModernEnglish（andthenumberisconstantlygrowing）tobediscussedhere.Sinceourtopicisthecomparisonofthelinguisticformsofthemotioncomplex,weconfineourdiscussiontothedirectionalphrasalverbs.

3.2.Wedividethedirectionalphrasalverbsintotwocategoriesaccordingtoliteralandfigurativemeaning.

A.Literal（motion+direction）

Theparticlesindicatethephysicaldirectionofmotionoraction.

e.g.爬上/climbup

takeoff/脱下来

走过来/comeover

B.Figurative（motion+aspect）

Initsfigurativeusetheparticleloses