英汉词缀的对比研究A Comparative Study of English and Chinese Affixes毕业论文
2022-02-28 21:03:43
论文总字数：24869字
摘 要
词缀化作为一种非常重要的语言现象，受到语言研究者越来越多的关注。许多前人的研究多关注于英语词缀的研究或者现代汉语词缀发展趋势的研究，很少有研究关注到英语词缀和汉语词缀的异同。鲜有的英汉词缀对比也大多是对其单一维度的比较。具体而言，本文研究是从多角度和多层面来讨论并确定英汉词缀的相同和不同点。
现代汉语词汇受英语的影响较大，许多网络热词的出现其实是汉语西化的表现。这一现象引起了我的注意，我从图书馆借来很多关于英语词缀和汉语词缀的研究。发现很多英语词缀是来源于其他语言，这些语言和英语在发音和拼写上有很大相似性。因为英语和汉语分属不同语种，即使汉语受英语的影响，但英汉词缀的表现仍是不同点大于相同点。许多研究表明英汉词缀在位置、性质上有很多相似点和不同点。
本论文通过对比分析英汉词缀的本质区别，从而对二语习得的词汇习得提供帮助，进而为英语语言学习者和从事翻译行业的专业人员提供实际的帮助。
关键词：英语词缀; 汉语词缀; 对比分析
Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii
ABSTRACT
中文摘要
Chapter One INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Need for the study 1
1.2 Research purposes 1
Chapter Two LITERATURE REVIEW 3
2.1 Basic concepts 3
2.1.1 English affixes 3
2.1.2 Chinese affixes 4
2.2 General situation of relative research field 5
Chapter Three METHODOLOGY 8
3.1 Research questions 8
3.2 Research design 8
Chapter Four RESULTS and DISCUSSIONS 10
4.1 The comparison of English affixes and Chinese affixes 10
4.2 The quantity difference between English affixes and Chinese affixes 14
4.3 The difference of productivity between English affixes and Chine affixes 15
Chapter Five CONCLUSIONS 16
5.1 Major findings 16
5.2 Implications 16
REFERENCES
Chapter One
INTRODUCTION
This part includes three parts, namely the need for the study and the research purpose.
1.1 Need for the study
China’s opening and reform has been undergoing for decades, the demand for bilingual talents in job market is increasing. At the same time, the importance and effectiveness of foreign language teaching have always been a concern of many teachers, adults and learners. It is significant for learners to have a correct method to learn English. English vocabulary and grammar are the foundation for English language. Therefore, vocabulary learning is on the top priority. Affixation is an effective way to acquire English and Chinese vocabulary, the research for Chinese affixes and English affixes is practical and important. The differences and equality of Chinese and English affixes can help teachers cultivate bilingual talents and promote culture exchange.
1.2 Research purposes
Language contact is overwhelming and dynamic in the context of globalization. English, as a dominant language, assimilates modern Chinese constantly. Consequently, the westernization of Chinese is reflected in every aspect and level.
As for the effect for Chinese vocabulary, apart from the borrowing words and vocabularies, there emerged a very prevalent phenomenon-----the affixation of Chinese vocabulary.
A comparative analysis between Chinese affixes and English affixes will help learners gain a general picture of the differences between English and Chinese, master a great number of English vocabulary with less effort and provide practical help for bilingual talents in their professional operations.
Chapter Two
LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter begins with the identification of the basic concepts--- English affixes and Chinese affixes, followed by the review of previous researches about some comparative analysis between English affixes and Chinese affixes.
2.1 Basic concepts
Before making a comparison between English affixes and Chinese affixes, we should review the definition of them.
2.1.1 English affixes
Robert Henry writes that the term “affix” originally comes from the European language (1964, p.34). According to General Linguistics by Robert Henry, English is a kind of morphology language. Affixation is a very active and reproductive method to form new words. Many scholars in the west have a unitive cognition about affixes. English affixes are forms that are attached to another morpheme to modify meanings or functions (Morpheme refers to the smallest meaningful and indivisible unit of language). Richards, Crystal, Trask have made different definitions about English affixes, however, the essence of their definitions is the same: all affixes are single and bound morphemes. They can not be used separately.
Affixes in English can be categorized into two parts: Derivational affixes and Inflectional affixes. Derivational affixes refer to affixes which are added to another morpheme to derive a word carrying new meaning. Inflectional affixes do not form new words with a new lexical meaning when they are added to another words, only having particular grammatical meanings.
Taking the angle of affixes’ position within English vocabularies, affixes can be divided into three parts: the prefixes, the infixes, the suffixes. Suffixes in English mostly do change the property of words.
2.1.2 Chinese affixes
As we all know English and Chinese are two different languages, both having their respective way of world-formation. J. Zhang has mentioned that Chinese is a non-morphological language, which was once considered non-affix language (1979, p.13). In order to simplify the second language acquisition, scholars introduced this concept into Chinese. A Chinese character is a minimum meaningful morpheme. Chinese morphemes are divided into two categories: morphemes of words and morphemes of non-words. Morphemes of word are equal to free morphemes in English, they can be used as words carrying meanings, morphemes of non-word are the same with English affixes, they can not be used as independent vocabularies because of their formalization property.
There is a certain number of morphemes of non-words (Chinese affixes), Chinese linguistics place strict standards on these affixes: complete semantic bleach, high productivity in word-formation, strong adhesion and polarization. Under such definitions, the following morphemes are long viewed as Chinese affixes: er(尔), zi(子), tou(头), jia(家), zhe(着), hu(乎), ran(然), hua(化),di(第),lao(老), a(阿), chu(初), xing(性). All these are considered as Traditional Chinese Affixes. The visible characteristics of these affixes are that they have fixed position within a word, a high level of grammaticalization. At the same time, most of them can show the properties of words.
Over the past decades, under the influence of Lndo-European language and social reform, a lot of morphemes of words (equal to word base with notional meaning) show a high rate of appearance, such as qin (亲) and xiu（秀）. Morphemes like qin(亲) and xiu (秀) have a strong ability to form new words. Although they have satisfied one or two requirements of Chinese affixes, linguists take very prudent attitude toward them and title them Quasi-affix because they are not stable and have a low level of grammaticalization.
In my paper, Quasi-affixes are all viewed as Chinese affixes.
2.2 General Situation of Relative Research field
A great number of studies about affixes in English and Chinese have been carried out.
Chen and Guo have analyzed Chinese and English affixes from the perspectives of word-formation abilities of English and Chinese affixes, orientation of English and Chinese affixes, variability of English and Chinese affixes, the indication of word’s property of English and Chinese affixes and the level of formalization of English and Chinese affixes (2003). This comparison takes the angle of Chinese and English affixes’ properties. Such viewpoint is relative micro and fundamental. Authors of this academic journal have analyzed the differences and accordance of English and Chinese affixes by quoting authoritative saying and typical examples. According to Z.X. He, all affixes are bound morphemes which must be attached to a word base to form a new word, no matter in English and Chinese (1999). In another word, Chinese and English affixes both have the ability to build new words. The characteristic of affixes is that they have a fixed position within words, both Chinese and English. So the orientation of affixes in English and Chinese is the same. As for the variability, we need to trace back to the nature of languages: Language is the product of social development, new words come along with the appearances of new things. English and Chinese affixes changed accordingly. So we have reached a conclusion: English and Chinese affixes are always under the state of constant changing. When we talk about the indication of word properties of English and Chinese affixes, most suffixes in English mark the properties of words. Chinese affixes also can indicate the characteristic of a word. e.g. bar (吧) {酒吧,氧吧}. The word “ba” refers to a public place. It is a noun. Well-known Chinese linguistic L. Wang once said: Prefixes and suffixes in English are usually notional, the meaning of affixation words are usually the sum of the meaning of word bases and affixes. While in Chinese, traditional affixes like zi(子), ba (巴), jia(家), tou(头)……are almost empty words, they almost have no meanings. However, Quasi-affixes sometimes have metaphoric meanings or extended meanings. e.g. gun(棍) {恶棍 赌棍}. “Gun” refers to scoundrel people. mi(迷) {影迷 戏迷}. “Mi” refers to people who are addicted to a particular thing. So the levels of formalization of English and Chinese affixes are varied. The level of formalization of English affixes is lower than that of traditional Chinese affixes. To be fair, this point of view the two authors have adopted is conception-based.
Comparative analysis under such perspective is easy to be understood.
Zhang has analyzed Chinese and English affixes according to their respective location within a word and their corresponding meanings (2001). Several prefixes in English like un-, non-, in- have a equal negative meaning with Chinese prefix fei(非). Many English and Chinese suffixes have equal grammatical functions or meanings. English affixes like “–fy, -ize ……” are the same with hua(化) in Chinese. Adding English affixes “–fy, - ize” to a adjective to make it a verb. e.g. pure-purify, simple-simplify, modern-modernize. Corresponding phenomenon in Chinese: 干净-净化，简单-简化，现代-现代化. This phenomenon is called Equal Forms and Meanings of English and Chinese Affixes. Deranged Forms and Meanings is that English and Chinese affixes have the same meaning but different locations. e.g. lovely-可爱的; joyful-可乐的; hateful-可恨的; shameful-可耻的. In English, suffixes “-ly, -ful” represents adjective. In Chinese, a prefix (ke), make a word adjective.
Analysis from this perspective illustrates that languages in different families have identical and different forms of affixes.
However, this achievement is not penetrating, the perspective that the author takes is simple and one-fold.
The final aim of multi-dimensions comparative analysis is to provide a practical method to master a certain scale of vocabulary with less effort to simplify and enlighten the second language vocabulary leaning and English-Chinese-Translation.
Chapter Three
METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research questions
The present study aimed to investigate the differences and similarities between English affixes and Chinese affixes by comparing English affixes and Chinese affixes from several angles. Specifically, it addressed the following research question: What are the essential differences between English affixes and Chinese affixes? Are there any differences about the quantity and the productivity ability between English affixes and Chinese affixes?
3.2 Research design
In order to make a convincing and comprehensive analysis about English and Chinese affixes to help the second language vocabulary learning and English and Chinese translation, I would like to compare English and Chinese affixes from following perspectives, which are relative macro: The Sources of English and Chinese Affixes, The Category Comparison between English and Chinese affixes (prefixes, suffixes). I would like to cite examples and make diagrams to expose the differences in origins of English and Chinese affixes, the quantity differences of English and Chinese affixes, and the differences of productivity of English and Chinese affixes. Then a conclusion would be reached: Languages have identical and unique aspects in different levels. The word-formation ability of English affixes is more powerful than that of Chinese affixes, while the generated ability of Chinese affixes overtops that of English counterparts. The quantity of English affixes is stable and changeless, while Chinese affix is under the state of metabolism.
Chapter Four
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 The comparison of English affixes and Chinese affixes
English affixes come mainly from three languages: Latin, Germanic and Greek. The number of English affixes which derive from the ancient English only accounts for little. As for the reason why English borrowed many affixes form other languages, previous researchers have not mentioned. I beg that it is all about cultural penetrating and geographical links, as well as the internal mechanism of a language development. Chinese well-known linguist Mr. Q.Z. Qing put forth a view that affixes can be divided into root affixes and borrowed affixes. The majority of English affixes are borrowed affixes, which account for the fact that there are many synonyms in English.
Some English affixes form Latin:
Super- | supernatural | superman |
Sub- | subway | subconscious |
In- | Intake | Indirect |
Mal- | maltreat | malfunction |
-al | cultural | Musical |
Some English affixes form Germanic:
Mis- | mislead | misunderstanding |
Un- | unlikely | unexpected |
-hood | childhood | neighborhood |
-ship | friendship | ownership |
-dom | kingdom | wisdom |
Some English affixes form Greek:
Auto- | automatic | …… |
Anti- | Anti-hero | …… |
-ize | modernize | …… |
The majority of Chinese affixes are rooted affixes. According to the meanings of Chinese affixes, they can be divided into three groups:
First, morphemes are weakened and formalized in their meanings. Affixes like these almost lose their meanings and came from ancient Chinese literary. They become similar in meanings and are productive in forming new words nowadays.
Tou头 | Zi子 | Lao老 | A阿 | Di第 |
Second, Functional words in classical Chinese continue to be use. Functional words can date back long ago. In a famous Chinese literary the book of songs, there existed many functional words, those are Chinese affixes.
You有 | Qi其 | Er尔 | Ran然 | Hu乎 | Yu于 | …… |
Chinese affixes like those before does not change their meaning over time. They are not active in building new words.
Third, this kind of affixes is morpheme that does not carry meanings in a Chinese vocabulary. They serve as syllable. In some cases, they only have grammar functions.
绿油油 | 胖乎乎 | 懒洋洋 | 糊里糊涂 |
As I mentioned before, there are many quasi-affixes as a very important language phenomenon. They are very productive:
霸 | 学霸 |
麦霸 | |
巴 | 酒吧 |
网吧 | |
迷 | 影迷 |
歌迷 |
The number of English prefixes is more than that of Chinese prefixes. English prefixes, subordinated to roots, are the second largest morphemes to form new words. On the whole, English derivative words are more variable than that of Chinese.
The category of English prefixes:
