Chapter 3.Grammar and Culture

1. Grammatical explicitness in English VS grammatical implicitness in Chinese

Grammatical morphemes（smallest units of meaning. Can classified into two categories:inflectional morpheme(such as –s, -es, ed, er, ing) and derivational(the other prefix and suffixes).）

Subjects and objects

For example: 下雨了 it is raining

已经九点了 it is 9:00 already

很冷 it is very cold

In Chinese subjects and objects are equal in importance in that they are both deletable, as shown in the examples in the preceding paragraphs. We don’t’ mean to say that the subjects and objects are not important in Chinese, They are only “implicit” in some situations which is not synonymous to “less important.” English speakers refer to convey meaning explicitly, while the Chinese people, when having no problem identifying the subjects or objects in sentences, allow them to become implicit.

Paratactic and hypotactic relations

In many languages these linguistic units are related in meaningful ways. The ways in which the relationship beteen linguistic units are represented in speech or writing vary from language to language. It is often said that English is a hypotactic language and Chinese a paratactic one.

For examples:

Strike while the iron is hot 趁热打铁

We will not attack unless we are attacked 人不犯我，我不犯人。

It has been claimed that the English speaking people use more conjunctions more frequently because they are good at analytic thinking and thus understanding the relationship between linguistic units better, while the Chinese people who are inclined to think holistically may not like to indicate explicitly the logical relationship between the linguistic components in Sentences.

Recipients and modifiers

For example: John hit the pocket on the head 约翰打中小偷的脑袋

He caught me by the arm他抓住我的胳膊

He was deprived of the right t participate in the Olympic Games他被剥夺了参加奥运会的权力

He was robbed of all his money 他的钱被抢光了

These sentences show clearly in Chinese we simply use a noun phrase to convey the meaning expressed in English by a noun or pronoun and a prepositional phrase. In the Chinese noun phrase the equivalent to the recipient in English becomes a modifier. Chinese is structurally simpler than English in this connection.

2. Branching and linear sentence patterns

English sentences in adult speech or writing are like trees with a trunk, one or more branches and twists. In contrast, many Chinese sentences are like a flowing river without tributaries(从属) or a piece of bamboo without branches. And English allows for branching sentence patterns, the adverbial clauses in complex sentences are in many cases found at the sentence final position as branches. This is true for the adverbial clause of time, cause, condition, etc. in contrast, the adverbial clauses in Chinese are normally found at the sentence initial position. The subordinate clause precedes the main clause just as the modifier goes before the modified. This order is more “natural” to Chinese speakers. Liner sentences pattern in Chinese and the branching sentence pattern in English presented previously. Analytic thinking interacts with English, thus the branching sentence pattern dominates in English. Holistic thinking interacts with Chinese, thus the linear sentence pattern can be observed in most sentences in Chinese.

In another cultural interpretation the linguistic contrast between the branching sentence pattern in English and the linear sentence pattern in Chinese is simply treated as a contrast of word order between the two languages.

The Chinese people prefer the order in which the modifier appears before the head because they are indirect.

3. Word order

although English and Chinese are both SVO (Subjects precede verbs which in turn precede objects.)languages, there are differences in word order between the two languages.

4. Answers to negative questions

5. Imitating natural sounds and grammar

Topics for consideration