Language Characteristics for Foreign Movie Translation and Its Cultural Images

影视翻译的语言特点及文化意象的传递Language Characteristics for Foreign Movie Translation and Its Cultural Images

Contents

Abstract (1)

Key words (1)

I. Introduction (2)

II. Present situation (2)

III. Introduction to the language characteristics in its translation (4)

3.1 Language characteristics in colloquialism (4)

3.2 language characteristics in lip rounding (4)

3.3 Character’s temperament and emoti on (4)

3.4 Popularization of the version language (5)

IV. The loss and gain of conveying cultural images (5)

4.1 Explanation of the cultural image (5)

4.2 Recreating of cultural images (6)

4.2.1 Conveying the associative meaning of the cultural image (6)

4.2.2 Conveying the symbolic meaning of the cultural image (8)

4.2.3 Conveying the relative meaning of the cultural image (9)

V. Incompleteness and omissions in conveying cultural images (10)

5.1Incompleteness in conveying cultural images (11)

5.2 Omissions in conveying cultural images (11)

VI. The translation of puns as special cultural images (12)

6.1 Chinese examples (12)

6.2 English examples (13)

VII. Conclusion (15)

References (16)

摘要：随着影视文化的发展，影视翻译越来越受到翻译界的关注和重视。影视翻译是翻译大家庭中的一员，由于外国影视作品中的文化和思维方式与中文迥异，影视作品的翻译

必然受到跨文化交际的影响。作为大众传媒的一个重要组成部分，影视翻译有其独特的

语言特点，比如口语化，口型化，人物性格化，情感化和大众化等。文章通过对外片中

译的研究，从语言文化的角度来探讨电影翻译中文化意象传递的一些得与失。另也谈到

影视片中经常出现的双关语的翻译，译者需要用译入语进行阐释或重写，使之为观众所

理解并接受。

关键词：影视翻译；语言特点；跨文化交际；文化意象的传递；双关语翻译

Abstract: With the development of film culture，film translation has attracted more and more attention. The translation of foreign movies and TV programs is one

part of the big family of translation field. Because of the quite different

presentation between foreign and Chinese culture and way of thinking, it will

surely be affected by cross-cultural communication. Being an important

component in mass media，there are some peculiar approaches of language

characteristics in its translation, such as colloquialism, lip rounding, character’s

temperament and emotion as well as popularization. Also I try to discuss the

loss and gain of conveying cultural images in film translation, from the point of

language and culture. For example, the cultural images sometimes have to be

rebuilt and are unsuitably omitted. And the associative, symbolic and relative

meanings have to be conveyed perfectly, that takes translator’s e fforts. The last

part of this paper discusses the translation of puns that often appears in films. It

is my experience that puns are virtually not translatable. I think all we can do is

just to rewrite English puns into Chinese versions that can be understood and

hence accepted by Chinese audience.

Key words: foreign movie and TV translation; language characteristics; cross-cultural communication; convey of cultural images; translation of puns

I. Introduction

The translation of foreign movies and TV programs is one part of the big family of translation field. Because of the quite different presentation between foreign and Chinese culture and way of thinking, it will surely be affected by cross-cultural communication. Being an important component in mass media, there are some peculiar approaches of language characteristics in its translation. Through the research on translation of foreign films and TV programs, language characteristics in colloquialism, lip rounding, character’s te mperament and emotion as well as popularization have been illustrated in my thesis.

I will attempt to discuss the translation of film scripts and TV drama scripts from cultural translation perspective and special requirements of the films and TV translation. I will focus on the names, languages and the cultural factors of films and TV translation. Translators should make positive use of their creativity in their attempt to achieve cultural function equivalence between target texts and source texts. The target culture is the essential factor in translation. Successful translation should be readers-oriented. The receptivity from target readers should be emphasized. Harmonious psychological reaction for target audience is always the ultimate criterion of film and TV translation.

With the development of film culture, film translation has attracted more and more attention. This article, taking some popular examples, analyzes the characteristics and constraints of film translation from English into Chinese. In addition, I will explore translation of English puns as well as Chinese ones.

II. Present situation

Movies and TV programs are a comprehensive art with video and audio elements. Nowadays, films play an important part in spreading the culture. With the rapid development of information technology, digital TV and multimedia have become part of our lives. The production of films steps into a new stage. We Chinese audience have more chances to enjoy foreign movies, but there aren’t enough people that can understand the original ones, so the translation of them is of vital importance. There was no doubt that Chinese has translated many good foreign films since the founding of PRC and especially after the policy of Reform and Opening; and at the same time many roughly subtitled or dubbed films appeared in the market, with lots of mistakes and errors, some of which are even impossible to tolerate. For example, someone translated “you got me there” into “你

在那儿找到我了”, that is very ridiculous.

Another funny example is the translation of the US movie First Blood, the title，which actually means “首战告捷”, was put into “第一滴血”. Here blood means to give someone their first experience of an activity, esp. a difficult or unpleasant one, in the film that refers to the Vietnam veteran, R ambo’s encounter with the local police. Then its follow-up First Blood II / III was jokingly called “第二/三滴血”.

At the international conference of dubbing and subtitle translation, Prof. Qian Shaochang (Oct, 2002) pointed out that at present the level of film /TV translation is very low, less than enough attention has been paid to this aspect, there are some commonly shared problems, such as low translating quality and rewards and shortage of sense of copyr ight; “The translation circles care much more about literature than film or TV translation”. Indeed, people in the translation circles spend much more time and energy on the research and development of theory, not the applied fields such as film translation .so our novel and poetry enjoy a higher artistic status than films. During the past years, the translation quality of film/TV has been very poor, how to improve it and strengthen the management and supervision are the problems that need to be solved.

Movie translation is the change of language and it is restricted by many factors such as time pressure, space of the screen and the shifting of the settings, etc. in other words, movie translation specifically refers to translating the language in the original foreign films into the native language, or translating the language of domestic films into a certain foreign language, and make sure the translated version is equivalent to the original one in the culture, style and other aspects, so the subtitle or dub make sure the audience can understand the contents of movies better . During the process of movie translation, the translators build a bridge between two different languages but also different cultures they reconstruct the equivalence of words beyond the limitation of language, and at the same time reflect and transplanted the foreign culture.

However, by close observation in the filed of movie translation, we can easily find out that many love literature translation and neglect or look down upon movie translation, they consider movie translation to be kind of adaptation or rewriting, then they excluded it from the field of translation research. The thoughts and deeds of discriminating movie translation is not suitable for its social functions, because of this, Prof. Qian Shaochang pointed out that “m ore attention needs to be paid to this phenomenon”. According to the statistics of one incomplete survey, the number of people watching films is overwhelmingly more than those reading literature works, so the influence of movie translation to the society cannot be overemphasized.

Movie and TV are very close to each other. Film and TV translation is a kind of literature translation, but at the same time, more than that! (Wang Danbin.2002)…

III. Introduction to the language characteristics in its translation

In a good dubbed film, the version and the plot should blend into integral wholeness; the audience won’t get the feeling that the original one was artificially processed during the translating. So, next, I will elaborate on the language characteristics in its translation…

3.1 Language characteristics in colloquialism

The Chinese version should read smoothly, and conform to Chinese idiomatic expressions and real life. For instance, the sentence “She is being friendly to us at the moment”in spoken English, can be put into “她在跟咱们套近乎”.Another example, “Would you please please please please please please please stop talking”, we’d better put it like this –“请你请你, 务必请你, 千万请你别说了吧!” .The main part of the movie scripts is in the form of dialogues or conversations, so the version should be simple, direct and vivid and full of informal words.

3.2 Language characteristics in lip rounding

The version should try to go along with the actor in length, rime, pause and even the opening /closing of lips, and conform to the actors’ facial expression and speaking tones. If the actor on the screen shakes his head ,we should dub words like “不” ,even if there aren’t words for this part in the original one, some words should be added for these scenes to make it seem real. For example, Princess Diana, when interviewed by BBC, said, “No, not at all. I come from a divorced background. I didn’t wan t to go into that one again.” It was put into “不，绝对不是。我来自一个婚姻破碎的家庭，绝不希望重蹈覆辙”. So the dubbing and the subtitles would be satisfying.

3.3 Character’s temperament and emotion

Translators should understand the accurate meaning of people’s lines in the film, and then make the version sound like what the characters themselves say in daily life. For example, in the American film GHOST /人鬼情未了, “Molly，New York Times is just some frustrated little critic with pimples on his ass who flunked out of art school, so who cares what they think.” In this sentence, “…with pimples on his ass…”reflects the strong hatred and discontentment. A version goes like this “莫莉，纽约时报上都是被艺校退学的学生写的一

些落魄评论文章，谁在乎他们怎么想?”That certainly didn’t show the speaker’s strong feeling, too much genteel. So we’d better put it like this: “莫莉，纽约时报上刊登的都是一些被艺校退学的刺头学生写的狗屁评论文章，谁在乎他们怎么想?”

3.4 Popularization of the version language

The version should adopt the plain simple language, close to the real life and should be easy to understand, even for an illiterate man. The ordinary audience can accept film and TV works as part of the mass media spreading culture, only when it uses popularized language. So the film will appeal to all the audiences and suit both refined and popular tastes.

IV. The loss and gain of conveying cultural images

And, the loss and gain of conveying cultural image in film and TV translation can be a good topic from the aspect of language culture.

4.1 Explanation of the cultural image

It is a certain kind of cultural symbols which contains relatively fixed unique cultural meaning, some of them have other abundant associative meanings. Speaking of them, people understand what they mean and thus reach an easy communication. (Xie Tianzhen, 1999) Image is made up of two important parts— physical image and connotation. Image is the carrier of information meaning; it’s the objective facts that the image is based on. And the connotation is the new meaning as an extension of the physical image in a certain context and situation. Because language is part of the culture, the process of language transformation certainly will be affected by some cultural factors, such as custom, habits, religious beliefs, and historical, political influences. These cultural factors lead to different i mages. The functions of image lie in different contexts, “using concreteness to express abstractness, using something already known or easy to know to inspire or enlighten something unknown or hard to understand.”

For example, in his ci poem “Qing YuAn/青玉案”, He Zhu (贺铸) used three disturbing things to express his anxiety and sorrow when he lived in Suzhou suburb, away from home, and depressed over his lack of success: “一川烟草，满城风絮，梅子黄时雨”, these three images were combined together to express “试问闲愁都几许”. The aesthetic effects of this image structure, is not simply the adding of images but the distillation of images, and it rises up to a high level. Reading this ci poem makes the reader feel the

unpleasantness in the rainy season along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River — the intermittent drizzle, the willow catkins being carried about by the wind, these scenes make the reader not able to deal with his distressing. This ci poem uses the scenery to achieve and set off the feelings and atmosphere, vividly pictured the sadness of the poet, and leaves the reader mixed feelings and also a melancholy mood.

And in English language there are also similar words and sentences that carry certain typical images. Let’s illustrate with examples. “He that lie down with dogs must rise up with fleas”. This English proverb used the two underlined image phrases to vividly show the reader the surface meaning, that is “与狗共眠的人起身后他身上必定会沾上很多跳蚤”. This proverb implies the surrounding conditions can affect or even cultivate one’s behavior and habit, and the great effects of certain natural or social circumstances. Thus the Chinese readers can understand the further deeper meaning —“近朱者赤, 近墨者黑” implied by the English saying. Thus it can be seen that the cultural images are embodied in the language, either Chinese or English, and images contained many profound connotations and intentions.

4.2 Recreating of cultural images

Sometimes in movie translation there will be two problems in the source text: one is the source text written in a simple straightforward way, without being elaborated rhetorically, and can’t stimulate the audience’s enthusiasm to enjoy the film. The other is there are words carrying specific cultural meaning, these words have the functions of images and profound implied meaning, but, however, the target language audiences are not familiar with these words or even totally don’t know, so it’s hard for them to understand and accept these words. So the translators has to demonstrate his intensiveness, using vivid expressive language to recreate a profound artistic conception in the thinking in terms of images, to make sure the translated text can be better understood by the audience and readers. The skills or techniques of rebuilding cultural images, can be summed up into the following points:

4.2.1 Conveying the associative meaning of the cultural image

To guarantee the linguistic quality, artistic effect and commercial response (the book office) of the dubbed film, the translators usually bring the audience many associations by using the language and image with which they are very familiar, thus to fully convey the associative meaning.

For example, the movie Rebecca was named after the late hostess/mistress of the Manderley Manor. This simple straightforward title was rendered by the translator into an

artistic term “蝴蝶梦”, so it conveys some associative meanings, just because the translator used the famous allusion“庄子梦蝶” to mobilize the Chinese audience’s wild thinking. In daily life, people use a slang “花蝴蝶” to call those charming and sinister social butterflies/party girls. So thinking of this, the audience will try to imagine the story that the film tells, and these thoughts enrich their imagination, also stimulate their desire to watch the film and get to know the movie plot.

But this example was also taken to counter-argue the point of using allusions in place of words or phrases explicitly stated. Just like Zheng Shengtao comments in one of his book:

Curious enough there is yet another kind of word-substitution: to use an allusion in place of a word or a phrase explicitly stated in translating from English to Chinese. The substitution takes place more often in the translation of the title.

Let’s take the translation of Rebecca, the plain title of a work (and later of a film), for example. The translator uses an allusion to translate it as “蝴蝶梦”（literally means “Dream of the Butterfly”）rather than a symbol of love, this beautiful term originates from a legend and implicates a disloyalty of the wife to her husband. It is hard to imagine that a simple name of a girl in the original title can turn out in the translation to be so implicit, so complicate an allusion. If most of modern readers have no idea of its deep implication, it is a pity that the translator took all the trouble to change the title in vain. Of course, in most cases such a change is more a problem of attracting the reader than a problem of translation.

Obviously, this kind of implicit method in translation is not to be recommended, at least from the point of view of cultural exchange.

Here is another example: the American movie Waterloo Bridge/魂断蓝桥, the title’s literal meaning is actually a name of a certain bridge, “滑铁卢桥”. It is well known that Britain built the Waterloo Bridge on the River Thames in 1817,and that was to cherish the memory of the Waterloo Battle in which Duke Wellington commanding British army defeated Napoleon. The literal translation of the title,“滑铁卢桥” will make the audience guess it’s a war film about Napoleon or a documentary introducing the construction of the bridge. But after watching the film, the audie nce got to know that it’s really an extremely moving love story.

The film was set in the First World War. The young beautiful actress Myra met the young army officer Roy on the Waterloo Bridge, and they fell in love with each other and developed a relationship. Then Myra got to know that Roy had lost his life in the battle, she was overwhelmed with sorrow, later she had to sell sexual favor/her body for money

to survive. When Roy made a miraculous comeback, Myra couldn’t face the reality, again she got to the bridge where she met Roy for the first time, and she committed suicide for her love and fame.

In the ancient Chinese cultural history, there are many myths and legends similar to this one, for instance, the Cowherd and Weaving girl “meeting over the Magpie Bridge”(牛郎织女鹊桥相会); the annual “Meeting in Blue Bridge” in Lantian County, Shaanxi Province. And the fairy tale of “蓝桥相会” and the story plot of “Waterloo Bridge” have the same good effects though different approaches. So the translator changed the British “Waterloo Bridge” into “蓝桥” in China, thus to avoid the puzzle/confusion which may be aroused because of Chinese audience’s background information and the regional cultural differences. And also, the image “蓝桥” implies some Chinese culture, can make the viewers ge t to think or guess it’s a love story, when they first see the title. The purpose of recreating cultural images in film translation is to make the viewers understand the translations better, and attract more movie fans, to get a good book office record.

4.2.2 Conveying the symbolic meaning of the cultural image

Sometimes rebuilding a certain image will give the translations some typical symbolic meaning, and that helps the audience understand the movie’s content by using some well-known images. Such as an extract from the film(first a novel) La traviata/茶花女：

Armand: Did you send for me, Madam?

Marguerite: Yes, I want to beg you to leave this place at once.

Armand: Why?

Marguerite: Baron de Darvil is not a patient man. Are you in the mood to quarrel with him tonight?

Armand: Naturally you don’t want to lose your rich admirer, I understand. Your own fortune could fall with him.

阿芒：你叫我来吗，夫人？

玛格丽特：是的，我求你快离开这个地方。

阿芒：为什么？

玛格丽特：男爵是个没耐心的人，你想今晚去跟他吵架？

阿芒：你当然不想失去这颗摇钱树了，你的财富全靠他啊。

Marguerite, the heroine in the movie, was very giftedly beautiful, but at last she couldn’t resist the temptation of the upper class life, and she became a senior prostitute. Her beauty attracted all those playboys and dandies in Paris social occasions, and they fell

over each other to do everything to please her. However, after meeting young fellow Armand, she really got a taste of the true love. The dialogues above tell her solicitude for Armand, she would like to protect him, and she tried to dissuade Armand from conflict with the Baron. But Armand didn’t appreciate her kindness, on the quite contrary, he criticized her and mocked her very sarcastically.

The translator got a perfect understanding of Armand’s complicated thoughts at that moment, and put “rich admirer”into Chinese “摇钱树”. As we all know, “摇钱树” in ancient China is a legendary tree that sheds coins when shaken; Later on people often use this word to refer to the ready source of money, in a figurative sense. Though the TL is not exactly equivalent to the SL in this case, but according to the context,“摇钱树” seems to be more powerful—more mocking and sarcastic, compared with “富裕追求者”. Apparently, the translator recreated a typical cultural image in the TL, and of course the Chinese viewers are very familiar with this symbolic image, so that enables them to better comprehend Armand’s bitter sarcasm.

Once there was an English film shown on TV, the title Red shoes was translated into “红舞鞋”, that can not be altogether unjustifiable, the film tells a doleful story about a female ballet dancer/ballerina, she could not make the right choice between love and career, and at last she jumped down form an overhanging cliff and ended her life. “红舞鞋” is the literal translation of the SL. Though closely related to the plot but a little simple and straightforward, it does not have any further implications. This title definitely cannot stimulate the viewers’ association.

Later on during a foreign movie exhibition tour in a big advertisement, this title was put into “红菱艳”. That is a little strange, but on second thought, the viewer found this translation is just too good for description. Because the translation compares the red dance shoes to red water chestnut/caltrop. It implies that though grown in the dirty water and mud, the caltrop is very beautiful and charming especially the bending shape of chestnut fruit, just like ancient Chinese woman “bound feet”, though look good in men’s eyes, but that is exactly painful encounter for women. So the title “红菱艳” symbolize the connotation of the red chestnuts’ beauty and ill fate.

4.2.3 Conveying the relative meaning of the cultural image

While rebuilding the cultural image, we should pay some attention to another phenomenon —conveying the relative meaning of the cultural image. This kind of translation techniques not only makes the TL convey the lexical meaning of the SL but also gives us some inherent cultural information related to the TL. The following is extracted from the English film Waterloo Bridge:

K itty: Oh, Captain! Captain! Oh wait a minute! I’m Kitty —Myra’s friend. Where do you want to meet her?

Roy: What? Myra? Oh, how do you do?

Kitty: I do very well, thank you, but where do you want to meet her?

Roy: Well, I — but she a — she refused—

Kitty: Oh, take no notice — the old dragon made her write that.

凯蒂：哎，上尉！哎，上尉！等一等！我是，凯蒂——

玛拉的朋友，你想在哪儿见她？

罗依：什么，玛拉？噢，你好吗？

凯蒂：我很好，谢谢。那你打算在哪儿等她？

罗依：哦，我——不过，她——她拒绝了——

凯蒂：哦，你别在意，——是那个母大虫让她那么写的。

The young army officer Roy wanted to meet his lover Myra, but that was obstructed by Madame Olga Kirowa, Myra’s stern ballet mistress; Myra had to write Roy a letter to reject the meeting And Myra’s good friend Kitty felt sorry for her and defended her against the injustice, she made an appointment to meet Roy in private, and she told Roy the actual situation. The harsh Madame Kirowa disciplined very strictly, Kitty called her “old dragon”. One of t he meanings of English word “dragon” is that a person who behaves in an angry unfriendly way or a tough harsh watchful guardian. If we take the literal translation, then the TL can only give us the lexical meaning of the SL, we will lose the vivid lifelike cultural image “the old dragon” and that is really a great pity.

The term “母大虫” is from Chapter 49 in the novel Tale of Water Margin which is very popular in China. When someone mentions “母大虫”, the other will know it refers to the sturdy/brawny, stern and malicious Elder Sister-in-law Gu(顾大嫂). So the translator borrowed the term “母大虫” to substitute “the old dragon”, he not only gave us the lexical meaning in the English SL, but also conveyed some cultural information related to a certain image.

V. Incompleteness and omission in conveying cultural images

Because of the big differences of viewers and cultural background, the film translators should try their best to help film viewer understand those language phenomena in the movie, which often are closely connected with certain national history, regional culture, custom and religion, etc. If the translator just take some literal translations and do not give the cultural images, which usually have some certain other meanings, some

中介语演讲稿

3.1中介语理论产生的历史背景 60年代是对比分析的兴盛时期。70年代初开始衰落,反映了一种历史的必然,因为这种理论方法无论在理论上还是实践上都面临着严重的危机。 因此,语言学家们为语言教师勾画了这样一幅图景:首先,语言学家们通过两种语言系统(L1和L2)的对比,为语言教师提供一个详细的菜单。这个菜单包括两种语言的相同点与不同点。然后,语言教师便依据这些不同点来预测学习者的难点,并据此来编写教学大纲和教材。但是后来的教学研究和实践证明,语言学家的许诺仅仅是一幅理想的图画而已。70年代初,对比分析遭到激烈的批评。如果第二语言学习者产生的错误完全可以通过两种语言的对比来预测。由此推论,语言的差异等于学习的难点，学习的难点必然导致语言表达的错误。问题是,语言差异是语言学上的概念,学习的难点则是心理学上的概念。学习的难点无法直接从两种语言差异的程度来推测。教学实践也证明,依据对比分析确认的难点事实上并不完全导致错误的产生。对比分析的理论方法存在的致命弱点,如果归结为一句话,那就是,人们试图用简单的语言学的方法去解决复杂的心理学的问题。语言习得涉及到学习的主体和客体的方方面面,对比分析却仅仅局限于语言系统的对比,忽略了学习者这一主体以及作为学习客体的学习过程。由于对比分析在理论与实践上的危机,人们呼吁一种新的理论的诞生,并要求这种新的理论把目光投向学习的主体和客体。早期的中介语理论正是在这种历史背景下产生的。 3.2中介语的概念 于根元、鲁健骥等是在中国应用语言学领域，最早进行了介绍、评述和研究中介语的意义、特点和研究方法。我们来看他们是怎么界定中介语的。于根元认为，所谓中介语就是介于习得语和目的语之间的独立的语言系统，他是第二语言习得者创造的语言系统。鲁健骥认为，中介语指的是由于学习外语的人在学习过程中对于目的语的规律所做的不正确的归纳与推论而产生的一个语言系统,这个语言系统既不同于学习者的母语,又区别于他所学的目的语。 3.3中介语出现的根源 我们着重重复一下鲁健骥对中介语的定义：中介语指的是由于学习外语的人在学习过程中对于目的语的规律所做的不正确的归纳与推论而产生的一个语言

英语语言学讲解

《英语语言学概论》课程教学大纲 一、课程说明: 《语言学概论》课程是英语专业本科阶段的一门必修课。 《语言学概论》研究始于20 世纪初，其目的是揭示人类深层结构，对语言和语言交际作出客观、科学描述。现已形成了语音学、音系学、形态学、句法学、语义学、语用学等一系分支学科。语言学研究社会学等人文学科的结合逐步形成了社会语言学这样的交叉学科。 对于主修语言学的学生来说，了解语言学的知识和语言理论是完全必要和有益的。 本课程的对象是英语专业高年级学生，在本科阶段第6学期和第7 学期开设。其中第一、二、三、四、五、七、八、十一章为必修，其余章节为选修。 二、教学目的及要求: 本课程的具体要求是：比较全面，系统地了解《语言学概论》这一领域的研究成果，以及一些最主要、最有影响的语言理论和原则，从而加深对人类语言这一人类社会普遍现象的理性认识，并具备一定的运用语言学理论解释语言现象、解决具体语言问题的能力。 本课程是一门知识性比较强的课程。在教学过程中，应重点讲授主要理论、原则、和研究方法，使学生着重掌握基本概念和基本理论，在理解消化的基础上记忆。 本课程的对象是英语专业学生，在讲解过程中原则上采用英语范例，但不排除一些有助于学习者理解的、针对性强的汉语例子。应鼓 励学生结合自己的语言实践提供更多的例子来解释相关理论，以达到理论和实践相结合的目的。

三、教学重点与难点: 本课程的教学重点是语言学的基本知识和基本理论，语音学、词汇学、句法学、语义学和语用学这些语言学的核心内容。 本课程的教学难点是音韵学理论、句法结构和各个语言学流派的理论观点及其局限性。 四、与其它课程的关系: 本课程是一门主干性课程。与其相关的课程，如语法学、词汇学和语体学等都是语言学的分支，属于选修课程。 五、学时与学分: 学时：72学时 学分：4学分 六、教学内容： 第一章绪论 本章主要教学内容: 1．语言学习的意义 2．语言的定义。 3．语言的定义特征 4．语言的起源。 5．语言的功能。 6．语言学的定义。 7．语言学的核心内容。 8．宏观语言学的定义及分支。

语言学 重点概念

Chapter one Introduction 一、定义 1.语言学Linguistics Linguistics is generally defined as the scientific study of language. 2.普通语言学General Linguistics The study of language as a whole is often called General linguistics. 3.语言language Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication. 语言是人类用来交际的任意性的有声符号体系。 4.识别特征Design Features It refers to the defining poperties of human language that distinguish it from any animal system of communication. 语言识别特征是指人类语言区别与其他任何动物的交际体系的限定性特征。 Arbitrariness任意性 Productivity多产性 Duality双重性 Displacement移位性 Cultural transmission文化传递 ⑴arbitrariness There is no logical connection between meanings and sounds. P.S the arbitrary nature of language is a sign of sophistication and it makes it possible for language to have an unlimited source of expressions ⑵Productivity Animals are quite limited in the messages they are able to send. ⑶Duality Language is a system, which consists of two sets of structures ,or two levels. ⑷Displacement Language can be used to refer to contexts removed from the immediate situations of the speaker. ⑸Cultural transmission Human capacity for language has a genetic basis, but we have to be taught and learned the details of any language system. this showed that language is culturally transmitted. not by instinct. animals are born with the capacity to produce the set of calls peculiar to their species. 5.语言能力Competence Competence is the ideal user’s knowledge of the rules of his language. 6.语言运用performance Performance is the actual realization of this knowledge in linguistic communication. 语言运用是所掌握的规则在语言交际中的体现。 7.历时语言学Diachronic linguistics The study of language change through time. a diachronic study of language is a historical study, which studies the historical development of language over a period of time. 8.共时语言学Synchronical linguistics The study of a given language at a given time. 9.语言langue The abstract linguistic system shared by all members of a speech community. 10.言语parole The realization of langue in actual use. 11.规定性Prescriptive It aims to lay down rules for ”correct” behavior, to tell people what they should say and what should not say.

中介语

中介语简介中介语理论是二语习得中的一个重要理论，它产生于20世纪70年代初并于80年代初被介绍到我国，对我国的外语教学产生了巨大的推动作用，人们也逐步认识到中介语在外语教学中的积极作用。Selinker在其论文Language Transfer （1969）中首次使用了“interlanguage”一词，并于1972发表了题为Interlanguage的研究论文。Selinker认为，中介语是第二语言学习者独立的语言系统，在结构上处于母语和目的语的中间状态（1972）。 中介语在英语学习中的干扰作用 一、中介语定义及特点 中介语（Interlanguage, 简称IL）一词是英国语言学家Selinker 1969 年首次提出. 现在又被译为过渡语、中间语、中继语、语际语等。它是指学习者在某一段时间内所创建的内在语言体系或学习者在整个学习过程中所构建的相互关联的语言体系。学习者在学习和使用第二语言时，不断接受和理解新的语音、语法知识，在此基础上逐渐形成自己的语言结构。并不断对其进行系统的预测调整，通过归纳和推论产生中介语。中介语的语言系统在结构上处于母语（Native Language）和目的语（Target Language）之间，具有独立性，并兼有两者的特点。综合国内外近来的研究,中介语有如下一些特征: 1．独立性 中介语是一个独立的语言系统，它既不同于母语, 又区别于外语, 也不能单纯的把它地看作外语学习过程中由于受母语的干扰而形成的混合体。中介语有其独特的语言规则，这些规则常常被学习者用来解释外语中固有而不规则的语言现象。 2．阶段性 中介语在逐渐进化的过程中，具有一定的阶段性。它是一个开放的体系，不是固定的一成不变的。这个体系在不断被新知识渗透的同时，修正原有知识，逐渐接近目的语。 3．动态性 在外语学习过程中，学习者的中介语在不断的发展变化。虽然它充满了错误，但由于新的语言规则有及强的扩展能力，它们处于不断的组合和变化中，因此中介语随着学习者的努力和交际需要而不断变化，由简而繁，由低而高，逐渐离开母语而接近目的语。如果我们设在母语与目的语之间的中介语为一个连续体，那么，在某一特定阶段，学习者的中介语可以用连续体上的某一点。中介语越接近目的语，说明学习者的外语水平越高。 4．系统性 中介语在每个阶段都表现出较强的系统性和内部一致性。它也是一个由内部要素构成的系统，就是说它有语音的、词汇的、语法的规则系统，而且自成体系。学习者对中介语的使

语言学重点概念总结

Design features（定义特征）: the distinctive features of human language that essentially make human language distinguishable from languages of animals. Synchronic（共时的）: said of an approach that studies language at a theoretical “point” in time. Diachronic（历时的）: said of the study of development of language and languages over time. Prescriptive（规定式）: to make an authoritarian statement about the correctness of a particular use of language. Descriptive（描写式）: to make an objective and systematic account of the patterns and use of a language or variety. Competence（语言能力）: unconscious knowledge of the system of grammatical rules in a language. 对于一门语言的语法规则系统的无意识获得的知识。Performance（语言运用）:

the language actually used by people in speaking or writing. 人们说话写作时实际使用的语言。 Langue（语言）: the language system shared by a “speech community”. 一个“语言社团”共有的语言系统。 Parole（言语）: the concrete utterances of a speaker. 说话人实际说的话语。 Phonology（音系学）： the study of the sound patterns and sound systems of language. It aims to discover the principles that govern the way sounds are organized in languages, and to explain the variations that occur. International Phonetic Alphabet（国际音标）: a set of standard phonetic symbols in the form of a chart (the IPA chart), designed by the International Phonetic Association since 1888. It has been revised from time to time to include

中介语理论研究

中介语理论研究与第二语言教学 [摘要]中介语理论是第二语言习得研究领域中的一个认知理论。分析和研究中介语产生的根源和特点有助于了解第二语言习得机制,揭示第二语言习得的发展过程和规律。对提高教学效果有重大意义。[关键词]中介语;特点;教学 第二语言习得研究在近40年间取得了令人瞩目的成就。随着研究的不断深入和发展,人们越来越重视第二语言习得的心理过程。中介语理论把第二语言学习者的语言看作是一个内在的语言行为。因此,中介语的研究对外语教学方法论有着重要的意义。 一、中介语的概念 中介语(interlanguage)，也有人译为"过渡语"或"语际语",指的是第二语言学习者特有的一种目的语系统。是指在第二语言习得过程中,学习者通过一定的学习策略,在目的语输入的基础上所形成的一种既不同于其第一语言也不同于目的语,随着学习的进展向目的语逐渐过渡的动态的语言系统. 中介语理论认为，第二语言学习者在学习过程中所掌握和使用的目的语是一种特定的语言系统，这种语言系统在语音、词汇，语法、文化和交际等方面既不同于自己的第一语言，也不同于目的语，而是一种随着学习的进展向目的语的正确形式逐渐靠拢的动态的语言系统。由于这是一种介乎第一语言和目的语之间的语言系统，所以称之为“中介语”。 与lnterlanguage (中介语)相近的概念最早由Corder在论文《学习者错误的意义》中提出,他把学习者尚未达到的目的语语

言能力的外语能力称为过渡能力( transitional competence)。美国语言学Selinker于1969年在论文《语言迁移》中首先提出中介语假说(interlanguage)的概念。1971年,W. Nemsers在《外语学习者的相似系统》中提出了“approximative system”的概念。1972年Selinker在其著名论文《中介语》中提出的中介语假说, 对“中介语”这一概念进行较详细的阐述,是试图探索第二语言习得者在习得过程中的语言系统和习得规律的假说,在第二语言习得的研究史上有重大意义。从而确立了它在第二语言习得研究中的地位。Selinker指出:“中介语是一个独立的语言系统,它产生于学习者试图掌握第二语言所做的努力。”根据塞格林的定义,中介语既可是指第二语言学习者在学习过程中某一特定阶段中认知目标语的方式和结果的特征系统,即一种特定、具体的中介语言,也可以指反映所有学习者在第二语言习得整个过程中认知发生和发展的特征性系统,即一种普遍、抽象的中介语语言体系interlanguage continuum塞格林还指出中介语本身是一个阶段到过程的双重系统和庞大体系,即母语→中介语→目标语系统中的一个必然成分和过程。在这个系统中二语学习者从母语出发经过中介语到达目标语。并指出要到目标语必须经过中介语,中介语是第二语言认知中的必经之路。 二、中介语的产生 应用语言学领域中产生了对比分析方法(20世纪中期)。它通过对人们的母语以及所要学习的第二语言的语音、语法、词法、

对比语言学的定义-起源和发展

对比语言学的定义、起源与发展 对比语言学(Contrastive Linguistics的定义 1、语言学中的比较与对比 比较是人类认识事物、研究事物的一种基本方法，也是语言学研究的一种基本方法。如果说，语言学的根本任务是对语言的某种现象加以阐述的话，那么要对某一语言现象作出阐述，总是需要对这一现象的种种表现加以比较和分析(Harlmann1980:22。因而，按其本质来说，对比语言学也是一种比较,不过是一种具有特定含义的语言学中的比较。下面，先让我们来看看对比语言学的比较，与语言学中其他分支的比较有什么不同，从而使我们能够确定对比语言学在整个语言学中的位置，及其与其他语言学研究的联系。 在进行语言学比较时，根据比较对象的不同，可以沿两条轴线来进行。一方面，可以选择共时或历时的语言现象来进行比较;另一方面，可以选择在某一语言内部或各种语言之间的语言现象来进行比较。这两条轴线的互相交叉，便形成了如下四个象限，这四个象限将语言学研究分成四大类性质和目的不同的比较。

象限I代表了同一语言内部的共时比较。这类比较是对某一语言在其历史发展的某一阶段(特别是现时阶段的语音、语法和词汇等系统的内部构成成分及组织结构的比较。 在共时语言学研究中，要对某一语言的某一结构系统进行描述，就必须对这一结构系统里的各种语言现象加以比较分析。例如，如果我们要研究一种语言的语音系统，我们就要比较这个系统里的各个音素的发音部位和方法有什么不同，它们的声学物理属性有什么不同，在音节中的分布又有什么不同的规律，我们就必须比较这个语言中各类词的语法作用有什么不同，组合搭配有什么特点，等等。而且，要确定一个语言中的词可以区分为哪几个词类，这本身就要进行大量的形态、语义、语法特征等方面的比较。因此可以说，同一语言内的共时比较是语音学、语法学、词汇学等构成当代语言学主流的各个分支学科的一种主要研究方法。 象限Ⅱ代表了同一语言内部的历时比较。这类比较是对某一语言在其历史演变的不同阶段的语音、语法和词汇等系统加以比较，从而使我们了解这一语言的发展历史，找出其基本发展演变规律。例如，通过对英语的历时比较，语言学家一般认为，英语的演变经历了古英语、中古英语、早期现代英语和现代英语等四个阶段。其语法演变的总趋势表现为从一个综合型的语言逐步向一个分析型的语言发展，即词的屈折变化逐渐减少，语法意义的表达越来越多地依赖语序以及介词等语法作用词的运用。这类比较是对某一语言的语言史及其分科(如词源学、古今比较语法学等研究的主要方法。 象限Ⅲ代表了不同语言之间的历时比较。这类比较是对不同语言(一般是亲属语言在各个历史发展阶段的语音、语法和词汇等系统进行比较，其目的主要是探讨语言之间的历史联系，并据此对世界上的语言进行谱系分类，重建或构拟某一组亲属语的共同原始语(proto-language，找出它们之间的某些共同发展规律. 例如，语言学家通过对印欧语系诸语言之向的历时比较研究，使我们能够大致了解这些语言在历史演变过程中的关系，推断出原始印欧语的大致形式。不同语言之间的历时比较往往

英语languagepoint(完整版)

get around/round to: do (something that you have intended to do for a long time.) e.g: I was meaning to see that film but I just never got around to it. 我一直想看那部电影，但始终还是没能去看。 just as well/as well: suggesting that something will be a good thing to do/or that it was luckily that something was done or happened. 正好，幸好，不妨 e.g: “Shall I phone to remind him? ” “That would be just as well.” It was just as well you’re not here. You wouldn’t like the noise. get by (Line 3): be good enough but not very good; manage to live or do things e.g: It is a bit hard for the old couple to get by on a small amount of pension. 如果我们坚持到底，我们就能熬过难关。 We’ll get by if we hold on to the end. get across: be understood Did your speech get across to the students? get away with: run away without being punished The teller had been stealing money from the bankand got away with it. 这个出纳一直在偷银行的钱却能侥幸逃脱。 get through (Line 45): come successfully to the end e.g: We’ve stored enough food and fuel to get through the cold winter. 为了度过寒冬，我们已经储备了足够的食物和燃料。 make it (Line 9) : be successful, fulfill the purpose e.g: Having failed for thousands of times, he eventually made it. 她最后成功地成为了一家大公司的总裁。 She finally made it as a CEO of a big corporation. haul (Line 16) v. transport, as with a truck, cart, etc. e.g: These farmers haul fruits and vegetables to the market on a cart in the early morning every day. v. pull or drag sth. with effort or force e.g: A crane has to be used to haul the car out of the stream. long-overdue (Line 20) adj. Being something that should have occurred much earlier. e.g: Changes to the tax system are long overdue .She feels she’s overdue for promotion. supplement (Line 21) v. add to sth. in order to improve it (followed by with) e.g: 1) Forrest does occasional freelance to supplement his income. 2) The doctor suggested supplementing my diet with vitamins E and A. supplementary adj. additional, auxiliary spray (Line 22): v. force out liquid in small drops upon (followed by with) eg: I’ll have to spray the roses w ith insecticide to get rid of the greenfly. freelance (Line 23) adj. doing particular pieces of work for different organizations rather than working all the time for a single 自由职业者的 e.g: Most of the journalists I know are/work freelance.

语言学重点概念总结

Desig n features （定义特征）： the disti nctive features of huma n Ian guage that esse ntially make huma n Ian guage disti nguishable from Ian guages of ani mals. Synchronic （共时的）： said of an approach that studies Ianguage at a theoretical point "in time. Diachro nic （历时的）： said of the study of developme nt of Ian guage and Ian guages over time. Prescriptive （规定式）： to make an authoritaria n stateme nt about the correct ness of a particular use of Ian guage. Descriptive （描写式）： to make an objective and systematic acco unt of the patter ns and use of a Ian guage or variety. Compete nee （语言能力）： uncon scious kno wledge of the system of grammatical rules in a Ian guage. 对于一门语言的语法规则系统的无意识获得的知识。 Performa nee （语言运用）： the Ianguage actually used by people in speaking or writing. 人们说话写作时实际使用的语言。 Langue （语言）： the Ianguage system shared by a speech community ” 一个“语言社团”共有的语言系统。 Parole （言语）： the con crete uttera nces of a speaker. 说话人实际说的话语。 Pho no logy （音系学）： the study of the sound patter ns and sound systems of Ian guage. It aims to discover the principles that govern the way sounds are organized in Ianguages, and to explain the variati ons that occur. Intern ati onal Phon etic Alphabet （国际音标） a set of standard phonetic symbols in the form of a chart （the IPA chart）, designed by the Intern ati onal Phon etic Associati on si nee 1888. It has bee n revised from time to time to include new discoveries and changes in phonetic theory and practice. Cardi nal Vowels （基本元音）： a set of vowel qualities arbitrarily defined, fixed and unchanging, intended to provide a frame of reference for the descriptio n of the actual vowels of exist ing Ian guages.

中介语石化现象

中介语石化现象

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浅谈中介语石化现象 1．引言 外语学习中存在一个普遍现象,绝大多数学习者的外语学习达到了一定程度后,就不再像学习的最初阶段稳步提高,而是处于停滞不前的徘徊状态,很难达到目的语这个理想的终点。1972年Selinker把这个现象定义为中介语的石化 (fossilization),此后相关研究、论著相继问世,中介语石化也成为目前二语和外语教育界研究的热门课题之一。 2．中介语石化现象的定义 中介语的石化概念是Selinker(1972)首先提出的:“石化就是母语的词条、规则和词系统倾向保留在与目的语相关的中介语中,不管学习者的年龄有多大,也不管学习者接受的解释和指导有多少,这种倾向都不会改变。”在外语学习中,学习者的语言是处于一种动态的发展变化状态,中介语是一种介于学习者母语与目的语之间的一个逐渐积累和逐渐完善的过程,整个过程形成一个连续体(continuum) 。其理论假设是,中介语的始点是学习者的母语,然后随着目的语、知识的不断摄人,中介语逐渐向目的语靠拢。外语学习过程就是一种以目的语为标准的不断调整和重组的连续体,是学习者在学习新语言过程中所使用的过渡语言。中介语是第二语言认知中的必经之路。理论上,随着语言习得的逐步发展,中介语会渐渐接近直到达到目的语水平。然而大量实验表明,当学习者达到一定程度后,中介语的某些特征就会趋于停滞状态,很难甚至无法消除,从而形成语言石化。 后来,Selinker (1992) 对石化现象进一步阐释:“语言的石化现象是指外语学习者的中介语的一些语言项目,语法规则和系统性知识趋向与固定下来的状态,年龄的增长和学习量的变化对改变这种固定状态不起作用。”Selinker 认为所有外语学习

语言学定义

articulatory phonetics(发音语音学)--the study of the production of speach sounds. acoustic phonetics:(声学语言学) --the study of physical properties of speech sounds. Allophones(音位变体)--the different phones which cab represent a phoneme in different phonetic environments are called the allophones of taht phoneme. consonant(辅音):a major category of sound segments produced by a closure in the vocal tract,or by a narrowing which is so marked that air can not escape without producting audible friction. compositionality(综合性原则):the meaning of a sentence should be viewed from both the grammatical structure and the word meaning.In other words,the meaning of a sentence depend on the meanings of the constituent words and the way they are combined. cooperative principle(合作原则):1,Maxim of Quantity.2,maxim of Quality.3,Maxim of relatiob.4,Maxim of manner. Constatives(叙事句):a constative sentence is a description of what the speaker is doing at the time of speaking.It can be said to be ture or false. Endocentric(向心结构):is one whose distribution is functionally equivalent to that of one or more of its constituents,i,e,a word or a group of words,which serves as a definable centre or head. Exocentric(离心结构)：it refers to a group of syntactionally related words where none of the words is functionally equivalent to the group as a whole,that is,there is no definable "center" or "head" inside the group

语言学精华术语概念(英文版)

Linguistics - Terms Metafuncion: The general roles language plays are termed metafunctions. Language plays three metafunctions: 1. the ideational function, to identify things, to think, or to record info; 2. the interpersonal function, to use it as a medium to communicate in a community; 3. the textual function, to organize message in a logical way; to bring units of language into unity. Contractive distribution: sounds appearing in the same environment. a. minimal pairs: two words differing by only one sound in the same position (e.g. sip, zip); b. minimal sets: words distinguished by one segment in the same position (e.g. beat, bit, bet, bat). Complementary distribution: allophones that are not found in the same position, but share phonetic features Free variation: if segments appear in the same position but the mutual substitution does not result in change of meaning, they are said to be in free variation. Segments in free variation are generally dialectal variation (e.g. economics). Morpheme: the smallest meaningful unit of language is called a morpheme. The morpheme can be classified into free morphemes, bound morpheme (inflectional morpheme and derivational morphemes). Allomorphs: a morpheme may be represented by different forms, called allomorphs. (E.g. the prefix：in has four allomorphs as found in the words impossible, immoral, irregular, irresistible.) Inflectional morphemes: indicating grammatical categories (e.g. indicates case and number of nouns, tense and aspect of verbs, and degree of adjectives and adverbs.) Derivational affixes: Derivational affixes are bound morphemes added to existing forms to construct new words. The process of putting affixes to existing forms to create new words is called deviation. Syntagmatic relations: chain relations, supported by TG grammar, regarding language as an abstract system, analyzing its form; It is a method of analyzing sentences by looking into their constituents and generalizing the pattern. Paradigmatic relations: choice relations, supported by SF grammar, emphasizing the vertical relations in order to explain the realization of the function of language; It focuses on the language in use. Transitivity: Transitivity is the syntactic structure as representation of experience. The ideational function is realized by the transitivity system of language. It is a type of linguistic process which represents what exists and what is going on around us and

语言学重要概念梳理(中英文对照版)

第一节语言的本质 一、语言的普遍特征（Design Features） 1.任意性 Arbitratriness：shu 和Tree都能表示“树”这一概念；同样的 声音，各国不同的表达方式 2.双层结构Duality：语言由声音结构和意义结构组成（the structure of sounds and meaning） 3.多产性productive: 语言可以理解并创造无限数量的新句子，是由双层 结构造成的结果（Understand and create unlimited number with sentences） 4.移位性 Displacemennt：可以表达许多不在场的东西，如过去的经历、将 来可能发生的事情，或者表达根本不存在的东西等 5.文化传播性 Cultural Transmission：语言需要后天在特定文化环境中 掌握 二、语言的功能（Functions of Language） 1.传达信息功能 Informative：最主要功能The main function 2.人际功能 Interpersonal：人类在社会中建立并维持各自地位的功能 establish and maintain their identity 3.行事功能 performative：现实应用——判刑、咒语、为船命名等Judge， naming，and curses 4.表情功能 Emotive Function：表达强烈情感的语言，如感叹词/句 exclamatory expressions 5.寒暄功能 Phatic Communion：应酬话phatic language，比如“吃了没？” “天儿真好啊！”等等 6.元语言功能 Metalingual Function：用语言来谈论、改变语言本身，如 book可以指现实中的书也可以用“book这个词来表达作为语言单位的 “书” 三、语言学的分支 1. 核心语言学 Core linguistic 1)语音学 Phonetics：关注语音的产生、传播和接受过程，着重考察人类语 言中的单音。Its main focus is on the articulation， transmission and reception of human sounds， especially isolated sounds 2)音位学Phonology：从功能的角度出发对出现在某种特定语言中的语音及其 组合、分布规律进行研究的语言学分支。The branch of linguistics which studies the sound patterns from function perspective. 3)形态学 Morphology：研究单词的内部构造the internal structure of words 4)句法学 Syntax：研究组词造句的规则the rules governing the combination of words into sentences.