自考00838语言与文化串讲8

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自考00838语言与文化串讲8

Chapter 7. Honourifics, Terms of Humility, Euphemisms and Taboos

Honourifics (it is that honourifics are language forms used in speeches to show respect to a superior.)

In Chinese: it is hard to say for sure why there are so many honourifics in Chinese.such as, 您，陛下，令堂，令尊。But in English culture familiarity is highly valued. Chinese learners have to “forget” or “ignore”. There are honourifics in english, too, for example, majesty, honourable and excellency. English honourifics are not frequently used in daily speeches and conversations. Chinese honourifics often do not have equivalents in English.

您，您老 you

先生/女士： you

局长、经理、老师等 you or the persons’ names

爷爷、奶奶、伯父、伯母等 you

哥哥，姐姐 you

令尊，令堂，二老 your father, your mother, your parents.

令郎、令爱等 your son, your daughter, etc

贵姓，尊姓大名 your name

贵庚 your age

贵国，贵校，贵厂，贵府等。Your country, your school, your factory, your home, etc.

惠函                            your letter

久仰大名，久仰 I’ve heard a lot about you. Your name is well-known here to us…

欢迎光临welcome, welcome to…

欢迎指导 welcome, welcome to…

你有何高见 what’s your opinion? I’d like to have your opinion

您有何贵干 what bring you here? I’d like to know why you’re here?

请提宝贵意见: please give us your comments or suggestions. Could you give us your comments or suggestions?

请赐教 please be so kind as to give me some advice or suggestions

拜托 request somebody to do something; “would you be so kind as to do…?”

拜谢 express one’s gratitude

拜访 pay a visit

拜辞 take leave of

拜年pay a New Year call

拜读了大作I’ve read your paper(article, report, work, book, etc)

敬请指正I’d like to have your comments on my look(work, etc).(it is often nothing but a polite remark when showing or giving one;s own publications or work as a gift.)

敬请光临：you’re invited to come to…

Terms of Humility

It is used to show the speaker’s modesty. To sound modest and humble was vital to the ancient Chinese people, especially when they communicated with those who were older, higher in socioeconomic position, or more privileged in a specific area. In contrast, there are few terms of humility in English. If you want to learn English well, forget them.

敝人 I,me

内人，老婆 my wife

小儿，儿家那小子my son

小女，我那个丫头 my daughter

寒舍，舍下 my home

敝校，敝厂，敝所等 this(our)school, factory, institution, etc

便饭dinner

拙作my book(painting, literary work, thesis, etc.)

献丑  (it is normally nothing more than a polite remark given before one;s performance of a kind)

Euphemisms

Euphemisms are pleasant, polite or harmless sounding words or expressions used to mask harsh, rude or infamous truths.

Go    he’s gone

Depart  to depart from this life; depart from this world forever

Decease  to decease; the deceased(all used in legal or formal contexts.)

Perish      to perish in war

Fall     to fall in battle

Pass away   the patient passed away during the night

Breathe one’s last   he breathed his last and was buried in the churchyard

Sleep    to sleep in the graves

End      wine ended him

Expire   he expired early In the morning

Go the way of all flesh       (die as other men do) The greatest artist of the first half of this century has long last gone the way of all flesh

Go sweet      (from the sun sinking in the west) it’s a long time since he went west

Go to a better world

Be in heaven

Be with God

Pay one’s debt to nature

Pay the debt of nature.

Many English euphemisms are used to refer to the disadvantaged in the United States. The black people, used Negros. Ethnic neighbourhood,  backward countries, elderly people, plain looking, heavy, slender, physically handicapped, hard of hearing. A group of euphemisms are related to work. There are many euphemisms in English for lavatory. Washroom, bathroom, restroom, comfort station, powder room, ladies’ gents’s, men’s, wc, toilet. Euphemisms are also frequently used in education. And used in mass media about political, aocioeconomic affairs and international relations to avoid the unpleasantness of some terms or express. Industrial action

Taboos

Anything which is prohibited by religion, tradition of social usage is a taboo.

In both English and Chinese, the acts of human excretion are to be avoided in polite conversations. Certain part of the body and sexual intercourse are taboos in both two countries. especially to Chinese. Swear words, profane or obscene oaths or words, are taboo in both two countries.

In English : anything related to privacy or considered personal are taboo. For example, age, income, political, religious beliefs, etc. any direct question about the age of a stranger or a person one does not know well is improper. Anything that my remind an old person of his/her age might be offensive. Person income is also taboo. Questions about their love and marriage should be avoided. It is also improper to ask directly other people’s religious beliefs. Racism is too.

The calmest husbands make the stormiest wives丈夫懦弱妻子凶

The mother-in-law remembers not that she was a daughter-in-law 作了婆婆忘了作媳妇的苦

妖evil spirits, alluring.

媚 flattering

奸  wicked, treacherous

婪 greedy

嫉妒 jealous, envious

姘  to have illicit sexual relations with

嫖  to visit prostitutes

婊  prostitute

Topics for consideration

Chapter 8. Culture in Texts

introduction to some fundamental concepts of the text

it refers to any piece of spoken or written language, which expresses a complete meaning. In a normal text the sentences are connected in one way or another. Not any collection of sentences can become a text. Only those collections of sentences that consist of sentences connected in certain ways can be regarded as texts. A group of sentences that are juxtaposed in a random fashion can never be treated as a text.

 We shall not go into details of cohesion and coherence. However, we should remember that the sentences in a text are connected either by grammatical and/ or lexical means or by meaning alone. They are not just a random collection of unrelated sentences.

  A normal text also has structures which refer to the ways in which the parts of a text are organized and related to one another to form a meaningful whole.

  We can find cross-culture difference in texts.

Textual connectives

In a normal text sentences are connected either hypotactically or paratactically. And paratactic relations refer to constructions which are linked through juxtaposition and punctuation/intonation and not through the use of conjunction.

 The notion of hypotactic and paratactic relations can also be applied to the study of the connection between sentences in texts. If two or more sentences in a text are linked by textual connectives, they are hypotactically related. It is important to note that textual connectives include not only conjunctions (and, or, but, etc) but also words of other word classes or even phrases.(however, furthmore, next, secondly, for example, as a matter of fact.) that function as linkages between sentences in a text. Textual connectives explicitly represent the logical relations between sentences.

  Although hypotactic and paratactic relations can be found in either English of Chinese is a paratactic one. It is generally accepted that ate the sentential level hypotactic relations are observed far more frenquently in English than in Chinese. At the textual level hopotactic relations are also observed more frequently in English than in Chinese. English still has more textual connectives than Chinese. than Chinese and these textual connectives are used more frequently in English than in Chinese. It is also important to remember that when two or more sentences in a text are paratactically related. They are connected by meaning and , in most cases, by cohesive devices other than textual connective.

   As said in the previous paragraph, paratactically related sentences are connected by meaning and other cohesive devices. And compared with English texst. Chinese ones are less dependent on hypotactic relations for textual cohesion. This means that the Chinese people rely heavily on meaning for textual cohesion, while the English speaking people rely on both meaning and textual connectives for text cohesiveness. Just as they emphasize grammatical explicitness. They lay stress. On cohesive explicitiness as well. In contrast, the Chinese people emphasize simplicity. If the intended meaning can be clearly converyed and unambiguously received, explicit markers are not necessary.

Additive relations

It holds when the second sentence adds come additional information to the first one, the second part is an explanation of the first part.

Adversative relations

The basic meaning of adversative relations is “contrary to expectation”. The expectation may be derived form what is being said or from the communication process, the speaker-hearer situation.

Causal relations

In causal relations two parts are involved: cause and effect. In logic, cause precedes effect. But in texts, effect may precede cause. No matter which one is located before the other, the causal relation remains the same.

Temporal relations

The relation between two or more successive sentences may be simply one of sequence in time: one thing is subsequent to the other.

 Textual connectives are only one of several means commonly used to achieve textual cohesiveness. They are used frequently as explicit, cohesive markers in either speech or writing. The English people emphasize explicit cohesiveness, so English relies heavily on textual connectives for textual cohesiveness. In contrast, the Chinese people values simplicity, therefore in Chinese texts if the logical relations between sentences can be understood,

Text structures

Text structures refer to the ways in which the parts of a text are organized and related to one another to form a meaningful whole. There are cross-culture differences in text structures.

Text structures of letters

People write letters for different purposes. Although telephones, telegrams, facsimiles and other telecommunications means have been developed and competing against letters. Letter wirting is still indispensable in interpersonal.

English Department

Peking University

Beijing, 100871

R.R China

May 12, 1996

The Registrar of Admission

The Graduate School

California State University

Fullerton, CA 92634

U.S.A

Dear Sir or Madam:

Look forward to an early reply

Sincerely yours

(signature)

full name(printed)

it’s is hard to see that English letters of invitation have a specially designed symmetrical format, while Chinese ones are quite similar in form to ordinary letters.

Text structures of argumentative texts

In many English texts or paragraphs, the topic sentence, which represents a general statement or the central idea of the text or paragraph, precedes the supporting sentences, which express supporting information or details. This is especially true for argumentative writing.

  This type of paragraphs or texts are claimed to be examples of deductive argumentation preferred by english speakers: from the thesis to facts or details

  We know that deduction and induction are two oppostive ways reasoning. Deduction refers to reasoning from the general to the particular or reasoning in which the conclusion about particulars follows necessarily from the general or universal promises. However, when rthetoric is talked about, deductive argumentation means that the main thesis, or the central idea, is presented at the beginning of a text and that information supporting it is conveyed after it.

  Induction means just the opposite to the deduction: the drawing of a general conclusion from a number of known facts. So, when rhetoric is talked about, inductive argumentation means that the supporting information is given before the main thesis is stated.

  In Chinese we can find Chinese argumentative texts developing from facts or details to the thesis or conclusion, or texts of inductive argumentation.

  The other possible interpretation of the contrast between deductive and inductive argumentation is related to the concept of directness. We have said several times in this book that generally, englsih speakers are direct, while Chinese speakers are indirect. its is highly probable that deductive argumentation reflects the direct style, while inductive argumentation reflects the indirect style. In deductive argumentation the central information normally represented by the topic sentence precedes the supporting information conveyed by supporting sentences. This is the direct style preferred by direct English speakers. In inductive argumentation facts or details precede the conclusion which is the central information conveyed in a paragraph or text. This is the indirect style preferred by many Chinese people

The classical mode

Introduction; narration and explication; proposition and partition; proofs; refutation; digression; conclusion.

The Carl Roger’s mode:

Introduction; fair statement of the opposing position; statement of the contexts in which that position may be valid; fair statement of your own position; statement of the contexts in which your position is valid; statement of how readers would benefit by at least moving towards your position.

The APA format

  It is extensively used by scholars of social science in academic papers based on experimental research. Since the readers of this book are advanced learners of English who will write academic papers in the future. Included: introduction; methods; Results; Conclusion; Reference list or bibliography.

  4. Styles

Writing styles

 When one compares English and Chinese narrative and descriptive texts, one can easily find that the Chinese ones are very often more flowery or ornate than the English ones. English one use more apiece or plain description. And almost no similes and metaphor is a conspicuous stylistic feature of this text. A descriptive text that contains many similes and metaphors may set up many vivid images in the Chinese reader’s mind but may sound unnatural or even absurd to English speakers . and Chinese use more four-character expression. And frequent use of hyperboles is allowed in Chinese. And Chinese writers are particularly capable of describing objects, especially, natural scenery. The English speakers who expect a text to be developed linearly may find it difficult to follow a spirally developed text. They may say that a spirally developed text is not logic. Plain, direct style is an important feature of many English texts.

Dear editor:

  Thank you for your letter. Please find enclosed my manuscript. Is there is any inappropriacy, please feel free to change it. However, if the change is a major one involving substance, I will appreciated your letting me know beforehand.

   Best wishes

                                                         Yours sincerely

                                                           Signature

编辑先生：

  大札敬悉，现遵嘱将拙稿寄上，文中不妥之处，敬请斧正。唯改动牵涉实质问题，烦请事先告知，在此预致谢意。

  谨祝

                                                             编安居乐业                                                                                                        签名

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