Analysis on English and Chinese Hypotaxis and Parataxis

高楠+錢曉娟

【Abstract】The differences between English and Chinese can be found at various levels， one of the most important distinctions between English and Chinese lies in the contrast between hypotaxis and parataxis. This paper intends to study the differences of English and Chinese language from the perspective of the hypotaxis and parataxis.

【Key words】Hypotactic； Paratactic； English and Chinese

1. Introduction

People have used different similes to compare the English sentence and Chinese sentence in the respect of their difference in structure. Some people say the English sentence is like “a tree trunk with branches” or “a string of grapes” while the Chinese sentence is like “a bamboo stick with many sections joins by knots”. Such similes are vivid and quite explanatory. The similes indicate that English tends to be sativa and Chinese tends to be dynamic. English and Chinese languages have their own characteristics due to the different formation and development. Chinese and English have many significant differences.

2. The Definition of Hypotaxis and Parataxis

Hypotaxis and Parataxis are of the most important research subjects in contrastive linguistics. According to the American Heritage Dictionary， “hypotaxis is dependent or subordinate construction or relationship of clauses with connectives， for example， I shall despair if you dont come.” Here by hypotaxis we mean the arranging of sentential constituents. In other words， the relations of different parts of sentences are mainly organized and developed through connectives

According to the World Book Dictionary， Parataxis means “the arranging of clauses one after the other without connectives showing the relation between them.Here by parataxis， we mean the arranging of sentential constituents without connectives showing the relations between them. Therefore， different parts of sentences are juxtaposed， the relation of which is largely revealed or developed by underlying logic relations rather than formal markers such as connectives.

3. Three Ways of Achieving Hypotaxis in English

English sentences are overt cohesion and emphasize the forms and structures. So， kinds of connected methods and cohesive ties are used in order to achieve hypotaxis. Lets look at the three important ways of achieving hypotaxis.

There are many inflectional words in English which can be used to show the order， time， number， gender， etc. For example：He became deaf at five after an attack of typhoid fever.endprint

There are many connectives and relatives in English， so it convenient to achieve hypotaxis. The relatives and connectives include relative pronoun， relative pronoun such as who， whom， whose， that， which， when， where， why， how， and， or， until， unless， so...that， （n）either... （n）or， etc. For example：You will recognize him when you see him.

According to the statistics， there are nearly three hundred adverbs in English. English cannot live without these adverbs， and its easier for English to achieve hypotaxis with these adverbs. For example：He had a disconcerting habit of expressing contradictory ideas in rapid succession.

4. Four Important Ways of Achieving Parataxis in Chinese

Chinese belongs to Sino-Tibetan language family. It is an analytic language， and its sentences are concise and explicit. The relationship of words is expressed not by the form of word itself， but by prepositions and word order and so on. So， Chinese is a parataxis-prominent language which empathizes on semantic coherence. Chinese mainly realize its Parataxis in the following ways.

There are very few inflectional words， adverbs， connectives and relatives in Chinese， so， the words order is very important to achieve its parataxis. e.g 人（若）不犯我， 我（則）不犯人。（We will not attack unless we are attacked.）

There are many parallel sentences in Chinese， thought without overt conjunctions， but the logic relation is clear. e.g 種瓜得瓜， 種豆得豆。（As you sow， so will you reap.）

Reduced sentences are typical in Chinese， which are simplex but clearly organized. e.g不到黃河心不死。（Until all is over， ambition never dies.）

Four-character structure is phrase made up of four Chinese characters in structure， it is so widely used in daily life of Chinese that no one could even speak out an authentic Chinese sentence without it. e.g 不進則退. （He who does not advance falls backward.）

5. Conclusion

Language is a tool for communication. If we say the words of a language are codes， then there are different rules for different languages to combine and arrange these codes， Hypotaxis and Parataxis are among the rules， and they are very important characteristics or distinctions between English and Chinese. English is hypotaxis-prominent language which lays emphasis on formal cohesion， while， Chinese is a parataxis-prominent language which empathize on semantic coherence. Chinese does not use a lot of connectives， but they are indispensable in English.

參考文獻：

[1]劉宓慶.新編漢英對比與翻譯[M].中國對外翻譯出版公司，2006.

[2]邵志洪.漢英對比翻譯導(dǎo)論[M].華東理工大學出版社，2008.

*項目名稱：從順應(yīng)論看習近平主席外訪演講中的語用移情，項目編號：XSYK17024， 咸陽師范學院專項科研計劃項目。endprint