Abstract VS. Concrete Diction

English and Chinese show opposing tendencies toward diction. It is generally accepted that, for expression of ideas, native speakers of English tend to use abstract expressions while those of Chinese concrete ones. Tendency towards abstract diction in English is manifested in the frequent occurrence of abstract noun phrases formed through nominalization, prepositions and "empty" verbs with little lexical meanings. Tendency towards concrete diction in Chinese, however, is revealed in the heavy use of verbs, adjectives and image-carrying phrases, and in the arrangement of sentential elements in parallel with temporal sequence. Some contrastive analysis and practical research have been done about the difference between English and Chinese in way of expression, but in view of the inadequacy and unsystematic research done in this field, the present thesis, starting from the acknowledged belief that English tends to be abstract in diction while Chinese tends to be concrete, aims at a more detailed description of the different tendencies in the two languages and a systematic discussion of some workable techniques for E-C translation of English abstract expressions and C-E translation of Chinese concrete expressions.The thesis is divided into six chapters. Chapter One serves as a brief introduction to the subject to be taken up and to the previous research done on the subject. Chapters Two and Three give a respective examination of the culture-related and language-related factors that contribute to tendency of abstract diction in English and that of concrete diction in Chinese, followed by a respective description of the specific manifestations of the generally accepted tendency of diction in each language. ChaptersFour and Five are devoted respectively to a discussion of abstract-to-concrete shift in E-C translation and of concrete-to-abstract shift in C-E translation. In these two chapters, some workable techniques are presented from the grammatical and semantic point of view to show how the different tendencies can be appropriately reflected in E-C and C-E translation. Chapter Six concludes the thesis by summarizing the present research. The major ideas of the present study are summed up as follows:1. English and Chinese form an abstract vs. concrete contrast in expression. English exhibits a noticeable tendency towards abstract diction, which finds reflection in the use of abstract nouns formed through nominalization, prepositions and "empty" verbs. In contrast, Chinese manifests a tendency towards concrete diction, which is specifically revealed in the use of verbs, the structurally loose organization of sentential elements arranged in accordance with temporal sequence, and the abundance of vivid expressions. Tendency towards abstract diction in English is essentially decided by the abstract thinking mode governing the western nation and effectuated by the linguistic properties intrinsic to English; likewise, concrete diction in Chinese is a natural outcome of the concrete mode of thinking representative of the Chinese nationality and the language-related factors specific to Chinese.2. In the light of the different tendencies of diction in English and Chinese, in E-C translation, techniques to be used have to guarantee an abstract-to-concrete shift while in C-E translation a concrete-to-abstract shift. Both shifts can be approached from two perspectives-the grammatical and the semantic. In E-C translation, the grammatical approach centers around the shift from English abstract nouns formed through nominalization to concrete expressions in Chinese, inclusive of a choice of verb phrases, adjective phrases, and image-carrying phrases and so on. As abstractness in English is primarily accounted for by the use of abstract noun phrases formed through nominalization, E-C translation of prepositional phrases or "empty" verbs, the use of which also adds much abstractness to English, is notundertaken separately but structured around the discussion of translating English noun phrases...