"What Is X" And "X Is What" A Contrastive Study In Chinese And English

The words "什么(shen me)" in Chinese and "What" in English, both possess the interrogative function. When people have no idea about what something is (eg, "X") and want to know more about it, a Chinese speaker can use "什么是X?(What is X?)" as well as "X是什么?(X is what?)", whereas an English speaker has the singular option of, "What is X?".Looking at what should be a simple phrase with simple inferences, this paper will delve into the linguistic problems related in the word order of "What is X?" and "X is what?" between Chinese and English. First, we will examine the usage frequency of both phrases in their respective languages. Secondly, we'll study the expression, "What is X?" in English (when people want to ask X) in conjunction with Chomsky's Transformational Generative Grammar. In part three, we will discuss the differences between Chinese's "什么是X?"and "X 是什么?" Since Chinese speakers always assume these two interrogative questions have the same meaning and function, we want to point out the differences often neglected by most people and determine their roots. After examining the distinctions between "What is X?" vs "X is what?" in English, and their Chinese counterparts, "什么是X?" vs "X 是什么?", a further comparison among Chinese and English will be made, comprised in the final portion of this paper.