A Comparison Of English And Chinese Demonstrative

This thesis makes a preliminary comparative study on the demonstratives in English and Chinese through description.The characteristic of this thesis is that we study English and Chinese demonstratives from diachronic and synchronic perspectives. It is a comprehensive analysis using relevant linguistic theories and those related to demonstratives. The specific language phenomena and the language facts that were neglected have been carried on in the description. This thesis discusses the contents which haven't been thought about through or discussed, such as, further studying demonstratives "å½¼/æ­¤", "this/that" used in proverbs, and comparing English to. Chinese demonstratives in aspects of phonology and morphology is also what the former research has not involved. The final goal is to seek common ground while maintaining difference. We use different kinds of western linguistic theories to discuss the similarities and differences between English and Chinese demonstratives comprehensively but not thoroughly.Part I gives an overview of definitions of English and Chinese demonstratives. This part points out that the objective of the comparative study of Chinese and English demonstratives is to establish a truly suitable theory for the study of Chinese theories and methods.Part II reviews the research of demonstratives by eastern and western scholars. The Chinese scholars mostly limit their studies to Chinese demonstratives; only some doctoral dissertations involve both the English and Chinese demonstratives research.Part III elaborates on linguistics theories related to this thesis. This thesis studies English and Chinese demonstratives from aspects of phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics. This part introduces the concepts of diachronic and synchronic study for this thesis s according to the contrastive analysis theory, studies English and Chinese demonstratives diachronically and synchronically. The theory about pronouns and demonstratives and the theory of cohesion and coherence provide the theoretical basis for the deictic function of the demonstratives.Part IV mainly studies demonstratives in English and Chinese from the diachronic perspective. In Old English (450-1150 A.D.), the main demonstratives were se (means that), (?)es (means this) and (?)a (neans those). Classical Chinese used different words to refer to demonstratives with the same meaning (equivalent to "è¿™" or "é‚£"). Maybe due to the differences in Chinese dialects, many demonstratives have similar pronunciation, but after using standard demonstratives, some classical Chinese demonstratives were polarized for other usage.Part V studies Chinese and English demonstratives from a synchronic perspective, including aspects of phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics, etc.Part VI summarizes the main content of this thesis and the research results. We points out that the study conducted from the diachronic and synchronic perspectives, and such a two-way comparative study reveals the change of the usage of Chinese and English demonstratives at different periods more profoundly. I also summarize the similarities and differences between English and Chinese demonstratives as well as its guiding significance for language learning.