Viewing Chinglish In Perspective Of Behaviorism

With the development of economic globalization and the economy, the pace of Chinaintegrating into the world globalization accelerates. As the world’s most widely used language,English also appears in every aspect of our life. However it is should be known that English isnot used so completly original that there exists phenomenon of English nativization becauseof different cultures and customs in different nations. So when English is learned and spokenin China, one special phenomenon—Chinglish comes into being. Chinglish phenomenon isthe process which must be experienced by Chinese English learners. Just as Yan Zhiqiangpointed out:“If Chinese do not go to study or use English, then there is no Chinglish or ChinaEnglish.”（Yan，2002:229）Although Chinglish as "deformed English" runs counter tostandard English in some way, it is a process closing to the target language from the point ofsecond language acquisition, belonging to the interlanguage and it is inevitable and normal foracquisition. We can say that Chinglish is developing, progressive and indispensable inlanguage acquisition system.China English and Chinglish sometimes confuse people. The author regards thedefinition proposed by domestic English predecessor Mr. Ge Chuangui as the criterion in thethesis. He pointed out:“With standard English as the core, China English is not interfered bythe mother tongue to descript specific Chinese society and culture. It can be made up of words,sentences or texts with Chinese characteristics by various means such as transliteration,calpue or semantic regeneration to enter the communication. Meanwhile, it is referred thatChinglish is the deformed English in English communication interfered by mother tonguewhen it is used by Chinese English learners who apply Chinese rules and habits to English”(Li,1993) While it is found that most people hold passive attitudes to Chinglish by consultingacademic materials, the author shows us through questionnaire survey that there are studentsholding positive attitude to Chinglish and believe its some value in English teaching. In thethesis, it is advocated to flexibly use Chinglish humor to enliven classroom atmosphere, useChinglish in public signs to cultivate students’ independent learning sense and skillfully useChinglish to mobilize students’ participation. Environmental needs stimulate the appearanceof language which can be lasted under the influence of imitation and strengthening. So thethesis provides us with a new insight—the point of behaviorism to explain Chinglish’sreasonable aspects and its value.As one kind of language, Chinglish is presented as a habit which is formed in longexperience. As the representative of the school of Behaviorism, Bloomfield (LeonardBloomfield) stated in his classics of the language,"From the physiological point of view,language is not a function, but includes a variety of activities. These activities constitute acomprehensive complex due to repeated stimulation accumulation in human life.”（Bloomfield，1980：40）According to the view of Bloomfield,"stimulus-response" plays adecisive role. Therefore, it can be said that a person’s language nurturing, or a man’s proficiency in a specific language depends on his or her receiving stimulating duration andfrequency for kinds of language materials in nurturing special habits. The more frequent oneperson accepts the language stimulus, the more normative and firmer his language is used aswell as higher proficiency in a language, which is also emphasized in the behaviorismlearning theory.Chinglish is not a problem but phenomenon, which can sometimes cause troubles incommunicating. But we can not treat it complete negative. It is helpful to learn Englisheffective for learners that we recognize its rationality and progress and properly distinguish,treat and correct such “deformed English”. Only with the correct understanding of the worldcan we well transform the world and only knowing the problems correctly can we solve themproperly.