AComparisonofIdiomsbeweenChineseAndEnglishCulure_开题报告

   Idioms have always been a hot topic to study. Idioms include phrases, slangs, colloquialism and proverbs. Idioms may humorous, or serious, elegant, not only concise and comprehensive, but also vivid and interesting. As the crystallization of human wisdom, idioms reflects the outstanding cultural history. They are expressing image of life in an extremely concise way and giving people a feeling of beauty.          Chinese language is a typical language of the east, from which derived many other   languages. The language of Chinese has a history, and there are also abundant idioms in the Chinese language. English is the most frequented used language all over the world, which is a world-standard language also with a long history. So in English language, there are abundant idioms. Therefore, the comparison of idioms between Chinese and English would be interesting and there are a large number of people who have ever done research on this topic.

   The research on idioms abroad dates back to L. P. Smith. In the year 1925, L. P. 

Smith published the book Words and Idioms, which then became a representative work of research on idioms. His main contribution is exploring the sources and structures of idioms and made a detailed division of idioms according to their origin. Meanwhile, he stressed the main feature of idioms that the meaning of idioms is not the sum of all the meanings of the words. 

   From 1920s to 1950s, with the development of structuralism, the theories of lexemes, semantics and syntax, which were based on structuralism, had been used to explain the deep structure and the semantic features of idioms. C.F. Hockett, the most representative figure of this period, emphasized the importance of context in identifying and explaining idioms.(Hockett C.F., 1958:68) 

   In the 1960s, the development of idiomatic study was slow, under the influence of Chomsky's generative grammar theory. Generally, people generally thought that lexemes (including idioms) were a stationary, inactive part of language, and had no generative ability, not to mention the ability of creation. Therefore, the study of sentences became the center of the whole study during that time. However, the development of idiomatic study never stopped. 

   From the 1980s, idiomatic study started a new, flourishing period. Lots of scholars broke through the original mode of study and started the new research on idioms. Some new highlights appeared, and considerable achievements were obtained, one of which is the study of idiomatic communicative function. In the early 1980s, J.Strassler applied pragmatics and social linguistics into research on idioms and started the research on the communicative function of idioms. But his research was confined to oral communication.(Strasslar,1982:65) With Halliday's Systematic Functional Grammar being put forth and developed, some scholars began to conduct research on idioms on the basis of functional grammar. In this respect, the person whose work was the most extraordinary was C.Fernando. According to the different functions which idioms play in describing the world, expressing thinking and oral communication, she classified idioms into three kinds-ideational idiom, interpersonal idiom, and relational idiom. Jumping out of Structuralism and Generative Theory, idiomatic function study started a new field of communicative circumstances.  After that, idiomatic study had more practical significance.

  The overall trend of research on idioms abroad is as follows. First, the range of research is being broadened, and deepened from language source, features, structure and syntax to transformative ability, understanding patterns, cognitive mechanism and communicative function. Second, the theories applied have been moving from structural and generative theory to cross-disciplinary theory such as psychology, social linguistics and cognitive linguistics. Third, there is a change from theory to application for research on idioms. Fourth, the research on idioms has been developing in a direction which is conducive to idiom teaching and the fostering of cognitive ability. The above are the general trend of research on idioms abroad. (Luo Shiping, 2006) 

  Compared with studies abroad, studies in China started much later. In the recent 20 years, idiomatic study has been paid much attention. In the late 1990s, Yu Fumin and Guo Shanlian published a book-《英汉习语对比》(A Comparative Stagy of English and Chinese Idioms). It introduces idioms in the following aspects: idioms defined and their range and forms; the characteristic features of idioms and their development; the structure of idioms and their function; the content of idioms; the origins of idioms and their national characteristics; figures of speech, phonological and stylistic features in idioms.

   At the beginning of the 21th century, a new book-《英语习语研究》(A Research  on English Idioms) by Luo Shiping was published, which was mainly a discussion of the scope, Nowadays, features, translation of idioms, and the relation between idiom and culture. idioms are studied from some new perspectives, among which culture is the most popular one. Zhuang Hecheng's《英语习语探》(English Allusions) is just an example. Other examples are Li Yuping's《英语习语及其文化源流》(English

Idioms and their Cultural Origin), Ping Hong and Zhang Guoyang's《英语习语与英

美文化》(English Idioms and Auglo-American Culture), Zhang Zhenhua's《英语习

语的文化内涵及其语用研究》(A Study of English Idioms from New Perspectives

Culture and Pragmatics). The study of the relationship between idioms and culture becomes more and more popular.

  In conclusion, the tendency of present idiomatic study is as follows: The scope of study is constantly expanding, and the level is deepening. The content of study is developing from the study of sources, features, structures, syntax to the direction of transformational ability, comprehension mode, communicative function and so on;Theories that are applied change from Structuralism and Generative Transformation to interdisciplinary theories, such as psycholinguistics, sociolinguis-tics, cognitive linguistics and so forth. ;Idiomatic study transforms from theory to practice.

  With the development of academic research, more attention has been paid to the cultural barriers and translation of idiomatic study. However, the comparison of idioms between Chinese and English culture has lagged behind. Although studies in this respect scatter in some papers and works, and are not so comprehensive. This is why the present thesis is created.

Outline 

1. Introduction

2. Overview of idioms in Eastern and Western culture.

3. The similarities of idioms between Chinese and English culture  

3.1 The similar natural characteristics

3.2 The similar grammatical characteristics

3.3 The similar rhetorical devices 

4. The dissimilarities of idioms between Chinese and English culture

4.1 Dissimilarities in geographical environment

4.1.1 The characteristics of Chinese Idioms influenced by geographical environment

3.1.2 The characteristics of English Idioms influenced by geographical environment

4.2 Dissimilarities in historical development

4.2.1 The characteristics of Chinese Idioms influenced by historical development 

4.2.2 The characteristics of English Idioms influenced by historical development

4.3 Dissimilarities in religious belief

4.3.1 The characteristics of Chinese Idioms influenced by religious belief

4.3.2 The characteristics of English Idioms influenced by religious belief

4.4 Dissimilarities in custom

4.4.1 The characteristics of Chinese Idioms influenced by custom

4.4.2 The characteristics of English Idioms influenced by custom 

5. Conclusion

6. References           

References

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