中英思维与语言比较.docx

中英思维与语言比较.docx

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中英思维与语言比较

中英思维与语言比较

TheRelationbetweenThoughtandLanguage

Theopinionsvaryontherelationshipbetweenlanguageandthoughtalthoughthestudiesonithavebeenlastedforover2000years.Tosumup,therearefiveparlances,i.e.theoryofequationoflanguageandthought,languagedeterminism,andthoughtdeterminism,independentlanguage-thoughttheory,andseparate-combinativetheory.

Theoryofequationoflanguageandthought:

Languageandthoughtaretwonamesofthesamething.Theyareproducedsimultaneously,inwhichthoughtissilentlanguage,andlanguageisthevoicedthought.

Determinism:

Languagecharacteristicsplayadeterminedroleintheprocessofcognition.Languageisthebasisofthought,andvariouslanguagesleadtovariousthoughtandworldoutlook.

Thoughtdeterminism:

Thoughtexistsbeforelanguage;thecategoryofthoughtdeterminesthatoflanguage.Itisthoughtthatfirstcomesintohuman'smind,andthenpeoplecanspeakitoutbymeansofappropriatewordsorothersymbols.

Independentlanguage-thoughttheory:

Languageandthoughtarerelativelyindependent.Therearevariouskindsofknowledgeinhumanworld,andtheprocessofacquiringnaturallanguageisuniquewhichisrestrictedtospecialtheories,principlesandrules.Whereas,theotherknowledgeisacquiredthroughobservation,generalizationandconditionedreflex,etc.Manyexamplescanprovetheexistenceofthoughtsystemswhichisindependentoflanguage.

Separate-combinativetheory:

Bothlanguageandthoughthaveitsseparatesource.Fromtheperspectiveofpolygeneticdevelopment,differentlanguageandthoughtholddifferentgeneticsource;meanwhile,theirdevelopmentisnotparallel,whosedevelopmentcurveoftenintersect.Intermsofdevelopmentofindividuals,thedevelopmentofthoughtandlanguageentersastageofconcourse（合流）andformanewkindofbehaviorpatternonlywhenthebabygrowstoagetwo.Inaword,languageandthoughthavedifferentsourceandtheycombineatlatertime.

1.Sapir-WhorfHypothesis

Sapir-WhorfHypothesis,putforwardbytheAmericanlinguistsEdwardSapirandBenjaminLeeWhorf,isamould（铸）theoryoflanguage.Thishypothesisiswidelyquotedanddiscussedininterculturalcommunicationfield.Sapir（1929）arguedinaclassicpassagethat:

...Itisquiteanillusiontoimaginethatoneadjuststorealityessentiallywithouttheuseoflanguageandthatlanguageismerelyanincidentalmeansofsolvingspecificproblemsofcommunicationorreflection.Thefactofthematteristhatthe"realworld"istoalargeextentunconsciouslybuiltuponthelanguagehabitsofthegroup.Notwolanguagesareeversufficientlysimilartobeconsideredasrepresentingthesamesocialreality.Theworldsinwhichdifferentsocietieslivearedistinctworlds,notmerelythesameworldwithdifferentlabelsattached.（Sapir,1929:

209）

ThispositionwasextendedbyhisstudentBenjaminLeeWhorf.Itwasfoundthatthebackgroundlinguisticsystem（inotherwords,thegrammar）ofeachlanguageisnotmerelyareproducinginstrumentforvoicingideasbutratherisitselftheshaperofideas,theprogramandguidefortheindividual'smentalactivity,forhisanalysisofimpressions,forhissynthesisofhismentalstockintrade...（Coleetal.，1974:

40）

TheSapir-WhorfHypothesiscanbebrokendownintotwobasicprinciples:

linguisticdeterminism（languagedeterminesthought）andlinguisticrelativity（thereisnolimittothestructuraldiversityoflanguages）.

Thoughtandlanguageareinterwovenandinterrelated,bothlanguagedeterminismandthoughtdeterminismaretooabsolute.Thispointisconvincinglyillustratedinthefollowingremarks:

Languagedoesnotexistinavacuum.Itservesandismodeledbyothersystemsinthehumanmind.Becauseitmustbespokenandunderstoodeasilyandefficiently,itsstructureandfunctionareforcedtostaywithinthelimitsimposedbypeople'sprocessingcapacities.Becauseitisusedforcommunicationwithinacomplexsocialandculturalsystem,itsstructureandfunctionaremodeledbythesefactorsaswell.（Clark&Clark,1977:

515）

2Piaget‘sCognitiveHypothesis

SwisspsychologistPiaget（1972）claimsCognitiveHypothesiswhichisoppositetotheSapir-WhorfHypothesis.Inhisopinion,senseispriortolanguage,andthoughtdetermineslanguage.Comparedwiththeoriginoflanguageandthought,theoriginoflogiccalculationismuchearlierthanlanguage,hencelanguageisnottheoriginwhichformslogic.Onthecontrary,languageismadeupoflogic.Logiccalculationissubordinatetothecommoncoordinatelawofaction.Thiscoordination（配合；协作）controlsalltheactivitiesincludinglanguage.

Piagettakesthedevelopmentofchildren‘slanguageandthoughtasanexample.Hefindsthattheirintelligentactivitiesdonotcomefromlanguagebutfrommovement,andthemovementofaone-yearortwo-year-oldchildstaysinasensorimotor（感觉驱动）period.Byassimilation（模仿）andadaptation,thechildlearnstocoordinatehisfeelingswithsensorimotor.Forinstance,ifheseesarope,hewillpulltheropeandmakesthebellring.Atthistime,thechilddoesnothavethoughtandlanguages,alanguagemightappearinthemiddleofthesecondyearsinceheisborn.Afterdoingsomanyexperiments,Piagetdrawstheconclusionthatlanguageisthequalificationforpeopletodevelopformalthought,butitisnotenough.

Peopledeveloptheirabilitytothinkwhilecontactingwithreality,afterwhichtheirlanguageabilitydevelops.Piagetalsoquotesotherpeople'sresearchtosupporthisargument.'ThescholarssuchasVincent,FurthandHatwellcomparethenormalchildrenandthedeafandmutechildrenandfindthatthosedeafandmutechildrenhavetheabilityofthinkingbutnolanguageability（Furth,1972）.

3TraditionalChineseOpinions

TheChinesehasalongtraditionofhighlightingthoughtandtheytreatlanguageasatooltoexpressone'sthoughtandopinions.MostancientChinesephilosopherssuspectthecapabilityoflanguagetoexpressthethoughts,whichcanbeviewedfromLaoTzu'sremark,"DaocanbeexpressedinwordsbutDaoisnottheprinciplesandwaystalkedaboutincommonwords."Inhisopinion,theuseoflanguageisanunwillingchoiceandthepoweroflanguageislimited.Healsoclaimsthatlanguagecannotexpressthenatureofthingsandobjectssincetherearedifferentnamesofconceptionsforthesamethingorobjectaccordingtodifferentpeople.

SomeotherancientphilosophersholdthesimilaropinionsasLaoTzu.AccordingtoChuangTzu,theobjectsexistinginthenatureareconcretethings,sothereisnonecessitytouselanguagetorefertothedifferentobjects.AndConfuciusholdsthatthepurposeoflanguageistoexpressthecorrectmeaningofthesubjectmeaningandthemostfamouslanguageprincipleislanguageshouldcomplywiththerealthings.

Tosumup,thoughtpatterniscloselyrelatedtolanguage,whichisthedeepmechanismforthegenerationanddevelopmentoflanguage.Ontheotherhand,languageimpelstheformationanddevelopmentofthoughtpattern.Thoughtembodiesitselfbysomemeans,andreflectsitselfinsomelanguages.Differentthoughtpatternisjustanimportantreasonfordiversityinlanguage.Buttheapplicationoflanguageincarnates（体现）thechoiceandcreationofthought.Languageandthoughtinfluenceeachotherandreflecteachother.

TheComparisonbetweenChineseandEnglishThoughtPatterns

1SyntheticThoughtPatternandAnalyticThoughtPattern

Synthesisisakindofthoughtwhichcombinestheseparateparts,elementsoftheobjectsintoawholewhileanalysisisakindofthoughtwhichseparatesthewholeintoparts.Syntheticandanalyticthoughtpatternsarenotonlyopposite,butalsounified.Wecannotappreciatetheessenceofoneobjectifwedonotdecompose（分解）itinthoughtoronlystayonthesurfaceofthesubstances.Inthesameway,ifeverypartoftheobjectcannotbecombined,peoplewillonlyhavealopsided（不平衡的）acknowledgementforanobjectandfailtounderstanditonthewhole.Soitissaidthatsyntheticthoughtpatternandanalyticthoughtpatternconnectandinteractmutually.

Inthought,Chineseprefersynthesis,Englishanalysis.ThisresultsinChinesepreferenceinholistic（整体）thoughtpatternwhileEnglishspeakerspartial.Theirdifferencesareshowninmanyfields,suchasmedicine,opera,painting,language,etc.

ChinesemedicineisthetypicalreflectionofChinesethoughtpatterns.Accordingtoitstheory,thehumanbodyisanentiretywhichisconnectedbydifferentorgans,andtheseinternalorgansdependoneachotherandrestricteachother.

DoctorsoftraditionalChinesemedicinewillnotcurethediseaseseparatelybuttreatitasthewhole.Forexample,ifapersonsuffersfrominsomnia（失眠）,hecanmassageonhisleftandrightshin（胫骨）torelievetheuneasinessofbothhisbodyandmind.Chinesemedicinetakesthewholebodyintoconsiderationratherthanonlytheconditionofcertainorgans.ThesetheoriesaredifferentfromWesternmedicaltheories,whichemphasizethepathological（病理学的）phenomenonaccordingtotheninebiologicalstructuresofthehumanbody.Inasense,ChinesemedicineistheresultofsynthesiswhileWesternmedicineofanalysis.

PekingOperaalsoreflectstheabovesyntheticthoughtpattern.Fromitsperformancefeature,itbelongstoakindofsyntheticperformancewhichincludessinging,reciting,anddancingandagainthisdanceisdifferentfromtheWesternones,whichisakindofChinesewushu.ItistheartisticsynthesisthatcanbedividedintofourWesternarts:

opera,ballet,dramaandstageplay.InWesternarts,singersdonotdanceintheoperawhiledancersdonotsinginballetandtheperformersneitherdancenorsingi