Chinese Idioms and Their Stories.docx

Chinese Idioms and Their Stories.docx

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ChineseIdiomsandTheirStories

ChineseIdiomsandTheirStories

ChineseIdiomsandTheirStoriesThegeneralChineseviewofchengyu（literally“establishedspeech”）isthatitexpressestheessenceofthelanguage,addingtoitbeautyandcolorbyvirtueofitsrichnessandoriginality.Buttheexpressionchengyumaynothaveanexactequivalentinotherlanguages.Whatexactlyischengyu,howcanitbedefined?

TothisquestionmostusersofChinesehavenodefiniteanswer,noraretheykeentoseekit,solongasitslackdoesnothindertheiruseofthelanguage.SincewearedealingwiththetranslationofChineseintoEnglish,itisreasonabletolookfirstattheEnglishwordidiom,whichinalmostallcasesisexpressedaschengyuinChinese,justaschengyuistranslatedintoEnglishasidiom.Isthereadifferencebetweenthetwo,oraretheyexactlyequivalentandinterchangeableineverycase?

AccordingtoseveralpopularEnglishdictionaries,thedefinitionsfortheword“idiom”aregivenasfollows:

Webster------1.a.thelanguageproperorpeculiartoapeopleortoadistrict,communityorclassb.thesyntactical,grammaticalorstructuralformpeculiartoalanguage2.anexpressionestablishedintheusageofalanguagethatispeculiartoitselfeitheringrammaticalconstructionorinhavinga

meaningthatcannotbederivedasawholefromtheconjoinedmeaningsofitselements3.astyleorformofartistic,expression（asinpainting,writing,composing）thatischaracteristicespeciallyofanindividual,aperiodormovement,oramediumorinstrumentOxford------1.languageofapeopleorcountry2.specificcharacterofthis3.formofexpressionpeculiartoalanguageorperson,peculiarityofphraseologyapprovedbyusagethoughhavingmeaningnotdeductiblefromthoseoftheseparatewords4.characteristicmodeofexpressioninmusic,art,etc.Chambers------1/anexpressionwithameaningthatconnotbeguessedfromthemeaningsoftheindividualwords2.theexpressionsofalanguageingeneral---theEnglishidiom3.anindividualstyleinmusic,etc.Longman------1.thelanguagepeculiartoapeople,country,class,communityor,morerarely,anindividual2.thestructureoftheusualpatternsofexpressionofalanguage3.aconstruction,expressionetc.havingameaningdifferentfromtheliteraloneornotaccordingtotheusualpatternsofthelanguage4.awriter’scharacteristicuseofwords;acharacteristicstyleinmusic,art,etc.

The1980editionofBritannicaBookofEnglishUsagegivesonlyone,namely,”Anidiomisaphrasewhichisanestablishedandcorrectpartofaparticularlanguagebutwhichmakeslittlesense.Iftakenliterally.:

The1979editionofLongmanDictionaryofIdiomsstatesthat:

“Anidiomisafixedgroupofwordswithaspecialdifferentmeaningfromthemeaningsoftheseparatewords.””Itis,therefore,clearthattheword“idiom”incurrentusagechieflyrefersto“asetphrase”.ThispredominantfeatureintheEnglishlanguage,ofcourse,canalsobefoundinChinesechengyu,butitformsonlyoneofthelatter’smanyfeatures.ItsdefinitioninChineseismuchmorecomplicated.Somepeoplesaythatitmeansshuyu（idiom,idiomaticphrase）,suyu（commonsaying,folkadage）andyanyu（proverb,saying,adage,saw）;othersthinkthatitshouldincludeyuyan（fable,allegory,parable）,diangu（allusion,literaryquotation）andstillothersclaimthatitincludesxiyu（idiom）,mingyan（well-knownsaying,celebrateddictum,famousremark）,geyan（maxim,motto,aphorism）,xiehouyu（thesecondpartofatwo-partallegoricalsayingthatactuallycarriesthemessage,thoughsometimesunstated）,liyu（slang）,fangyan（dialect）,etc.Somepropleevenassertthatitshouldnotexcludeshuyu（technicalterms）andbiaoyuandkouhao（slogan,poster,watchword）.Furthermore,thereisthequestionofnationalcharacteristics.Some

thinkthatthoseexpressionswhichoriginatedfromaliencultureshouldnotbeconsideredChinesechengyu.ThosewhoareopposedtothisviewarguethatsuchexpressionshavebecomesocommonlyusedthattheycanberegardedaspartofChinesechengyu.Inviewofthecomplexitiesandcontroversiesinvolved,itmaybenecessarytoconsultthethreepopularandauthoritativelexicographicalworkssofaravailablehere:

Cihai,CiyuanandXiandaiHanyuCidian.Cihaicountschengyuas“akindofshuyu;setphreasesorwordgroupsthatareofcustomaryusage.Theformationofchengyuisofgreatvarietyandtheoriginsofvariouschengyuarealsodiversified.Someofthemcanbeunderstoodfromthesurfacemeaningsofthewordstheyarecomposedof;otherscanbeundersoodonlyiftheiroriginsareknown.”Ciyuanputschengyuas“oldsayingsofcommonusageandthosephrasesorclauseswhicharesetinformtoexpressacompleteidea.”XiandaiHanyuCidiandefineschengyuas“setphrasesorclausesthatpeople