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1、Achieving Equivalence at Word Level: A Contrastive Study of Word Formation in Chinese and English 1 Introduction Chinese language, as one of the most ancient languages is spoken by more than 1.2 billion, the biggest population in the world. English is spoken by the most people except Chinese, and it
2、 is the most influential and most widely used language. For translators working with two important languages, the most basic issue of achieving equivalence at word level can be quite hard and confusing at times as the word formation systems of the two languages are very different to say the least. T
3、his is due to the fact that English is an inflective language, while Chinese is not. This paper aims to compare the two different word formation systems in Chinese and English, in the hope of finding some similarities and possible solutions for translators to find ways of achieving equivalence at wo
4、rd level. 2 Word formation in Chinese and English This part of the paper talks about the definition of word in Chinese and English. It will further compare the differences and similarities of word and word formation in general. Then, it will define the methods of word formation and compare them in C
5、hinese and English item by item with examples. Formed with an alphabet, English is an inflective language, which means adding affixes could create new words, or change the class of words. According to Adams (1973, p.7) “the word in English may be simple, composed of one constituent only; or it may b
6、e complex, containing more than one constituent.” “Chinese, unlike English, is not an inflective language. Its words are Chinese characters. One Chinese character stands for one syllable. A word that has one syllable is a single-syllable word, while a word that is formed with two or more Chinese cha
7、racters is called a multi-syllable word. From a historical point of view, the development of Chinese word formation is from single-syllable word to multi-syllable word. Multi-syllable word formation consists of reduplication, affixation, and fixed phrase.” (唐作藩,1995,p.213) In this paper, word format
8、ion is divided into 7 categories for easier comparison, namely, affixation, abbreviation, backformation, blending, compound, conversion and borrowing. 2.1 Affixation Affixation refers to the way of formatting new word by adding affixes to an existing word. The most common affixes are prefix and suff
9、ix. In English, “prefixes usually do not change the class of the base word, but suffixes usually do change the class of the word.” (Ronowicz, 2008, p.2) It is a similar case in Chinese as the author found. English prefixes and suffixes are mostly bound morphemes, while in Chinese, they are words the
10、mselves. It is worth noticing that in traditional Chinese linguistics, they are sometimes called 1 markers” rather than prefix or suffix, because according to Wang Li (唐作藩,1995,p.100 ) “they are just markers showing the characteristic or class. They are not like English affixes, which are relatively
11、 concrete in meaning. For example, co-, col-, and com- have the meaning of collectively, and ism stands for doctrine or theory. The meanings of Chinese affixes are too vague to be called prefix and suffix. If such names are called, it could cause misunderstandings.” 2.1.1 Prefix Prefix is added at t
12、he front of a stem word. English examples: Undo, unfair, uncover, uncomfortable from do, fair, cover and comfort by adding un- Disappear and dishonest from appear and dishonest by adding dis- Impossible, impersonal, and improper from possible, personal and proper by adding im- Antiseptic, antitank f
13、rom septic, tank by adding anti- Chinese examples: Examples: Adding “第” before numbers make them ordinal numbers 第一 = 第+一 first = 第+ one 第二 = 第+二 second =第+ two Adding “可” before verbs make them adjectives, as “可” could mean “worth doing”. 可爱 = 可+爱 lovable = 可 +love 可恨 = 可+恨 hateful = 可+hate 可怜 = 可+
14、怜 pitiful = 可+pity 2.1.2 Suffix Suffixes are added after a stem word. English examples: Suffixes that make words nouns: -ce importance diligence competence -or or er accelerator inventor worker voter -ist scientist specialist dentist -ism terrorism heroism capitalism -th growth length suffixes that
15、make words verbs: -ize civilize fetishize -fy beautify intensify classify suffixes that make words adjectives: -ble or able loveable drinkable -ful faithful -ed fascinated decorated developed -ing fascinating developing suffixes that make words adverbs -ly hardly, loosely, greatly harshly Chinese ex
16、amples: Suffixes that make words nouns “品” stands for “thing”. 产品=产+品 Product=produce + things 食品=食+品 food=eat + things 必需品=必需+品 necessity=necessary + things 度stands for number, degree or amount 长度=长+度 Length=long + number 高度=高+度 height=high + number 性stands for the role or ability of someone or som
17、e thing. 重要性=重要+性 importance=important + role 可能性=可能+性 possibility=possible + role 家stands for a person who masters some knowledge 科学家=科学+家 scientist=science + person 专家=专+家 specialist=special + person 作家=作+家 writer=write + person 员stands for a person that belong to a group 委员=委+员 committee member=c
18、ommittee + person 学员=学+员 student= study + person 主义stands for a school, a doctrine or a theory. 恐怖主义=恐怖+主义 terrorism=terror + doctrine 资本主义=资本+主义 capitalism=capital + theory suffixes that make words verbs 化 stands for make some things become. 理想化=理想+化 idealize=idea + make it become 标准化=标准+化 standard
19、ize=standard + make it become Suffixes that make words adjectives “的” 忧愁的=忧愁+的 sad=grief+的 中国的=中国+的 Chinese=China+的 美国的=美国+的 American=America+的 Usually in Chinese linguistics, however, “的” is considered to be an adjective marker. Suffixes that make words adverbs “地” 慢慢地=慢慢+地 slowly=slow+地 迅速地=迅速+地 r
20、apidly=rapid+地 Usually in Chinese linguistics, however, “地” is considered to be an adverb marker. 2.2 Abbreviation Acronym and clipping are categorized in the same group of abbreviation by the author here, because acronyms and clipping words are just shorter versions of the original words. Obviously
21、, these two methods are not feasible in Chinese. Therefore, the most common way to make abbreviations is to choose one or some words from the original Chinese characters. English acronym examples: FBI from Federal Bureau of Investigation OECD from Organization for Economic Cooperation and Developmen
22、t. Laser from light amplification by the stimulated emission of radiation English clipping examples: Doc from doctor Phone from telephone Flu from influenza Chinese abbreviation examples: 上财=上海财经大学 三资=中外合资经营企业、中外合作经营企业、外资企业 美国=美利坚合众国 春运=春节期间运输 人大=人民代表大会 高考=高等学校入学考试 防腐=防止腐败 2.3 Backformation Accordin
23、g to Adams()p105 backformation occurs when the formative process from base word to derived word is seen to be reversed: the more complex word comes first and then some element is subtracted from it, resulting in a pair of words which conforms with a base derived pattern already existing. It is not a
24、 major way of word formation, and in Chinese, it is rarely used. Examples: In English Write formed from writer Beg formed from beggar Hack formed from hacker In Chinese “黑” (hack) from “黑客”(hacker) “黑” (hack) in this case, however, could also be a conversion or new use of the word, as it originally
25、means black, bad. 2.4 Blending “Blending is a frequent and productive word-formation process that can be defined as follows: blending involves the coinage of a new lexeme by fusing parts of at least two other source words of which either one is shortened in the fusion and/or where there is some form
26、 of phonemic or graphemic overlap of the source words” (Gries, 2002, p.1). In English, blend words are made from parts of two words. In Chinese, this method is used in word-building rather than word formation. The topic of Chinese character building is not discussed here as it is beyond the ability
27、of the author, and is also irrelevant in the scope of this paper. English examples: Smog made from smoke and fog Brunch made from breakfast and lunch Motel made from motor and hotel 2.5 Compound Both Chinese and English have noun compounds, adjective compounds and verb compounds. One difference is i
28、n Chinese, “a compound can be formed by reduplication” (Lin, 2007, p.32). Another one is that Chinese verb compounds are very productive; while English has so few of them that Lin asserted “English doesnt have verbal compounds” (Lin, 2007, p.34). English : Noun compounds: freshwater lard-bucket land
29、ing gear rocket propelled grenade Adjective compounds: bighearted Bottle-green well-read open-minded Verb compounds: Breastfeed from breast and feed Browbeat from brow and beat Chinese: Noun compounds: 淡水(literally tasteless water) freshwater example of reduplication: 肥肥(literally fat fat) lard-buck
30、et 龙眼(literally dragon eye) longan 田鸡(literally field chicken) frog Adjective compounds: example of reduplication:茫茫(literally vast vast)vast example of reduplication:天天(literally day day) daily 美好(literally beautiful good)nice Verb compounds: 暗杀(literally secret kill) assassinate 打伤(literally hit h
31、urt) hurt somebody 丢脸(literally loose face) loose face example of reduplication:看看(literally look look)have a look 走失(literally walk lost) be lost 2.6 Conversion “When a word which has hitherto functioned as a member of one class undergoes a shift which enables it to function as a member of another,
32、 we have what is traditionally called “conversion” (Adams, 1973, p16). In Chinese linguistics, it is sometimes called the flexible use of words. According to Wang Li(唐作藩.p307), “the flexible use of words refers to one class of words are used temporarily as words of another class.” Compared with Engl
33、ish conversion, this method is rarely used except in ancient Chinese language, as modern Chinese conversion is rarely found by the author. English examples: The verb clean formed from the adjective clean. The +adjectives form a kind of people, like the rich, the poor, the ugly and the evil. Some Chi
34、nese examples from ancient Chinese language: 王is originally a noun, meaning king; Some times, it is used as a verb, meaning to become a king. 火is originally a noun, meaning fire; Some times, it is used as a verb, meaning to burn. 坑is originally a noun, meaning pit; Some times, it is used as a verb,
35、meaning to bury, or to bury alive. 法is originally a noun, meaning law; Some times, it is used as a verb, meaning to punish someone according to the law. 2.7 Borrowing Borrowing refers words borrowed from other languages. In this paper, it is roughly divided into three kinds, loan, calque and transli
36、teration. 2.7.1 Loan Loan words are word taken directly from another language without translation. Both languages seem to be able to borrow words directly from other languages that use similar word systems. English examples: Clich, caf borrowed from French. Blitzkrieg borrowed from German Vodka borr
37、owed from Russian Chinese examples: 寿司(Sushi) borrowed from Japanese 寿司. 电话(telephone)borrowed from Japanese電話(). 2.7.2 Calque Calque is a literal, word for word translation of the word from another language. Both Chinese and English use calques. English examples: Brain wash from Chinese 洗脑 Loss fac
38、e from Chinese 丢脸 Chinese examples: 闪电战(literally lightning war) from German blitzkrieg 白领White collar 蓝牙Bluetooth 2.7.3 Transliteration Transliteration refers to making words from other languages according to their pronunciation. English examples: Tai chi from Chinese Kung fu from Chinese Chinese e
39、xamples: 沙发from English word, sofa. 伏特加(Vodka) from English. 坦克from English tank 3 Achieving equivalence at word level in Chinese and English Having compared the word formation methods in Chinese and English, we can see they are mostly different except in a few special cases. Nevertheless, understan
40、ding the rules of word formation will still help translators immensely, firstly in their understanding of the original text, and secondly in making the target version more idiomatic. In general, one should pay most attention to the meaning of the word, rather than the form. 3.1 For affixations, a ge
41、neralized equation is impossible to be made between Chinese and English. The reason is Chinese is not an inflective language, as mentioned. Although some sporadic examples of equivalence can be found: -ism is mostly translated into 主义(a school, a doctrine or a theory) terrorism恐怖主义 capitalism资本主义 he
42、roism英雄主义 Counterevidence also exists, i.e. alcoholism酒精中毒, alienism精神病学, nomadism游牧生活. Therefore, it is very risky to assume English affixation can be translated into one or a few fixed words, and vice versa. But affixations do give the translators some idea about the class or the meaning of the wo
43、rds formed by affixation. Once having an idea about the class and the meaning of a word according to affixation, one can start to find the most idiomatic way of putting the word in the target language. 3.2 To achieve equivalence for abbreviation, the first step is to translate the original full name
44、, and then try to shorten it using the abbreviation rules of the target language. For example, in order to find the equivalent word for “上财”, one should first find its full name, which is 上海财经大学. And then, translate it into English, which is Shanghai University of Finance and Economy. At last, abbre
45、viate it according to English abbreviation rules, making it SHUFE. Similarly, the process of finding equivalence for OECD is “OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development 经济合作和发展组织 经合组织”. And it is acceptable if the target word can not be abbreviated. For instance: FBI Federal Bureau o
46、f Investigation联邦(Federal)+ 局(Bureau) + of + 调查(Investigation)联邦调查局(can not be abbreviated in Chinese). However, in many cases, especially in Chinese, the above mentioned way is not feasible. For example, 三资(literally means three kinds of enterprises) is often translated into “three types of foreign
47、-funded enterprises; i.e. contractual joint ventures; cooperative ventures and solely foreign-funded enterprises.” Here, a descriptive way of translation is used. Although the equivalence is a bit longer than the original, it perfectly conveys the original meaning. 3.3 Words formed from backformatio
48、n are relatively easy to translate. Their meanings are closely related to the original words. Example: to beg（乞讨） from beggar（乞丐） 3.4 For English words formed from blending, their Chinese equivalences are just formed by adding the translation of the two original English source words together. Examples: Smog=smoke + fog=烟(smoke)+雾(fog)=烟雾 Brunch= breakfast + lunch= 早餐(breakfast) + 午餐(lunch)=早