A Corpus-based Genre and Language Feature Analysis of Chinese and English Linguistics and Literature Article Abstracts

1
A Corpus-based Genre and Language Feature
Analysis of Chinese and English Linguistics and
Literature Article Abstracts

• Fan Chunxiang
• Zhengzhou University
• School of Foreign Languages

2

• Literature review
• Objective
• Method
• Result
• Conclusion

3
Literature review

• Teng Zhenru and Tan Wancheng (2004)
• Lu Yuanwen (2009)
• He Yuyin and Cao Zhenzhen (2010)
• Li Qingming and Zhang Min (2012)
• Yan Meijuan (2011) and Shi Wenxia(2008)
• Chen Ruina(2011) and Ye Ning(2008)
• Li Yanfang (2009) and Wang Zhou (2008)

4
Objective

• the regular usage pattern of the language in
  Chinese and English linguistic and literature
  article abstracts
• the language traits of Chinese and English
  linguistic and literature article abstracts

5
Method

• a self-built corpus by collecting the abstract of
  some essays on linguistics and literature (252
  Chinese and English abstracts respectively)
  (Foreign Language, China Scientific Translation,
  Foreign Language Learning, Modern Foreign
  Language, Journal of Linguistics, Language
  Teaching Research, Language Learning, The Modern
  Language Journal)
• the corpus-driven approach
• The AntConc

6
Result

• The analysis on the generic structural potential
  (GSP) of Chinese and English linguistic and
  literary article abstracts
• Table 1
• Table 2
• Table 3

7
Result

• Summary of the GSP
• The generic structural potential (GSP) of Chinese
  linguistic and literary article abstracts
• IPMRC, among the 5 moves, the purpose and the
  conclusion are the basic elements, the
  introduction, method and the result moves are
  optional. The frequency of the result move is the
  least and that of the introduction is relatively
  higher.
• The generic structural potential (GSP) of English
  linguistic and literary article abstracts
• IPMRC, among the 5 moves, the purpose, method and
  the conclusion are the basic elements, the
  introduction and the result are optional. But the
  frequency of result move in English is 66, which
  means most English abstracts will have the result
  move.

8
Result

• The language features of Chinese and English
  article abstracts
• 1. The use of the first person
• Table 4
• Table 5
• Analysis of the use of the first person

9
Result

• 2. The use of the passive voice
• Table 6
• Analysis of the use of the passive voice

10
Conclusion

• From the above analysis on the generic structural
  potential (GSP) of Chinese and English linguistic
  and literature article abstracts we can easily
  see the difference between the two languages,
  which will be a help to Chinese academic article
  writers. The writers know how to write a good
  abstract, both Chinese and English, and catch
  more publishing opportunities. After all, the
  authoritative magazines attach much more
  importance to the high quality abstracts. There
  are some writers who will publish their papers in
  the foreign magazines and a high quality English
  abstract is necessary.
• The above analysis on the language features of
  Chinese and English article abstracts makes us
  know the difference of the first person and the
  passive voice between Chinese and English. It can
  help us make a good translation to Chinese
  abstracts and keep pace with the English ones.
• However, we should not, at the same time, ignore
  the difference between the Chinese and the
  English culture. Wed better, in abstract
  writing, operate on the principle that we try our
  best to keep pace with the international pattern
  while not ignoring our own culture (Teng Tan,
  2004). Therefore, we can exactly and timely
  convey our messages to the readers with a high
  quality abstract.

11
Bibliography

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Thank You!