Aiguo Wang is Associate Professor and Director of the Linguistic Institute, Civil Aviation University of China. Besides his teaching of college intensive English, he is co-conducting research and studies on rhetoric for the Civil Aviation Administration of China. This research focuses on contrasting styles between East and West. Professor Wang is a co-author of the soon to be published books, "Olympic English for Cabin Attendants" and "Oral English on Campus." He obtained his BA and MA from Jilin University. pdf version
A Comparison of Word-Formation between
Chinese and English
Wang Aiguo
Civil Aviation University of China
Word-formation or word building is also known as morphology, which in
linguistics represents the study of construction rules of words. Through
studying and analyzing rules of Chinese and English word formation, both
Chinese L2 and English L2 learners can also enlarge their native language
vocabulary in addition to finding out the similarities and differences
between the two languages concerned. The specific learner target groups,
which could maximize such a contrastive approach will be left for others
to determine and is beyond the scope of this paper, but nevertheless may
represent a very worthwhile follow-up endeavor.
As early as the Qin Dynasty in China, scholars began to notice the construction
rules of Chinese words. Later in the Qing Dynasty, some works were written
to explicitly analyze the formation of Chinese words. "Ma Shi Wen
Tong" (Dr. Ma's Argument) by Ma Jianzhong is a milestone of Chinese
word study in ancient China. His opinion of "modifier + root >>
word" and "root + root >> word" was quite close to
that of modern Chinese linguists. After the "May 4 (1919) Movement",
more and more Chinese linguists began to study and analyze Chinese word-formation.
Many books have been written and published since1.
In 400 B.C., Indian linguist Panini described in detail how Sanskrit words
were formed in his grammar book, "Eight Chapter Book". His view
on word-formation had greatly influenced European lexicologists. However,
little progress had been made in the study of word-formation since the
time of Panini, though various questions were raised by scholars in the
18th and 19th centuries. This was shown from many aspects of word study
in the past centuries. One of the reasons was that study on word formation
(lexicology) was not as popular as linguistics in the beginning of the
20th century. Since 1916, Saussure's theory of synchronic and diachronic
linguistics has had a great impact in the field of modern linguistic,
yet its closely related subject of lexicology was simply put aside and
paid little attention. Linguists either focused on synchronic linguistics
as L. Bloomfield did or just adopted diachronic linguistics as Kozoid
did. In 1957, Noam Chomsky had his "Syntactic Structure" published,
and syntax became a focus at that time while other structuralists went
on with their studies on phonetics and morphology. In 1960, H. Marchand
published his influential book "The Categories and Types of Present-Day
English Word-Formation", in which he disregarded the synchronic and
diachronic approach to word study. During the 1980s, linguists conducted
their studies on word formation from different points of views: phonetic,
synchronic and semantic respectively. More linguists intended to find
out a universal grammar through their studies on the formation of words
(Laurie Bauer, 1983:2-6).
In 1980, Ren Xue-liang's book, "Chinese Word-formation," was
published by China Social Sciences Press. In this book, the author proposed
five approaches to word-coinage and word-formation: morphological approach,
syntactical approach, rhetorical approach, phonetic approach and synthetic
approach. Zhang Shou-kang, author of "A Brief Introduction to Chinese
Word-Formation", said that word-coinage and word-formation should
go hand in hand. All words coined in whatever way have certain structures
or follow certain rules (1983:104). This makes it possible for us to make
a contrast of word-formation between Chinese and English.
I. Compounds of Chinese and English
Chinese compounds 2,3
English compounds 4
In both Chinese and English, many words are formed by adding affixes to roots. Roots are actually content morphemes or cores, carrying with them lexical meanings. Affixes could be either functional (grammatical) or semantic (lexical).
1. Functional (grammatical/phonetic) affixes
In Chinese, functional affixes may phonetically help balance words in pronunciation. For example:
(1) prefix + root:
lao-: in lao hu (tiger), lao shu (mouse), lao shi (teacher), lao xiang (hometown fellow), lao zhang (Mr. Zhang), lao ye (grandfather), lao zei (old saying: bad guy).
a-: in a yi (aunt), a ge (brother), a mei (sister), a ba (father), a san (name of a person, usu. the third born son ).
(2) root + suffix
-zi: in lao zi (father), er zi (son), mao zi (hat), pang zi (fat man), dian zi (idea/proposal), pai zi (pat/rhythm), zhuo zi (desk), dao zi (knife), che zi (bike/car), hai zi (kid), tao zi (peach), li zi (plum).
In English, some suffixes are functional ones, they help change part of speech:
(1) nouns can be changed to adjectives by adding suffixes like "-al", "-ous", "-ful", etc. For example:
condition >> conditional, function >> functional, nation >> national;
danger >> dangerous, fame >> famous, courage >> courageous,
care >> careful, mouth >> mouthful, hand >> handful.
(2) verbs and adjectives can be changed to nouns by adding suffixes like "-tion", "-ness", "-cy", etc. For example:
generate >> generation, revolute >> revolution, evolve >> evolution,
precise >> preciseness, kind >> kindness, sad >> sadness, mad >> madness,
idiot >> idiocy, excellent >> excellency, bankrupt >> bankruptcy.
2. Semantic (lexical/content) affixes
Semantic affixes exist both in Chinese and English, they change the semantic meaning of words (Some semantic affixes in Chinese change both the meaning and part of speech, therefore, these affixes in Chinese are called semi-affixes).
(1) semi-affixes in Chinese:
A. prefixes (they are usu. productive, functional and oriented):
ci- (next to/poor): as in ci da lu (subcontinent), ci yao (less important), ci pin (poor quality product), ci ri (next day), ci qiexian (sub-tangent).
ya- (second to): as in ya wenhua (subculture), ya jun (silver medal winner), ya redai (subtropical), ya zu (sub-tribe), ya wendai (sub-temperate), ya liusuan (sulphurous acid).
fei- (not): as in fei zhengshi (informal), fei fa (illegal), fei guanfang (unofficial), fei jinshu (nonmetal), fei shengchan (nonproductive), fei junshihua (demilitarize).
fan- (againt): as in fan zhan (anti-war), fan geming (counterrevolutionary), fan gong (counterattack), fan bi (inverse ratio), fan dong (reactionary), fan kang (resist), fan she (reflex), fan shou (backhand), fan yi ci (antonym), fan su (countercharge), fan yu (irony), fan zuoyong (counteraction).
ban- (half/semi-): as in ban chengpin (semi-finished product), ban bian tian (half sky --- women in new China), ban daoti (semi-conductor), ban dao (peninsular), ban fengjian (semi-feudal), ban gongkai (semi-overt), ban guanfang (semi-official), ban jing (radius), ban qiu (semisphere), ban tian (half of a day), ban ye (midnight), ban zidong (semi-automatic), ban tu (midway).
dan- (single/one): as in dan yi (unitary), dan du (alone), dan bian (unilateral), dan cheng (one way), dan ci (a word), dan diao (monotonous), dan fei (solo flight), dan jia (unit price), dan ju (simple sentence), dan shu (odd number), dan xibao (unicellular), dan xiang (individual event), dan yuan (unit).
shuang- (double/two): as in shuang bian (bilateral), shuang ceng (double-deck), shuang chun yin (bilabial sound), shuang fang (both side), shuang gang (parallel bars), shuang hao (even numbers), shuang qin (parents), shuang shou (both hands), shuang yi ji (biplane), shuang yin jie (disyllable), shuang yue kan (bimonthly).
B. suffixes (they are also productive, functional and oriented)
-yuan (member/person): as in yan yuan (actor/actress), fuwu yuan (waiter/waitress), jiao yuan (teacher), dang yuan (Party member), chuishi yuan(cook), yao yuan (VIP), cheng yuan (member), zhi yuan (clerk), feixing yuan (pilot), jiashi yuan (driver), yanjiu yuan (researcher).
-min (person/folk): as in nong min (peasant), mu min (herdsman), yu min (fisherfolk), zai min (refugee), hui min (Hui nationality).
-xue (subject): as in wen xue (art), yuyan xue (linguistics), jingji xue (economics), shu xue (maths), wuli xue (physics), renlei xue (anthropology), hua xue (chemistry), shengwu xue (biology), shehui xue (sociology), kaogu xue (archeology), dongli xue (dynamics), tianwen xue (astronomy), zhe xue (philosophy).
(2) semantic affixes in English:
A. prefixes (prefixes modify the lexical meaning of the base. They do not generally alter the word-class of the base.)
un-(in-, im-, ir-, il-): as in unfair, unfamiliar, unusual, unofficial, unreasonable, inevitable, insecure, incapable, impossible, immovable, immature, irregular, irresistible, illegal, illiterate, illogical.
re-: as in recover, retell, revise, recount, recollect, reread, rewrite, rebirth, repeat.
semi-: as in semivowel, semi-infinite, semi-lunar, semi-metal, semi-manufactures, semi-desert, semi-dome, semi-annual, semi-proletariat, semiarid, semiautomatic.
super-: as in supermarket, superman, supernatural, super-conscious, super-conductive, super-cool, super-family, supersonic, superhighway, superheat.
tele-: as in telephone, telescope, telegram, telecommunication, television.
multi-: as in multilateral, multinational, multimedia, multi-vocal, multifunctional.
uni-: as in unilateral, universal, uniform, unicycle, unimodal, unisexual, univalent.
B. suffixes (most English suffixes change the word-class of the base, but some contain lexical meanings.)
-er (-or, -ee, -ist): as in worker, farmer, teacher, driver, lawyer, doctor, visitor, employer, employee, interviewer, interviewee, trainer, trainee, joker, scientist, socialist, capitalist, pianist, violinist, colonist, colonialist, chemist, linguist.
-less: as in careless, painless, stainless, joyless, hopeless, meaningless, useless, colorless, reasonless, childless, motherless, homeless, penniless, cheerless.
-man: as in postman, salesman, sportsman, workman, walkman, seaman, newsman, tradesman, marksman, merchantman, Frenchman, laundry-man, clergyman.
C. repetition of words to form new ones (this is somewhat a special way of word-formation in Chinese)5:
AA-style:
baba (father), mama (mother), gege (elder brother), didi (younger brother), jiejie (elder sister), meimei (younger sister), shushu/baibai/jiujiu (uncle), taitai (wife), xingxing (star/chimpanzee); cici (again and again), jianjian (piece by piece), tiantian (day by day), yueyue (month by month), niannian (year by year), jiajia (every household), huhu (every family); shuoshuo (to say), xiexie (to thank/write), tiaotiao (to jump), changchang (to sing), kankan (to see), zouzou (to walk).
ABAB-style:
taolun taolun (to have a discussion), canguan canguan (to pay a visit), duanlian duanlian (to take exercise), xuexi xuexi (to study), sikao sikao (to ponder)
Abbreviation is a way of word formation in the English language. It is also applicable in Chinese. But the word "simplification" or "word-clipping"could be a better one to denote abbreviation in Chinese. Let's take a look at the following words:
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries >> OPEC
Blending is a process of word-formation in which a new word is formed by combining the meanings and sounds of two words, one of which is not in it's full form or both of them are not in their full forms. Blends can be found both in English and Chinese, though the number of blends is smaller in the latter.
Conversion is also known as word-class shift or functional shift, it involves shifting a word from one part of speech to another without changing its form. Both Chinese and English have conversion in word-formation. Take the following Chinese sentences for example:
A. We can man 10 ships. (man: to provide men)
B. He plans to go to Japan. (plan: to make an arrangement)
C. John was orphaned at the age of six. (orphan: to become an orphan)
D. Please bottle some water for me. (bottle: to put into bottle)
Notice: Some adjectives in Chinese (not all of them) could be used as predicates in Chinese sentences while those in English could not. For example, we may say in Chinese:
("pride" will be used in English)
A. This is the school for the deaf and blind.
B. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. (from Inaugural Address by J. F. Kennedy)7.
VI. Mutual loans in Chinese and English
With the development of science and technology, with the increasing exchange of culture and ideology, languages will inevitably supplement each other, especially with their words and vocabulary. On the one hand, many Chinese words were assimilated into English and were generally accepted, on the other hand, even more English words came into the Chinese language. The English language is extensively acquired by citizens in China because advanced science and technology are gaining popularity, not only in China, but throughout the world. The following are Chinese loans from the English language:
1. phonetic translation:
bang (pound), su da (soda), qiao ke li (chocolate), se la (salad), san
ming zhi (sandwich), xie si di li (hysteria), ao lin pi ke (Olympic),
ji ta (guitar), ka tong (cartoon), tu teng (totem), sha fa (sofa), da
(dozen), ke long (clone), luo ji (logic), dun (ton), lei da (radar), ni
long (nylon), bai lan di (brandy), yin qing (engine), xian ling (shilling),
fei (fee), jia ke (jacket), ya pian (opium), ke ke (coco), xue jia (cigar),
mang guo (mango), kai si mi (cashmere), meng tai qi (montage), ka fei
(coffee), sha long (salon), fu te (volt), sang ba (samba), gai shi tai
bao (Gestapo), a liu shen (Aleutian), bai lao hui (Broadway), a la si
jia (Alaska), hua sheng dun (Washington), jia lun (gallon), di si ke (disco),
ba li (Paris), an fei ta ming (Amphetamine), ji pu (jeep), mai ke feng
(microphone), ni gu ding (Nicotine), bo yin (Boeing), ou pei ke (OPEC),
jia neng (canon). Besides there are many proper names of places and persons
as well as brands of companies are phonetically accepted by Chinese, such
as luo shan ji (Los Angeles), niu yue (New York), la si wei jia si (Las
Vegas), ke ling dun (Clinton), bu shi (Bush), li gen (Reagan), fu te (Ford),
sha shi bi ya (Shakespeare), hao lai wu (Hollywood), mai dang lao (Mcdonald's),
etc.
2. "phonetic + semantic" translation:
wu tuo bang (Utopia), ju le bu (club), you mo (humor), jian qiao (Cambridge),
wei ta ming (Vitamin), mo te'er (model), pu ke (poker), ai zi bing (AIDS),
pi jiu (beer), ka bin qiang (carbine), ka pian (card), tai fei tang (toffee),
di ke jia ting (dick), jiu ba (bar), che tai (tyre/tire), tuo kou xiu
(talk show), ba lei wu (ballet), gao'er fu qiu (golf), bin qi ling (ice-cream),
di shi (taxi), ba shi (bus), pai dui (party), lai fu qiang (rifle), sha
hu qiu (shuffle), hua'er jie (Wall street), xi pi shi (Hippie), di si
ni le yuan (Disneyland), han bao (hamburger), bei fo li shang zhuang (Beverly
Hill).
3. semantic translation:
ou yuan (Eurodollar), mei yuan (US dollar), ying bang (British Pound),
ou zhou zhai quan (Eurobond), kong zhong ke che (Airbus), niu jin (Oxford),
di guo zhu yi (imperialism), zhi min zhu yi (colonialism), sha wen zhu
yi (Chauvinism), fei zao ju (soap opera), qing jing xi ju (sitcom), fu
lun she (Rotary club), da xiao tiao (the Great Depression), shang lai
ti (sonnet), hong shi zi (Red Cross), dian shi (television), lan qiu (basketball),
shi bao (times), jiguang (laser), jiao xiang yue (symphony), gong hui
(trade union), mian bao (bread), zhi shang (IQ), hei ren (negro), mang
wen (Braille), ji du tu (Christian), sheng dan lao ren (Santa Claus),
xi li (baptism), sheng jing (Bible), jiao tang (church), qiao pai (bridge),
zong tong (president), yi wen bu ming (has no money to one's name).
Of course, many Chinese words also come into English.
1. phonetic translation:
jiaozi , kow-tow, weiqi, majiang, tea, congou (tea), pekoe (tea), hyson
(tea), oolung (tea), silk, pongee (silk), shantung (silk), Beijing, yamen,
litchi, coolie, cumquat (orange), ginseng (herb medicine), loquat (musical
instrument), gaoliang (crop), chop suey (food), chow mein (fried noodle),
gongfu (martial arts), sampan (deck), suanpan (Chinese calculator), cumshaw
(thank), chin chin (please), tong (hall), kang (bed), mu (measurement
of land), liang, jin (measurement of weight), li (measurement of distance),
yuan.8
2. semantic translation:
bean curd, soya sauce, steamed bun, spring roll, moon cake, chopsticks,
Chinese rose, Chinese yam, China grass, horoscope, mandarin duck, panda,
phoenix, chilin, gold fish, joss house (temple), incense, fire-craker,
monk, tael, yellow jackey, acupuncture9,
cupping, empty word, sworn brother, big character posters, tung oil, brick
tea, Beijing Opera, Confucius, Daoism, Buddha10.
Mutual loans in the two languages are not as many as mutual loans, say
between French and English or between German and English. This is because
Chinese and English belong to different language systems. Another reason
is that China had carried out a"lock door" policy for a long
time, especially in the Qing Dynasty. Thus a language barrier was formed
and cultural exchange terminated as well. But after the open policy was
carried out, modern Chinese are striving to develop China's economy, and
to catch up with advanced technology in the Western World. The Chinese
language is also regaining its own prestige after a long-time depression.
Conclusion:
Through a detailed comparison of word-formation between the two languages,
we can see that similarity exists between the two although they belong
to different writing systems, one is graphic and the other alphabetic,
one is inflectional (English) while the other is not. Both languages have
compounds, affixations, conversions, blends, abbreviations and loans.
They are more or less similar to each other in word formation. In the
past many Chinese words were borrowed by the English language, but in
the modern age, more and more English words are coming into the Chinese
language. What all this tells us is that science and technology are leading
human society forward, and the world is making progress in various ways,
and that language (vocabulary in this connection) is in constant change
so that it keeps pace with the development of human society.
References:
2. Zhang Dihua, 1979.7, Modern Chinese, Anhui People's Press, Anhui Province.
3. Shi Xiyao, 1984.11, Modern Chinese, Beijing Normal University Press, Beijing.
4. Zhang Yunfei & Zhou Xiqing1987.6, An Introduction to Modern English Lexicology, Beijing Normal University Press, Beijing.
5. Wang Yannan, 1989.4, A Concise Course of Modern Chinese, Higher Education Press. Shanghai
6. Wang Aiguo , 1997. 2, "A comparison of Word-formation between English and Chinese", Journal of Civil Aviation University of China, Tianjin
7. Zhang Hanxi, 1995.6, Advanced English, Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, Beijing, China
8. Xu Yulong, 2001, Contrastive Linguistics, Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, Shanghai
9. Stuart C. Poole, 2000.7, An Introduction to Linguistics, Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, Beijing
10. Liu Runqing, 1995.4, Schools of Linguistics, Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, Beijing.
Author:
Wang Aiguo associate professor of linguistics, Civil Aviation University
of China, M. A Applied Linguistics.
Email: kevinerau@yahoo.com
Postal address: College of Humanity and Social Sciences, Civil Aviation
University of China, Tianjin City, P.R. China.
Postal code: 300300