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Speaking Idiomatically: A Choice in Information Structuring
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Paper Proposal for 2008 ACTFL Convention
Paper presenter:
Alan Aimin Li
Affiliated institution:
Dartmouth College
Email:
a lan.a.
## email not listed ##
dartmouth
.edu
Phone:
617-484-2345
Speaking Idiomatically: A Choice in Information Structuring
An important goal for language teaching is to get students to speak the target language not only grammatically but also idiomatically. Very often idiomaticity lies in cultural appropriateness in language use. But there are also other parameters that affect idiomaticity of language use. One of them is the native speaker’s habitual way of thinking embedded in information structuring. This is the topic that this paper discusses, namely, the linguistic difference between Chinese and English in ways of message packaging. Chinese and English speakers employ different syntactic resources to present the focus of message in a sentence. While the predication of a sentence is usually centered around a NOMINAL structure in English, it is typically packaged in a VERBAL phrase in Chinese. That is, the focal point or the message of a sentence is often expressed in a noun phrase in English but in a verbal phrase in Chinese, as illustrated in the following examples:
He dialed a wrong number.
他打错了号码。
We had a good time.
我们玩儿得很高兴
。
There are too many people there.
那儿人太多了。
Give me another one.
再给我一个。
She is a good singer.
她唱歌唱得很好。
That’s good timing.
来得正巧。
I have had a long day.
我今天
累极了。
We had great fun in Disney.
迪斯尼真好玩。
Have a nice weekend.
周末愉快。
A discussion of such a difference between the two languages is not only useful for translation, but also has pedagogical implications for language learning. As mentioned at the beginning of this proposal, information structuring typically pertains to the issue of idiomaticity, or the naturalness of the sentence. Very often we see students produce sentences that are grammatically acceptable but conventionally anomalous, such as
核电站对环境有不大的危害（对环境危害不大）如果你有汽车，汉诺威是一个住得很好的地方（住在汉诺威很不错）.
When students try to use the target language creatively, they tend to unconsciously transfer the habitual ways of information structuring in their native language to the language they are learning. Awareness of such a patterned difference between English and Chinese can help the teacher identify the cause of their students’ problem and come up with effective solutions. This paper will also give an analysis of the syntactic characters of this difference, and discuss its pedagogical applications.
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Paper Proposal for 2008 ACTFL Convention
Paper presenter:
Alan Aimin Li
Affiliated institution:
Dartmouth College
Email:
Phone:
617-484-2345
Speaking Idiomatically: A Choice in Information Structuring
An important goal for language teaching is to get students to speak the target language
not only grammatically but also idiomatically. Very often idiomaticity lies in cultural
appropriateness in language use. But there are also other parameters that affect
idiomaticity of language use. One of them is the native speaker’s habitual way of
thinking embedded in information structuring. This is the topic that this paper discusses,
namely, the linguistic difference between Chinese and English in ways of message
packaging. Chinese and English speakers employ different syntactic resources to present
the focus of message in a sentence. While the predication of a sentence is usually
centered around a NOMINAL structure in English, it is typically packaged in a VERBAL
phrase in Chinese. That is, the focal point or the message of a sentence is often expressed
in a noun phrase in English but in a verbal phrase in Chinese, as illustrated in the
following examples:
He dialed a wrong number.
他打错了号码。
We had a good time.
我们玩儿得很高兴
。
There are too many people there.
那儿人太多了。
Give me another one.
再给我一个。
She is a good singer.
她唱歌唱得很好。
That’s good timing.
来得正巧。
I have had a long day.
我今天
累极了。
We had great fun in Disney.
迪斯尼真好玩。
Have a nice weekend.
周末愉快。
A discussion of such a difference between the two languages is not only useful for
translation, but also has pedagogical implications for language learning. As mentioned at
the beginning of this proposal, information structuring typically pertains to the issue of
idiomaticity, or the naturalness of the sentence. Very often we see students produce
sentences that are grammatically acceptable but conventionally anomalous, such as
核电站对环境有不大的危害（对环境危害不大）
如果你有汽车，汉诺威是一个住得很好的地方（住在汉诺威很不错）.
When students try to use the target language creatively, they tend to unconsciously
transfer the habitual ways of information structuring in their native language to the
language they are learning. Awareness of such a patterned difference between English
and Chinese can help the teacher identify the cause of their students’ problem and come
up with effective solutions. This paper will also give an analysis of the syntactic
characters of this difference, and discuss its pedagogical applications.
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