My View on China English—China English As a Member of World Englishes

李園園 張思思

【Abstract】China English is different from Chinese English， or Chinglish. This paper tries to analyze the features of China English， and the differences between China English and Chinese English. In the authors opinion， China English is used as a member of the world Englishes and it will more greatly further developed and accepted by more people in the English-speaking countries. Meanwhile， it will influence the English language in the future.

【Key words】China English Chinglish； English Development； linguistic

【作者簡介】李園園，新疆工程學院公共基礎學院；張思思，新疆警察學院外語教研室。

1. Introduction of the China English

China English does exist as a kind of English language used mainly by Chinese people. However， nowadays， it is also used everywhere. And a lot of words from China English have entered into English. So it is also used in the English language today. China English has several distinguished features and it is very useful for the Chinese people to express their authentic thoughts or ideas in an acceptable way.

1.1 The definitions of China English

Generally speaking， China English refers to the English （mainly used by Chinese） to express things of Chinese characteristics， and it is considered to be different from Chinese English， or Chinglish. Here below， some of the definitions raised by famous Chinese scholars will be reviewed and studied.

Since the concept of China English was first put forward by Ge Chuangui in 1980s. Discussions about it have never stopped. The definition and the standard of China English has always been intensively discussed. A number of scholars have proposed their definitions of China English from their particular perspective. China English has normative English as its core. Wang Rongpei holds that the definition of China English should cover the following three points：

（1） China English is used by Chinese people in Chinese land

（2） China English has Standard English as its core

（3） China English has Chinese features

However， Li Wenzhong disagrees with Wang Rongpeis definition of China English. Li Wenzhong （1993） maintains that China English is not only used in native China. He argues that quite a few Chinese borrowings have entered the English languages and become part of it by transliteration and loan translation. e.g. Tea， kowtow， Great Leap Forward ， long time no see， and so on.

1.2 The authors view toward China English

The above definitions should be combined with each other， and a comprehensive definition is needed according to todays language development. And the features of the China English could be summed up as follows：

（1） China English is used in both native China and English-speaking countries；

（2） China English has Standard English as its core； meanwhile， China English has Chinese features；

（3） China English is a transfer variety of English affected by Chinese culture， and it is one member of the worlds Englishes.

1.3 Definition of Chinglish：

According to Deng Yanchang，（鄧炎昌1988：115）， Chinglish is speech or writing in English that shows the interference of influence of Chinese. Some sentences may be little or more than word or word translations of Chinese expressions. Chinglish may be grammatically correct， but the choice of words or phrases and the manner of expression do not conform to Standard English usage. Although understanding may not be a problem， Chinglish is unacceptable.

The phrase “Chinese English” is listed in the book International English Usage authored by British scholar Todd and American scholar Hancock （1986） who expounds Chinese English in the aspects of phonology， lexicon and grammar. Chinese English originated from Chinese Pidgin English. Pidgin is the cultural production of colonization and semi-colonization. It forms during the course of the acquiring Eruopean languages by natives and also bases on aboriginal languages.

As mentioned above， Chinglish is a deformed language with the unstable composition ad narrow use scope. It usually causes misunderstanding and barriers in Chinas international communication and culture spreading. China English is different from Chinese English.

2. The Relationship between China English and Standard English

2.1 What is the Standard English？ & the present development of English

Though there have been arguments about the definition of ‘Standard English， English is now used as a common medium for international communication， which is also called a Lingua Franca. And the Standard English nowadays mainly refers to the English spoken and used by the Englishmen and the Americans. A study shows that as many as 2 billion people are now capable of using English to different degrees， non-native speakers comprising more than two thirds of its potential speakers， heavily outnumbering the native speakers by the end of 20th century （Todd 1995： 41）

2.2 The influences on English language from China English

According to the statistic， there is one Chinese out of each four people in the world， so China English surely contributes a lot to the English languages development. Except for the words having already entering the English language as mention above in 3.1， there are also many other words are now accepted and used by the people from English-speaking countries. Like： paper tiger， running dog， etc.

3. Features of China English from three perspectives

As we all know， a lot of words in Chinese can not be directly translated into English， or we just cannot find a suitable word in English to describe them. Here below will show some examples of China English.

3.1 From the lexical perspective：

The lexical features of China English are mainly shown in the Chinese borrowings entering into English. And these words of China English just enriched the English language. As early as in the 1800s， some words with specific Chinese features have already entered the English language. And since then， a lot of words and phrases in China English are directly transliterated from Chinese Putonghua and other dialects especially Cantonese. For instances，

一國兩制-one country， two systems； 衙門-yamen； 炒面-chowmein；

功夫-gongfu/kungfu； 茅臺-maotai；大躍進-great leap forword；

四個現代化-four modernization； 風水-feng shui， 麻將-mahjong， 氣功-qigong，etc.

3.2 From the syntactical perspective：

China English at the syntactic level bears the influence from the way of Chinese thinking and Chinese sentences structures. Some noticeable syntactic features of China English are：

English is a language of hypo taxis while Chinese is a language of parataxis.

Hypo taxis refers to that the sentences are structures by the grammatical relations， and “parataxis” refers to that the sentences are organized by the logic relations. Some Chinese sentences are usually taking the short forms to make concise， and thus these sentences also influences China English， and so China English also has a lot of short sentence forms. For examples：

一個世界，一個夢想-One world， One Dream

我參與，我奉獻，我快樂。- I join， I offer， I enjoy

（2） The way of thinking in English and that in Chinese are noticeably shown in their language linear sequence.

The English thinking sequence reflecting necessary elements is： the subject of action-the action of subject-the object of action-the various marks of action. Shown in English linear sequence is： subject-predicate-object-various adverbials.

Comparatively， Chinese linear sequence will be： subject-adverbial-predicate-object or： adverbial-subject- predicate-object or： adverbial- subject- predicate-object. For instance， 周三我們有四節課。The English version will be： We have four classes on Wednesday. But in China English， the sentence will more probably be written like this： Wednesday we have four classes.

3.3 From the perspective of discourse

At present， the study of China English at discourse level is the weakest among the linguistic aspects of China English. （姜亞軍，杜瑞清，2001： 40） And China English does have different writing habit from the British and American people in the aspect of information structure. And it has its own distinguished features. According to the authors， the information structures from Chinese letters and English letters are as follows：

Chinese letters： （1） Facework； （2） Reason for request； （3） Request（s）； （4） Sign off；

English letters： （1） Request（s）； （2） Reasons for request； （3） Facework； （4） Sign off. （姜亞軍，杜瑞清，2003： 28-29）

Chinese often carry on their own cultures or methods in writings. In some aspects， it is beneficial to reserve it. However， the people from English-speaking countries prefer to write articles coming straight to the point.

4. Conclusion

First of all， China English will get further developed in the future， and it will certainly bring more China-specific words into English as time goes and intercultural communication between China and English-speaking Countries develops.

Secondly， we should try to maintain the effective way of using China English. And China English is a tool to present the Chinese culture， history and politics. And it is certainly a necessary part of the world Englishes and a supplementary of Standard English.

Last but not least， China English and the English language will mutual-enrich and interacts each other in the future. There are not only words from English but also more borrowings into English from China English， like 人山人海-people mountain， people sea， this phrase was once considered as a Chinglish word， however， it now becomes popular in the United States. We can conclude that， more and more China-specific words will enter into English language and used even everywhere in the world through speaking in English， especially-China English！

References：

[1]杜瑞清，姜亞軍.近二十年“中國英語”研究書評[J].外語教學與研究，2001：33，38-40.