Abstracts of Major Papers in This Issue

“LanguageMystery”and“FormsofLife”:AComparativeStudyBetweenWittgensteinandChomsky, by FAN Lianyi, p.10

Chomsky divides language research into two different categories: solvable language problems and unsolvable mysteries.The former is made up of inner language and the latter about the creative use of it.Linguists can make an effort to find the inner language, but they can never know how it can be creatively used.But according to Wittgenstein, human’s linguistic capacity, whether it is inner or outer, is based on its forms of life.There is no mystery in it.Chomsky’s concept of inner language cannot be explicitly defined, even if it does exist.It can only be a kind of tacit knowledge, based on which human carries on different language activities.

ChineseSeparableVerbsandConstructionGrammar, by MA Yulei & TAO Mingzhong, p.14

The separable verbs in Chinese are constructions on the level of word, and they are holistic and gestalt.The combinatory form and the discontinuous form of a separable verb are the variants of a lexeme.In order to draw a clear line between bound morphemes, words and phrases, this paper holds that the bound morpheme in a separable verb is still bound when the verb is split into a discontinuous form, and that the bound morpheme can act as the predicate or the core element of the subject or the object of a sentence.Accordingly, the paper advances the concepts of adjacent binding and non-adjacent binding.

SchematicNetworkorConceptualNetwork:CognitiveNetworksandTheirExplanatoryForces, by LV Jingjing & TANG Shuhua, p.18

Based on the usage-based model and the recognition of language as integrated with common cognitive faculties, the schematic network of Cognitive Grammar can explain the motivated systematicity of meaning relatedness and the continuity of lexicon, morphology and grammar.The conceptual network, the latest development of Word Grammar, is built on The Network Postulate: Language is a conceptual network.Taking account of the criticisms network models encountered recently, this paper aims to compare the network models, discover their similarities and differences, display the respective theoretical consequences and most importantly, their explanatory forces and applications.

SemanticProsodyandItsTranslation:ACaseStudyofRendering“trulyexceptional”inChinese, by CHEN Xinren, p.24

Starting from the controversy over the official Chinese translation of “truly exceptional” in Roge’s formal evaluation of Beijing Olympic Games, this paper addresses three major issues common to lexical translation: semantic prosody of lexical items, emotive intensity of the prosody, and criteria for translating some special lexical items.It is argued from the perspective of lexical pragmatics that neutral lexical items may acquire a certain semantic prosody owing to the evaluative use of them; that the assessment of the emotive intensity of the prosody needs to be made in relation to the system of semantically related words as well their co-text and takes into account the semantic depreciation owing to repeated use of the lexical items in question; and that the translation of some special lexical items must be based on contextual factors rather than on dictionary definitions alone.

TheDesignofImaginarinessinTranslation, by JIANG Qingsheng, p.28

This paper holds that the imperfection of language facilitates a tension of imaginariness and representation in a text/discourse.To translate in an either excessively informative or shallow (uninformative) way will damage the tension of the source language.Therefore, we hold that before translating, to enrich all the possible details (relevant pragmatic enrichment) of the source language is an effective way for a translator to be sure of what should be translated and what should be given up so that the translation will keep well the tension of imaginariness and representation of the original text.

InconformityofTranslationModalityinEnglishandChineseEmotionalClassifierMetaphors:APragma-cognitivePerspective, by ZHANG Qingrui, p.34

The article interprets the motivation underlying modal inconformity of metaphors in English and Chinese emotional classifiers from a pragma-cognitive perspective.Paradigmatically, emotional classifier metaphors conform to the same/similar model Number+Classifier+(of)+Head at large.And syntagmatically, there is inconformity/inequality in the two languages.English is unitarily represented by the general model ‘Number+Classifier+(of)+Head’ whereas Chinese follows the multi-mode: the head modified by no modifier, by only one modifier with or without a marker.In other words, Chinese multimodality can be embodied by the flexibility of insertion ofde(的) within the classifier construction.It is found that the modal incongruity of English and Chinese emotional classifier metaphors results from interaction of the interpreter’s cognitive projection onto language, his cognitive proximity iconicity, his pragma-cognitive knowledgeability/sophistication, and the interaction of the different cultural genes of the two languages concerned.Noticeably, the interpreter’s “cognitive projection onto language” is the general inferring impetus; the “cognitive proximity iconicity” and “pragma-cognitive knowledgeability” make the internal driving forces, and different “cultural genes” work as an exterior catalyst.Furthermore, the article forges translation view of cognitive construction in terms of classifiers.

TheConstructionofaDynamicModelforFLTeaching, by ZHANG Weidong, p.38

Both“teacher-centered” and “student-centered” teaching methods are misguided by the logos-centralism.The present paper holds that foreign language teaching process is dynamic and socialized.It follows that the teaching of a foreign language focuses not only on the accuracy and scientificity of the teaching media, but also more on the combination and human culture of the subject and object, except the differences between the teacher and the student.First of all, we should not ignore essential human factors when the subject and the object mean the specific ones.The construction of a dynamic model in foreign language teaching is explored and the factors that contributed to the quality of teaching are identified and illustrated, and the plurality of research is put forward.

Corpus,Chunk,andTheme-basedCollegeEnglishAudio-visual-and-oralTeaching, by WANG Ying, p.41

Based on both Schema Theory and Lexical Approach, a teaching experiment was carried out to explore the influences of concordancing and chunk teaching on students’ listening and speaking with the application of New Horizon College English (NHCE) Corpus.The results of the experiment and interviews show that concordancing and chunk teaching can improve students’ listening and speaking competence.

ConstructingBusinessEnglishCurriculumfortheCultivationofInternationalizedTalents, by SONG Nana, p.45

As an important means of cultivating internationalized and interdisciplinary talents, the teaching of Business English has drawn increasing attention from educational researchers, both theoretically and practically.By looking into the developmental tendencies of Business English education as demonstrated in the waves of economic globalization, and by analyzing the status quo of the Business English teaching in some world-renowned universities, this paper formulates the curriculum systems that accord with both current situations of various universities and the international standards.It is concluded that three elements including the language learning, business know-how and cross-cultural knowledge should be integrated into Business English curriculum and the teaching should focus on the application of language in business scenarios.

AnESPTeachingRoadforaCollegeEnglishTeacher:AnAnalysisfromthePerspectiveofSCM, by TANG Jin, p.49

Self-confrontation Method (SCM), the self-investigation method can provide an idiographic measure of the relationship between individual’svaluationandaffectby an analysis of self-narrative, which yields both quantitative and qualitative data.The SCM was used to study the notion and emotion change of an EGP (English for general purposes) teacher to become an ESP (English for special purposes) teacher.In addition, the process of his self-development was analyzed.College English teachers were also encouraged to study a second major for their self-development in the article.Furthermore, an ESP teacher with the capability of undertaking bilingual teaching would be more likely to gain students’ recognition.

Eco-translatologicalViewofWangZuoliang’sTranslationThoughts, by DENG Ke & MENG Fanjun, p.55

Wang Zuoliang is regarded as an important scholar and translator in the history of literary translation in China in the 20th century.Though not systematically developed, Wang’s perspective of translation studies, in terms of Eco-translatology, experienced four turns: (1) stylistic turn; (2) cultural turn; (3) anthropological turn; and (4) ecological turn.This is not only a reflection of his extension of vision, but also an integral result of his selection by adapting to the changing translational environment.The purpose of his adaptation/selection is to achieve the “harmonious unity” of translational eco-systems.

CulturalCommunicationandTranslationofChineseintheContextofGlobalization:APerspectiveofReceptionTheory, by TONG Pinsheng, p.61

Translators of Chinese culture into another would shoulder more responsibility for Chinese cultural globalization and world view establishment.This requires a cultural translation and communication turn from a passive and aphasic posture to an aggressive attitude to Chinese discourse construction, giving up the translation tradition of “importing” and “exporting”.Instead, active and self-conscious participation in the global communicating process in acceptable ways can inform the world of the great achievements and perennial vigor of Chinese culture.Consequently Chinese cultural translation will abandon the disputes over “faithfulness” and start the practice of effective conveyance in the process of multicultural interaction.

AnotherWayofBeing“Modern”:ACaseStudyofLeonardWoolf, by LI Boting, p.66

“Modernism” was used to describe the various radical literary experiments of the first half of the 20thcentury, but has in recent years been gradually replaced by “modern”, which refers to almost all the literary activities happening at the time.Leonard Woolf, husband of Virginia Woolf, himself writer, political theorist, journalist, editor, publisher and autobiographer, can facilitate an understanding to the shift of the definition.His extensive involvement in publishing, editing and book reviewing in the 1920s as well as his participation in the “brow” debate and the debate about “tradition” and “experiment”, both arousing controversy among contemporary writers and critics, reveal that the seemingly contradictory tendencies of the “tradition” and “experiment”, or the “conservative” and the “radical” might very well be contingent and productive aspects of the “modern”.

MulticulturalityofBattleHymnoftheTigerMother:AConceptualMetaphorPerspective, by ZHOU Ning & ZHANG Yibo, p.72

On the basis of the theory of conceptual metaphor, Amy Chua’sBattleHymnoftheTigerMotheris metaphorically analyzed from two of its three main categories: structural metaphor and ontological metaphor, in which four perspectives are under detailed discussion: the “animal metaphor” of mother and daughter image, the “battle metaphor” of mother and daughter relationship, the “spiral-interweaving metaphor” of narrative structure, and the “iceberg metaphor” of Chinese American literature.From this the multiculturalism is revealed and multicultural integration is as well probed into.