Contrastive linguistics英汉对比研究概念.doc

Contrastive linguistics 对比语言学 a branch of linguistics which studies two or more languages synchronically, with the aims of discovering their differences and similarities(especially the former) and applying these findings to related areas of study. Particular attention should be paid to similarity on surface but difference in nature. Contrastive linguistics is also known as “contrastive analysis”(CA) or “contrastive studies? These three terms are largely interchangeable. a a linguistic system is made up of many layers or levels. These layers or levels are often considered to form a scale or hierarchy from lower levels containing the smallest linguistic units to higher levels containing larger linguistic units. So we have, from the lowest to the highest, such levels as phonetic level, phonological level, morphemic level, lexical level, syntactic level, textual level and pragmatic level. Features of the two types Theoretical Contrastive Study . It is language independent. . It looks for universal categories in languages. Applied Contrastive Study It is language dependent. It is part of applied linguistics. The major task of it is to identify probable areas of difficulty. Psychological base of CA is behaviorism which was introduced by skinner which viewed first language acquisition as the formation of new habits acquired through repetition and strengthened by the reinforcement of correct responses. Linguistic base of CA is structural linguistics which believed that first learning may interfere second learning. tertium comparationis (TC) 共同对比基础/第三对比项/中间对比项 TC: a third thing related in some way to two things: sth. intermediate between two things – criterion for comparison; common basis on which comparison can be made; presupposed similarity between languages against which differences can be meaningfully stated. A synthetic language is “characterized by frequent and systematic use of inflected forms to express grammatical relationships” 人工语言 Deri