2020年重庆自考00838语言与文化复习资料（9）

       以下是“2020年重庆自考00838语言与文化复习资料（9）”由重庆成人教育网为考生们提供整理，考生在考前多看重庆自考复习资料"，多背重点，更容易通过考试，拿到高分。

        Speaking styles

        Since English is learned not only to receive and produce written messages In English but to provide and seek information encoded in oral English as well, Chinese learners of English are expected to master both the oral and written forms of the language. Oral language in manners of production. The speaker has available to him the whole range of body language( voice qualities, facial expressions, postures, gestures, etc.) so his speech must be interpreted in relation to body language that accompanies his speech.

          The syntax of spoken language is typically much less structured than that of written language:

          In spoken language the speaker is often less explicit that the writer.

          In spoken language heavily premodified noun phrases are rare. And there is a stong tendency to structure short chunks of speech so that only one predicate is attached to one subject.

          In spoken language it is quite common to find what is called topic-comment structure.

          In spoken language passives are rare.

          In conversations about the immediate environment, the speaker can rely on the environment

          In speech the speaker may replace or refine expressions as he goes along

          The speaker typically uses a lot of rather generalized vocabulary.

          The speaker frequently repeats the same syntactic form several times over.

          The speaker may produce a large number of “fillers”, “well” etc.

        These are major features of oral English that distinguish it from written English.

        It included: frozen: used by public orators, for example, astatesman delivering a public speech about politics or a clergyman about religious affairs.

                  Formal: for audiences too large for effective interchange with the speaker, as lectures by college professors, or scholarly talks at academic conference.

                  Consultative: for conducting most business matters, but not among close friends. Such conversations tends to be more or less spontaneous.

                   Casual: for conversations between close friends, colleagues or classmates about topics that are not serious.

                   Intimate: used among family members or very close friends. Intimate language is completely spontaneous with hardly any restraint.

The style one chooses for one’s speech depends on a number of factors, including:

        One’s interlocutors: who one’s interlocutors are and how one is related to them.

        The topic: other things being equal, one tends to be more formal when talking about serious topics than about serious topics than about causal topics.

        The setting or environment: other things being equal, one tends to be more formal in public places than where there is no eaversdropper.

        Topics for consideration

        Chapter 9 Culture in Varieties of English

        Regional dialects: American English has New England dialect, southern dialect, New York dialect, General American, among others. Each have their own linguistic feature that cannot be found or are rarely found in the English language spoken in Great Britain or any other English speaking countries.

        The pronunciation difference between AmE and BrE:

        when it occurs before[ns], as in “glance/france/chance”

        when it occurs before[nt]or [nd], as in “can’t / advantage/command/demand”

        when it occurs before the word final [s][sp][st]or [sk], as in “pass/class/grasp/last/ask”

        when it occurs before (si) or (f), as in “path/half/craft”

        Wh  in AmE pronounce [hw], and [w] in BrE

        Er   in AmE pronounce [e:r], and [a:] in BrE

Lexical differences between American and british English are not limited to spelling. When referring to the same objects or concepts, the Americans and Englishmen may use different words.

American and british English are to varieties of the english language. They are of equal status and influence each other. The differences between them are mainly phonological and lexical in nature. Although there are grammatical difference as well, they are not so salient as phonological and lexical in nature. Although there are grammatical differences as well, they are not so salient as phonological and lexical differences and therefore they will not be discussed here.

        Registers

        English advertising

        It is included:

        advertising is nonpersonal. It assumes that the general public rather than some individuals are the potential readers.

        Advertising aims at conveying information about products, service or ideas are available

        Advertising is meant to persuade people to buy what is advertised.

        Advertisement appears in newspapers, magazines, over radio or television.

           Advertisement English differs from other varieties of English in many ways. It has for, example, phonetic, lexical, grammatical and semantic feature that are rarely found in most of the other varieties of the English language.

          English and Chinese advertising differ in what can be advertised. In English medicines cannot be advertised. In most, if not all, of English speaking countries most medicines are sold according to doctor’s prescriptions. Without doctor’s prescriptions people can buy only some ordinary medicine. But we can buy many kinds of medicines in chinese’s medicine stores without prescriptions. And in English speaking countries, prostitution is legal. They can advertise by the media. In English speaking countries domestic service is frequently advertised.

        Brand names

        Brand names are an important part of the products in advertisement. As we all now, English brand names can by their designers or manufactures. Chinese is same. A large portion of brand names in English advertising are newly invented words or coinages,

        Another distinctive feature of English brand names is that many of them sound exotic, being words borrowed from other cultures. In china brand names of exotic flavour are also popular. Some English brand names seem to be a great shock to people, especially the serious Chinese people. For example, crocodile(shirt.) in contrast, the Chinese designers and manufactures often adopt brand names that create pleasant images in people’s mind. Such as “春兰”“竹叶青”。Many Chinese products bear place brand names. For example: “北京”“上海”. Some brand names are neutral or positive in meaning in Chinese culture but pejorative in English culture. “白象牌电池/蝙蝠牌电扇”. 

        Lexical and syntactic features

        Westerners like to seek novelty, originality and creativeness. So in English advertisements we can find many new words that are coined to cater to this taste.

         In English and Chinese advertising one can find declarative, imperative and interrogative sentences. However, generally, imperative and interrogative sentences appear more frequently in Englsih than in Chinese.

          We know that imperatives and interrogatives are normally used in conversations. The audience or readers will feel that they are directly spoken to if they come across advertisements that contain many imperatives and interrogatives. In contrast, Chinese advertising makes use of less imperatives and interrogatives. The folling Chinese advertisements consist of only declarative sentences. Westner like simple and ordinary sentences.

        Newspaper reporting

        Most of people believe that the primary function of newspapers and magazines if to inform or report new.

        Common: news items in the two languages normally have the headline, the lead and the story or body. The news item is usually arranged in columns. The news item is kept brief to save space.

        Differences:

        they differ in what are normally reported. In English, newspapers and magazines developments of science and technology, and political, economic, educational, and cultural achievements are reported. Interested of the dark side of the socielty. In china what appears in newspapers and magazines includes normally internations affairs, administrative activities, and political, economic, educational, fairs, administrative activities, and political, economic, educational fairs, administrative activities, and political, economic, educational, and etc.

        some news reported in English spoken people with a light tone, but a serious, formal tone in Chinese.

        The headling of the English news report is a incomplete sentence. But in Chinese, many expressions in the chinese news report are rarely

        In the English item the computer, computer can called her, she, but in Chinese, news item is written in a matter-of-fact tone.

        The paragraphs in both countries reports are kept short. English contain only one sentence each. While in Chinese, new report half of the paragraphs consist of only one sentence each.

        The sentences in the English news report contain 17.3 words in average.

        English for science and technology

         English for science and technology, often shortened as EST, is different from other varieties of English in that it is used to discuss topics about science and technology.

        technical terms

        many technical terms in English are loan words from Greek or Latin

        another group of technical terms of Greco-Roman origin are derived from Greco-Roman mythology.

        The influenced of Greco-Roman civilization upon the English language is also reflected in many English derivatives in which a word forming element comes from Greek or Latin.

        There are also technical terms derived from personal names. Many scientific discoveries or inventions are named after their discoverers or inventions.

        Of course, there are technical terms from English as well. Normally, these terms had been used in other varieties of English before they became technical terms. But when used in EST, they often convey meanings different from what they express when used in other varieties of English.

        Grammatical features

        There are a large member of passive sentences in EST.

        Another feature is the removal of the first person pronoun “I” adds greatly to apparently, the removal  of the first person pronoun “I” adds greatly to the impersonal, objective tone of the passive sentences.

        Another salient grammatical feature of EST is the frequent occurrence of nominalization which refers to a grammatical process of forming nouns from other word classes, especially verbs.

        English in legal documents

        以上是“2020年重庆自考00838语言与文化复习资料（9）”由重庆成人教育网收集整理。