从英汉语言物质结构看中西方文化差异

An Interpretation of the Chinese and Western Cultural Differences from the Physical Structures of Chinese and English Languages

语言是文化的一部分,同时记录和承载着文化的内容,并在很大程度上影响和决定着文化的延续和发展。通过对英汉语言物质结构(文字结构、句子结构和语篇结构)的对比分析发现:英汉语文字结构体现了中医"整体、辩证、综合"和西医"局部、静态、分析"的医学观;英汉语句子结构反映了西方文化"重律轻德"和中国文化"重德轻律"的"法治"观;英汉语篇结构展现了西方民族"直线型"和汉民族"螺旋型"思维方式的特点。因此,从英汉语言物质结构可以明显看出中西方文化的差异。

Language is part of the culture and at the same time records and carries with itself the facts of culture. In turn, it influences and determines to a great degree the carry--on and development of the culture. Through the contrastive analysis of the physical structures of English and Chinese （i. e. the word configuration, sentence structure and discourse organization）, it has been found that the word configuration of both languages embodies the different views on medicine： the Chinese view of being ＂whole, dialectical and synthetic＂ vs the western idea of being ＂partial, static and analytic＂. The sentence structnre of both languages also reflects the different perspectives on law. The western culture puts law over morals while the Chinese culture stresses the latter more. Furthermore, the discourse organization of both languages demonstrates the different modes of thinking： the linear type of the west and the spiral type of the Chinese. Therefore, it can be concluded that the physical structures of both languages are one of the main factors that have contributed to the Chinese and western cultural differences.