整体思维与分析思维——谈中西方语言与文化的比较

A contrastive study on language and culture between Chinese and Westerners

从对比语言学的角度探讨语言与文化的关系 ,总的说来 ,所有理论家的观点可归纳为两派 :一派认为语言支配思维 ;另一派则认为思维决定语言。笔者认为语言与文化之间存在着一种相互依存、相互制约的辩证关系。本文从英汉词汇和语法结构两个层面入手 ,说明中国人的整体思维偏向和西方人的分析思维偏向 ,认为中西方文化差异在外语教学和跨文化交际中起着至关重要的作用。

The present paper begins with the discussion of the fundamental matter-the relationship between language and culture.Generally speaking,there are two groups of theorists:those who believe that language determines culture and those who think that culture determines language.The author holds the notion that language and culture are interdependent and complementary to each other.The paper goes on to provide some lexical and grammatical evidence to illustrate a dominant feature among the Chinese of being more synthetic and that among the Westerners of being more analytic.The paper concludes that awareness of culture differences is of vital importance in cross-culture communication.