基于新视觉语法的英汉儿童绘本叙事结构比较研究

A comparison of Chinese and English children’s picture books in narrative construction based on new visual grammar

新视觉语法是专门用于解释儿童绘本等图文语篇叙事结构的理论工具。文章以国外牛津阅读树与国内双语儿童绘本系列为语料,通过图文投入和图文耦合分析,比较英汉儿童绘本的叙事结构特征。研究发现,国外儿童绘本在人物形象刻画、故事背景设置、图文篇章衔接等有值得国内儿童绘本学习借鉴之处;在叙事聚焦上,国内外绘本均以聚合为主,分歧为辅,体现了图文并茂的特征。新视觉语法为深入探索图文语篇构建和意义解读提供了崭新的视角。

New Visual Grammar is a theoretical tool, which is specifically applicable to the interpretation of such visual and bimodal texts as children’s picture books in terms of narrative structure. The article takes the Oxford Reading Tree and domestic bilingual children’s picture book series as examples, and compares the narrative structure features of Chinese and English children’s picture books by analyzing the distribution and integration of textual and image resources. The findings show that the Oxford Reading Tree series demonstrates highlights in portraying characters, designing story background and textual connection of image and verbiage. Meanwhile, they share some narrative features in common, like convergence and partly divergence in focus. New Visual Grammar provides a new perspective for the exploration of image and verbiage construction as well as meaning interpretation.