英汉学术语篇主位推进模式比较研究

A Contrastive Analysis of Thematic Progression Patterns in English and Chinese Research Articles

以国内外4种社会学顶级期刊的论文为语料,采用量化分析与文本分析相结合的方法,比较研究了英语和汉语论文主位推进模式的特点。研究结果显示,英汉语篇信息结构存在一些差异,比如,英语论文往往呈现多种主位推进模式,更倾向于采用与研究话题相关的名词短语来构建主位链,而汉语论文中主述结构更密集,更倾向于使用非常规主位,采用与研究者相关或指示性的代词和名词来构建主位链,且在多种主位推进模式中缺省主位。这些发现为汉语作者如何尽可能摆脱母语影响,撰写出更符合国际读者信息加工习惯,更易获得国际学术界认可的论文提供一定的参考。

This study explores the linguistic variations in thematic progression patterns in the Discussion sections of 20 quantitative research articles from four prestigious sociological journals.Statistical analyses show the predominant use of constant and linear progression patterns in both English and Chinese articles,and that Chinese articles feature a dense distribution of theme-rheme structures,and are more likely to use deviated patterns of omitted themes.Textual analyses reveal that English articles often employ multiple thematic progression patterns and are more likely to use research topic related nominal phrases to construct thematic chains.In contrast,Chinese articles seem to prefer researcher related or demonstrative pronouns and nouns to establish thematic chains.These findings indicate the differences in information structure between English and Chinese academic writing and may help Chinese authors to produce articles that are more conducive to international readers’information processing habits and gain more recognition by the international academic community.