美國(guó)文化英語(yǔ)論文范文
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第1篇
【關(guān)鍵詞】 美國(guó)電影；第六日；西方文化；隱喻
【中圖分類號(hào)】G644.4 【文獻(xiàn)標(biāo)識(shí)碼】A 【文章編號(hào)】2095-3089（2013）33-0-01
一、劇情述評(píng)
美國(guó)電影《第六日》（The 6th Day）是第一部探索人類克隆的動(dòng)作影片，它把我們帶到科技已高度的不遠(yuǎn)的未來(lái)，在那時(shí)，人類科技已可以任意克隆任何生物，甚至包括人類本身。然而，即便克隆人類的技術(shù)已相當(dāng)成熟，但因社會(huì)倫理的限制，仍不被法律所允許。
人類的弱點(diǎn)之一就是往往抵擋不了利益的誘惑，在利益面前，不少人會(huì)很容易地就忘記了道德倫理和法律的約束而為所欲為。電影中韋恩實(shí)驗(yàn)室（研究克隆技術(shù)的實(shí)驗(yàn)室）的老板杜拉克便是典型的一例——他在醫(yī)學(xué)博士韋恩的幫助下不僅克隆了自己，也克隆了許許多多的被他認(rèn)為對(duì)自己有利的人，電影的主角亞當(dāng)·吉布森（Adam Gibson，阿諾德·施瓦辛格飾演）即為其中之一。
亞當(dāng)回到家里發(fā)現(xiàn)一個(gè)與自己一模一樣的人取代了自己享受著本屬于自己的天倫之樂(lè)，其震驚、困惑、痛苦之情溢于言表。而作為觀眾，我們都不難想象假如這一切發(fā)生在自己身上，會(huì)是什么一個(gè)感受。于是，為奪回原屬于自己的一切——自己、家庭和愛(ài)，亞當(dāng)開(kāi)始了他的“正名”之旅。
如許多美國(guó)電影一樣，《第六日》也有一個(gè)好萊塢式的結(jié)局——亞當(dāng)在其克隆體的幫助之下，成功揭開(kāi)了這一驚天陰謀，并最終拿回了原本屬于自己的一切。
在這部電影中，克隆與愛(ài)兩大主題相互交織：為了愛(ài)，亞當(dāng)違背了自己的本意為女兒克隆了他們的寵物狗；出于愛(ài)，亞當(dāng)選擇與他的克隆體攜手合作，共同揭開(kāi)了隱藏在克隆人背后的巨大陰謀；因?yàn)閻?ài)，克隆亞當(dāng)黯然退出……。若是從圣經(jīng)和基督文化的角度去審視影片的這兩大主題，實(shí)則是矛盾與沖突的相互交織——是上帝創(chuàng)造了世界和人類，而人類無(wú)權(quán)去克隆自己，但人類偏偏又克隆了自己；上帝與他所揀選的民立約，要愛(ài)上帝，愛(ài)家人，愛(ài)鄰居，愛(ài)一切基督徒如兄弟姐妹，而片中的主人公所做的一切事情的出發(fā)點(diǎn)正是“愛(ài)”，包括克隆。電影就是在這樣的矛盾沖突中給觀眾留下了無(wú)盡的回味和思索：人類在享受飛速發(fā)展的科技帶來(lái)便利的同時(shí)，也不免擔(dān)憂——科技高度發(fā)達(dá)之時(shí)，人類是否還能掌控自己的命運(yùn)？高科技給人們帶來(lái)的是福音還是災(zāi)難？在高科技面前，人類應(yīng)該堅(jiān)守的倫理底線是什么？
二、對(duì)克隆的矛盾心態(tài)
1997年2月22日英國(guó)生物遺傳學(xué)家維爾穆特成功克隆出“多莉”羊的新聞被報(bào)道之后，克隆技術(shù)便震驚了世界；2000年6月26日，人類基因圖譜被成功破譯，這更為克隆人類在理論上提供了可能。但很快，顧及到社會(huì)倫理道德以及多數(shù)人的反對(duì)，多數(shù)國(guó)家通過(guò)立法明令禁止克隆人類。
《第六日》帶給我們的不僅僅是視覺(jué)的沖擊和震撼，更多的則是引發(fā)了人們對(duì)克隆人的深刻思索。影片最后雖沒(méi)有援引“第六日法案”對(duì)瘋狂的杜拉克進(jìn)行法律審判，但對(duì)他的道德倫理審判卻是顯而易見(jiàn)的。
雖然如此，人們對(duì)克隆卻不免存在有矛盾心態(tài)。正如影片中的亞當(dāng)，其本意是，無(wú)論何種生物，“生命的基本法則是，出生，成長(zhǎng)，生活，然后死去”。但對(duì)女兒的愛(ài)卻又使他不由自主地走進(jìn)寵物克隆商場(chǎng)，克隆了他們家的寵物犬“奧利佛”。這在片中的人們看來(lái)，為自己和家人克隆一個(gè)健康的寵物作為替代品已被普遍認(rèn)可，即便他們?nèi)詮?qiáng)烈反對(duì)克隆人。
克隆技術(shù)的出現(xiàn)和發(fā)展，顛覆了人們傳統(tǒng)的對(duì)生命的理解和思考：一則人們渴望借助克隆技術(shù)延續(xù)生命；另一方面，傳統(tǒng)的社會(huì)倫理法則又告訴他們不可越過(guò)雷池。正如影片中亞當(dāng)?shù)乃妓骱鸵蓱]：克隆出來(lái)的，沒(méi)有靈魂，危險(xiǎn)嗎？既然安全，為何不允許克隆人類？如何合情合理合法地運(yùn)用高科技，尤其是克隆技術(shù)來(lái)造福人類，矛盾和糾結(jié)仍在繼續(xù)。
三、西方倫理文化隱喻與《圣經(jīng)》
文藝作品大都有其神話的、歷史的或現(xiàn)實(shí)的素材和思想淵源并受其價(jià)值觀念的影響，特別是神話傳說(shuō)，“一直在塑造和影響那些民族的思維觀念，對(duì)各民族的思想觀念和文化發(fā)展產(chǎn)生了極其深刻的影響” [1]。而在西方世界，“《圣經(jīng)》的故事和傳說(shuō)是西方文化藝術(shù)的重要源泉……它的思想和哲理已經(jīng)成為人們意識(shí)的重要組成部分”[2]。究其原因，在于《圣經(jīng)》典故在西方社會(huì)中影響的普遍性和深入性：《圣經(jīng)》典故在西方政治、經(jīng)濟(jì)、文學(xué)、藝術(shù)領(lǐng)域普遍存在，且已深深融入哲學(xué)、宗教、和意識(shí)形態(tài)領(lǐng)域，成為西方人的道德和行為規(guī)范，其影響力之廣、之深是任何其他典故所無(wú)法匹敵的。
正如深受儒家思想影響的中國(guó)人的倫理道德觀念基本來(lái)自于儒家學(xué)說(shuō)一樣，《圣經(jīng)》及其典故所蘊(yùn)含價(jià)值觀念成為以基督教為普遍的西方人所認(rèn)可和信奉的社會(huì)倫理價(jià)值觀也就可以理解了。那么，西方電影取材于《圣經(jīng)》典故并將其倫理思想作為影片的主題來(lái)表現(xiàn)并不出人意料。甚至可以不夸張地說(shuō)，整整一部西方電影史從未脫離基督教文化的深刻影響[3]。
電影《第六日》也毫不例外地帶有濃厚的《圣經(jīng)》文化色彩，我們從該片片名以及男主角的姓名這些細(xì)節(jié)就可見(jiàn)一斑，因?yàn)椤耙徊侩娪凹捌淦偸墙?rùn)在該民族的文學(xué)、歷史、哲學(xué)、宗教、傳統(tǒng)、習(xí)俗、傳說(shuō)等形成的文化體系中” [4]。
《圣經(jīng)》這樣描述：“神就照著自己的形像造人，乃是照著他的形像造男造女……是第六日”（《舊約·創(chuàng)世紀(jì)》，1：27-31）[5]，而片中被多次重復(fù)的一句臺(tái)詞正是“在第六天，上帝創(chuàng)造了人，上帝造人時(shí)在第六天”，凸顯了片名《第六日》的宗教文化含義；《圣經(jīng)》中還講道：“耶和華神用地上的塵土造人，將生氣吹在他的鼻孔里，他就成了有靈氣的活人，名叫亞當(dāng)”（《舊約·創(chuàng)世紀(jì)》，2：7）[6]，片中主人公也恰恰以上帝所創(chuàng)造的第一個(gè)人的名字“亞當(dāng)”命名；還有，主角亞當(dāng)·吉布森（Adam Gibson）的姓“吉布森（Gibson）”在古德語(yǔ)中的含義又是“光明磊落的誓約”，此名表達(dá)父母希望子女繼承其祖先財(cái)物及傳統(tǒng)的愿望。
這些細(xì)節(jié)除了在藝術(shù)手法上起到呼應(yīng)主題的作用之外，更深層的含義則是表現(xiàn)該片主創(chuàng)者文藝創(chuàng)作的價(jià)值取向，即《圣經(jīng)》和基督文化所秉承的傳統(tǒng)的基督教倫理，即著眼于在肉體層面或物質(zhì)范疇解讀人（尤其是基督徒）與他人、社會(huì)及萬(wàn)物的關(guān)系嬗變，目標(biāo)指向以神人和諧為基礎(chǔ)，重建被罪扭曲的人與他人、人與社會(huì)乃至整個(gè)自然界的關(guān)系[7]，重新回歸到“神”所安排的正常的社會(huì)和人類生活秩序。
可見(jiàn)，影片中所反映的克隆人爭(zhēng)議以及人們的矛盾心理，究其根源，正是來(lái)源于《圣經(jīng)》深刻影響下的民族文化傳統(tǒng)，也反映了影片主創(chuàng)者對(duì)克隆人問(wèn)題鮮明的“上帝取向”的生命價(jià)值觀和態(tài)度，即任何生命的誕生，尤其是人，只有通過(guò)正常途徑出生、成長(zhǎng)的人，才是《圣經(jīng)》中所講的“神所應(yīng)許的”，才是“神”所喜悅的，才是合情合理合法的，否則就是對(duì)上帝的不敬——因?yàn)槿瞬豢赡芟裆系勰菢觿?chuàng)造人類和世界；當(dāng)然就是也是反傳統(tǒng)的和倫理的，自然不會(huì)成為多數(shù)人的共識(shí)而被普遍接受。
四、結(jié)語(yǔ)
任何文藝作品都會(huì)反映作者本民族特有的文化傳統(tǒng)及其附帶的價(jià)值觀念。歐美大片對(duì)所有學(xué)英語(yǔ)、用英語(yǔ)的人來(lái)說(shuō)不啻于一個(gè)學(xué)習(xí)和了解西方文化的生動(dòng)而鮮活的教材，也為我們提供了一個(gè)加深中西文化間相互了解、增加彼此間信任的絕好窗口。另外，一部好的電影帶給人們的應(yīng)該不僅僅是精神上的享受以及文化學(xué)習(xí)和交流的素材，電影故事背后的故事及其帶來(lái)的對(duì)生命和人性的理性思考也非常值得我們?nèi)リP(guān)注。
參考文獻(xiàn)
[1]董廣坤，王傳順.《2012年》中的神話原型與末日隱喻[J].電影文學(xué)，2011：20.115-116.
[2]趙玲潔，趙彥榮.《圣經(jīng)》在西方文化中的表現(xiàn)形式及影響[J].時(shí)代文學(xué)，2011：8.88-89.
[3]楊然.電影中的宗教魅力——談基督教文化在電影中的文化價(jià)值[J].電影評(píng)介，2009：19.8-9。
[4]佟磊，沈秋敏.淺談西方文化與西方電影片名翻譯[J].時(shí)代文學(xué)，2009：15.149-150.
第2篇
Key words：Black English; American English; American Culture; Influence
Contents
1. Introduction 1
2. The Characteristics of Black English 2
2.1 Phonetics 2
2.2 Grammar 3
3. The Influence on American Culture 7
3.1 The Influence on American English 7
3.2 The Influence on American Art 9
3.3 The Influence on American Literature 11
4. The Practical Significance of Black English 14
5. Conclusion 15
Acknowledgements 16
References 17
1．Introduction
Black English is a social dialect of American English, and it has been historically influenced by West African languages, General Southern American English and English-based creoles.
This kind of English shares several characteristics with the forms of Creole English spoken by people throughout the whole world. In addition, it also has pronunciation, grammatical structures, and vocabulary in common with various West African languages.[1]198 Since a large number of Black people migrate to America and they have the percentage of more than 12%, [2]496the Black English has been popularized in this country. But in the American society, people seldom realize the influence and contribution of Black English and they never give the equal state to Black people. In fact, the language and culture of American reflect the contributions of the Black English in many aspects, such as linguistic, art and literature.
Nowadays, it is reasonably acceptable to say that Black English is not only an independent language but also making practical significance to American English and the American Culture. Researchers need to study the significance in details. So this paper intends to collect the study of the characteristics of Black English, and then summarize its influences on the American English. Since the change of language can lead changes in other aspects, such as Art and Literature aspects, this paper also states the influence in detailed options.
The method of this paper is reviewing the past study and surveys, not just from the linguistic point of view or the historical aspects of Black English, but from its formation and characteristics to demonstrate the existence and development of Black English and the practical significance. Through the analysis of Black English on the profound impact of American culture, the paper advances a view on the value of Black English and its prospects. Finally it puts forward the importance and necessity of enhancing learning and research on Black Culture as the continuous improvement and economic conditions of Black people.
2. The Characteristics of Black English
Black English, as a unique variant of English, has many differences with the Standard English based on the structure of language. And this paper tends to discuss the features of Black English in phonetics and grammar aspects. Since Black English is not just a simplified version of English, it has a unique language system with the same fixed structure as any other dialect all over the world.
2.1 Phonetics
Most Black people use a distinctive English variant. This black dialect has aroused many linguists’ interests. Repeatedly been labeled as “pidgin English”, Black English’s role in the development of American Culture can not be questioned. Black English as a source of Black Culture has always been paid more attention by linguists and sociologists in nowadays.
2.1.1 The Weakened Consonant
Because of the influence of West African, some voiced consonants are the same with their form of voiceless consonant. Word-final devoicing of /b/, /d/, and /g/ are always pronounced to //, //, //, and in most cases these phonemes are ignored. In order to make a difference between them, sometimes the vowel before the voiced consonants could be slightly re-read harder, take the “heat and heed”, “let and led” and “fate and fade” which is ended with the word “e” as examples.
In the syllables which are combined with consonants and vowels, some nasals can also be weakened, such as “sum, sun, sung”, and only the vowel // in the word which is somewhat influenced by the nasal.
2.1.2 The Omission of Consonant Clusters
The simplification of Consonant Clusters is an obvious feature of Black English. The mutes in English are //, //, //, //, //, //, //, //, //, //. Black English often omit the mutes in the end of a word, and the word “side”// is always pronounced to “sigh”//. This kind of omission is not arbitrary, and it is decided by the situation of pronouncing a word: when the mute at the end only represents the morpheme is not connected, for example, the frequency of reserving // is higher than integral part of the stem in the word “borrow”. It will also be reserved if there is vowel behind the mute, such as the first “d” in the phrase “tried hard”.
2.1.3 The Pronunciation of // and //
The omission of // is a notable characteristic of Black English. In American, it is a tendency of underclass to omit // before vowels but not only of Black English.[3]297Because of this kind of omission, there is no differences between “guard-god”, “fort-fought” and “sore-saw” in Black English.When // is between two vowels, the syllable after it needn’t be pronounced, as “Paris” could be read as//; when there is a word beginning with vowel behind it, the // could also be regretted.
// is voiceless before the consonant, such as the word “health” always be pronounced to // and so on. However, when // is after the vowel as the end of the word, it is assimilated by the phoneme before it, such as the similar pronunciation with “mail” and “may”//. In addition, // is voiceless before // and //, as “always”//, “already” //. The more interesting thing is that they pronounce “will” to “ah”，for example, “I ah be there in a minute.” While the correct form in Standard English is “I will be there in a minute.”
2.1.4 The Pronunciation of // and //
In Black English, // is always pronounced as // and // is always pronounced as //, for example, “think” is pronounced to be //. While the // in the end of a word is transformed to //, and “mouth” is pronounced to be //, “nothing” is to //. In addition, the “th” in the middle of a word is always pronounced to be //, so “mother” is to //, “other” is to //, and “brother” is to //.
Actually, there are many more characters than mentioned in the paper, but we can recognize the differences of phonetics between Black English and Standard English just from the mentioned examples.
Smith Thurman, a well-known expert in Black English, said that black dialect used same number of English phonemes with white, and the only difference is the distribution pattern of phoneme.[4]553
2.2 Grammar
There are also many researches who have found the special usage in grammar of Black English. For example, the different meanings in the sentences “He workin’” and “He done worked” are hard to be explained by the Standard English. The first means “He is working 253.It also indicates the difference between Simple progressive and emphasized perfective. Not only the tense plays a different role in the grammar, there are many other points such as the relative usage of the word “be”, the negation and transmission of the word.
2.2.1 Tense
Syntax best embodies the characteristics of Black English. In the verb-system, the differences between Black English and Standard English are most significant, which is most similar with pidgin and Creole their ancestors used. In Black English, the only duty of the verb in the sentence is to indicate the time concept of one or a few verbs, and other verbs can be expressed in verb stem. Sometimes when the context gives essential temporal support, the tense can be totally regretted. For example, in the following section of black sermons, the Preacher has made it clear that he is talking about the past, because both the life and devotion of Jesus have already happened: “The man Jesus，he come your sins! He the thieves and here. He die to walk the earth. He you from go among try to Save the unrighteous. The master say whoever will let him come!”
In addition, the singular verb of third person in Present Tense is not ended with “s”, for example, “She work in the factory”.
Black English has two Perfect Tenses: “Remote Perfect aspect” which is constituted by the “been” and “Immediate Perfect aspect” constituted by “done”. At this point, Black English and West African languages is extremely similar. [6]
(i) The “been” in “remote perfect aspect” has a certain meaning of action in past tense. And this kind of perfect tense could be divided into two forms: I been know him(momentary action), I been knowin’-him.(ongoing action).
(ii) “Immediate Perfect aspect” uses the auxiliary verb “done”. In modern Black English, following sentence are commonly used:
① I done go.
② I done went.
③ I done gone.
These three are used in different situations:
① Used in the Immediate Present sentences.
② Used in the Simple Past sentences.
③ Used in the semi adjective structures.
2.2.2 Relative usage of “be”
The usage of“be”in Black English is also very special. If one action, thing or state does not happen frequently, the“be”in this sentence will be deleted. For example, “he in the house -watchin’ TV”. The abbreviation of the copula such as “is” and “are” can also be deleted. In addition, when in a passive sentence the passive voice is not expressed so clearly by the speaker, “be” can also be deleted, for example, “the factory built in 1958”. However if the action happens frequently, “be” can be used as the predicate verb in the sentence“they be out in the yard every night.”
When“be” and“do” work together means this kind of thing happens frequently in the Interrogative sentences and Emphatic sentences. For example, “Do you be playing all day?” (Do they play all day?) “Yeah, the boys do mess around a lot.”(Yeah, the boys do mess around a lot.) Famous linguist William Labov researched a lot in the Black English and concluded that: all the“be”which can appear in the forming of abbreviation can be deleted in Black English. [7]113Actually, the usage of “be”is far more complex than this conclusion which is easily got from the above descriptions.
2.2.3 Negation
There are three different versions of negation in Black English: “ain’t”, “don’” and “dit’n”, which can be written as “ain’t”, “don’t” and “didn’t”. While the special usage of “ain’t” is a feature of Black English. Ain not is a negative form in past tense: I ain’t see. In a sentence, the negation always repeated: I ain’t see nothin’ like that no place. The meaning is equivalent of: I did not see anything like that anywhere. (I’ve never seen this kind of thing in any place.) When the predicate is not active verb, ain’t become the only symbol of negation. For example, I ain’t afraid of nothing. He ain’t gonna get no money out of it. Besides, it can be combined with "ing" and make up the present continuous tense. For example, we ain’t kidding and we ain’t quitting, we ain’t turning back.
The function of “ain’t” in Black English is same with the “haven’t” in Standard English. Therefore the “We haven’t contacted each of her since last Christmas.” can be evolved to “We ain’t contacted each of her since last Christmas.” Sometimes, “ain’t” can replace the phrase “didn’t” in simple negation sentence. So in Black English, sentences can be like following forms: “She ain’t email me yesterday.” The young boy insisted, “I ain’t steal his wallet.” “I ain’t run like that in years.”
Multi-negation means there is not only one symbol of negation. Under this regulation, the pronoun needs to add some mark of negation.
For example: “She ain’t see any thing/ anyone at the railway station” can be changed into “She ain’t see nothing/ nobody at the railway station”. If the subject is “nobody” but not “he” or “Janet”, it will add negative determiner at the beginning of the sentence. This is called “negative inversion” by linguists. As a result, it is very common to hear that “Didn’t nobody say nothing to the peoples!”
3. The Influence on American Culture
An important contribution of Black English is the influence on the American Culture. The familiar “negro spiritual”, the unusual rhythms and the famous performance in movie and literature —all these originated with the slaves. It is said that what is the best and most original in American popular culture has its roots in Black English. Important black speakers, singers, actors and writers are too numerous to list.
3.1 The Influence on American English
He Ruigao expresses his opinion in his article Black English that there are some differences in certain aspects of language between Black English and American English. And he believes that after all, Black English is a variant of English, so the differences are only in some degree rather than fundamental, and do not affect the people’s contacts.
It is clear that there is a strong relationship between Black English and American English, while the distinct characters of Black English are not fully explained and its origins are still a matter of debate. One theory is that Black English arose from one or more slave creoles that arose from the trans-Atlantic African slave trade and the need for African captives to communicate among themselves and with their captors. According to this theory, these captives’ language developed into what are called pidgins, simplified mixture of two or more languages. As pidgins are from closely contact between members of different language communities, the slave trade would have been exactly such a situation. Not until the time of the American Civil War did the language of the slaves become familiar to a large number of educated whites. As the time passes, the Black English gradually plays an important role in the United States and U.S. Culture.
3.1.1 The Forming of Black English
In the slave society, there are so many different languages that the natives on two sides of the river cannot understand each other. But the safest way for them to keep their authority is to trade with the different nations on both sides of the river. The famous writer, Cotton Mather, claimed to have been very familiar with his slaves’ speech, and his imitative writing shows features presented in many Creole languages and even in modern Black English. By the time of the American Revolution, varieties among slave creoles were not quite mutually intelligible.
Not until the time of the American Civil War did the language of the slaves become familiar to a large number of educated whites. In Army Life in a Black Regiment (1870), Thomas Wentworth Higginson detailed many features of his soldiers' language. Shana Poplack has also provided corpus-based evidence from isolated enclaves in Samaná and Nova Scotia lived by descendants of migrations of early Black English-speaking groups. All of these researches suggest that the grammar of early Black English is closer to that of contemporary British dialects than modern urban Black English to current American dialects. We can find that the modern language is a result of divergence from mainstream varieties, rather than the result of creolization from a widespread American creole.
3.1.2 The Relations with the American English
In United States, blacks worked in this land with the identity of slaves and inherited some habits from the African culture and language, and thus gradually formed a black American society with unique culture. While the communication between the black slaves and the slavers became a major hub linking the two cultures, and produced a subtle influence to American English, which mainly reflected in English words borrowed, as well as the meaning of the word twists and turns, and the absorption of idioms. Its pronunciation is, in some respects, common to Southern American English, which is spoken by many African Americans and many non-African Americans in the United States.
There is little regional variation among speakers of Black English.89 In order to understand the United States and American culture, and to acquire its development, Blacks melt their culture, such as language, literature and art, with those of the United States. Later, Black English is not only for Black people, it is still widely used by a number of regional dialects. Even in literature works, authors often use Black English to show the hero's nationality, identity and upbringing.
Not only the phonetics and grammar of Black English prove the influence to American language, but we can also achieve it from the assertion of Black English. For example, “the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice” means “she is very mature and favorable”. Another example, “you aren’t got a pot to piss in on a window to throw I tout of” means that you are very pool. “If I tell you a hen hip snuff, look under its wing and find a whole box” means that all you said is true. “You never miss yo water till yo well run dry” means that “you will never feel the importance of water until you are very thirst”.[10]6-7 The representative assertion is very lively and meaningful, suggesting the wisdom of the Black English.
3.2 The Influence on American Art
When Blacks live in Africa, they have the hobby to sing and dance during laboring. But then they are later taken away as slaves by the colonists to the southern United States plantation. They work in the fields wearing shackles and live in the primitive hut in the deserted swamp and jungle. But due to this kind of suffering, they create a valuable oral literature including hymns and blues and other Black Art, which has made an outstanding contribution to the culture to the United States.
3.2.1 The Integration with Music
It is generally believed that music of blacks has some distinctive forms from American music like American Ragtime, Blues, Jazz, Musical and Country music. Ragtime was first played by a black Anonymous piano, which was very popular in the late 19th century to early 20th century. It uses segmentation rhythm, trying to evolve from the popular dance music of blacks, and then Ragtime music appears. Scott. Joplin is one of the Ragtime representatives, and his performance of “Maple Leaf pull tone” has been a smash hit, which is so famous that all of the Ragtime pianist would play in their shows.
Blues is from field horn and songs with a strong feeling of African tradition and its tunes are always sad. The most famous Blues singer is Bessie Smith, known as Blues Queen. When Ragtime, Blues and other tunes with rich colors of Africa's influence add together with the elements in Europe, the Jazz comes into being.
With the integration of grammar, the ways people sing a song become various in American. Many young people jump into the swim of “rap” and “hip-hop”, which is considered as a really fashion style to express one song and the soul. While among the most famous masters, more than 90 percent are black people, such as the episode in Prison Break.
The word “rap” meant “blame” in the middle of 18th century and was always used in phrase in the 19th, “to take the rap” meant “to take the blame”. After the civil war, black people used it to blame white people and requested the equality with them. And finally it replaced the word “conversation” to be popular among the white teenagers. There are many simplifications of words in “rap” which become totally different with American English. For example, the “er” in the end of word is changed into “a”, “nigger” into “nigga”.[11]185 Besides, the “ks” or “cks” in the end of a word can be replaced by “x” because they have the same pronunciation. All of these examples prove that it has become a new version of grammar in American English. For example, the “re” or “e” which can’t be heard during a speedy song are always omitted such as “more” and “mo”, “for” and “fo”, or the number “4”. The omission of “g” in “ing” is another new grammar in American English.
Some words also change its pronunciation. For example, in the word “through”, “gh” never being pronounced is know to all, since we pronounce “th” // in stead of // there is no difference in pronunciation with the word “true”.
In the “rap”, the Black English has many distinct characters and its lyrics tend to be more fashion and creative. Most of these new word are very short or the abbreviation of some long words so that even the local Americans can not understand. In order to keep its character of fashion, “rap” uses word on the point of fashion. Therefore, the characteristics of Black English are the foundation of “rap”, which makes it no longer a simple style of music but a diverse style.
3.2.2 The Integration with Film
Film is an integrated form of art, with combination of test technology, art and commerce, and the thought of images it brings to the human mind is revolutionary. Because it's easy to be accepted, the film is destined to be a mass media on hundreds of millions people when it appears. In a short century, Hollywood becomes a symbol of American mass culture, and the influence on American society is immeasurable.
Film expresses and promotes the life style and values of Americans. During the war era, it boosts moral e of the soldiers. While in the Depression era, it could replace the cash of the American dream and reflected the public's ideals and dreams. In this case, blacks also express their dream to achieve the equality in the American society through the film, such as Shaw shank Redemption, the Pursuit of Happiness and Death Pact and so on. Because of the success of these works and the influence on future, some later generations continued to collect and summarize the classic dialogue in these black films, and to commemorate the black culture for future generations to study at the same time.
There are two characteristics of grammar which can be easily found in the black films.First is the invariant of “be”, and second is the multi-negation of“ain’t”.The invariant of“be”is used before verb, adjective, noun and passive voice in Black English.
(i)Your gas bill be high, don’t it? (Your gas bill is usually high, isn’t it?)
(ii) My boss be in his office by 8am. (My boss is usually in his office by 8am.)
(iii)It don’t be dogged. I grease it and oil it. (It isn’t usually dogged, I grease it and oil it.)
Laurel Avenue (1993) is a story about a family’s effort to counter drug, faction and violence in order to achieve the “American Dream”. In the film, when Rashhawn’s uncle blamed on his sailing drug, he said that “What the hell I be giving you money fuh[for ]？” while his word can also be translated to “Do you know why I always give you money ? ”
It is worthy to mention that this kind of grammar in the film is also very popularized by young Latinos. Therefore, the Black English users have crossed the racial boundaries and expanded to the crowd who are favor of hip hop culture.
The multi-negation of “ain’t” can be fully realized in the most influential black filmmaker Spike Lee’s masterpiece Do the Right Thing. The story happened in Brooklyn, New York, and demonstrated an explosion caused by the ethnic problems. There are a large number of unique performances of Black English in the dialogues: “Ain’t no brothers on the wall? I ain’t run like that in years. Don’t call me no bum. Jade don’t come here no more, all right? Don’t call me nothing.”
Although many so-called “not standard”regulations of Black English have been criticized for a long time, its expression is an important means to promote Black Culture of the Hollywood directors and become a beautiful view in American films.
3.3 The Influence on American Literature
In the destiny of black, there must be a clearly visible way, on which they have worked with effort to win dignity and literary. Through their effort, it exhibited such a road as well as those marks in relation to life along the way: once in Black history, unforgettable pain is essential for the experience to the results today. Black Literature, in the United States and the world, has been mainly as slaves, especially in countries outside Africa.
The Black English writer Toni Morrison was born in black family, and later achieved today’s scholars and writer’s identity by reading. In 1993, because of her “making the important part of American society much more vigorously through the rich poetic imagination and expression”, she won the Nobel Prize for Literature, and became the only black women writer in history to be honored.
Not only the Black Literature but also the American Literature has these characters of Black English in their works.
The Sound and the Fury (1929) is written by a famous American writer William Faulkner (1897-1962). The first part, “April 7th, 1928”, describes the conversation and action between the children in the farm waiting for the coming of procession.
“I skeered I going to holler,” T.P said.
“Get on the box and see is they started.”
“They haven’t started because the band hasn’t come yet.” Caddy said.
“They ain’t going t have no band.” Frony said.
“How do you know?” Caddy said.
“I know what I knows,” Frony said.
“You don’t know anything,” Caddy said.
“She went to the tree.”
“Put me up,” Versh.
“Your paw told you to stay out that tree,” Versh said.
“That was a long time ago,” Caddy said,
“I except he’s forgotten about it, besides he said to mind me tonight. Didn’t he say to mind me tonight?”
“I’m not going to mind you, T .P and Frony are not going to either,” Jason said.[12]4
The children in this conversation turn out to be totally different between T.P, Frony, Versh and Caddy, Jason. The dialogue of the first three people has some characters of Black English. For example, “be” in the sentence “I (am) skeered (that) I (am ) going to holler” which is the distinct signal of Black English. On the contrary, the conversation of Candy and Jason do not omit this part as Jason says that “I’m not going to mind you，TP and Frony are not going to either”. And the singular verb of third person even does not have any difference with first person or any one else in the sentence “I know what I knows”. In addition, the mixture of // and // of the word “git” in the sentence “got on the box” is very common in Black English. It turns out that T.P, Frony and Versh are children of black in the farm, while Caddy and Jason are children of the farmer.
On the other hand, many black people like Frederick and William, not only struggle to learn the culture, but also use the pen as a weapon after the flight. They took active part in the abolitionist movement and expressed positive public opinions. Slave owner always treat Black people as the inferior race, so Black people’s ability to carry out literature itself is a powerful evidence of that lie, let alone the rich ideological content in their articles. And all of these proof that Black people is an excellent nation with a historical cultural tradition on the literature and their language also plays an irreplaceable role in the development of American literature.
4. The Practical Significance of Black English
In1863， 2 years before the war ended, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves in the Confederate states. Shortly after the war ended in 1865, the thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution freed all slaves. A few years later, the fourteenth and fifteenth Amendments gave the former slaves full civil rights, including giving African-American men the right to vote.[13]77
In politics, more blacks are voting, and more are getting elected. Since 40 years ago, the Black middle-class group has risen from scratch and grown in their standard of living. There are no difference in professional skills and educational background with the white middle class. Outstanding representatives of Black people appear in many areas of the United States, such as the Black mayor, governor, ministers and members of Congress, and all of them are no longer surprise to us. The much more important thing is that Democratic candidate Barack Obama won the U.S. presidential election in 2008 to become the first real chance to win the presidency in the Black.
Blacks are also trying to improve their financial position by going into professions or starting their own business. There are now more than 600,000 black-owned companies in the U.S. and blacks are more numerous than ever in the professions-as teachers, doctors, lawyers, judges and ministers.
In 1952, Ralph Ellison, a black author, wrote a book about blacks in the U.S. called the Invisible Man. Since the 1960s, blacks have become more visible on TV and in movies and magazines. Networks, filmmakers and advertisers now realize that black consumers want to see their race represented. Today, blacks in significant numbers work as newscasters, TV actors and actresses, and movie stars.
Huang Weifeng says in his African American English on a Number of Historical Issues that, “Only when the racism in American society has been completely eradicated from the mind, the Black Cultural expressions of Black English can really be recognized.”81
5. Conclusion
“Black English” is widely used as the name because it is used by Black people. In fact, its user of this language is far beyond our imagination. In addition to the external community in the black population, it is also used by lower middle and low classes in America. It has profound impacts on American culture and communication in various aspects, especially with the continuous improvement of their political, economic and cultural status, and Black English has been paid more and more attention. In view of this, the paper starts to explore the formation and characteristics of its existence and development. It is said that the view of helping people understand the Black Culture correctly, the concept of eliminating the racial discrimination and enhancing the awareness to protect national culture plays an important role to cultural exchanges and cultural diversity.
The above discussion of Black English is by no means comprehensive but it can serve our purpose to improve the regulation and state of Black English. The significance of studying the nature of Black English is really multifaceted. While the most direct one is the significance for lingu istic research. The attitude to the question that whether Black English is a dialect or a language determines the methods of research. This paper argues that Black English is essentially a separate system and its significance to the American Culture. It should be researched as an independent study of language. [17]34
Undoubtedly, the Black English makes Black people more dramatic in the movies. The syntax rules and special vocabulary of Black English, which are incompatible with the mainstream of English, become the foundation of their culture with their bold dance and passive music. Although most black people using Black English live in the southern United States and the countries, those well-educated middle-class blacks also use Black English in some informal gatherings.
With the black music, novels and movies continuously mix into the mainstream of American society, the syntax rules and special vocabulary of Black English begin to be accepted by American English and become parts of the American culture. Because of the worldwide spread of English and increasingly prosperous Black Culture, the Black English will be more widely active in screen as a mature variation of English and an important way to display the diverse culture of the United States.
Acknowledgements
My initial thanks go to my tutor, Wu Qing, who patiently supervised my dissertation and was at times very willing to offer me illuminating advice or suggestions. Without her help, I could not have finished this dissertation.
I am also indebted to other teachers and my classmates who have not only offered me their warm encouragements but also shared with me their ideas and books.
My greatest personal debt is to my grandparents and parents, who have cultivated a soul of sensitivity, hospitality, and honesty out of me, and offered a harbor of happiness and sweetness for me.
The remaining weakness and possible errors of the dissertation are entirely my own.
References
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[2] Roger Porter. Past and Present [M]. James. Mill Company, 1971.
[3] 侯維瑞. 英國(guó)英語(yǔ)與美國(guó)英語(yǔ)[M]. 上海外語(yǔ)教育出版社, 1992.
[4] 斯密瑟曼. 交談與證實(shí): 黑美洲的語(yǔ)言[M]. 美國(guó)紐約出版社, 1977.
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[6] 方久華, 熊敦禮. 美國(guó)黑人英語(yǔ)語(yǔ)言特點(diǎn)探討[J]. 華中科技大學(xué)學(xué)報(bào), 湖北武漢, 2007.
[7] 拉波夫. 在社會(huì)環(huán)境里研究語(yǔ)言[M]. 中國(guó)社會(huì)科學(xué)出版社,1979.
[8] Baker, Houston A., Jr. Blues. Ideology and Afro-American Literature: a Vernacular Theory [M].University of Chicago Press, 1984.
[9] Baugh, John, Beyond Ebonics. Linguistic Pride and Racial Prejudice [M].New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
[10] 杰克•丹尼爾. 黑人英語(yǔ)中的影響[M]. 英國(guó)倫敦出版社, 1973.
[11] 蔡昌卓. 美國(guó)英語(yǔ)史[M]. 北京大學(xué)出版社, 2002.
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[13] 張衛(wèi)平. 美國(guó)制度與文化[M]. 中國(guó)人民大學(xué)出版社, 2006.
[14] 黃衛(wèi)峰. 對(duì)現(xiàn)代英語(yǔ)詞匯學(xué)的兩處質(zhì)疑[J]. 云夢(mèng)學(xué)刊, 2003.
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[17] 葛詠濤. 美國(guó)文化風(fēng)云人物[M]. 四川大學(xué)出版, 2007.
誠(chéng) 信 承 諾
我謹(jǐn)在此承諾：本人所寫的畢業(yè)論文《論黑人英語(yǔ)對(duì)美國(guó)文化的影響及其現(xiàn)實(shí)意義》均系本人獨(dú)立完成，沒(méi)有抄襲行為，凡涉及其他作者的觀點(diǎn)和材料，均作了注釋，若有不實(shí)，后果由本人承擔(dān)。
承諾人（簽名）： 徐珊珊
第3篇
關(guān)鍵詞：權(quán)力距離 不確定性規(guī)避 個(gè)人主義-集體主義 男性度-女性度
一、Hofstede的文化心理模式與寫作
荷蘭跨文化合作研究所的霍夫斯特德(Hofstede，1980)做過(guò)一項(xiàng)著名的跨文化比較研究，他曾對(duì)IBM公司在40個(gè)國(guó)家、地區(qū)中的10余萬(wàn)雇員，用20種語(yǔ)言進(jìn)行了一項(xiàng)長(zhǎng)達(dá)7年的研究，發(fā)現(xiàn)這些國(guó)家在文化上的差異主要表現(xiàn)為4個(gè)方面：即“權(quán)力距離”、“不確定性回避”、“個(gè)體取向與集體取向”、“男性化與女性化”。這4個(gè)方面也就是民族文化差異的4個(gè)維度，每一種文化的特點(diǎn)都可以用它在這4個(gè)維度上的強(qiáng)弱來(lái)表示。
1.“權(quán)力距離”(power distance) ，指一種文化對(duì)社會(huì)地位差別和等級(jí)重要性的看重程度。也可視為上級(jí)對(duì)下級(jí)，管理者對(duì)被管理者的影響力和控制力的大小。在權(quán)力距離大的文化中，整個(gè)社會(huì)是一個(gè)等級(jí)較鮮明的組織系統(tǒng)；而權(quán)力距離較小的文化則會(huì)使人們有較為平等的觀念。
2．“不確定性規(guī)避”(uncertainty avoidence)，指社會(huì)大眾面對(duì)不確定性和模糊情境所產(chǎn)生恐懼感的強(qiáng)弱，及是否采取措施消除這種恐懼感。不確定因素規(guī)避指數(shù)高的文化信賴權(quán)威，避免分歧和不確定；而不確定因素規(guī)避指數(shù)低的文化樂(lè)于冒險(xiǎn)和接受新奇、陌生的事物。
3．“個(gè)人主義-集體主義”(inpidualism-collectivism)，指一種文化依賴和忠于個(gè)人自我的程度。個(gè)人主義傾向的社會(huì)，注重自我需要的滿足，追求多樣化的生活和自我價(jià)值的實(shí)現(xiàn)；而集體主義傾向的社會(huì)則重視集體的利益及個(gè)人對(duì)集體的責(zé)任。
4．“男性度-女性度”(masculinity-femininity)，指一種文化是看重自信、成就和財(cái)富擁有，還是更看重社會(huì)支持、生活質(zhì)量等其他方面。男性度指數(shù)高的社會(huì)崇尚成就和野心及其他陽(yáng)剛行為；男性度指數(shù)低的文化中，工作和成就則是次要的，提倡的是人與人的相互依賴與和諧相處，同情弱者，重視人與自然的和諧。
文化屬于社會(huì)結(jié)構(gòu)的概念，是社會(huì)形態(tài)的組成部分，文化模式就是一個(gè)社會(huì)中所有文化內(nèi)容(包括文化特質(zhì)與文化叢)組合在一起的特殊形式和結(jié)構(gòu)，因此，文化模式反映的是一個(gè)社會(huì)的結(jié)構(gòu)、形態(tài)、運(yùn)行等總的社會(huì)意識(shí)。語(yǔ)言作為文化的載體，必然負(fù)載著一個(gè)民族的文化心理模式。美國(guó)應(yīng)用語(yǔ)言學(xué)家羅伯特.凱普蘭(Robert Kaplan，1966)便發(fā)現(xiàn)，語(yǔ)言和寫作是文化現(xiàn)象，每一種語(yǔ)言都有其獨(dú)一無(wú)二的修辭習(xí)慣，篇章的組織方式反映了人的思維模式。他總結(jié)了五種文化不同的段落組成類型，其中英語(yǔ)的段落模式與漢語(yǔ)的段落模式便有很大的不同，英語(yǔ)篇章的組織和發(fā)展是"直線型"(linear)，即直截了當(dāng)?shù)仃愂鲋黝}，進(jìn)行論述；漢語(yǔ)學(xué)生典型作文方式呈"螺旋型"(circular/spiral)，即不直接切入主題，而是在主題外圍"兜圈子"或"旁敲側(cè)擊"，最后進(jìn)入主題。卡普蘭有關(guān)思維模式和寫作的研究導(dǎo)致了對(duì)比修辭研究的發(fā)展。文化和心理模式的研究成為探討第二外語(yǔ)寫作的重要角度。本文便想從霍夫斯特德的四種文化思維模式來(lái)透視中國(guó)學(xué)生英語(yǔ)論文與英語(yǔ)母語(yǔ)論文的差異。
二、中國(guó)人的文化心理模式
1．中國(guó)文化中較大的權(quán)力距離
中國(guó)經(jīng)過(guò)長(zhǎng)期的封建社會(huì)和儒家禮教的熏陶，整個(gè)社會(huì)都籠罩在“三綱五常”的等級(jí)觀念中。上下級(jí)甚至父子、兄弟之間都有不同的權(quán)力等級(jí)。雖然“君叫臣死，臣不得不死；父叫子亡，子不得不亡”等封建觀念已然過(guò)時(shí)，但“長(zhǎng)兄如父、官大一級(jí)壓死人、師道尊嚴(yán)”這些上下觀念依然深入人心。較大的權(quán)力距離使得中國(guó)文化中的人們比較尊重上級(jí)、長(zhǎng)者或已有的權(quán)威，習(xí)慣順從和接受。與之相比，英語(yǔ)國(guó)家封建社會(huì)的歷史都較短，文化在很大程度上繼承了古代希臘文明的民主議會(huì)制度，說(shuō)英語(yǔ)人數(shù)最多的美國(guó)和澳洲又都是年輕的大陸，英語(yǔ)文化的權(quán)力距離相對(duì)較小，人們崇尚平等，敢于提出自己的觀點(diǎn)。
2．中國(guó)文化中較高的不確定性規(guī)避指數(shù)
不確定性和標(biāo)新立異往往與社會(huì)等級(jí)化的程度成反比。在即成的、穩(wěn)定的社會(huì)組織系統(tǒng)中，不確定性自然不受青睞。因此，中國(guó)文化的不確定性規(guī)避指數(shù)也相應(yīng)較高，人們對(duì)尚未被社會(huì)輿論或權(quán)威確定的事物往往采取規(guī)避態(tài)度，不太喜歡競(jìng)爭(zhēng)和沖突，追求有秩序的社會(huì)生活，力求將可能發(fā)生的不確定性降低到最低限度。另外，中國(guó)作為四大文明古國(guó)，處肥沃之地，以居住地為根，衍出“家本位”，更導(dǎo)致人們對(duì)不確定和模糊情境的較強(qiáng)恐懼；而多數(shù)英語(yǔ)國(guó)家探險(xiǎn)和遷移的傳統(tǒng)使得英語(yǔ)文化中的人們較喜歡探索未知的領(lǐng)域，敢于冒險(xiǎn)和面對(duì)挑戰(zhàn)。
3．中國(guó)文化強(qiáng)調(diào)集體主義
在英語(yǔ)文化中，個(gè)人主義(inpidualism)包含著自我認(rèn)知、自我實(shí)現(xiàn)、自我控制、自我突破等優(yōu)秀品質(zhì)(Waterman，1984)。但在中國(guó)文化中，個(gè)人主義常有自私、不考慮集體利益、特立獨(dú)行等負(fù)面內(nèi)涵。中國(guó)的文化更重視互相依賴和共享的集體利益。自我的價(jià)值實(shí)現(xiàn)、成就的追求會(huì)受到有意識(shí)的壓抑和貶低，以求得同集體中其他成員的和諧。
4．中國(guó)文化的女性主義傾向
根據(jù)霍夫斯特德的界定，男性主義的文化崇尚成就和野心；而女性主義文化提倡的，人與人的相互依賴、重視的是人與自然的和諧相處。雖然中國(guó)有男尊女卑思想，且對(duì)物質(zhì)和金錢非常崇拜，表面上看是一個(gè)男性度高的社會(huì)；但本質(zhì)上，對(duì)追求成功、重視成就、崇尚力量、速度、高大等男子氣概并不認(rèn)同。相反，中國(guó)的儒家精神倡導(dǎo)“修身、齊家、治國(guó)、平天下”，強(qiáng)調(diào)道德規(guī)范自覺(jué)能力，人的價(jià)值通過(guò)“內(nèi)省”、“克己”來(lái)表現(xiàn)，形成中國(guó)人內(nèi)傾的性格。 林語(yǔ)堂先生在其成名作《中國(guó)人》上，把中國(guó)人的性格概括為，“老實(shí)溫厚，遇事忍耐，消極避世，超脫老滑，和平主義，知足常樂(lè)，幽默滑稽，因循守舊。”雖然有些偏頗，但也真實(shí)反映了中國(guó)文化的女性主義傾向。
從以上四種文化維度的內(nèi)涵和數(shù)據(jù)上都可以看出，中國(guó)文化與英語(yǔ)文化在價(jià)值取向上有很大差異。這些差異不僅體現(xiàn)為跨文化交際中的障礙，對(duì)第二外語(yǔ)寫作也會(huì)產(chǎn)生一定的負(fù)遷移作用。Connor(1997)在《對(duì)比修辭——第二語(yǔ)言寫作中的跨文化層面》一書(shū)中提到，霍夫斯特德的四種文化維度可以用來(lái)進(jìn)一步從心理學(xué)的角度探討跨文化寫作的差異。 Nelson & Carson(1995)和SU-YUEH WU也都分別對(duì)中國(guó)和北美學(xué)生英文寫作中的各自的“集體主義”或“個(gè)人主義”傾向進(jìn)行過(guò)研究。本文想通過(guò)將中國(guó)學(xué)生用英語(yǔ)寫的學(xué)術(shù)論文與英語(yǔ)母語(yǔ)學(xué)者用英語(yǔ)寫的學(xué)術(shù)論文進(jìn)行對(duì)比，從霍夫斯特德的四個(gè)文化維度角度來(lái)找尋差異的原因，以改進(jìn)我國(guó)學(xué)生的英語(yǔ)論文水平。
轉(zhuǎn)貼于 三、中國(guó)學(xué)生的ESL學(xué)術(shù)論文和英語(yǔ)母語(yǔ)學(xué)者學(xué)術(shù)論文的對(duì)比
1．引用時(shí)附帶的尊稱
英文母語(yǔ)論文中每逢引用名家或其他作者的原文時(shí)，往往只加上“According to(根據(jù)xxx的話)”、“As xxx says(如xxx所說(shuō))”，或直接在引號(hào)后注上所引的出處。英語(yǔ)母語(yǔ)的論文很重視將別人的話加上引號(hào)，標(biāo)明出處。但標(biāo)明本身即意味著尊重，很少再附加其他的尊稱。但中文的論文在引用名家之言時(shí)，僅僅說(shuō)明出處似乎遠(yuǎn)不能表達(dá)對(duì)作者的尊重，“xx先生”、“xx教授”、“xxx翁”、“著名xxx家”等標(biāo)簽常常可見(jiàn)。中國(guó)學(xué)生的英語(yǔ)論文中在引用時(shí)也相應(yīng)地有“the well-known(famous/great/experienced(知名的/著名的/偉大的/資深的))”等恭維性修飾詞，或“其觀點(diǎn)對(duì)xx領(lǐng)域做出重要貢獻(xiàn)(奠定了xx的基礎(chǔ))”等推崇性句子，以表明其所引話語(yǔ)的權(quán)威性。這種對(duì)權(quán)威的恭維明顯是受中文傳統(tǒng)的影響。而這種傳統(tǒng)可能是源于中國(guó)較大的權(quán)力距離造成的習(xí)慣思維。在權(quán)力距離大的社會(huì)中，直接提到長(zhǎng)者的名諱是十分無(wú)禮的，甚至有砍頭之罪。這種傳統(tǒng)流傳下來(lái)，便造成了習(xí)慣性的附加尊稱，在用第二語(yǔ)言寫作時(shí)，也難以避免。
2．引用成語(yǔ)或俗語(yǔ)的頻率
這里所說(shuō)的成語(yǔ)或俗語(yǔ)是指已在語(yǔ)言中固定下來(lái)的表達(dá)法，這些引用在英語(yǔ)論文中并不得到欣賞，被稱為“cliché”(陳詞濫調(diào))，英語(yǔ)的論文中喜歡使用某些自創(chuàng)的隱喻，或靈活使用一些慣用語(yǔ)，卻很少照搬已有的成語(yǔ)或俗語(yǔ)(在統(tǒng)計(jì)的5篇文章中，這種“cliché”的數(shù)量為零)。而中文論文卻把這些固定成語(yǔ)、諺語(yǔ)或格言看作是全篇必備的“華彩樂(lè)章”，一種文采的體現(xiàn)。因此中文中的引用不僅僅包括英語(yǔ)中常用的“觀點(diǎn)回顧”(literature review)，更重要的是用名家之言、古詩(shī)、古諺使自己的話更有說(shuō)服力。這種應(yīng)用成語(yǔ)俗語(yǔ)的習(xí)慣也常常被沿用到中國(guó)學(xué)生的英語(yǔ)寫作中，動(dòng)輒“as the old saying”(古語(yǔ)云)等。然而，這種引用在英語(yǔ)中卻有“拉大旗，作虎皮”之嫌。對(duì)成語(yǔ)、名家的引用也反映了不同文化對(duì)權(quán)威的態(tài)度以及對(duì)不確定性的規(guī)避程度。中國(guó)文化不確定性的規(guī)避指數(shù)較高，權(quán)威之言意味著被社會(huì)廣泛認(rèn)可，因此，引經(jīng)據(jù)典可以盡量避免分歧，減少可能發(fā)生的不確定性。相反，英語(yǔ)文化喜歡競(jìng)爭(zhēng)與沖突，因此，自己的觀點(diǎn)盡量用自己獨(dú)特的表達(dá)方式，避免步人后塵。英語(yǔ)文章不僅不喜歡使用“陳詞濫調(diào)”，對(duì)自己的觀點(diǎn)還常常從不同角度反證其可能性。而中國(guó)學(xué)生的論文則追求自圓其說(shuō)，盡量減少不確定性。
3．結(jié)論中第一人稱復(fù)數(shù)和第一人稱單數(shù)的使用頻率
從數(shù)據(jù)上看，中文的5篇論文與英語(yǔ)的五篇論文使用第一人稱復(fù)數(shù)(we/us/our)的頻率似乎相當(dāng)，但實(shí)際上，5篇英語(yǔ)文章的結(jié)論都在700-1000詞左右，而漢語(yǔ)的結(jié)論則都在200-300字左右，中國(guó)學(xué)生的英語(yǔ)論文的結(jié)論也很短，都在200詞左右。在這樣的字詞總數(shù)比例下，第一人稱復(fù)數(shù)在漢語(yǔ)文章中的使用頻率就遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)高于在英語(yǔ)文章中的使用頻率。英語(yǔ)文章結(jié)論中使用較多的是第一人稱單數(shù)(first singular pronouns)和個(gè)人的觀點(diǎn)(personal anecdotes)。在有的文章中達(dá)到12次之多，如
By way of concluding， I would like to make four comments.
I have now stated that…
I have suggested that…
I consider it important to …
I want to make it clear that…
My second/third comment relates to
I have pided…
I have outlined…
I believe that…
My concern here is …
第一人稱單數(shù)和個(gè)人觀點(diǎn)的使用體現(xiàn)了文章作者對(duì)自我的展示和肯定，體現(xiàn)了英語(yǔ)文化中的個(gè)人主義傾向和男性主義傾向。他們認(rèn)為個(gè)人的經(jīng)歷最有說(shuō)服力，只有自己相信自己，才能說(shuō)服讀者。而中文論文卻相比之下，對(duì)自己的觀點(diǎn)比較謙虛，常常出現(xiàn)“以上各點(diǎn)信手寫來(lái)，全是一孔之見(jiàn)，還望行家不吝指正”(李觀儀，2003)等謙辭，以保持學(xué)術(shù)界的和諧。這種對(duì)和諧的追求體現(xiàn)了中國(guó)文化的集體主義和女性主義傾向。中國(guó)學(xué)生的英語(yǔ)論文對(duì)自己的觀點(diǎn)評(píng)價(jià)不夠自信，更多使用的是第一人稱復(fù)數(shù)，也顯然受此影響。
四、結(jié)語(yǔ)
