Chinese English : Features and Implications 9789627707769, 9789627707707

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Open University of Hong Kong Press The Open University of Hong Kong 30 Good Shepherd Street Ho Man Tin, Kowloon Hong Kong Fax: (852) 2396 5009 Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.ouhk.edu.hk/OUHKpress.htm © Open University of Hong Kong Press, 2010 All rights reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher. ISBN: 978-962-7707-70-7 Printed in Hong Kong

Contents

Foreword

iv

About the author

vi

Acknowledgements

vii

List of acronyms and notations

viii

Introduction

1

Part A Framework for Chinese English

7

1 World Englishes

9

2 Asian Englishes

12

3 Chinese English

16

Part B Linguistic features of Chinese English

25

4 Lexical features of Chinese English

27

5 Syntactic features of Chinese English

60

6 Discourse and pragmatic features of Chinese English

107

Part C Implications of Chinese English as a model

169

7 Implications for ELT in China

171

8 Implications for intra- and intercultural communication

189

Summary

201

Appendices

206

References

229

Index

242

Foreword

Chinese English: Features and Implications is, as far as I’m aware, the first full-length study and description of Chinese English. It would be hard to imagine a more appropriate author than Xu Zhichang, as he has been engaged in an in-depth study of a variety of aspects of Chinese English for well over a decade. The book considers the development of Chinese English within the World Englishes paradigm and makes a unique contribution to the field, as here we have a study of a variety of English that was traditionally classified, in Kachru’s original conceptualization, as being a member of the expanding circle of Englishes, and thus one that was dependent on inner circle Englishes such as British or American for its norms, and where English was used primarily as a foreign language. It says a great deal about the extraordinary development and spread of English in general and in China itself in particular, that we can now sensibly talk about a Chinese variety of English. The author has done the hundreds of millions of people who speak this variety a great service, as this work is likely to provide the key text upon which all future descriptions of Chinese English will need to rely. This work is also likely to be highly influential in validating Chinese English as a new member of the World Englishes family. The importance of this can hardly be overestimated, as this description of Chinese English will lead to its future acceptance as a possible classroom model. Instead, therefore, of Chinese English language teaching classrooms insisting on a British or American model of English, we can expect to see more and more language teaching contexts in China using the educated variety of Chinese English as a model. We can confidently expect that this model will largely be drawn from this groundbreaking book.

A major reason why this description of Chinese English is so valuable is that it is based on a rich variety of naturally occurring data, both spoken and written. The data also represents, for the most part, the English of educated Chinese. This is not then a book about Chinglish with a list of quaint and faintly embarrassing examples of ‘bad’ English, but a scholarly account of the English used by educated Chinese. This is what gives it its authority. The wide-ranging nature of the data deserves special mention, including as it does spoken conversational and interview data and written data drawn from newspapers and novels. This book is also important as it provides a rigorously researched description of what we can call a multilingual variety of English. The vast majority of today’s users of English are multilinguals for whom English is an additional language. These multilinguals vastly outnumber native speakers of English. Indeed there are probably one billion multilingual speakers of English in Asia, of whom 300 million are Chinese. This means that there are more multilingual Chinese speakers of English than there are British and American native speakers of it. These figures throw into relief the importance of this first systematic description of Chinese English. This groundbreaking book will offer guidance to the millions of Chinese speakers of English, while at the same time legitimizing the variety of English that they speak. The book also offers a course in Chinese cultural norms and values. All who need to communicate with the Chinese would therefore benefit greatly from reading it, as they will learn a great deal about Chinese cultural norms and how these influence the variety of English educated Chinese people speak. This book therefore deserves to become a key reference work, not only for speakers of Chinese English, but also for all those who will have dealings with speakers of Chinese English. That is not a small number.

Andy Kirkpatrick Chair Professor of English as an International Language Hong Kong Institute of Education June 2010

About the author

Dr Xu Zhichang is Assistant Professor in the English Department of the Hong Kong Institute of Education. He has a disciplinary background in Applied Linguistics and Intercultural Education. He is also currently Associate Coordinator of a Master of Arts Programme in Teaching English as an International Language (MATEIL). He has extensive language teaching experience in Beijing, Perth, and Hong Kong and has published book chapters, and articles in international journals, including English Australia Journal, Asian Englishes, and World Englishes.

Acknowledgements

I am indebted to Professor Andy Kirkpatrick for his constant guidance and influence during my research work on Chinese English. I could not have completed this book without his inspiration. I am also indebted to Professor Braj Kachru who encouraged me to continue with the research on Chinese English, and Professor Kingsley Bolton and Professor Nobuyuki Honna for their review comments and advice on the manuscript. I am also grateful to a great number of people who have made this book possible: the editorial team, Mrs Linda Chow and Mr Tim Maraun; Dr Christopher Conlan, who provided me with sound advice when I first proposed to do research on Chinese English; Dr Rose Senior, whose expertise in ELT influenced my thinking; and Dr Francis Alip, who made helpful comments on the drafts of the manuscript. I would like to thank Professor Jin Xuefei (Ha Jin) for allowing me to use his short stories as research data, and the many informants for the interview and questionnaire data. I would also like to extend my sincere thanks to my colleagues and students in Beijing, including Ms Cao Qiaozhen, Ms Zhang Jiqin, Mr Xiao Hui, Ms Zhang Xinye, Ms Xu Guohong, Mr Tang Wenzhong, Ms Du Binbin, and Ms Dong Jing, who kindly helped me with the data collection for this book. I would also like to acknowledge Beihang University, Curtin University of Technology, and the Hong Kong Institute of Education (Hong Kong) for providing me with ideal work and research facilities to conduct academic research and fieldwork. Finally, I want to express my appreciation to my wife May and daughter Mary for providing me with constant support and a ‘moving’ home in Beijing, Perth, and Hong Kong throughout my research on Chinese English.

List of acronyms and notations

Acronyms

Notations

ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations

3sg

third person singular pronoun

A

adverbial

CALD CE

Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary Chinese English or China English (in contrast with Chinglish)

BA

bă (pre-nominalizer in MSC)

cf.

compare

CL

classifier

CRS

currently relevant state durative aspect

EFL

English as a Foreign Language

DUR

ELT

English Language Teaching

F

final position

ENL

English as a Native Language

I

initial position

ESL

English as a Second Language

L1

the first language

ICE

the International Corpus of English

L2

the second language

M

the medial position

ID

the interview data (for this book)

NOM

de (post-nominalizer in MSC)

O

object

MC

main clause

PFV

perfective aspect

MSC

Modern Standard Chinese

PL

plural form

ND

the newspaper data (for this book)

PV

particle verb

QD

the questionnaire data (for this book)

S

subject

SA

solicit agreement

SD

the short story data (for this book)

SC

subordinate clause

V

verb

Introduction

This book is primarily about the emerging linguistic features of Chinese English (CE). It also addresses the implications of CE as a model for English language teaching (ELT) in mainland China and for intra- and international communication involving CE speakers. It should be noted at the outset that CE is not universally acknowledged as a variety or a developing variety of English. Indeed, one aim of this book in identifying the linguistic features of CE is to assess the extent to which CE is a developing variety. For this purpose, I adopt the following as an operational definition of CE: a developing variety of English, which is subject to ongoing codification and normalization processes. It is based largely on the two major varieties of English, namely British and American English. It is characterized by the transfer of Chinese linguistic and cultural norms at varying levels of language, and it is used primarily by Chinese for intra- and international communication. (Xu, 2006: 287; Xu, 2008: 4)

Adopting the paradigms of World Englishes and Asian Englishes as its overarching framework, this book identifies the lexical, syntactic, discourse, and pragmatic features of CE through empirical data analyses. Drawing on extensive data consisting of spoken and written English—ranging from interviews conducted in Beijing, selected China Daily newspaper texts, short stories by the author Ha Jin, as well as questionnaire surveys conducted at a university in Beijing—this book reveals a number of linguistic and sociolinguistic features that are unique to CE. This supports the contentions of some scholars that CE is a developing variety of English. The implications of this for ELT in mainland China and for intra- and international communication involving CE speakers are then investigated.

2

Introduction

Background English has increasingly become ‘the world’s default mode’ (McArthur, 2002: 13) for communication. It is used internationally in airports, hotels, restaurants, and shopping centres, and at tourist attractions. It is also used as the language of science and technology, global media, and multinational business. While McArthur (p. 16) claims that ‘no precise figures are possible,’ he has guesstimated that there are at least 1 billion users of English worldwide in three roughly equal divisions, namely, ENL (English as a Native Language), ESL (English as a Second Language), and EFL (English as a Foreign Language). As a global lingua franca, English has so far been given a number of names including, among others, ‘International English,’ ‘Global English,’ and ‘World Englishes.’ The plural form, ‘Englishes,’ has attracted a certain amount of scholarly attention since the 1981 launch of the journal World Englishes. According to Kachru (1996: 135), the term ‘Englishes’ symbolizes ‘variation in form and function, use in linguistically and culturally distinct contexts, and a range of variety in literary creativity,’ and it stresses ‘the WE-ness among the users of English, as opposed to us vs. them (native and nonnative).’ It is still controversial whether this ‘WE-ness’ includes CE and Chinese speakers of English, as Bolton (2002a: 197) cautions that ‘it would be naïve to expect the uncritical reception of such universalist sentiments’ in the Chinese context. However, there is little doubt, as Bolton and Tong (2002: 180) argue, that ‘English will continue to play a major role in China’s continual engagement with the West and with the world.’ They predict that China may also extend the use of English as an additional intranational language of commerce, communication, and education. Kirkpatrick and Xu (2002: 278) suggest that since the great majority of the Chinese who are currently learning English are far more likely to use it with other non-native speakers, the development of a Chinese variety of English ‘with Chinese characteristics’ may be the result. We predict that a Chinese variety of English is characterised by a number of discourse and rhetorical norms derived from Chinese. We argue that the presence of these L1 [first language] discourse and rhetorical norms should

Introduction

not be seen as ‘deviations’ from Anglo norms, but that, as Chinese speakers are more likely to use the language with other English speakers in the East Asian region rather than with speakers of inner circle varieties of English, the Chinese variety of English is actually a more culturally appropriate model of English than any superimposed ‘Anglo’ norm. (p. 269)

In identifying the linguistic and sociolinguistic features of CE, this book aligns itself with the process of codification and standardization which CE, a potentially culturally appropriate model of English in China, is undergoing.

Objectives Much descriptive analysis is needed to show how varieties of English, such as a developing variety like CE, vary from native varieties of English, and how these varieties reflect the linguistic and cultural norms of speakers. Accordingly, this book seeks to achieve the following five objectives by addressing the relevant questions for each. 1 To identify lexical features of CE: What does CE lexis comprise? To what extent do Chinese loanwords in English reflect Chinese culture and society? How do English words undertake meaning shifts in Chinese contexts? To what extent do CE and other varieties of English share common lexis? 2 To identify syntactic features of CE: How do CE speakers vary syntactically from speakers of other varieties of English? To what extent are these syntactic variations shared by the Chinese of varying proficiencies in English? To what extent does Chinese have a syntactic influence on CE speakers? 3 To identify discourse and pragmatic features of CE: To what extent does CE reflect Chinese discourse and pragmatic norms? How does CE discourse interact with the pragmatic norms of CE speakers? To what extent does the uniqueness of CE discourse and pragmatic features make CE different from other varieties of English?

3

4

Introduction

4 To evaluate the implications of CE for ELT in China: To what extent would CE help Chinese students and teachers of English contextualize their English learning and teaching? Would the mother tongue experiences of Chinese students and teachers facilitate their learning and teaching of English? Would CE validate ELT materials and approaches in Chinese contexts? 5 To evaluate the implications of CE for intra- and international communication involving CE speakers: To what extent would CE address the authenticity of using English by CE speakers? Would CE validate the incorporation of Chinese norms and bilingual creativity in intranational communication among CE speakers? To what extent would CE enhance communication between CE speakers and other speakers of English?

Significance The literature on English varieties shows that CE has not been acknowledged broadly inside China or by some people outside China as a developing variety of English. Research on CE is limited compared with other Asian varieties of English such as Indian English (Kachru, 1983) and Singapore English (Foley, 1988; Newbrook, 1987; Pakir, 1993; Platt & Weber, 1980). The literature to date has largely been restricted to discussions of whether CE exists or how it differs from Chinglish. Systematic research into the linguistic and sociolinguistic features of CE, and the implications for ELT in China and for intra- and international communication, is therefore of significance. Since the Open Door policy was implemented in 1978, the popularity of English has reached unprecedented heights. The guesstimates of the number of English learners and users in China vary between over 200 million and 350 million (Bolton, 2002a; Kirkpatrick & Xu, 2002). Acknowledging such a large number of learners, Qiu and Ning (2002: 25) predict that ‘in about 50 years, China English will become an independent variety.’ Kirkpatrick (2007: 146) agrees that ‘this number of people learning and speaking English will lead to a distinctive Chinese variety of English.’

Introduction

Non-native speakers play an important role in the development of new varieties of English. They now outnumber native speakers and they take active roles in the development of the language. Smith (1998: 172) argues that ‘English does not only belong to its native speakers but also to all those who fluently use it.’ Among non-native speakers of English, Chinese learners and users of English constitute the largest percentage. Research on CE is therefore significant for the ongoing worldwide nativization processes of English. Kachru (1992a) proposes theories and patterns for the development of non-native varieties of English. This book provides data to codify CE, and it also extends Kachru’s research on institutionalized nonnative varieties to the study of performance varieties of English, that is, those varieties of English used as foreign languages. At the current stage of CE research, it is important for researchers to take a descriptive approach in data analyses for the purpose of standardizing and codifying CE. In addition, the choice of CE as a model for ELT in the Chinese classroom would have positive implications for Chinese students and teachers of English, and for ELT approaches and textbooks in China. This book is significant in that it has the potential to liberate people from their traditional notions of English teaching and learning. In most English classrooms, Chinese students are positioned at the receiving end, completing comprehension tasks on reading and listening texts, with little opportunity to respond to or challenge the information they receive from the perspective of their own culture. They follow exonormative educational models of English, and are given the task of achieving nearnative English proficiency. This book, however, regards Chinese speakers of English as authentic CE users, not as deficient interlanguage speakers. In the long run, CE may become a widespread, systematic, rule-governed, and endonormative variety among Chinese speakers through which they can communicate their cultures and identities to the rest of the world. In this regard, it can be argued that success in learning English and using English depends on the ability of Chinese learners to integrate English with their own ideological and social needs, rather than on their ability to imitate native speakers. In order to facilitate the learning and teaching of English in China, this book considers to what extent ELT approaches and textbooks that reflect Chinese cultural conventions and linguistic norms can be legitimized in the Chinese context.

5

6

Introduction

CE is also significant in terms of intra- and international communication in English. Smith (1981: 36) argues that ‘any culture can use English as its vehicle.’ English is not only associated with cultures of English-speaking nations, but also with cultures in which English is extensively used along with local languages. The relationship between language and culture is complex, dynamic, and evolving. The speakers of CE and other nonnative varieties of English have enriched and will continue to enrich the English language. Concepts and expressions developed and used by nonnative speakers can be incorporated into and become an integral part of English. Since research on CE is in essence an investigation into the linguistic and sociolinguistic transfer of features from Chinese to English, it is of significance to intra- and international communication involving CE speakers.

Part A

Framework for Chinese English

This part of the book situates CE in a global as well as a regional context by providing a framework based on the development of World Englishes and Asian Englishes. It focuses on the development of CE and the extent to which it is a developing variety of English.

1

World Englishes

The beginning of World Englishes The conceptualization of World Englishes can be traced back to the early 1960s, when Kachru (1965: 391) discussed the ‘Indianness’ of Indian English. However, it was not until the late 1970s that the development of World Englishes became a subject of much scholarly attention. In 1978, two independently organized international conferences were held focusing on the intra- and international functions of English. One was organized at the East-West Culture Learning Institute of the EastWest Center, and the other was organized at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Each conference resulted in a seminal publication, namely, English for Cross-cultural Communication (Smith, 1981) and The Other Tongue: English across Cultures (Kachru, 1982). Since then, the study of different varieties of English has become ‘a new subdiscipline of English linguistics’ (Schneider, 2003: 234). This subdiscipline, which has gradually established itself as World Englishes, is interdisciplinary, as it has implications for history, sociology, bilingualism, cultural studies, crosscultural communication, ELT, second language acquisition, as well as linguistics and sociolinguistics.

World Englishes in three circles The recognition of a number of World Englishes leads to the question of classification, first of all in terms of the relationship between native speaker varieties and other varieties. Kachru’s (1992b: 356–357) model divides varieties into three ‘circles.’

10

Framework for Chinese English

The Inner Circle refers to the traditional cultural and linguistic bases of English. The Outer Circle represents the institutionalized non-native varieties (ESL) in the regions that have passed through extended periods of colonization. … The Expanding Circle includes the regions where the performance varieties of the language are used essentially in EFL contexts.

Although Kachru’s three circles largely correspond to the traditional ENL, ESL, and EFL division in terms of their member countries, what distinguishes the two models, according to Schneider (2003: 237), is primarily Kachru’s ‘broader goals and political implications.’ Schneider points out that Kachru does not see native English, that is, inner circle English, as superior, and in fact focuses on outer and expanding circle Englishes where ‘the most vigorous expansions and developments of the language can be observed’ (p. 237).

The phases of development of World Englishes The plurality of Englishes developed in three phases according to Kachru (1996). The first phase was ‘restricted to the British Islands’; while the second includes English in North America, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, and ‘entailed movements of English-speaking populations from one part of the globe to another’ (p. 136). The third phase is related to the Englishes in countries that fall within Kachru’s outer and expanding circles. The current sense of the term ‘World Englishes’ is largely derived from these outer and expanding circle countries, where what are called ‘New Englishes’ have been increasingly identified. Bolton (2003a: 1) points out that the term ‘New Englishes’ has been used to refer to the ‘localized’ forms of English found in ‘the Caribbean, West and East Africa, and parts of Asia.’ These new World Englishes of the third phase have been classified by Kachru into two varieties: performance varieties and institutionalized varieties. Performance varieties are those used as foreign languages. They have a ‘highly restricted functional range in specific contexts, for example, those of tourism, commerce, and other international transactions’ (Kachru, 1992a: 55). Kachru argues that institutionalized varieties always begin as performance varieties. The characteristics he uses to distinguish an institutionalized variety from a performance variety include: an extended range of uses in the sociolinguistic context of a nation, an extended register

World Englishes

and style range, a process of nativization both in formal and in contextual terms, and a body of nativized English literature. Kachru sees the development of institutionalized varieties as taking place in three phases. The first phase takes a native variety of English as the elitist, powerful, and politically advantageous ‘imitation model’; the second phase is ‘related to extensive diffusion of bilingualism in English, which slowly leads to the development of varieties within a variety’; and the third phase accepts the local variety as the norm, and recognizes the national uses of English while considering its international uses only marginal (pp. 56–57). For the sake of comparison, it should be pointed out that Schneider (2003: 233) identifies five phases for the development of New Englishes, which he defines as ‘distinct forms of English which have emerged in postcolonial settings and countries around the globe.’ These five phases are foundation, exonormative stabilization, nativization, endonormative stabilization, and differentiation.

11

2

Asian Englishes

Englishes in Asia Englishes in Asia are mostly emerging varieties, except for Australian English and New Zealand English. Research has not addressed these emerging varieties evenly. For example, Englishes in both Central and North Asia tend to be left out of most discussions, with the focus always on East Asia and Southeast Asia (McArthur, 2003: 19). For the time being this skewing of the discussion can only be acknowledged, and the task is to put CE into the context that has been described to date.

English as an Asian language It has been proposed that English is an ‘Asian language,’ based on observations of the sociolinguistic profiles of English in Asia (Kachru, 1998: 89; Smith, 1998: 172; Kirkpatrick, 2000b: 3; McArthur, 2003: 19). Despite the varying situations and patterns of English in different regions, Kachru (1998: 93–94) points out some general facts about English as an Asian language. These include its diffusion mainly by Asian efforts, the creative use of the language as seen in a broad variety of literary genres, its use in creating links between different levels of society, and the ongoing debate about the ideological issues surrounding English, for example its relationship with colonialism. The growing status of English as a lingua franca in Asia is difficult to ignore. The most prominent example is its use as the official working language of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). ASEAN uses English in official dealings among member states and with Asian countries outside the organization (McArthur, 2003: 20). English is also used as a lingua franca

Asian Englishes

by the political elite in Asia, as well as by professionals and the business community (Kirkpatrick, 2000b: 3). As McArthur (2003: 21) points out, in South and Southeast Asia there are many examples of territories where English has long been the key ‘other tongue’ of millions. Among these, he singles out Singapore as a remarkable example in that English is one of the four official languages there and the one that is ‘known to all younger Singaporeans.’ As for East Asia, in Japan, China, and Korea ‘English is the foreign language of choice,’ and these nations ‘have for many years invested strongly in the language within their school systems ... and elements of the language have been strongly assimilated into national life and the national language in various visual and cultural ways’ (pp. 21–22). The number of users and learners of English is another issue considered by scholars who take English to be an Asian language. Some figures for China given in the ‘Introduction’ of this book suggest the explosion in the number of English users there. According to McArthur’s (2003: 22) count, India and China have at least half a billion users and learners of English. The degree to which English has become an Asian language is also reflected by the indigenization of English in Asia. It suffices here to point to some of the many studies since the 1980s that document this process: Platt and Weber, 1980; Kachru, 1983, 2005; Newbrook, 1987; Foley, 1988; Ho and Platt, 1993; Pakir, 1993; Baumgardner, 1996; Bell and Kuiper, 1999; Blair and Collins, 2001; Kirkpatrick, 2002, 2007; Bolton, 2002a, 2003a; Thompson, 2003; Stanlaw, 2004; Adamson, 2004; Hashim and Hassan, 2006; Kachru and Nelson, 2006; Bolton and Kachru, 2007; Murata and Jenkins, 2009; and Tam, 2009.

Linguistic features of Asian Englishes English as an Asian language has many varieties, and these indigenized forms have unique characteristics. Each is, as Butler (1999: 187–189) says, ‘characterized by the pronunciation, lexis and idiom typical of many of those born and educated within the particular English language community.’

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14

Framework for Chinese English

While it is impossible to describe the work that has been done on all the varieties of English in Asia, it is useful to briefly indicate some of the conclusions that have been reached in terms of the lexical, syntactic, and discourse and pragmatic features of some of these Englishes, in particular those that may be more related to the case of CE. Examples of research on lexical features include Benson (2002) and Bolton (2003b), who investigate the variation and context of Hong Kong words and lexical innovations in Hong Kong English. Benson claims that ‘many localized words can be satisfactorily accounted for in terms of semantic and pragmatic relations that are internal to the contexts in which they are used’ (p. 169); that is, the usage of these words is distinctive in some way from their usage elsewhere. Bolton suggests that ‘a full inventory of the modern Hong Kong lexicon would include items across a wide range of different domains including food items, official terminology, political vocabulary, police terms, place-names, festivals, and flora and fauna’ (p. 93). He also lists a number of processes of lexical innovation in regional varieties of English, and predicts that in addition to ‘calquing (or loan-translation),’ it seems likely that ‘other processes of lexical innovation, such as neologizing and phonetic borrowing may also play a role’ in China (p. 95). Research on syntactic features includes works by Deterding (1999) and Bao (2003), who both note the influence of Modern Standard Chinese (MSC) on Singapore English. Deterding sees this in the written English of welleducated Singaporean writers, for example, the influence of the different setting of the Null Subject Parameter as seen in the use of subjectless finite clauses in newspaper headlines (p. 205). Bao investigates the uses of words such as ‘one,’ ‘already,’ ‘ever,’ and ‘never,’ for example, ‘The apple, I bought one, very sweet,’ ‘I see that movie already,’ and concludes that ‘from a typological perspective, Singaporean English is closer to Modern Standard Chinese’ (pp. 23–24). At the level of discourse and pragmatics, Scollon and Scollon (1991: 113) discuss issues of ‘topic confusion in English–Asian discourse.’ They note that when Chinese, Korean, and Japanese speak English, they employ the Asian ‘delayed’ or ‘inductive’ introduction of topics, which Westerners find confusing and evasive, while the Western early introduction of topics seems abrupt or rude to Asians. Kirkpatrick (1996: 110) argues that Chinese

Asian Englishes

speakers of English follow a discourse pattern that appears to adhere to ‘a subordinate-main or modifying-modified information sequence.’ It is important to note that the scholars mentioned above and others who have carried out research on the varieties of English in Asia tend to be strongly for the use of these varieties rather than for the adoption of external models. These varieties are seen as legitimate in their own right and their differences from external models are described as valuable adaptations of English to local culture. Li (1998: 39), for example, argues that ‘there is no reason to see systematic deviations from Anglo-American norms at the pragmatic and discourse levels as errors. Rather, there is room to analyze these as non-native speakers’ attempts to use L2 [second language] in such a way as to conform to their L1 pragmatic norms and cultural values.’ This has serious implications for the teaching of English in Asia. As scholars point out, the local variety should be the preferred variety in English language teaching. Kirkpatrick (1998: 82–83) argues that this should be the case right from when students begin learning English, and that external models should only be introduced for what they are rather than as varieties to be acquired by learners. Hung (2003: 45–46) also argues for the acceptance of the local variety and suggests that teachers should ‘teach sounds or features not found in it only where they are crucial for international intelligibility.’ Clearly, such issues would have to be addressed in language planning. Fong, Lim, and Wee (2002: 33–34) argue in their discussion of language planning in Singapore that ‘policies that fail to acknowledge language change or that attribute privileged knowledge to a “native speaker” are inconsistent with the fact that local varieties of English have taken root in Singapore’ and that ‘policies which discriminate against a local variety also, by implication, discriminate against the local speakers.’

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3

Chinese English

Defining Chinese English Since the late 1970s, a number of Chinese scholars have been researching into the linguistic and sociolinguistic features of English in China. A key moment was Ge Chuangui’s invention of the term ‘China English’ (Zhōngguó yīngyŭ). Ge (1980: 2) justifies the use of China English expressions that, while not previously existent in other Englishes, seem essential for Chinese speakers when they communicate in English. Listing examples associated with different periods of Chinese history and their usual English translations, such as sìshū (Four Books), jìnshì (jinshi), wŭsì yùndòng (May Fourth Movement), dé xiānsheng (Mr. Democracy), and sìge xiàndàihuà (four modernizations), Ge states that ‘none of these English translations are Chinese English or Chinglish, but China English’ (p. 2). Although Ge does not define what he means by ‘China English,’ this pioneering concept and the distinction he drew between it and Chinese English or Chinglish led to ongoing debate (cf. Kirkpatrick & Xu, 2002) and laid the groundwork for the introduction into China of theories of World Englishes and Asian Englishes (cf. Sun, 1989). Cheng (1992: 162) claims that ‘the varieties of English spoken by native Chinese around the world presumably share certain features because of common language background.’ He further argues that ‘there appears to be a kind of English peculiar to the Chinese culture: one might call it Sinicized English. This variety has not derived its characteristics from an earlier version of English in China, nor will it necessarily remain invariant in the future’ (p. 163). Cheng’s Sinicized English (hànhuà yīngyŭ) resembles Ge’s China English in that it refers primarily to lexical items and phrases

Chinese English

that are unique to Chinese contexts. Like Ge, Cheng proposes a distinction, in his case between Sinicized English and ‘an earlier version of English in China’ which he refers to as ‘Chinese pidgin English’ (p. 164). He also points out that English in China takes on more or less Chinese elements depending on whether China is ‘outward-searching’ or ‘inward-looking’ respectively at a given time (p. 174). Another Chinese scholar, Huang (1988), reiterates the distinction between Chinglish and China English. However, he chooses to use the term ‘Chinese-Coloured English’ (dài Zhōngguó sècăi de yīngyŭ) (p. 47) rather than ‘China English’ or ‘Chinese English’ to avoid the possible association of those latter terms with ‘Chinglish.’ He tentatively defines ‘Chinese-Coloured English’ as ‘the English that has been adapted to Chinese ideology and civilization, and also enriched by this adaptation.’ He stresses that ‘it is, first of all, correct, and secondly Chinese coloured’ (p. 47). Thus he emphasizes the positive aspects of Chinese-Coloured English. Gui (1988: 13–14) proposes the existence of a ‘Chinese-style English’ (Zhōngguó shì yīngyŭ), arguing that it comprises a continuum with the learner’s English on the one end and the English of well-educated users on the other end, and that ‘in between the two ends, there exist variations.’ Furthermore, Wang (1994: 7) discusses China English in the sense of a variety of English and defines it as ‘the English used by the Chinese people in China, being based on standard English and having Chinese characteristics.’ This definition has become a milestone in the studies of CE, because unlike previous definitions, which focus on Chinese–English translation, Wang’s definition deals with the issue of China English as a variety in itself. Although Wang’s definition can be considered the first of its kind because it addresses the variety of English per se, it is not fundamentally different from previous notions of China English and Chinese-Coloured English. For example, expressions such as ‘Four Books’ and ‘Five Classics’ as distinguished by Ge above certainly bear Chinese characteristics in Wang’s definition, and the notions of being correct and Chinese-Coloured as stressed by Huang (1988) also coincide with Wang’s version of ‘being based on standard English’ and ‘having Chinese characteristics.’

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Framework for Chinese English

Wang’s definition of ‘China English’ has been questioned by Li (1993), especially with regard to the first two elements in the definition. Li (p. 19) argues that ‘it is nonetheless Westerners who unavoidably use vocabulary of China English when they talk about China, and therefore China English has exceeded the confines of its native land.’ He also questions the existence of a standard English (biāozhŭn yīngyŭ), on which Wang’s definition is based. Instead, Li uses the term ‘Normative English’ (guīfàn yīngyŭ) (p. 19), and therefore revises the definition of ‘China English’ as: the lexis, sentence structure and discourse that have Chinese characteristics. It takes Normative English as a core, and it expresses things that are uniquely Chinese. It bears no mother tongue (Chinese) interference, and it is involved in English communications by means of transliterations, loan translations and semantic shifts. (p. 19)

Li provides a number of examples to show what he means by the lexis, sentence structures, and discourse of China English. He points out that its lexis includes not only Chinese borrowings in English, but also English words the meanings of which have shifted in Chinese cultural contexts (p. 22). In terms of sentence structures, he argues that examples like ‘one country, two systems’ and ‘the higher authorities have policies and the localities have their countermeasures’ show certain characteristics of China English (p. 22). Li’s definition of ‘China English’ has in turn been challenged by Xie, whose major point is that China English is ‘an interference variety’ (1995: 7). Xie defines ‘China English’ as: an interference variety used by Chinese in cross-cultural communication. The interference is expressed at varying levels of language, including language itself as well as schema and culture. China English is based on normative English, and it works in English communication. The frequency of its use and its communicative effect depend on the English proficiency of its users. (p. 10)

Xie keeps Li’s term ‘Normative English’ by saying that China English is ‘an interference variety,’ but he takes a drastic step away from Li. He suggests that both China English and Chinglish have Chinese interference. Xie

Chinese English

also critically comments on Li’s examples of China English lexis, sentence structures, and discourse. Xie stresses that China English sentences inevitably embody Chinese ways of thinking. Xie gives a list of examples contrasting what he considers to be Normative English and China English sentences, including ‘Let’s go and eat. (Normative English) / Let’s go and eat our meals. (CE)’; ‘He went out for a walk after supper. (Normative English) / After supper he went out for a walk. (CE)’; and ‘It is Sunday today. (Normative English) / Today is Sunday. (CE)’ (1995: 9). However, the China English sentences, as classified by Xie, are not typical only of Chinese speakers of English; they can also be found as ‘standard’ in many varieties of English, including British and American English. In the late 1990s, Chinese scholars, for example, Jia and Xiang (1997) reviewed the notion of China English. They define ‘China English’ as ‘a variety of English used by speakers of Chinese, based on standard English, and with inevitable Chinese characteristics or characteristics that help disseminate Chinese culture’ (p. 11). They break the national boundary set in Wang’s definition, but they refer back to ‘standard English’ as the core of China English. What Jia and Xiang stress is ‘the inevitability and practicality of Chinese characteristics in China English’ (p. 11). They also positively comment on the ‘feasibility’ and ‘significance’ of the existence of China English, saying that we can decide, on the basis of identifying and analysing features of English nativization in China, what features are unavoidable by Chinese speakers, and what features are facilitative for disseminating Chinese civilization. In addition, ‘the existence of CE itself is a contribution to the English language, because CE helps enlarge the English vocabulary, and expand the influence of English’ (p. 12). Du and Jiang (2001) and Jiang (2002) provide an overview of the ongoing research on China English. As far as its linguistic features are concerned, Jiang reviews the research of a number of scholars on its phonology, lexicon, and discourse. In terms of the China English lexicon, Jiang (p. 15) points out the ‘problem’ that while Chinese dictionary compilers and therefore Chinese English media prefer anglicized versions, native speakers often use transliterated forms. For example, taichi is translated as ‘shadowboxing’ in almost all Chinese–English dictionaries, but Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary (1983) lists ‘t’ai chi ch’uan or tai chi chuan’ and the Cambridge International Dictionary of English (1995) gives ‘t’ai chi.’

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What Chinese scholars seem to have in common is their intention to distinguish Chinglish from their versions of China English. In making such a distinction, Jiang (1995: 51) proposes that Chinglish, as the blend itself suggests, is somewhat a pidgin, or an ‘interlanguage,’ a term to emphasize the structurally and phonologically intermediate status of a learner’s language system between mother tongue and target language. Jiang (2002: 6–7) later describes Chinglish as ‘an awkward mixture of Chinese and English, most probably English words with Chinese syntax, like “Good good study; day day up” (Study hard and make progress every day),’ and he thinks that Chinglish ‘often has a facetious, or even pejorative, ring around it,’ and therefore it is ‘bad English’ and ‘the term “Chinglish” is unwelcome in China.’ In an earlier article, Jiang (1995: 51–52) distinguishes Chinglish from China English, which he calls a member of the big family of World Englishes with Chinese characteristics, and he lists the following criteria: (1) a near-native yet Chinese accent; (2) words which are basic only to Chinese because of its history, environment and politics; (3) dead or old-fashioned forms or pronunciations resulting from Chinese approaches to language learning (e.g. a concentration on intensive reading as a basis for language study, a preoccupation with the careful, often painstaking examination of grammatical structure and a corresponding lack of attention to more communicative skills, the use of translation as both a teaching and a learning strategy, etc., and materials or teaching aids commonly used in China); (4) a linguistic mixture of British and American English in both spoken and written forms. So China English is a ‘nativization’ of the normative English used by Chinese people mainly in China, for international and intranational purposes. It is self-justifying as an English.

These criteria are useful in the sense that they help distinguish China English from Chinglish, and they are used to justify China English as an English. However, the criterion of ‘a near-native yet Chinese accent’ can only be vaguely defined. In addition, since Chinese approaches to language teaching change over time, they may not necessarily result in ‘dead or oldfashioned forms or pronunciations’ of China English.

Chinese English

Yan (2002: 218) defines ‘China English’ as ‘the spread, use and variation of English in China.’ He takes a World Englishes approach to the issue of China English, pointing out that ‘English is the second largest de facto educational language in China’ (p. 216). Based on comprehensive research and earlier definitions like those discussed above, Xu (2006: 287; 2008: 4–5) offers the definition of ‘Chinese English’ adopted in this book, as quoted at the beginning of the ‘Introduction.’

Chinese English: A developing member of World Englishes In 2002, a special issue of the journal World Englishes titled English in China: Interdisciplinary Perspectives included papers that ‘examine the roles and functions of English in China (and Chinese Englishes) from the seventeenth century to today from a range of interdisciplinary perspectives’ (Bolton & Tong, 2002: 180). The next year saw the publication of Bolton’s Chinese Englishes: A Sociolinguistic History (2003a), considered to be the first book dedicated exclusively to studies of CE. Bolton explores ‘the history of the English language in China from the arrival of the first English-speaking traders in the early seventeenth century to the present’ (p. i). Apart from the sociolinguistic approach, he also draws from anthropological, historical, and sociological approaches in bringing together and making sense of ‘a substantial body of historical, linguistic and sociolinguistic research on the description and analysis of English in Hong Kong and China’ (p. xiii). A number of researchers (Hu, 2004; Jiang, 2003; Kirkpatrick & Xu, 2002; Pang, 2002; Xu, 2006; Xu, 2008) argue that CE is one of the World Englishes. Pang (2002: 24) suggests that ‘as a member of World Englishes, CE should be researched from varying perspectives, including sociolinguistics, cross-cultural communication, pragmatics, stylistics and translatology.’ Having described the ‘craze for English,’ the ‘ELT industry’ in China, and ‘Chinese attitudes towards English,’ Jiang (2003: 3–7) argues that ‘English is indeed becoming a Chinese language,’ and that ‘the Chinese variety of English will become more and more distinctive as an independent member of the family of world Englishes.’ Hu (2004: 26) takes

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a step further in explaining ‘why China English should stand alongside British, American, and the other world Englishes.’ Xu (2006; 2008) rectifies the name of CE from a historical and cultural perspective, and he takes a descriptive approach in a systematic identification of linguistic features of CE. Butler (1997: 106) suggests the following criteria against which a variety of World Englishes should be measured: (1) A standard and recognizable pattern of pronunciation handed down from one generation to another; (2) Particular words and phrases which spring up usually to express key features of the physical and social environment and which are regarded as peculiar to the variety; (3) A history—a sense that this variety of English is the way it is because of the history of the language community; (4) A literature written without apology in that variety of English; and (5) Reference works—dictionaries and style guides—which show that people in that language community look to themselves, not some outside authority, to decide what is right and wrong in terms of how they speak and write their English.

While agreeing with Butler’s criteria, Kirkpatrick and Xu (2002: 270) point out that ‘criteria (4) and (5) provide strong evidence for an established variety. In the context of China, however, it is clear that we are considering a developing variety.’

Linguistic research on Chinese English Systematic research on the linguistic features of CE is central to the discussion of CE as a developing variety of English. Although the literature on CE shows that there is much room for exploration in terms of the features analysis research on CE, a number of scholars, including Cheng (1992), Li (1993), Wang (1994), Xie (1995), Du and Jiang (2001), Jiang (2002), Kirkpatrick and Xu (2002), Yan (2002), Zhang (2003), Xu (2006; 2008), and Kirkpatrick (2004; 2007), recognize the importance of this type of research and have started identifying and analysing CE features at varying linguistic levels.

Chinese English

As to lexical connotations, Cheng (1992: 171) points out that ‘in different societies some words have certain social values or stigmas attached to them.’ He notices that capitalist and bourgeois are negative, but communist and propaganda are positive in China. He then assumes that ‘some of these terms or phrases can be replaced by words appropriate to British or American practice (e.g., dramatic work instead of propaganda work), but then one risks the loss of authenticity.’ Other researchers including Li (1993), Wang (1994), Du and Jiang (2001), and Jiang (2002; 2003) largely base their descriptions of CE lexis on Knowlton’s (1970) and Cannon’s (1988) research on Chinese borrowings in English. Knowlton’s work (pp. 9–10) pointed out that many of these borrowings can be traced to early trade contacts with China and that the English romanizations therefore are based on the sounds of the words in Cantonese, rather than the ‘so-called Mandarin’ spoken by most Chinese people. Cannon (1988: 15) established a division of the Chinese borrowings in English into 19 semantic areas. In a study of the syntax used in the Beijing Review, a weekly news magazine, Cheng (1992: 171) observes that the sentences in the magazine are ‘longer than usual’ and that ‘nouns with short modification in Chinese often have to be translated into English with embedded sentences.’ Xie (1995: 9) compares a few pairs of sentences both in what he considers to be Normative English and CE, and concludes that ‘CE sentences show characteristics of Chinese ways of thinking.’ Yan (2002: 231) summarizes the research findings of a few other researchers and comes up with eight features of CE, for example, Chinese speakers of English (1) use few articles when speaking in English, (2) mix up adjectives with adverbs, and overuse very to modify adjectives and adverbs, (3) have difficulties in the inflection for the third person singular present tense verb forms, (4) produce sentences without concordance of tenses and aspects, (5) avoid using sentences in passive voice, (6) do not use tag questions, (7) answer questions not based on the facts, but on how the questions are asked (e.g., ‘Doesn’t he want to go?’ — ‘Yes, he doesn’t’ or ‘No, he does’), and (8) do not use sentences in subjunctive mood.

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Kirkpatrick (2004: 6–9) reflects on ‘what adult Chinese learners of English may bring with them to the learning of academic writing in English.’ He claims that ‘certain features associated with MSC syntax influence the writing styles of Chinese learners.’ Some of these features are topic–comment vs. subject–predicate sentence patterns, clause order in compound and complex sentences, and sequencing in discourse. At the level of discourse and pragmatics, Zhang (2003: 109) proposes that ‘discourse and pragmatic norms of Chinese Englishes can be found in a range of domains, from speech acts, email discourse, journalistic discourse, personal correspondence, to technical and academic writings.’ Kirkpatrick and Xu (2002: 274) and Kirkpatrick (2002) propose that as ‘the frame–main sequence is a fundamental principle of information sequencing in Chinese,’ it can be expected to be ‘transferred from Chinese into China English.’ They further argue that ‘the transfer of such norms is an essential criterion if the new variety of English is to achieve acceptance as a marker of identity among its speakers.’ In addition, Scollon, Scollon, and Kirkpatrick (2000) and Scollon and Scollon (2001) provide a framework for contrastive discourse and pragmatic features analysis in Chinese and English. They are concerned with information sequencing in letters of requests; structural differences in Chinese and English news stories; and systems of face, politeness, and hierarchy. Xu (2004b) examines what discourse and pragmatic norms are and how these norms are likely to operate when they differ across cultures. He argues in terms of CE that ‘as English becomes the de facto language for world-wide communication, the issues of who speaks what Englishes to whom, when and where, are of increasing interest to language learners, teachers, and researchers’ (p. 298). Having placed CE in the contexts of World Englishes and Asian Englishes and summarized the literature to date in this part of the book, part B will move on to identify and analyse linguistic features of CE based on data analysis at varying levels.

Part B

Linguistic features of Chinese English

This part of the book identifies and analyses linguistic features of CE based on data analysis at varying linguistic levels, including lexis, syntax, and discourse and pragmatics.

4

Lexical features of Chinese English

In this chapter I will discuss the emerging lexis of CE and its identification and classification. I will classify CE lexis into three distinct categories, namely, Chinese loanwords in English, nativized English words, and common English words that are shared with users of the majority of English varieties. Adopting Kachru’s (1982) model of three circles, I will propose that these form respectively inner circle CE lexis, outer circle CE lexis, and expanding circle CE lexis. The interview data (ID), newspaper data (ND), and short story data (SD) (descriptions of which are given in appendix 1) support these conclusions.

The emerging lexis of CE Lexis is fundamental to human communication, and it reflects social change. Compared with other aspects of language, such as syntax, semantics, and pragmatics, lexis is more sensitive to changes in a society. The constant emergence of new items and concepts requires new words or new meanings for some established words. At the same time, a number of words and meanings fall into disuse because the items and concepts that they refer to gradually lose popularity or no longer exist. The dynamic nature of English lexis is also partly due to the influence of other languages on English. For example, the influence of Chinese— Putonghua and Cantonese—on English has a long history, which can be traced back to early contact between speakers of English and Chinese. According to Bolton (2003b: 85–86), the details of this contact were recorded in around 1637 in the diary of an English mercantile trader, Peter Mundy, whose writings were published as The Travels of Peter Mundy. Some of the early examples in Mundy’s diary, with Cantonese as a source

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language, include ‘chaa’ for tea, ‘leicheea’ for lichee, ‘Macao’ for Macau, and ‘Paquin’ for Peking (Beijing). In the two hundred years after Peter Mundy’s visit to Macau, European trade with China in tea, spices, and opium was largely confined to Canton and Macau, and the languages of English and Chinese (mostly Cantonese) were in constant contact. The most obvious result of this contact has been the borrowing of names for places, flora and fauna, peoples, cultures, and foods. ‘Westerners began to adopt a vocabulary that reflected the reality of life around them in treaty-port China’ (Bolton, 2003b: 89). Some English borrowings from Chinese are derived from Chinese words or terms that are transliterated into Pinyin (the Chinese phonetic system) script. Examples include Putonghua, maotai, and fengshui. Others are translations of Chinese. Examples include the ‘four modernizations’; ‘one country, two systems’; ‘running dogs’; ‘May 4th Movement’; and ‘to get rich is glorious.’ When Chinese speakers of English refer to things of Chinese reference, they naturally use certain expressions that may not have existed in other varieties of English (Kirkpatrick & Xu, 2002: 270–271). Knowlton (1970), Cannon (1988), and Wang (1994) have extensively documented Chinese (including Cantonese) borrowings in English, with the number of such borrowings ranging from 979 to 1,488. Ge (1980) has attempted to classify such words. He regards words that refer to things uniquely Chinese as China English words. Ge’s examples include ‘Four Books,’ ‘Five Classics,’ ‘imperial competitive examination,’ ‘eight-legged essay,’ ‘xiucai,’ ‘juren,’ ‘jinshi,’ and ‘Imperial Academy’ (p. 2). Contemporary Chinese journalism provides a fertile domain for the development of CE lexis. A good example is China Daily, an official government newspaper published in English for domestic and international consumption. ‘Within the newspaper, there is a routine need for the translation of contemporary Chinese vocabulary relating to the culture, economics, and politics of a rapidly-changing China’ (Bolton, 2003b: 94). China Daily has published a handbook (Bian, 2002) of over 5,000 highfrequency Chinese idioms and their equivalents in English and sentences exemplifying their usages.

Lexical features of Chinese English

These idioms come from various domains, such as politics, economy, military affairs, diplomacy, finance, foreign trade, science and technology, law, and environmental protection. Examples of the idioms in this handbook include ‘eight-treasure rice pudding’ (bābăofàn), meaning ‘steamed glutinous rice with bean paste, lotus seeds, preserved fruit, etc.’; ‘Project 211’ (211 gōngchéng) ‘for the development of 100 key universities in the 21st century’; and the ‘863 Program’ (863 jìhuà), referring to ‘the program for the development of high technology.’

Identification and classification of CE lexis CE lexis occurs in, among other domains, English language newspapers in China, works of literature in English by Chinese authors, and conversations among CE speakers. I will consider a number of examples of CE lexis, and then categorize them into inner circle, outer circle, and expanding circle CE lexis. The examples of CE lexis below are from the interview data (ID), the newspaper data (ND), and the short story data (SD). ‘ND-7,’ for example, refers to article 7 in the newspaper data; likewise, ‘SD-1’ refers to story 1 in the short story data, and ‘ID-19’ refers to interview 19 in the interview data. Lexical items that are distinctively CE are given in italics. Example 4.1 The ambitious plan for the first two decades of this century was proposed by the 16th Party congress in November. Since then, a national consensus has been reached that bridging the large gap between urban and rural China is a must for the country to fulfil its xiaokang target. In his keynote speech addressing the conference, Hu Jintao, generalsecretary of the CPC Central Committee, pointed out that ‘if the benefits of xiaokang cannot be attained by rural people, China will fail to live up to its dream of a xiaokang society’. (ND-7)

The term xiaokang in example 4.1 is a concept proposed at the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in November 2002. It means ‘a comfortable level of living; a better-off life; moderate prosperity’ (Bian, 2002: 380).

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Example 4.2 The chief of the bureau was a thin, bald man who looked serene and intelligent. His slim hands handled the written pages in the folder in the manner of a lecturing scholar. To Mr. Chiu’s left sat a young scribe, with a clipboard on his knee and a black fountain pen in his hand. ‘Your name?’ the chief asked, apparently reading out the question from a form. ‘Chiu Maguang.’ ‘Age?’ ‘Thirty-four.’ ‘Profession?’ ‘Lecturer.’ ‘Work unit?’ ‘Harbin University.’ ‘Political status?’ ‘Communist Party member.’ The chief put down the paper and began to speak. ‘Your crime is sabotage, although it hasn’t induced serious consequences yet. Because you are a Party member, you should be punished more. You have failed to be a model for the masses and you—’ (SD-1)

The term work unit (dānwèi) in example 4.2 refers to a concept that has been current since the 1950s. It refers to an institution, such as a factory or a school, where most urban residents live and work. Broadly speaking, it is also an autonomous society created by the institution to which the people are affiliated. A work unit usually provides housing, schooling, health care, food ration coupons, and other basic goods and services to its staff and their family members. People can work and live in a work unit most of their lives. The political and economic reforms since the 1980s have greatly weakened the prevalence of the work unit as more people have come to live and work outside the work unit system and employment has become far more flexible. However, the work unit still plays a significant role in state-owned enterprises.

Lexical features of Chinese English

The term political status (zhèngzhì miànmào) in example 4.2 is another typical Chinese concept. When filling out forms for virtually every purpose since the People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949, ranging from applying for a job to being admitted to a hospital, one has to state one’s political status, which can either be Communist Party member, Youth League member, Young Pioneer, or simply ‘the masses’ if one is not a member of those organizations. Example 4.3 R (Researcher): Interesting. You mean the farmers are busier during the spring and autumn. Now, what do they usually do in winter or in the hot summer? P1 (postgraduate student 1): Take a rest. And do some … how to say … P2 (postgraduate student 2): Fuye. P1: Yeah. Fuye. R: Fuye. That’s an interesting word. Now how do you explain it in English, the fuye? P1: It’s kind of work they do in their spare time. R: Okay, but in the summer or winter, they have all the time the spare time, so … P1: Yeah. It’s spare time. R: Can you give me an example of a fuye, like raising chickens? P1: Carpenter, and … this kind of work, I cannot give it a name. R: Just explain it. I’m not asking you for a name. P1: They use some kind of plant, and some kinds of leaves of the plant, and to weave, or make up something, and sell them, to make money. R: Oh, yes. It’s a kind of a craftsmanship. P1: Yeah. Craftsmanship. Some of them are doing knitting. R: I mean, do you mean the men will do that or mostly women will do that? P1: Women. R: What are the men doing? P1: Playing mah-jong. Playing puke. Playing cards. R: Are they gambling? I mean …

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P1: Yes. Some of them. P2: The same in the cities. R: Yes. The same in the cities. P1: Especially during the Spring Festival. R: Ah, yes. That’s true. (ID-19)

The English translation of fuye is a ‘part-time job that provides additional or extra income, or a sideline or side occupation.’ It refers to an activity pursued in addition to one’s regular occupation, as the context of example 4.3 indicates. What makes fuye a characteristic Chinese concept is that fuye was once officially forbidden or discouraged in the days of the people’s communes. Those who did fuye were regarded with disdain, and people therefore had to keep secret the fact they were doing fuye. Those caught doing fuye might also incur a fine. However, with China’s opening up and its reforms, and the idea that ‘to get rich is glorious,’ people have been encouraged to practice fuye. The distinctiveness of such terms as xiaokang, work unit, political status, fuye, mah-jong (the well-known Chinese game), puke (the cards used in poker), and Spring Festival (the traditional Chinese New Year festival based on the Chinese lunar calendar) in the above examples lies not only in the fact that they are characteristic of the English spoken or written by users and learners of English in China, but also in the fact that readers or listeners must call upon knowledge of Chinese contexts in order to fully understand these terms. As to the criteria for identifying words of a regional variety of English, I will partly adopt those identified by Benson (2002: 162), that such words have ‘some degree of currency and stability’ and that they ‘originate in the region concerned or be formally, semantically or collocationally distinctive from usage elsewhere in the world.’ Identifying, describing, and classifying CE lexis involves not only constant comparison with other varieties of English, but also analysis of lexical items in relation to their regional contexts. I propose that there are three categories of CE lexis: Chinese loanwords in English, e.g., xiaokang and mah-jong; nativized Chinese English words, e.g., poker (with its Chinese equivalent being puke); and common English words

Lexical features of Chinese English

that are shared by the majority of English speakers including speakers of CE, which are not included by Benson. In light of Kachru’s model of three circles (1992a: 356), I propose that Chinese loanwords in English form the inner circle CE lexis, and that nativized Chinese English words form the outer circle CE lexis, while common English words form the expanding circle of CE lexis (figure 4.1). Some frequently occurring nouns in English, such as people, way, water, word, man, day, part, place, things, years, number, name, home, air, and line, belong to the expanding circle. In this chapter, I will identify and analyse the inner circle and the outer circle lexis of CE, because words in these two circles help to reveal the lexical features of CE.

Inner circle CE lexis: Chinese loanwords Outer circle CE lexis: Nativized Chinese English words Expanding circle CE lexis: Common English words Figure 4.1 Categories of CE lexis

Inner circle CE lexis Inner circle CE lexis refers to Chinese loanwords in English, which are derived primarily from two sources, namely, Cantonese and Putonghua. As England had an early trading base in Canton (Guangdong province in Southern China), many early Chinese loanwords in English were based on Cantonese pronunciation, and include words such as ginseng, kumquat, bok choy, cheongsam, chop suey, chow mein, dimsum, kwai-lo, and wonton. However, Putonghua later became the major source for Chinese loanwords in English, because it is Putonghua that has been promoted as the national language since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Examples of Chinese loanwords based on Putonghua include yamen, dazibao, fen, yuan, fenghuang, fengshui, ganbei, ganbu, guanxi, maotai, Pinyin, pi-pa, renminbi, and Putonghua.

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In addition to the transliterations, loan translations form another part of inner circle CE lexis. These include barefoot doctor, birds nest, capitalist roader, Cultural Revolution, dragon boat, Four Books, Five Classics, Great Leap Forward, Long March, paper tiger, Red Guard, Temple of Heaven, Mid-Autumn Festival, Spring Festival, and, more recently, the reform and opening up, three direct links, and a well-off society. Some loanwords, such as taichi, tofu, fengshui, and Cultural Revolution, have generally existed in English for some time. These, along with some more recent loanwords which are gaining popularity, such as jiaozi and xiaokang society, can be referred to as ‘standing’ loanwords in the sense that they are generally established among users of CE. In contrast, there are ‘ad hoc’ loanwords, which arise as effective communication involving ‘Chineseness’ occurs. Such loanwords are usually used among speakers of Chinese communicating in English where certain terms or concepts involving Chineseness do not seem to have any explicit or established equivalents in English. Therefore, ad hoc Chinese loanwords (mostly by means of transliteration) arise as communication goes along. Examples of such ad hoc loanwords found in the ID data include fuye (meaning a part-time job that provides additional or extra income, or a sideline or side occupation), tianqiao (meaning a flyover or an overpass), ganqing (meaning emotional involvement or attachment), qinqing (meaning emotional attachment among family members), maodun (meaning a contradiction or a dilemma), and Da Yuncun (meaning the athletes’ village of the 21st Universiade, which was held in Beijing in 2001). What is worth pointing out is that ad hoc Chinese loanwords can become standing or established if they become commonly used. The distinction between standing and ad hoc CE lexis may not be straightforward in certain cases, as the borrowing, which results in such lexis, is an ongoing process. Some may argue that words such as ganbei, guanxi, and dandan mian are standing CE words because they display certain Chineseness. However, other people may argue that since the English equivalents of these words, namely, cheers, relationships, and hot and spicy noodles are also used by Chinese speakers of English, those transliterated terms can only be considered as ad hoc CE words. The classification of standing and ad hoc CE lexis is primarily based on the

Lexical features of Chinese English

degree of currency and stability as they appear in the linguistic data, and on the general consensus among Chinese speakers of English.

Outer circle CE lexis Outer circle CE lexis comprises nativized English words whose original meanings in English have shifted to a greater or lesser extent in relation to the sociolinguistic contexts of China. Examples of such words include face and poker. Chinese English speakers tend to equate face with the word miànzi in Putonghua, therefore, face in CE can be associated with selfimage, pride, honour, and sometimes even embarrassment. It is commonly used in such collocations as saving face (liú miànzi), losing face (diū miànzi), and giving face (gĕi miànzi). Hence, rather than being individualistic, it is a mutual and reciprocal concept. Poker in CE is púkè in Putonghua, but instead of meaning a particular game played with cards, it refers in general to playing card games. So to a Chinese, playing poker means playing card games. Therefore, although words such as face and poker are less obviously CE words than Chinese loanwords in English, their meanings have shifted to a greater or lesser extent when used by CE speakers. The key feature of outer circle CE lexis is its semantic shift in accordance with Chinese social and linguistic contexts. The semantic shift takes place in terms of the denotation and connotation of a word. The former involves semantic broadening or narrowing, while the latter involves amelioration or pejoration. In semantic broadening, ‘the word takes on a wider, more general meaning than it had previously’ (Radford, Atkinson, Britain, Clahsen, & Spencer, 1999: 261). While this definition stresses the diachronic change of a word within a language or within a variety of a language, the semantic change across languages or varieties of a language lays much emphasis on synchronic change. Take for example the words cadre and lover in the following two examples. Example 4.4 As the city will host the 2008 Olympics Games, cadres at all government levels in Beijing should grasp the valuable chance to make better success at their jobs under the guidance of the important thought of ‘Three Represents,’ Hu said. (ND-13)

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Example 4.5 ‘People are supposed to know exactly the physical conditions of their lovers,’ Yao said. (ND-1)

Cadre and lover are used in both CE and other varieties of English. Cadre, according to the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (CALD), means (as a group noun) ‘a small group of trained people who form the basic unit of a military, political or business organization’ or (as a noun) ‘a member of such a group.’ However, cadre in example 4.4 can be used to refer to anyone in the Chinese context who is in charge of a group of people in an organization. Thus, its meaning in CE is broadened to a sense that is closer to another English word, ‘leader.’ Similarly, the CALD defines lover as ‘the person with whom you are having a sexual relationship, but are not married to’ or ‘someone with a strong liking for something.’ However, in example 4.5, a lover has been semantically broadened to refer to a spouse, as in the context that ‘the State Council is scrutinizing a draft regulation that would abolish the requirement for engaged couples to undergo premarital medical tests in favour of privacy protection.’ The word lover in this context is closest to àirén (spouse) in Putonghua. ‘The opposite of semantic broadening is semantic narrowing, with the word taking on a more restricted meaning than before’ (Radford et al., 1999: 262). Semantic narrowing in this book also concerns the synchronic change of a word across varieties of English. Examples of semantic narrowing in CE are migrant workers and service sectors as used in the following example. Example 4.6 Such migrant workers could find employment in township enterprises or the rapidly growing service sectors of cities. (ND-4)

Migrant workers or peasant workers refer to those who have temporarily migrated from the countryside to the cities, as opposed to workers who have entered one country from another. They work mainly in low-profit and low-pay sectors, such as construction, catering, and environmental cleaning. The number of these migrant workers has been growing larger

Lexical features of Chinese English

year by year since the 1980s, and the reasons for this ‘tidal wave of peasant workers,’ or míngōng cháo as it is called in Putonghua, are mostly economic. These migrant workers can often make the equivalent of a year’s rural income within a month in the cities. However, they remain a group in the cities devoid of rights, recognition, and even the most basic of amenities, namely, housing, medical care, and access to education for themselves and their children. The rapidly growing service sectors of cities, in the Chinese context, refers mainly to the catering service, which stands in contrast with the CALD’s definition of the service industry, ranging from hotels to banks, as the one that ‘provides a service for people but does not result in the production of goods.’ Therefore, migrant workers and service sectors are semantically narrowed when they are used in Chinese contexts. ‘Pejorations involve the development of a less favorable meaning or connotation for a particular word,’ while ameliorations are just the opposite to pejorations (Radford et al., 1999: 262). Take for example comrade and individualism in CE and other varieties of English. Gao (1996) conducted surveys in 1988 and 1991 on the semantic change of the two lexical items in China with groups of students and staff including both Chinese and native English speakers. She found out that the native English speaker group viewed individualism positively in that it embodies selfactualization with an emphasis on individual freedom and rights; while they associated comrade with autocracy and former Soviet KGB members. However, the Chinese group associated comrade with ‘equality,’ ‘friendship,’ and ‘the Spring’; and individualism with ‘selfishness’ or ‘personalism.’ Therefore, it can be argued that comrade and individualism, when used by speakers of CE, bear ameliorative and pejorative connotations respectively. However, Gao (1996: 136) also pointed out that the meanings of comrade and individualism have changed over time, with the meaning of comrade shifting from ‘equality’ to ‘social distance,’ and individualism from ‘selfishness’ to ‘a sense of independence and competition.’ Therefore, these processes are dynamic. Comrade in CE, ameliorative as it was, has been steadily gaining a pejorative sense, while individualism in CE has been ameliorated from its very pejorative sense over the past few decades in China, thus providing excellent examples of lexis changing its meaning to fit new social circumstances.

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In addition to the process whereby a word loses some aspect of its meaning and takes on a partially new meaning when used under a different linguistic and social context, some dramatic semantic shift may also occur, resulting in meanings which are seemingly unrelated to each other. One of Partington’s (1998: 52) examples of what he calls ‘false friends’ is the Japanese loanword feminist, which in Japanese is used to describe ‘a man who is excessively soft on women.’ Comrade (and its Chinese equivalent tóngzhì) is another example. According to an article in the January 7, 2004 edition of China Daily, comrade has taken on another new meaning unrelated to any of its previous meanings. As for tongzhi (comrade), the whiff of egalitarian utopia is giving way to a very definite and completely distinct denotation. It is now used within the gay community for mutual identification, and this applies in all parts of China, including Hong Kong and Taiwan. (Zhou, 2004: 6)

Data analysis for lexical features of CE Based on the identification and classification of CE lexis discussed above, I now turn to an analysis of the ID, ND, and SD data for lexical features of CE.

The ID data analysis for lexical features of CE The ID data comprises 36 interviews (see appendix 1). From the lexical point of view, the ID data provides a number of inner circle and outer circle CE words, although the vast majority belong to the category of common English words, or the expanding circle CE words. Since the interviews were conducted between the author and Chinese university students, with whom the author shares the same first language, namely, Putonghua, it could be expected that the informants tended more to use ad hoc transliterated borrowings from Chinese for convenience, or on occasions where they could not find appropriate equivalents of what they wanted to express in English, due either to the lack of such equivalents in English or the lack of the informants’ awareness of the existence of such equivalents. Examples of these ad hoc transliterated borrowings include Beida and Qinghua, meaning Beijing University and Tsinghua University, Dayuncun, meaning ‘the athletes’ village of the 21st Universiade held in

Lexical features of Chinese English

2001 in Beijing,’ malatang, meaning ‘a type of specially hot and spicy food in Sichuan,’ and menggu bao, meaning ‘a yurt,’ which is common in some areas in Inner Mongolia. Such examples in the ID data may not strictly belong to CE lexis, because the informants consider themselves to be learners of English, and also because these examples do not have a certain degree of currency and stability. However, these examples can be regarded as possible candidates for CE lexis, especially those that remain used by the postgraduate informants (Group B), whose proficiency as a group is significantly higher than that of the undergraduate informants (Group A). The assumption is that certain linguistic expressions that are deviant from native varieties of English occur in both Chinese learners’ English and CE. If such expressions exist in the utterances of Group A in the ID data, and they cease to be present in those of Group B, then they are likely to be of Chinese learners’ English. If they remain present in Group B, then they are likely to be characteristic of CE.

The inner circle CE lexis in the ID data Chinese loanwords in English occur occasionally in the ID data, but due to the nature of such loanwords, they are limited in number. Based on the classification in the earlier section ‘Inner circle CE lexis,’ examples of inner circle CE lexis in the ID data can be divided into two categories, namely, standing loanwords and ad hoc loanwords. Example 4.7 Standing loanwords in CE

Examples of standing loanwords in CE through transliteration from the ID data include: Putonghua (Modern Standard Chinese); Tian’anmen (Tian’anmen Square); Han (a nationality that forms the majority of Chinese); pingpang or pingpong (table tennis), li (a measurement of distance equivalent of half a kilometre); mah-jong (the Chinese game); yuan (a denomination of Chinese currency). Limited as the number of the above examples is, these standing loanwords have some degree of currency and stability. Putonghua is the language spoken by the majority of Chinese, Tian’anmen is a place well-known to Chinese as well as people in the rest of the world, pingpang is one

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of the national sports of China, li and yuan are both units of Chinese measurement, mah-jong is a traditional Chinese game that is still popular, and Han is the nationality that forms the majority of Chinese. In fact, MSC is literally termed Han language or, in Putonghua, Hànyŭ. Examples of standing loanwords in CE through loan translation from the ID data include back door (hòumén), senior middle school (gāozhōng), Watermelon Festival (xīguā jié), Spring Festival (chūnjié), terra cotta warriors and horses (bīngmăyŏng), Chinglish or Chinese English (zhōngguó yīngyŭ), middle school (zhōngxué), and local specialities (tèchăn). Among the above examples, Watermelon Festival, Spring Festival, and terra cotta warriors and horses have already had some local, national and international currency and stability. Senior middle school and middle school are regularly used when referring to Chinese educational systems. The term local specialities is often used when the Chinese refer to their hometowns. The term back door is an expression through which one understands how guanxi (connection) plays a part in the social, cultural, and business network. Example 4.8 Ad hoc loanwords in CE

Examples of ad hoc loanwords in the ID data from the undergraduate group (Group A) include: Beida (Beijing University); Qinghua (Tsinghua University); xuanxiu ke (an elective course); houmen (back door); Dayuncun (the athletes’ village of the 21st Universiade, which was held in Beijing in 2001); Bayi qiyi (August 1st Uprising); hua (language, especially spoken language); zhuanchang (special skill or knowledge); waidi (outside of an area); fa duanxin (text message from one mobile phone or pager to another); huoguo (hot pot); malatang (a specific hot and spicy food in Sichuan); dandan mian (a type of noodles in Sichuan); shuizhuyu (fish that is cooked in Sichuan style); zhiji (a person for whom one has profound friendship built on mutual understanding); du (limit; extent; degree); ciji (very strong-flavoured); menggu bao (yurt); dou (steep); sumiao (sketch; a type of drawing); guohua (traditional Chinese painting); ziyou (freedom; liberty); feixingqi (aircraft); manyi (satisfy); jiajiao (private tutor); yumaoqiu (badminton); lajiao (chilli); xing (having a fishy smell); maodun (contradiction); ganqing (feeling, emotion, sentiment; affection; love);

Lexical features of Chinese English

dandiao (monotonous); qinqing (affection among family members); and xueshenghui (student union). Examples of ad hoc loanwords in the ID data from the postgraduate group (Group B) include: fuye (a part-time job that provides additional or extra income, or a sideline or side occupation); puke (the cards used for card games, except for bridge); ren (person; people); Qinghua (Tsinghua University); Beida (Beijing University); (skin) doudou (acne); liaoshen zhanyi (one of the battles for the liberation of China); San Kong (or Three Kongs: the three well-known tourist sites in Qufu, hometown of Confucius, namely, Kongfu, Kongmiao, and Konglin, or the Mansion, Temple, and Cemetery of Confucius); Jigong shan (Rooster Mountain); Xinyang maojian (a type of green tea produced in Xinyang); banli (Chinese chestnut); tianqiao (literally translated as ‘sky bridge’; overpass or flyover); and huizu (the Hui nationality; a minority group in China). It is not surprising that Group A used more ad hoc loanwords than Group B, because Group A is presumably less proficient in English than Group B. It is therefore likely that the undergraduate informants from Group A came across more words for which they could not find the corresponding English equivalents. Hence, proficiency in English is a major factor in the occurrence of ad hoc loanwords. The students would not have used xuanxie ke if ‘an elective course’ was readily available in their English lexicon. Similar examples are zhuanchang for ‘special skill or knowledge,’ fa duanxin for ‘text message,’ menggu bao for ‘yurt,’ sumiao for ‘sketch; a type of drawing,’ jiajiao for ‘private tutor,’ lajiao for ‘chilli,’ xing for ‘fishy smell,’ maodun for ‘contradiction, and dandiao for ‘monotonous.’ For Group B, examples of this type are (skin) doudou for ‘acne,’ banli for ‘Chinese chestnut,’ and tianqiao for ‘overpass or flyover.’ Another likely reason for occurrences of ad hoc loanwords in the ID data is that when the informants used words associated with Chinese history and culture including historical events, art, food, and emotions of different kinds, the use of an ad hoc transliteration could help avoid a lengthy explanation. Examples of this type from both groups of informants are Dayuncun for ‘the athletes’ village of the 21st Universiade held in 2001 in Bejing,’ Bayi Qiyi for ‘August 1st Uprising,’ malatang, dandan mian, and shuizhuyu for three specific types of Sichuan-style hot and spicy food,

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guohua for ‘traditional Chinese painting with brush and ink,’ qinqing for ‘affection specifically among family members,’ fuye for ‘part-time job that provides additional or extra income, or a sideline or side occupation,’ Liaoshen zhanyi for ‘one of the decisive battles leading to the liberation of the People’s Republic of China,’ San Kong for ‘the Three Kongs, namely, Kongfu, Konglin and Kongmiao.’ Because of the uniqueness of these terms and expressions, they are more likely to become candidates for CE lexis than the previous category, which may have resulted from the students’ lack of proficiency in English.

The outer circle CE lexis in the ID data As explained in the section ‘Outer circle CE lexis,’ the key feature of outer circle CE lexis is the semantic shift or change of words based on the Chinese social and linguistic context. Such semantic shifts take place in both the denotation and connotation of the words, involving semantic broadening, semantic narrowing, pejoration, and amelioration. In addition, some semantic shifts become semantic changes resulting in meanings of words which are seemingly unrelated to their original meanings. Example 4.9 Semantic broadening 1

They want to go shopping or, or … go out to play or some other things. (ID-1)

The meaning of play in example 4.9(1) is broadened to become activities that not merely children but adults do in their spare time. 2

Yes, I think maybe I choose linguistics instead of literature, I think maybe later I will connect the language knowledge with some actual … some other aspects. Maybe I can connect them. So I choose it. (ID-32)

The meaning of connect in example 4.9(2) is broadened to mean ‘apply.’ Example 4.10 Semantic narrowing 1

So I choose several universities in Beijing, for example, the Qinghua University, the People’s University, and ours, but for my achievement isn’t … wasn’t very good. (ID-2)

The meaning of achievement in example 4.10(1) has been narrowed to ‘admission examination result,’ ‘grade,’ ‘mark,’ or ‘score’ in other varieties of English.

Lexical features of Chinese English

2

Yeah, flat. And people can ride bikes. In my hometown, it is … it is rare, because there are so many mountains. People always ride a motor, or by bus. (ID-4)

The Chinese word for a motorbike is mótuo, which is a borrowing from ‘motorbike’ in English with ‘bike’ omitted. Therefore, it is common for Chinese speakers of English to refer to a motorbike as a ‘motor.’ In this case, the meaning of motor is narrowed to mean a ‘motorbike’ in CE. Example 4.11 Pejoration Most of the Chinese PC games now are just copying the famous outside. (ID-5)

The word copying in example 4.11 refers to ‘illegal copying’ or ‘pirating,’ so the use of this word in the context above has a pejorative sense. Example 4.12 Amelioration I also think of choosing to be a teacher as my future career, because I think it’s … because it is fixed job. I don’t want to be changeable, sometimes. And I also think that girls are … the innateness, the innate characteristics of girls suitable for this kind of job. (ID-31)

The word fixed in example 4.12 is used to mean ‘reliable’ or ‘stable,’ so there is a meaning shift towards amelioration. Example 4.13 Semantic change 1

I will open the radio, and listen to CRI. (ID-1)

The meaning of open in example 4.13(1) is changed to mean ‘turn on’ or ‘switch on’ a radio, or a TV. 2

We get up very late, and we sleep very late at night. Very late. Exactly in the early morning one o’clock, two o’clock. Usually we don’t have time to eat breakfast. (ID-18)

The word sleep in the context of example 4.13(2) means ‘fall asleep’ or ‘go to bed’; however, in other varieties of English, ‘sleep very late’ can mean that someone gets up very late. So, there is a meaning change in the word sleep.

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3

P2: I always saw him reading ancient Chinese.



P1: Er … I like … I prefer to read ancient Chinese literature. (ID-19)

The word ancient in example 4.13(3) has a meaning change to ‘classical.’ It is difficult to draw a demarcation line in the ID data between ‘nativized Chinese English words’ or what I call ‘outer circle CE lexis’ and words that are simply mistakenly used by the informants. Some informants applied their learner strategies in the interviews to get their meanings across. However, there are trends that can be observed from the ID data, for example, when a superordinate in Chinese has a number of co-hyponyms in English. For instance, the term huánjìng in Chinese can be translated as ‘environment,’ ‘atmosphere,’ or ‘surrounding’ depending on the context. The Chinese informants tend to use the hyponyms haphazardly, resulting in the meaning shift or change of these words. The following are a number of examples. Example 4.14 Haphazard use of hyponyms 1

Because my … my grade is not very good, so I can, I want to go to Beijing University or Qinghua University, but I can’t. And my junior middle school teacher said to me this university has … had a very … had a good academic surroundings. And it … it is also a famous university. So I came to this university. (ID-3)

2

And I fell … I feel the atmosphere is very different from the local university, because people … oh students here are very … um … openminded. (ID-20)

3

I’m … um … I don’t intend to do it. But maybe influenced by my father, and some neighbours, I will follow them, follow their voice. But when I come to another city, the environment has changed, my voice will also change. (ID-21)

In example 4.14(1), the word surroundings is used to refer to ‘environment’ or ‘atmosphere’; in example 4.14(2) , atmosphere seems to be appropriate, but it refers more to the ‘intellectual atmosphere’ of a university than any other atmosphere. The word environment in example 4.14(3) refers to ‘surroundings’ in the sense that the speaker moves from one place to another, and it is the change of surroundings that leads to his change in accent, or in his own words, his ‘voice’ also changes.

Lexical features of Chinese English

Similar examples of this type are the co-hyponyms of ‘chance’ and ‘opportunity’ with their Chinese superordinate jīhuì; ‘attend,’ ‘take part in,’ ‘join,’ and ‘sit or take (a test or an exam)’ with their Chinese superordinate cānjiā; ‘remember’ and ‘memorize’ for the Chinese jì; ‘go,’ ‘go to,’ and ‘go up’ for the Chinese shàng, ‘brain’ and ‘mind’ for the Chinese tóunǎo; ‘technology’ and ‘technique’ for the Chinese jìshù; and ‘standard’ and ‘proficiency’ for the Chinese shuĭpíng. The following examples from the ID data shows how these co-hyponyms are used by Chinese speakers of English. 4

I always choose Beijing, because after all it’s our capital in China. It will give me more chance. (ID-2)

5

As we come … we join to the exams. (ID-4)

6

I find I’m more and more interested in people, not in technique. (ID-6)

7

I think English is very useful, but I can’t … I don’t know how to … how to learn English … make a … make a rapid success, for example, I … I study … I study English words, I remember English words today, maybe I forget tomorrow. Um … and the second question, I can’t … I don’t know how to … how to make a paper in the exam. (ID-10)

8

R:



U22: Um … usually we … I don’t know how to express … go to internet. (ID-11)

9

My first impression on Beijing is also Beijing is so big, and … but … but I think in … in the brains of Beijing … Beijing’s people, they think Beijing … um … they didn’t think … they didn’t think as I think. (ID-16)

Okay, so what do you normally do in your spare time?

10 I just want to make my English standard higher, be more capable to do other jobs. (ID-19)

The ND data analysis for lexical features of CE An outstanding feature of the ND data is that most transliterated Chinese borrowings in their Pinyin forms are followed by either loan translations or explanations. This pattern is relatively common when uniquely Chinese things or concepts are referred to. Example 4.15 Addressing the meeting, Hu Jintao, general-secretary of the CPC Central Committee, said these goals will help China attain its cherished dream of

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building a xiaokang society, which means well-off in the broadest of senses, not only materially, but socially. (ND-4)

In example 4.15, xiaokang is a transliteration of Chinese characters which literally mean ‘a little’ and ‘wealthy.’ It is immediately followed by an English word ‘society,’ which is equivalent to the word shèhuì in Chinese. A loan translation or explanation of the transliterated term is provided because part of the readership comprises laowai or ‘foreigners’ either in or outside China. There are variations to the above pattern. In the ND data, the term xiaokang occurs nine times. It sometimes occurs more than once in the same example. The nine occurrences of xiaokang are illustrated in example 4.15 and the six examples below. Example 4.16 Occurrences of xiaokang in the ND data 1

‘If the benefits of xiaokang can not be attained by rural people, China will fail to live up to its dream of a xiaokang society,’ said Hu. (ND-4)

2

Not only because it symbolizes the first mark made by the Party’s new generation of leadership on rural policy, but because the country is now bracing for an unprecedented mission—the realization of a xiaokang society, or a moderately affluent life for all. (ND-7)

3

In his keynote speech addressing the conference, Hu Jintao, generalsecretary of the CPC Central Committee, pointed out that ‘if the benefits of xiaokang cannot be attained by rural people, China will fail to live up to its dream of a xiaokang society.’ (ND-7)

4

Unbalanced economic and social development in rural China could easily mar our efforts to achieve even greater goals including an overall xiaokang society and modernization within the century. (ND-7)

5

Zhou said the nation is in great need of overseas students who can contribute to the country’s economic and social development, particularly in the light of China’s commitment to building a xiaokang society—one that is moderately well-off, both socially and economically. (ND-17)

6

As this year marks the first year for the country to reach for its ambitious goal of creating an all-inclusive affluent xiaokang society by 2020, it is important that continued economic success be guaranteed. (ND-20)

Lexical features of Chinese English

The term xiaokang is sometimes used on its own as a mere transliteration, as shown in examples 4.16(1) and (3). This is most likely because examples 4.15 and 4.16(1) are from the same article, and so are examples 4.16(2) and (3). Therefore it can be expected that the term xiaokang is only explained the first time it occurs in the same article. The term xiaokang is also followed by the word ‘society,’ as shown in all the cases in examples 4.15 and 4.16, because it refers to a society that China is currently striving for. The term xiaokang can also sometimes be preceded by a modifier, such as ‘an all-inclusive affluent,’ or followed by explanations of one kind or another, such as ‘a moderately affluent life for all,’ ‘one that is moderately welloff, both socially and economically,’ ‘well-off in the broadest of senses, not only materially, but socially,’ as shown in examples 4.15 and 4.16(2), (5), and (6). For the newly coined Chinese concept xiaokang, alternative expressions other than transliterations also appear in the ND data, for example, ‘a more affluent nation’ or ‘a well-off society in an all-round way.’ These clumsy attempts to define the term in English strongly suggest that xiaokang will become a standing CE term. CE lexis in the ND data can also be classified into inner circle CE lexis and outer circle CE lexis. Inner circle CE lexis comprises standing loanwords and ad hoc loanwords. In comparison, outer circle CE lexis comprises nativized Chinese English words, which undertake meaning shifts and changes when they are used in Chinese contexts.

The inner circle CE lexis in the ND data Examples of standing loanwords through transliteration in the ND data include Kuomintang, Han, kung fu, Tian’anmen (Square), yuan, kowtow, renminbi (RMB). Similar to the ID data, the number of standing loanwords in inner circle CE lexis in the ND data is limited. In addition to a few terms that occur in both the ID and the ND data, for example, Han, Tian’anmen, and yuan, a few other standing loanwords also occur in the ND data. For example, Kuomintang is the name for a Party, one of the major political parties in Taiwan; kung fu is a well-known martial art; kowtow means ‘to show too much respect to someone in authority, always obeying them and

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changing what you do in order to please them’; and renminbi (RMB) is the term for Chinese currency. In addition, the inner circle CE lexis also includes standing loanwords through loan translation. Traditional examples include Chinese cultural events like Spring Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival. New Chinese concepts have developed since China’s reform and opening-up to the outside world since the late 1970s. Examples of newly established loan translations of these concepts include township enterprises and Three Represents as in the following examples. Example 4.17 1

Such migrant workers could find employment in township enterprises or the rapidly growing service sectors of cities. (ND-4)

2

As the city will host the 2008 Olympics Games, cadres at all government levels in Beijing should grasp the valuable chance to make better success at their jobs under the guidance of the important thought of ‘Three Represents,’ Hu said. (ND-13)

Township (and village) enterprises have developed and become an economic force since the decision, adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the Fifteenth Central Committee of the CPC, that township (and village) enterprises are an important force in promoting the national economy. The theory of the Three Represents is a policy developed by the former president of China, Jiang Zemin, for the Communist Party of China. It literally means that the Party must always represent the requirements of the development of China’s advanced productive forces, the orientation of the development of China’s advanced culture, and the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people in China. Below are six other examples of inner circle CE lexis through loan translation in the ND data. Example 4.18 1

Taipei has a decades-old ban on trade, transport and postal services— dubbed three direct links—across the Straits. (ND-2)

Lexical features of Chinese English

2

To put it in a simple way, the story is about three sworn brothers—Qiao Feng, a beggar union leader and Han-raised Khitan who tries to search for his real identity and his parents’ murderers. (ND-3)

3

The thing that got them crazy for the country was martial arts movies. (ND-6)

4

The Spring Festival pictures painted with handmade pigments keep fresh and bright and never fade, according to the folk artists in Zhuxian Town. (ND-11)

5

As it was impossible for the two generals to stand guard every night, the emperor asked artists to paste their portraits on the door—thus creating ‘the gods of the door.’ (ND-11)

6

Zhou said those students who had returned have made an invaluable contribution to achievements in China since the reform and opening up began more than two decades ago. (ND-13)

Another type of inner circle CE lexis, namely, ad hoc loanwords through both transliteration and loan translation, occur in the ND data on occasions where things or events are of Chinese reference or significance. These ad hoc loanwords normally refer to titles of books or movies, traditional Chinese art forms or cultural items, and names for traditional Chinese musical instruments. These terms are more often than not followed by explanations or definitions wherever they occur in the ND data. Example 4.19 Ad hoc loanwords through transliteration 1

In one of his most popular works, ‘Tianlong Babu (Demi Gods and Semi Devils),’ renowned martial arts novelist Jin Yong (Louis Cha) has used a lot of ink to describe Dali, a splendid ancient kingdom in Southwest China’s Yunnan Province. (ND-3)

Tianlong Babu is the name of one of Jin Yong’s (Louis Cha) martial arts novels. 2

When their teachers encouraged them to take part in the contest, they decided to choose crosstalk, or xiangsheng in Mandarin, a verbal art form that teases audiences with words. (ND-6)

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Xiangsheng is a form of comedy talk routine performed by two people (with exceptional cases of one person, or a group of people). It is a traditional Chinese art form. Although it is listed as an example of ad hoc translation, it may become a standing transliteration if it becomes popular. 3

He teaches electronic music in the China Conservatory of Music, yet his colleagues and students consider him a rock musician, while most of his friends in the rock field say he is a master of guzheng, a zitherlike instrument mostly with 21 strings. (ND-16)

As explained in the example 4.19(3), guzheng is the name of a traditional Chinese musical instrument. 4

They radiated smiles while eating a grand dinner for this year’s ‘nianyefan’—or dinner for the Spring Festival Eve. (ND-19)

The term nianyefan refers to the Spring Festival Eve meal. However, nianyefan is more than a dinner and a family reunion, because there are different regional customs associated with the event. Other examples of ad hoc loanwords through transliteration in the ND data include: 5

‘Xiao’ao Jianghu (Smiling, Proud Wanderer),’ produced by China Central Television and screened two years ago, received ruthless criticism. (ND-3)

6

Some of his works include ‘Xiao’ao Jianghu,’ ‘Xin Longmen Kezhan (Dragon Inn)’ and ‘Huang Feihong—Shiwang Zhengba (Once upon a time in China III).’ (ND-3)

7

The launch date of Shenzhou V, the country’s first manned spacecraft, is still uncertain, but evaluation of the returned Shenzhou IV will be key to the programme, it was revealed yesterday by leading engineers involved in the project. (ND-5)

8

But what would it be like if many foreigners, or ‘laowai’ as they are nicknamed in Mandarin, got together and chatted in idiomatic Chinese, sometimes even with a pure Beijing dialect? (ND-6)

9

Lu used the example of Denise Henry from the United States, whose item for the contest is an aria from Peking Opera ‘Zha Mei An (Execution of the Imperial Son-in-Law).’ (ND-6)

Lexical features of Chinese English

10 Henry, who now works for the Overseas Broadcasting Department at China Radio International as a language adviser, is a loyal Peking Opera ‘piaoyou’ (fan). (ND-6) 11 Masika’s item is ‘Bai Mao Nu (White-haired Girl),’ and he played the part as the white-haired girl who was driven by the cruel landlord into the mountains. (ND-6) 12 At the dress rehearsal, the girls succeeded in making everyone laugh as they struggled with the correct pronunciation of the contest’s title, ‘Caiyi Dasai (Contest of Talents),’ which sounds quite close to ‘Contest of Cooking.’ (ND-6) 13 A week before the Spring Festival which fall on February 1, people in Zhuxian Town, 23 kilometres south of Kaifeng in Central China’s Henan Province, are busy making nianhua, the Spring Festival picture. (ND-11) 14 The woodcut pictures of Zhuxian Town called menshen, ‘the gods of the door,’ date back as far as the Tang Dynasty. (ND-11) 15 At the concert, Wang and 17 other musicians will play music of different styles on traditional Chinese instruments such as guzheng, dizi, xiao, sheng, xun, pipa, yangqin and tanggu (a drum hung from a wooden frame). (ND-16) 16 Jiang and his friends also received Lunar New Year presents and ‘yasuiqian’—or money given to children as a Lunar New Year gift—from the hotel. (ND-19)

In the ND data, ad hoc loan translations include things and events that are of either traditional or contemporary Chinese reference. They are different from standing loan translations in that these terms do not have a national or international currency (or at least not yet), and that some of these terms are still not consistently used. Example 4.20 Ad hoc loanwords through loan translation 1

He will also buy some healthcare items and nutritional food for his parents, in addition to the 200 yuan (US$24) he is sending home. (ND-8)

2

Health care in China will have to handle new opportunities and challenges as it undergoes reform and development in the process of building a well-off society in an all-round way, Health Minister Zhang Wenkang said yesterday. (ND-9)

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3

It is extremely urgent at this point to prevent fake and shoddy commodities from flowing into marketplaces in the countryside. (ND-14)

Healthcare items and nutritional food in example 4.20(1) is an ad hoc loan translation of yíngyăng băojiàn pĭn in Chinese. It is more than what it literally means. It is always taken as a gift idea for one’s parents or senior people to show one’s filial piety and regard or concern for their health. Building a well-off society in an all-round way in example 4.20(2) is classified as an ad hoc loan translation partly because the instability of the translation itself. In other cases, the same concept of xiaokang as explained earlier can be also translated as ‘a moderately affluent life for all’ or ‘welloff in the broadest of senses, not only materially, but socially.’ The same is also true with another concept fake and shoddy commodities in example 4.20(3). Although the Chinese government has determined to get rid of them, it is taking time and effort for them to be completely eradicated. The loan translation of the term for fake and shoddy commodities from jiămào wĕiliè chănpĭn in Chinese is not predictable. Other alternatives having so far appeared in the ND data include fake goods, counterfeited goods, fake commodities, or fake and shoddy goods. Other examples of ad hoc loanwords through loan translation in the ND data include: 4

The local government has invested 60 million yuan (US$7.2 million) to build a series of pseudo-classic palaces and houses in distinguished Dali style, which not only provide on-site location for the crew but also will serve as tourist attraction. (ND-3)

5

Under the working plan, more rural residents can this year expect to be freed from the financial burdens imposed by unreasonable administrative charges, as top officials promised to further spread the fees-to-tax reform, aimed at cutting a string of such charges which have been levied in the countryside. (ND-4)

6

Another 60 million rural residents are only barely able to dress warmly and eat their fill. (ND-9)

7

Hu shared a friendly chat with some returned overseas students at the Zhongguancun park, encouraging them to work hard to research and develop advanced high-tech products. (ND-13)

Lexical features of Chinese English

8

Great achievements have been made. In 2001, more than 500,000 underground factories producing and selling counterfeited goods have been ferreted out. (ND-14)

The outer circle CE lexis in the ND data The ND data also shows instances of meaning shifts, although less frequently than the ID data. For example, in ND-1 entitled ‘Premarital test may be optional,’ the word lovers is used in the sentence ‘People are supposed to know exactly the physical conditions of their lovers’ in the sense of ‘partners,’ ‘fiancés/fiancées’ or ‘spouses.’ Example 4.21 1

‘The successful launching and return of Shenzhou IV, which carried a simulated person into the space has laid a solid base for our future missions, but it is not a guarantee,’ said Shi. (ND-5)

A simulated person in the context of example 4.21(1) means a ‘dummy.’ 2

‘The best present for my parents is that I appear in front of them just before New Year’s Eve,’ she said. (ND-8)

The term New Year’s Eve in example 4.21(2) does not fall on December 31st, but is the evening of the last day of the last Chinese lunar month, and it usually falls somewhere between January and February. 3

As the city will host the 2008 Olympics Games, cadres at all government levels in Beijing should grasp the valuable chance to make better success at their jobs under the guidance of the important thought of ‘Three Represents,’ Hu said. (ND-13)

Cadres in example 4.21 refer to the Chinese government officials at various levels, and the chance in this example is used in the sense of an ‘opportunity’ in other varieties of English. 4

The magnitude of public attention focused on the welfare of migrant workers as well as the unemployed and other poor social sectors does reflect that a fair amount of progress has been made in the push to create a more civilized society. (ND-20)

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A more civilized society in example 4.21(4) refers to a society that has both spiritual and material features in the Chinese context. The concept of the ‘two civilizations’ emerged as a desirable objective in the new era of socialism from the early 1980s, paralleling former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms.

The SD data analysis for lexical features of CE The SD data shares some common features with the ID and ND data in terms of inner circle and outer circle CE lexis. However, the SD data is unique in its frequent use of loan translations, and its use of idioms and proverbs. Zhang (2002: 309) points out that the ‘vocabulary items of uniquely Chinese reference’ in Ha Jin’s novella In the Pond were ‘typically compounds formed by loan-translation from Chinese.’ This is supported by the analysis of the SD data, where instances of loan translations, both standing and ad hoc, outnumber other types of inner circle CE lexis, namely, standing and ad hoc transliterations.

The inner circle CE lexis in the SD data In addition to the standing loanwords through translation that coincide with those in the ID and the ND data, for example, yuan (a Chinese dollar) and kung fu (a martial art), there are a few other examples of this type in the SD data. These include: wonton (small dumplings normally cooked in soup), fen (a Chinese cent), ginseng (the root of a plant, especially from China, used as a medicine and to improve health), oolong (a type of tea believed to originate in Fujian province in Southern China), and taichi (a type of Chinese kung fu). Unlike the ID and the ND data, where there are a considerable number of ad hoc transliterations, there does not seem to be ad hoc transliterations in the SD data. A possible reason for this is that the author has substituted the potential ad hoc transliterations with loan translations. For example, ‘twisted rolls’ for huājuăn in Chinese, ‘New Year picture’ for niánhuà, and ‘inner thoughts’ for sīxiăng. Most of the short stories in the SD data were set in the Cultural Revolution, and immediate post-Cultural Revolution era. Examples of culturally

Lexical features of Chinese English

encoded standing loan translations in the SD data include army overcoat (a green overcoat fashionable in the Cultural Revolution and post-Cultural Revolution era), national food coupons (coupons available only to people who were sent to other provinces on a business trip by their work unit), and meat coupons (coupons with which a family could buy a limited amount of meat on a monthly basis). Standing loan translations also include lexical items reflecting social customs, practices, and historical events. Examples include rice bowl (meaning a secure job), steamed bread, the Spring Festival, back door, connections, self-criticism, black market, saving face, revolutionary Martyr, foreign devil, and Opium War. Ad hoc loan translations in the SD data occur in various Chinese brand names, a few Chinese swear words, local food items, and other expressions with cultural encodings. Examples of these Chinese brand names include Phoenix bicycle, Five Grains’ Sap (a type of liquor), Peony cigarettes, Flying Horse moped, Great Production cigarettes, Flying Pigeon bicycle, and Green Bamboo Leaves (a type of liquor). Examples of the Chinese swear words include egg of a tortoise, son of a rabbit, and son of a dog. Examples of local food items include tree-ear soup, eight-grain porridge, fried soy paste, spiced beans, hawthorn flakes, ice-cream bricks, twisted rolls, and mung bean soup. Other examples of ad hoc loan translations in the SD data include: Example 4.22 1

Shaona liked sweet potato, but she didn’t eat much. Anger and gas filled her stomach. (SD-3)

2

It praised our TV series Wu Song Beat the Tiger. (SD-4)

3

What’s more, he was skilled in kung fu, particularly mantis boxing. (SD-4)

4

Instead, they locked him in a small office, whose walls were decorated with framed certificates of merit. (SD-5)

5

Three times in a row he had won the first prize for kung fu at our factory’s annual sports meet. He was very good at the long sword and freestyle boxing. (SD-6)

6

… particularly Secretary Zhu, who liked Baowen’s kung fu style and had once let him teach his youngest son how to use a three-section cudgel. (SD-6)

7

Nimei’s mother cooked a large pot of mung bean soup for them, to relieve their inner heat and prevent sunstroke. (SD-8)

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8

In the early sixties, when the relationship between China and Russia was deteriorating, Mr. Fang, like thousands of college teachers who responded to the Party’s call, had changed his field from Russian to English. (SD-10)

9

This was a matter of name and honor, which no money could buy. (SD11)

10 His stomach has begun growing into a potbelly like a general’s. (SD-11) 11 The only difference was that he didn’t organize political studies or demand we report to him our inner thoughts. (SD-12) 12 By midday some people in the marketplace had heard of this rare bargain, and they came in, all eating like starved wolves. (SD-12) 13 Hongwen, I’ve joined the Revolution for almost forty years, and I earn only three hundred yuan a month. But you just started working and you draw a larger salary. This makes me feel duped, duped by the Communist Party I’ve served. (SD-12)

Outer circle CE lexis in the SD data Semantic shifts and changes in lexical items also occur in the SD data. For example, comrade is commonly used as an address term, along with ‘old + surname,’ ‘young + surname,’ or ‘little + surname,’ among others. In the context of the SD data, which is mostly the Cultural Revolution or postCultural Revolution era, comrade was the most common address term. Zhang (2002: 310) claims that such terms ‘have a particular relevance to the 1960s and 1970s, … although many of them are still in use today. What is notable about these items, however, is that a sense of their “unique” use is only recoverable by reference to the social and political reality of China’s recent past or current present.’ Other terms involving semantic shifts and changes include cadre (which indicates the meanings of power, authority, privilege, and potential abuse of power), a league member’s file, someone’s being sent to some labour farms to be reformed, and someone’s lifestyle. A file contains records of awards or punishments, and has been deemed to be one of the important criteria for a person’s promotion or political and personal life. It is as important to a league member or a Party member as a residence card or hukou to an average Chinese. Labour farms are usually remote and poor rural areas where intellectuals from urban areas were sent

Lexical features of Chinese English

to be reformed or re-educated by the peasants or farmers. The term lifestyle in CE is closely associated with one’s moral or ethical behaviour. Those who have extra-marital affairs or commit adultery are usually deemed to have lifestyle problems. The few examples listed below indicate the politically and culturally encoded semantic shifts and changes that have taken place over the last few decades since the Cultural Revolution. Example 4.23 1

Comrade Policeman, why did you do this? (SD-1)

2

Then they stopped laughing as the door opened and the director of the Cadre Section, Tan Na, walked in. She wanted to see a league member’s file, which Manjin helped her find in a cabinet. (SD-5)

3

So only four of them were jailed; the rest were either hospitalised (if their work units agreed to pay their medical expenses) or sent to some labor farms to be reformed. (SD-6)

4

They had gotten her file from the college and must have been notified of her lifestyle in New York. (SD-11)

In contrast with the ID and the ND data, an outstanding feature in the SD data is the use of idioms and proverbs originating in Chinese. Examples of these idioms and proverbs in the SD data include a flowered pillowcase (referring to someone who is beautiful or handsome in appearance, but not capable of doing anything), although the sparrow is small, it has a complete set of organs (meaning small but complete), and since you are already in here, you may as well stay and make the best of it (a saying by Chairman Mao). These expressions are not only linguistically creative, but they also carry cultural information. Therefore, they make the SD data read as particularly Chinese. Other examples of idioms and proverbs include the following. Example 4.24 1 Looking at the ballpoint and the letter paper left for him by the guards when they took him back from the Interrogation Bureau, Mr. Chiu remembered the old saying, ‘When a scholar runs into soldiers, the more he argues, the muddier his point becomes.’ (SD-1) 2

Damn those hoodlums, they had ordered more than they could eat! (SD-1)

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3

He told his teacher, ‘You mustn’t treat me like a guest.’ (SD-1)

4

You can’t squeeze any fat out of a skeleton. (SD-2)

5

When I’m alive, I am their man; when I’m dead, I am their ghost. (SD-2)

6

Their teacher kept reminding them of a proverb they had learned lately—‘Many hands provide great strength.’ (SD-3)

7

‘An old bull wants to chew tender grass,’ people would say behind his back. (SD-5)

8

They’d say, ‘A hen cooped up a peacock.’ Or, ‘A fool always lands in the arms of fortune.’ (SD-6)

9

It’s the doctor’s wheels that you should grease. (SD-6)

10 He’s the rooster that dreams of nesting with a swan. (SD-7) 11 He mentioned the saying ‘Give the hardest steel to the blade.’ (SD-10) 12 She ought to have fought for herself, that is, to combat poison with poison. (SD-11) 13 After a round of applause, he turned to our boss and said, ‘We thank our American friend, Mr. Ken Shapiro, for providing us with such a clean, beautiful place and the delicious food. This is a perfect example of adapting foreign things to Chinese needs.’ (SD-12) 14 Mr. Shapiro paced back and forth like an ant in a heated pan, while Peter remained quiet, his thick eyebrows knitted together. (SD-12)

Conclusions One of the most identifiable features of CE is the ‘Chineseness’ reflected in CE lexis. The criteria I have adopted for identifying CE lexis are that CE lexis needs to have some degree of currency and stability in China, and needs to originate in China or to be distinctive from usages elsewhere; excluding, of course, the expanding circle of CE, which includes common English words. In this sense, CE lexis comprises loanwords (that is, transliterations and loan translations of Chinese) or what I call inner circle CE lexis, and nativized Chinese English words or outer circle CE lexis. The analysis of the ID, ND, and SD data shows that this identification and classification of CE lexis can be justified. A number of transliterations and loan translations can be identified from all three sets of research data. The

Lexical features of Chinese English

ID data is characterized by a large number of transliterated borrowings from Chinese, some of which are potential candidates for CE lexis. However, since the interview informants were university students, their English proficiency varied, and therefore the uses of their English display both systematic features of CE and learners’ inter-language strategies. I argue that those items used by both undergraduate informants and by postgraduate informants are likely candidates for CE lexis. The ND data is characterized by the pattern that a transliteration is often followed by a loan translation or an explanation when things of specifically Chinese reference are being referred to. The SD data is characterized by a considerable number of loan translations, and the frequent use of idioms or proverbs literally translated from Chinese. The inner circle and outer circle CE lexis is distinctive in that it is characteristic of the English spoken or written by users of English in China, and readers or listeners must call upon knowledge of the Chinese context in order to fully understand its meanings.

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5

Syntactic features of Chinese English

In this chapter, I will first define what I mean by syntax and syntactic features, and establish a framework for analysing CE syntactic features. I will then analyse the ID, ND, and SD data for syntactic features of Chinese English.

Syntax and syntactic features Syntax is an integral part of grammar according to Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, and Svartvik (1985). Syntax is defined by Radford (1997: 1) as being concerned with ‘the ways in which words can be combined together to form phrases and sentences.’ It is also commonly referred to as jùfă in Chinese or ‘sentence grammar’ by Chinese grammarians and linguists. A sentence is syntactically structured out of words and phrases. These words and phrases belong to different grammatical categories within the sentence. Consider the structure of the sentence Migrant workers could find employment in township enterprises (ND-4). Each word in the sentence can be assigned to a specific grammatical category. For example, workers, employment, and enterprises belong to the category of noun; could is an auxiliary; find is a verb; Migrant and township are classified in this specific sentence as adjectives; and in is a preposition. Some of the words in the sentence can be combined to form phrases, and each of these phrases in turn belongs to a specific category: for example, the phrases migrant workers and township enterprises are noun phrases; the string could find is a verb phrase, and the phrase in township enterprises is a prepositional phrase. Each constituent (i.e., component part) of the sentence also serves a specific syntactic function. For example, the noun phrase Migrant workers functions as a subject (S); the verb phrase could find functions as a verb (V); employment functions as an object (O); and the prepositional phrase in

Syntactic features of Chinese English

township enterprises functions as an adverbial (A). Thus, we have an SVOA sentence, i.e., Migrant workers [S] could find [V] employment [O] in township enterprises [A]. Syntactic features of different varieties of English differ, and they also change within a variety over time. Mufwene (2001: 1–2) defines a ‘linguistic feature’ as being the ‘identifiable’ sets of ‘units and principles’ in language systems for the purpose of language transmission from one group of speakers to another. These units and principles are ‘selected and applied differently from one language to another, despite many similarities,’ and they are ‘identifiable in various interfacing modules: e.g., the phonological system, the morphological system, and syntax.’ Following Mufwene, I assume syntactic features, for the functional purpose of this chapter, to be the inter-variety differences in terms of the ways in which words are combined into phrases and sentences. Syntactic features evolve in a variety through identifiably frequent uses of particular syntactic units and principles in comparison with those in other varieties. It is difficult to linguistically distinguish the motivations for syntactic features, because these features result largely from language contact. However, for this chapter, I assume that syntactic features evolve from three different contact motivations, namely, preference, innovation, and transfer. In other words, some syntactic features in a variety of English result from regional preferences for certain usages; some syntactic features result from innovations by means of simplifying, generalizing or even complexifying the usages in other varieties of English. In addition, some other syntactic features result from transfers from other languages. To illustrate the three types of motivations for syntactic features, I will use a number of examples, as shown below, mostly from the well-researched Singapore English.

Preference syntactic features Preference syntactic features commonly exist in regional varieties of English. For example, Schneider (2004: 227) has examined particle verbs (PVs) in five corpora from the International Corpus of English (ICE)—East Africa, Great Britain, India, the Philippines, and Singapore—and he has concluded that ‘Singapore English was found to exhibit not only the highest frequency of PVs, but also the widest range of types in its structural

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uses and its formal and semantic creativity.’ Therefore the preference (or in Schneider’s word ‘propensity’) to use PVs can be regarded as a syntactic feature in Singapore English. Another example of a preference syntactic feature is that in Singapore English: ‘it is quite common to prepose the direct and even the indirect object. An example is Certain medicine we don’(t) stock in our dispensary’ (Platt & Weber, 1980: 73). The preference for preposing the direct and the indirect object, therefore, becomes one of the syntactic features of Singapore English.

Innovative syntactic features Innovative syntactic features also exist in Singapore English, for example, co-ordinate sentences without ‘and,’ and conditional clauses without ‘if.’ This is an innovative syntactic feature derived from simplification. Examples include (1) He sit down, wait for my sister to come out, la. (2) You go by meter, you got to pay (Platt & Weber, 1980: 78). In the first example, there is no conjunction ‘and’ in between the two co-ordinate verb phrases, in addition to the noticeable lack of subject–verb agreement and the lack of tense markers. In the second example, the conditional clause You go by meter is not preceded by If. One point that needs clarifying is that these features may exist only in informal lower mesolectal or basilectal Singapore English, while in formal written Singapore English, they may rarely exist. The use of the invariant tags is it? and isn’t it? is another syntactic feature in Singapore English, as Platt and Weber (1980: 75) point out that speakers of Singapore English opt for these two invariant tags, both occurring with rising intonation. This is also an innovative syntactic feature, but it is derived from generalization. For example, (1) You check out now, is it? (2) You want Carlsberg, isn’t it? (p. 75). In addition to simplification and generalization, some innovative syntactic features derive from complexification. Examples of this type are normally rare, because languages in general tend to reduce in complexity both diachronically and synchronically. However, in Singapore English, ‘repetition of phrases with this/that, here/there, up/down’ (Ho & Platt, 1993: 182–183) is a syntactic feature out of complexification. Examples include: (1) I can’t keep pestering, say y’know ‘I want—I want dis I want dat,

Syntactic features of Chinese English

you see. (2) Because my house dere, dere a lot of spaces to hide ‘know. Because he can enter from here, enter from dere. So de police enter front, de front, de—all de boys run from de back, see. In example 1, the repetition of ‘I want’ in I want dis I want that, and in example 2, the repetition of ‘enter from’ in enter from here, enter from dere have made the sentences syntactically more complex. There may be some rhetorical motivation involved in the repetition, but syntactically it has become a feature of Singapore English.

Transfer syntactic features Transfer syntactic features exist in non-native varieties of English, because the speakers of these varieties often have native languages. In Singapore English, the yes and no responses (Platt & Weber, 1980: 80), and the use of the particle la (p. 76) are noticeable features of this type. For example, (1) — You don’t mind? —Yes. (meaning ‘I don’t mind’) (2) Then I get a job there as a part-time la. In example 1, the response would be ‘No’ in most native varieties of English, indicating that the original addressee does not mind. However, ‘this type of response is common in many languages, indicating that the addressee agrees with the original question’ (p. 80). In example 2, the particle la, according to Platt and Weber (p. 76–77), is ‘a marker of rapport, solidarity, familiarity and informality’ and its derivation is ‘from Hokkien and not from Standard Malay or Mandarin.’ Regardless of the sources of these features, what is certain is that they bear the features of the speakers’ native language(s), and therefore they are transfer syntactic features. In conclusion, syntax is an integral part of the grammar of a language or a variety, and it is concerned with the rules under which words are combined to form phrases and sentences. Syntactic features are those identifiable differences in language change, or inter-variety variations in terms of the ways in which words are combined into phrases and sentences. There are three motivations for syntactic features as far as this chapter is concerned. These include preference, innovation, and transfer. As far as innovative syntactic features are concerned, the innovations are often based on processes of simplification, generalization, and complexification of certain features.

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Framework for analysing syntactic features of CE To identify syntactic features of CE, I will again analyse the ID, ND, and SD data. The ID data represents spoken CE, whereas the ND and SD data represent written CE. I anticipated finding significant differences between the spoken and written CE data, since, as Givón (2002: 76) points out: The salient features of oral grammar are also, not surprisingly, characteristic of pre-grammatical Pidgin communication; so much so that it has been suggested that well-edited written text represents the extreme point on the grammaticalization scale. Oral language, on the other hand, occupies an intermediate position on that scale, closer to pre-grammatical pidgin.

This could pose a number of problems in the analysis of the three sets of data. For example, to what extent does the spoken ID data represent the syntactic features of CE? And to what extent do the well-edited ND data and SD data reflect the syntactic features of CE? Above all, how do we distinguish between learners’ data and CE data? To identify and analyse CE syntactic features, I will analyse the ID, ND, and SD data for utterances and sentences with syntactic features motivated by the three factors, as defined in the sections above on preference, innovative, and transfer syntactic features. Consider the items in example 5.1, taken from the ID, ND, and SD data respectively (with the underlined parts of the sentences revealing certain syntactic features): Example 5.1 1

Some of my college classmates they like to dress up very much, and they don’t like to study very much. (ID-22)

2

Therefore, it is a fair judgment as well as timely recognition that agricultural development has made huge contributions to and laid a solid foundation for the country’s present-day accomplishments. (ND-7)

3

Because he had nothing but some cash and national food coupons on him—in his underwear—it was impossible to ascertain who he was. (SD-2)

Syntactic features of Chinese English

Example 5.1(1) shows a syntactic feature of CE, especially of spoken CE, known as subject pronoun copying (SPC), a feature also identified in Platt and Weber (1980: 74). It is a feature that exists in spoken Singapore English as well as other varieties of English. According to Platt and Weber, SPC cannot be considered as a sub-standard feature, because in their research with Singapore English, 38 out of 42 speakers used SPC. SPC is a feature, as it is for native varieties of English, for ‘stylistic effect,’ and it can be a ‘useful device when the subject is very long.’ In example 5.1(1), Some of my college classmates is the subject, and the pronoun they immediately following the subject is the ‘copy’ of the subject, and hence the feature SPC. This syntactic feature is motivated by the preference of CE speakers, because it can also occur in most native varieties of English, where it is termed as ‘anticipated identification’ or ‘left dislocation’ (Quirk et al., 1985: 1310). For example, ‘That play, it was terrible.’ According to Quirk et al. (p. 1310), this feature is restricted to informal spoken English, ‘where a noun phrase is positioned initially and a reinforcing pronoun stands ‘proxy’ for it in the relevant position in the sentence.’ In CE, this feature is also largely restricted to spoken data, as few occurrences of SPC could be found in the written ND and SD data. However, the frequent and unmarked use of SPC in the ID data makes it a preference syntactic feature of spoken CE. Example 5.1(2) shows a syntactic feature of CE, especially of written CE, known as ‘nominalization.’ According to Li and Thompson (1981: 575), ‘nominalization’ refers to grammatical processes by which ‘a verb, a verb phrase, a sentence, or a portion of a sentence including the verb can function as a noun phrase.’ Alternatively, Quirk et al. (1985: 1288– 1289) define ‘nominalization’ as a noun phrase which has ‘a systematic correspondence with a clause structure.’ The noun head of such a phrase is normally related morphologically to a verb, or to an adjective:

his refusal to help

~ He refuses to help



the truth of her statement

~ Her statement is true

But the correspondence may also sometimes be based on a concrete noun and a denominal abstract noun:

her friendship for Chopin

~ She was a friend of Chopin.

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In example 5.1(2), a fair judgment, timely recognition, agricultural development, and the country’s present-day accomplishments are all nominalized noun phrases. The frequent and unmarked use of nominalization by CE speakers makes it a syntactic feature of CE. This feature can be regarded as one motivated again by preference. Example 5.1(3) shows a feature of CE known as ‘subordinate clause–main clause sequence’ or ‘SC to MC sequence’ (Kirkpatrick, 1996: 106). By describing MSC (Modern Standard Chinese) as a principally left branching language and English as a principally right branching language we are saying, for example, that MSC prefers a clause sequence in complex sentences of subordinate–main, while English prefers a sequence of main– subordinate clause.

In example 5.1(3), the subordinate clause precedes the main clause. This SC to MC sequencing in CE coincides with the ‘natural’ and ‘iconic’ order of Chinese, instead of the ‘salient’ order of English (Kirkpatrick, 1996: 105). Therefore, it can be argued that when CE speakers process complex sentences involving subordinate and main clauses, it is likely that they transfer their native language information sequencing into English. However, it cannot be argued that CE speakers follow the SC to MC sequence exclusively, because MSC ‘is flexible as it allows a marked main clause–subordinate clause sequence for a number of pragmatic purposes’ (p. 106). Example 5.2 1

The children were excited, because seldom were they allowed to go out of the stone wall topped with shards of dark brown glass. (SD-3)

2

It was said that she had divorced her husband the previous summer because he had been sentenced to thirteen years in prison for embezzlement. (SD-3)

In example 5.2(1), the subordinate clause contains information that is not the immediate cause of the children’s being excited; therefore, the sequencing is marked to a CE speaker. In example 5.2(2), the main clause contains information that is not confirmed by the speaker, and that it is introduced by ‘It was said.’ So, this is also a marked sequence.

Syntactic features of Chinese English

This feature of SC to MC sequencing can also be further conceptualized as the ‘modifier–modified sequencing’ of CE, and I will illustrate this feature with more and varied examples in the following section.

Data analysis for syntactic features of CE As far as syntactic features of CE are concerned, the ID data is different from the ND and SD data. Firstly, as unedited spoken data, the ID data may contain features that are unique to spoken English. It may also contain a number of syntactic features of both Chinese learners’ English and CE. According to Givón (2002: 75), ‘the grammar of oral language is replete with features that are unique to face-to-face communication,’ and some of his examples include ‘unembedded dependent clauses, repetitions, truncations, zero-anaphoric references, and run-on clauses.’ However, this chapter is primarily concerned with the syntactic features unique to CE rather than those of spoken English and Chinese learners’ English. Therefore, the focus is to identify and analyse syntactic features of CE from the ID, ND, and SD data. Secondly, as indicated in the previous section, one of the potential problems with the ID data is that it is difficult to distinguish between the syntactic features of Chinese learners’ English and those of CE. Learners’ English may contain mistakes and errors that are not systematic, but CE is subject to ongoing codification and normalization processes, and it is characterized by the transfer of Chinese linguistic and cultural norms, so theoretically CE contains systematic and codified syntactic features. However, since the codification and normalization processes are ongoing, it is worth looking at those syntactic features of Chinese learners’ English and considering to what extent some of these features could develop into those of CE. Given that there are two groups of informants, whose group English proficiencies are of different levels, I propose the following three hypotheses for the purpose of identifying and analysing CE syntactic features from the ID data. •

Hypothesis 1



Those syntactic features that exist in the undergraduate informants (Group A) and which also occur in the postgraduate informants (Group B) are likely to become candidates for CE syntactic features.

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Linguistic features of Chinese English

•

Hypothesis 2



Those syntactic features that exist in the undergraduate informants (Group A) which cease or become noticeably less likely to occur in the postgraduate informants (Group B) are likely to be features of Chinese learners’ English.

•

Hypothesis 3



Those syntactic features that seldom or do not exist in the undergraduate informants (Group A) but which start to surface in the postgraduate informants (Group B) are likely to be candidates for CE syntactic features.

The ID data analysis for syntactic features of CE To identify candidates for syntactic features of CE from the ID data, I will look for syntactic expressions in the data that are systematically different from those in native varieties of English, using A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language (Quirk et al., 1985) as a major reference. I will then categorize the syntactic expressions into a number of different types based on their frequency of occurrence. I have given a count of the occurrences based on the ‘turns’ in which these occurrences exist in the transcribed ID data. To make the figures more accurate, I put all the 18 interviews with the 36 undergraduate informants from Group A into one Word document, and deleted the utterances of the author (as the interviewer), because I do not take the author as an informant for the purpose of comparing the two groups of informants. I have done the same with the other 18 interviews with the same number of postgraduate informants from Group B. The overall turns of the transcript for Group A and Group B are respectively 1320 and 1215. Table 5.1 shows the statistics of the occurrences of typical syntactic expressions of CE in specific categories.

Syntactic features of Chinese English

Table 5.1

Statistics of the occurrences of typical syntactic expressions of CE in categories

Number of ‘turns’ in which the occurrences exist

Types of syntactic expressions of CE

Frequency of occurrences

Group A

Group B

Group A

Group B

Adjacent default tense (ADT)

21

20

1.6%

1.7%

Null-subject/object utterances (NS/O)

19

10

1.4%

0.8%

Co-occurrence of connective pairs (CCP)

10

12

0.8%

1.0%

2

13

0.2%

1.1%

Yes–no response (Y/NR)

6

8

0.5%

0.7%

Topic–comment (TC)

2

7

0.2%

0.6%

Unmarked OSV (OSV)

4

3

0.3%

0.2%

Inversion in subordinate finite wh-clauses (ISC)

3

3

0.2%

0.2%

Subject pronoun copying (SPC)

Adjacent default tense (ADT) The overall number of ADT occurrences in both informant groups of the ID data is the largest among the eight different types of CE syntactic expressions listed in table 5.1, with 41 occurrences in total as a conservative figure. By ‘ADT,’ I mean if the overall tense of an utterance is marked in the context of the utterance, then, the ‘adjacent’ finite verbs in the utterance can (but may not necessarily) be set in their ‘default’ forms. Here the ‘context’ refers to a phrase, a clause, or a sentence in or adjacent to the utterance. In comparison, instances of ADT in most native varieties of English, according to Quirk et al. (1985: 184–185), are ‘virtually ungrammatical.’ The example they provide is: ‘Freda starts/has started school last year/in 1950.’

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Quirk et al. (pp. 184–185) have also made a distinction between anaphoric and cataphoric use of the past tense, i.e., we may call the use of the past tense anaphoric where the time in the past to which the reference is made is already indicated by a previous use of the past tense. In this sense, was is anaphoric in the example ‘Then we entered the city … the square was deserted ….’ When the adverbial follows the past tense, this may be called the cataphoric use of the definite past. For example, ‘We went to the theatre last Saturday.’ In ADT, the anaphoric and cataphoric use of the past tense as a reference functions as a time frame in which other finite verbs can (but may not necessarily) be set to their default present tense. Interestingly, in this CE study, there does not seem to be a significant difference in terms of the use of ADTs between the two groups of informants. Table 5.1 shows that the frequency of ADT occurrences is 1.6% and 1.7% respectively for the two informant groups. Based on Hypothesis 1, ADT is a candidate for being a syntactic feature of CE. However, it is restricted to spoken discourse, because it rarely occurs in the well-edited ND and SD data. As far as the ID data is concerned, examples of ADTs are listed below: Example 5.3 1

R:

Do you sometimes write a letter to your parents?



U6: Last year, I write a letter … I write two letters every week. (ID-3)

2

Um … when I was very young, I want to be a doctor, but now I want to be a teacher in this university. (ID-16)

3

When I was a seven years old, I first came here and lived with my relatives. So, maybe at that time, I think Beijing is a good city as a child. (ID-25)

4

So, I have to sign a contract before I came here for the study. (ID-26)

5

And one class of them also sent me a card, and they know my second foreign language is Japanese, and they looked up in the dictionary and write the greetings in Japanese. I think I’m very happy when I … when I got the card. (ID-28)

6

R:



P23: Um … my first impression is that I feel just like Liu Laolao in the Dream of Red Mansions went into Da Guanyuan. (ID-30)

When you first arrived in Beijing, what was your first impression?

Syntactic features of Chinese English

7

Maybe when I graduated from the senior school, the Russian … the relationship between China and Russia, the former Soviet Union is very good, and it … maybe is a good prospect, so I chose Russian, but after graduate, I went to a factory, … went to a factory, I translate a lot of materials, technical materials in Russian, but after that when my daughter was born, I took leave … took leave for several years, and I found that English is better, (laugh) … better for me to develop, so I study … began to study English from the TV. (ID-36)

Examples 5.3(1–2) are from undergraduate informants, and examples 5.3(3–7) are from postgraduate informants. What is common between the two groups in terms of the verb tense is that both groups display the feature of ADT. In examples 5.3(1–2), the past time-position adverbial Last year and the clause containing a past tense finite verb when I was very young have both set the context of the two utterances to the past, so, the adjacent finite verbs write in (1) and want in (2) are in their default present tense. This is also true for examples 5.3(3–7). Among the five occurrences, (3), (4), and (6) are similar to (1) and (2) in that at that time in (3), referring to when the informant was ‘a seven years old,’ before I came here in (4), and When you first arrived in Beijing, what was your first impression? in (6) have set the context to the past. Therefore, based on the feature of ADT, it can be anticipated that the informants may use verbs in their default present tense, for example, think and is in (3), have to in (4), and is and feel in (6). However, in (6), went into is a past tense verb phrase. This is probably because ‘Liu Laolao in the Dream of Red Mansions’ is an implicit indicator of the context in the past, and therefore the informant used the verb phrase in its past tense. The postgraduate examples 5.3(5) and (7) seem to be a little more complicated in terms of the use of ADT. In (5), the sending of a card to the informant by his/her class is apparently a past event, so sent is used. However, the class’ knowledge that the informant’s second foreign language is Japanese is necessarily referring to the past, so the informant said they know my second foreign language is Japanese. What seems to conform to ADT in the utterance is the use of looked up and write, and I think I’m and when I got. Here looked up and when I got have set the context to the past; therefore, write and I think I’m can be expected to be in their default present

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tense. In (7), the informant talked about his/her foreign language learning and some of his/her work experience. In the utterance, when I graduated allows the use of is in its default present tense. However, when it comes to chose, he/she used the past tense form. In the same utterance, I went to a factory allows the use of the adjacent translate in its default present tense, and when my daughter was born, I took leave (…) took leave for several years, and I found allows the use of is in its default present tense.

Null-subject/object utterances (NS/O) Table 5.1 shows that NS/O in both groups of the ID data is the second most frequent distinctive syntactic feature. By NS/O, I mean that in an utterance or a sentence there are null subject or object pronouns in the positions where they can be expected. This syntactic feature occurs in Chinese and is known as ‘zero pronouns’ (Li & Thompson, 1981: 657–658): ‘a salient feature of Mandarin grammar is the fact that noun phrases that are understood from context do not need to be specified.’ For example: A: nèi

chăng

diànyĭng

nĭ

juéde

zěnme

yang?



that

CL

movie

you

feel

how

manner



How did you feel about that movie? yidiăn

B:

a:little

dōu

bu

xĭhuān

all

not

like

(I) didn’t like (it) a bit.

The underlined blanks in B’s response as shown above, quoted from Li and Thompson (1981), stand for understood noun phrase referents under the specific context. They are referred to as ‘zero pronouns.’ This feature is also partly known as ‘pro-drop’ or ‘null subject parameter.’ According to Radford (1997: 17), some languages, such as Italian and Chinese are ‘null subject’ languages; whereas English is a ‘non-null subject’ language. Examples 5.4(1–6) are utterances of the undergraduate informants from Group A. Null-subject pronouns occur in examples (1–3), whereas nullobject pronouns occur in examples (4–6). Both null subject and null object pronouns have been indicated by an underlined blank ‘______.’ The same

Syntactic features of Chinese English

holds for the utterances of the postgraduate informants from Group B, i.e., examples (7–12). Example 5.4 1

I’ve got progress, I think, in listening, cause I always, whenever ______ came back to dormitory I will open the radio, and listen to CRI. (ID-1)

2

R:



U13: Sometimes yes, sometimes ______ use Putonghua. (ID-7)

3

R:



U25: Sometimes ______ just play basketball, and sometimes ______ go to the Beijing Library, and sometimes ______ just play some games on computer. (ID-13)

4

Before I came to this university, first I choose … I choose … feixingqi sheji [aircraft design], but when I heard some students from here said the computer major is the best major in this university, so I choose ______. (ID-9)

5

I … I study … I study English words, I remember English words today, maybe I forget ______ tomorrow. (ID-10)

6

We can see movies, and other activities about English. Yes, I like ______ very much. (ID-13)

7

Weifang is my hometown, and I love it. But I think it’s a kind of, especially my, I come from a small village, a little backward, so I (…) I want to see the outside world. ______ Come here to see what my hometown lacks or what should be improved. (ID-21)

8

I have been teaching for about three years, before I came here. And then ______ continue to … to teach to earn some money. (ID-26)

9

R:



P25: Yes, um (…) I have some future plans. For example, in the future, being a teacher, editor, something like that, but ______ not have exact idea about the future job. (ID-31)

When you’re at home, you talk in Fujian dialect with your parents? Okay, yes. What do you do in your spare time, usually?

When you made such a decision to choose linguistics, did you think about your future jobs?

10 Yes, so if I have spare time, I want to spend ______ in sporting. (ID-23) 11 R:

Okay, do you like teaching?

P15: No, actually I don’t like ______. (ID-26)

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12 And local specialties, such as banli. I don’t know how to say ______ in English. (ID-27)

The syntactic feature of zero pronouns or NS/O is not a feature of most native varieties of English. However, it is a feature of spoken CE, and it is motivated by syntactic transfer from MSC to English. Nevertheless, as the frequency of occurrences of NS/O in Group A and Group B decreases from 1.4% to 0.8%, NS/O is likely to remain a feature of Chinese learners’ English.

Co-occurrence of connective pairs (CCP) Although connective pairs such as because–so and although/though–but do not normally co-occur in most native varieties of English, it is not uncommon for pairs of correlatives to be jointly used, for example, because / seeing (that) and therefore / hence / accordingly / consequently for ‘cause’ and although / (even) though / while / whilst / granted (that) / even if and yet / still / however / nevertheless / nonetheless / notwithstanding / anyway (or anyhow) for ‘concession.’ Quirk et al. (1985: 644–645) have justified the use of such pairs of correlatives by saying that ‘formal correlation contributes both to stylistic elegance and to textual clarity (especially where the two parts to be connected are long and complex).’ In the spoken ID data, the connective pairs are always jointly used, and because–so and although/though–but are no exception. This feature can therefore be termed as ‘co-occurrence of connective pairs’ or CCP. By CCP, I mean in an utterance or a sentence where there are subordinate and main clauses indicating, for example, cause and concession, the connective pairs because–so and although/though– but are jointly used. Example 5.5 1

Um (…) yes, though I’ve been here for (…) for a long time, but I got no time. We’re so busy on our work. (ID-6)

2

Yes, although it’s not as big as Beijing, but I like it, because I was born in it. I have some special feeling about my hometown. (ID-14)

3

Because in the canteen of our school, it is too crowded at the first of this semester, so we wouldn’t like to go (…) go there to have our lunch or supper, so we choose some small res (…) restaurant to have our food. (ID-14)

Syntactic features of Chinese English

4

R:

When you first got onto the Great Wall, how did you feel?



U30: Some stranger feelings, because I couldn’t get the same feeling as others, because others always feel powerful, and happy or others, because I didn’t have some special feeling, so I think it’s very strange. (ID-15)

5

Because I don’t like science (…) how to say, natural science. I’m interesting (…) I’m interested in social sciences, um (…) because I don’t like numbers, and my mathematics score is very low, so when I take the entrance exam of college I chose English as my major. (ID-20)

6

Perhaps because of my nature and my character, I like the peaceful life. So, I don’t like (…) I don’t want my life full of challenges or adventures. I like teaching. So, most probably I will be a teacher in the future. (ID-21)

7

Yes, though my hometown is very small, but I must (…) I love it very much. (ID-23)

8

Though we need money, but freedom is maybe the first priority. (ID-30)

It can be noticed that in examples 5.5(3) and (4), as well as in (5) and (6), the because-connector always precedes the so-connector. According to Kirkpatrick (1996: 108), the because-connector ‘is signalling modifying or subordinate information from which the proposition in the principal clause can be understood, signalled by the so-connector.’ It is the same with 5.5(1), (2), (7), and (8), in which the although/though-connector introduces modifying or subordinate information from which the proposition signalled by the but-connector can be understood. The preference for this SC to MC sequencing by speakers of CE is transferred from their native language, as explained in the section ‘Framework for analysing syntactic features of CE.’ The co-occurrence of the connective pairs, not surprisingly, is also transferred from Chinese to English. As Li and Thompson (1981: 637) point out that the majority of the forward-linking movable adverbs ‘require the occurrence of a backwardlinking element in the clause that follows.’ The most common pairings of these linking elements listed by them (p. 638) are shown on the next page.

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suīrán

‘although’

dàn

‘but’



kĕshi

‘but’



hái(shi)

‘still’

yīnwèi

‘because’

suŏyĭ

‘therefore’

yóuyú

‘because’

jiu

‘then’

As shown in example 5.5(1–4) from Group A, and in 5.5(5–8) from Group B, CCP in both undergraduate and postgraduate groups is common. Therefore, it can be argued, based on Hypothesis 3 as listed in the section ‘Data analysis for syntactic features of CE,’ that CCP is a syntactic feature of spoken CE, motivated by ‘transfer’ from Chinese into English.

Subject pronoun copying (SPC) As explained in the section ‘Framework for analysing syntactic features of CE,’ SPC is a feature of spoken CE motivated by preference. It is a feature that is used in native varieties of English for stylistic effect, and it can be a useful device when the subject is very long. However, the use of SPC in the ID data seems to be unmarked, and is relatively frequent in the postgraduate informants. Example 5.6 1

One of my roommates, he found it in … in the … in the just after the door, he found it very … when we found it, it’s very … very weak. (ID-2)

2

I think … the … people in Beijing, they understand the accent, but there’s some difference in the pronunciation. (ID-12)

3

And the old buildings in Yantai, most of them are villas, … set up by the foreigners. (ID-19)

4

Some of my college classmates they like to dress up very much, and they don’t like to study very much. (ID-22)

5

R:



P14: Um … I think because the students come from many different places, most of them have a … ac … accents or dialects. If the teacher adds his own dialect accent, maybe students from different places they don’t understand the teachers’ lesson very well. (ID-25)

So, why do you think teachers should speak Putonghua?

Syntactic features of Chinese English

6

Um … and I think the people in Harbin sometimes they are out-going. (ID-33)

7

I’m the youngest one in my family, so I think my parents, they have no interest in … on … in … me. (ID-33)

Examples 5.6(1) and (2) are from the undergraduate informants, while 5.6(3–7) are from postgraduate informants. It is noticeable (cf. table 5.1) that the occurrences of SPC in the postgraduate informants outnumber those in the undergraduate informants (13 versus 2). This indicates, based on Hypothesis 3 as listed in the section ‘Data analysis for syntactic features of CE,’ that SPC is a likely candidate for being a syntactic feature of spoken CE. We can notice from 5.6(1–7) that most of the underlined subjects and their pronoun copies are not necessarily very long, for example, in 5.6(7), where the subject being copied in the clause is my parents. In addition, the pronoun copying does not seem to be for any stylistic reasons. Therefore, the use of SPC by CE speakers is not marked, as it is by speakers of native varieties of English, who use SPC for stylistic effect or when the subject is very long. In spoken CE, SPC is a syntactic feature that is probably preferred by CE speakers, whose native language, according to Li and Thompson (1981: 15), is ‘topic-prominent.’ The subject being copied in each of the examples 5.6(1–7) can always be optionally followed by a pause in speech, and it can also serve to set the topic of each utterance/sentence. Therefore, the topicprominent nature of Chinese makes SPC a feature of spoken CE.

Yes–no response (Y/NR) In native varieties of English, ‘since the yes–no question typically asks for a response on the truth value of the corresponding statement, the responses coincide with an assertion (yes) or a denial (no) of its truth value’ (Quirk et al., 1985: 793). For example, A: Is it raining? B: Yes (, it is), or No (, it isn’t). The selection of yes or no is determined by whether it asserts or negates the implied or given statement. However, Quirk et al. (p. 28) also point out that ‘to some extent in South Asian English, yes is commonly used in a negative reply that confirms the speaker’s assumption in a negative question.’

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In the ID data, Y/NR occurs in both undergraduate informants and postgraduate informants, and interestingly the feature occurs more frequently in the latter group (0.5% versus 0.7%). Based on Hypothesis 1 as listed in the section ‘Data analysis for syntactic features of CE,’ this is a candidate for being a syntactic feature of spoken CE. Example 5.7 1

R:

You mean your hometown is not so crowded?



U11: Yeah. Not so crowded. (ID-6)

2

R:



U11: Yes. Of course not. (ID-6)

3

R:



U23: No. I don’t think.



R:



U23: Yeah. (ID-12)

4

R:



U31: Yeah.



R:



U31: Yeah. (laugh) Of course. (ID-16)

5

R:



P5: Ya. I major in literature. It’s not because I don’t … I’m not interested in linguistics, but that I’m not good at linguistics. (ID21)

6

R:



P15: Yes, but if I don’t go back, I have to pay eigh … eighty thousand. (ID-26)

7

R:



P15: No.



R:



P15: Yes. (ID-26)

You do not want to make a living by playing guitar on the street. Okay, do you think normal people or people from Beijing could understand Guilin Hua? No? Now, U31, you said you were excited when your parents left you. So, you didn’t cry? So, you are not a linguistics student.

But you don’t want to go back.

So, have you been to many different places in Beijing, or around China? Okay, now. You haven’t been to many places.

Syntactic features of Chinese English

8

R:



P18: Oh, … just so so. I feel Oh! I come here at last! (laugh)



R:



P18: Yes, not as impressive. (ID-27)

9

R:



P19: Um … it’s a pity, no. (laugh)



R:



P19: Yeah. (ID-28)

10 R:



Now, when you first got on the Great Wall, how did you feel? So, it was not as impressive as you had expected. Have you ever been to some places outside Beijing? No? (laugh) So, you don’t like sports.



P29: Yeah.



R:

Alright, what do you like then?

P29: I think my only hobby is singing. (ID-33)

Examples 5.7(1–4) are from undergraduate informants, and examples 5.7(5–10) are from postgraduate informants. It can be noticed that in both informant groups, whenever the author (R) makes a negative statement for confirmation or asks a negative question, the informants always give a yes or yeah response showing that the they agree with the author’s statements, which happen in these examples to be a ‘denial’ of the truth value.

Topic–comment (TC) TC is a syntactic feature that can occur in native varieties of English. In Radford et al.’s (1999: 248) example, Cigars, the president never smokes them in front of his wife, the word Cigars functions as the topic of the sentence, in the sense that it serves to indicate that the clause tells us something about cigars. The part of the clause following the comma (the president never smokes them in front of his wife) is the comment. TC is also a CE syntactic feature, because it is common in Chinese, and it is closely related to the ‘topic prominence’ of Chinese. According to Li and Thompson (1981: 15), One of the most striking features of Mandarin sentence structure, and one that sets Mandarin apart from many other languages, is that in addition to the grammatical relations of ‘subject’ and ‘direct object,’ the description of

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Mandarin must also include the element ‘topic.’ Because of the importance of ‘topic’ in the grammar of Mandarin, it can be termed a topic-prominent language.

Li and Thompson (1981: 15) define a ‘topic’ as what is being talked about, and they distinguish a topic from a subject by saying that ‘the subject must always have a direct semantic relationship with the verb as the one that performs the action or exists in the state named by the verb, but the topic need not.’ Example 5.8 1

And the second is I think Beijing … there are many old buildings. (ID-4)

2

R:



P2: It depends on what kinds of seafood. Some seafoods … they can, but some … they cannot. (ID-19)

3

I think being a teacher, the life will be too easy. (ID-19)

4

You know, I think this society, the people get more and more practical. (ID-35)

5

Um … you know, I heard a lot of complaints from the … from the Chinese literature students, and they said that some … some very good classical works written … written by the foreigners, they can not sense the beauty. They can not sense the … they have no aesthetic … they can not get aesthetic learning from their works, so maybe, I think one reason is because the language, the language obstacles. Maybe the translator is a little clumsy. [laugh] So, I think maybe in the future, I can translate them much better. (ID-35)

Do you mean average people can afford seafood everyday?

In example 5.8(1), Beijing serves as a topic because it is what the utterance/ sentence is about, and there are many old buildings becomes the comment. Example 5.8(2) is slightly different from 5.8(1) in that Some seafoods is not only a topic, but also an object in the sentence with the order of OSV where the verb ‘afford’ is understood. Example 5.8(5) is similar to example (2) in that some … some very good classical works written … written by the foreigners serves not only as a topic, but also as an object of an omitted preposition in the noun phrase, i.e., the beauty (of ___ ).

Syntactic features of Chinese English

Examples 5.8(3) and (4) seem to be of the same type. It is the type categorized by Li and Thompson (1981: 92–93) as ‘double-subject sentences,’ in which ‘there happens to be a particular semantic relationship between the topic and the subject, which we may call part-whole.’ In example 5.8(3), the subject the life is a part of the topic of being a teacher, while in example 5.8(4), the subject the people is actually possessed by the topic this society. Since this type of topic–comment structure is grammatical and unmarked in Chinese, the use of the structure by CE speakers becomes also unmarked, and hence it becomes a syntactic feature of CE.

Unmarked OSV English, according to Quirk et al. (1985: 51), is described as a ‘fixed-wordorder language.’ For instance, ‘in English the positions of subject, verb, and object are relatively fixed.’ In declarative clauses, they occur regularly in the order S V O, unless there are particular conditions which lead to a disturbance of this order. Further conditions allow variations of this declarative order (for example, Parties my mother usually enjoys very much is a possible, though less usual, variant of My mother usually enjoys parties very much. (p. 51)

In contrast, Chinese is not an easy language to classify in terms of word order for a number of reasons. According to Li and Thompson (1981: 19–21), firstly, ‘the notion of subject is not a structurally well-defined one in the grammar of Mandarin’; secondly, ‘the order in which basic words and phrases occur is governed to a large extent by considerations of meaning rather than of grammatical functions’; and thirdly, ‘Mandarin is inconsistent with respect to the features that correlate with VO or OV order.’ Therefore, in Chinese, the two examples below are equally grammatical. wǒ

măi

shū

I

buy

book PFV/CRS (perfective aspect/currently relevant state)

I bought the book.

le

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Linguistic features of Chinese English

shū

wǒ

măi

le

book

I

buy

PFV/CRS

The book I bought.

Example 5.9 from the ID data shows that it is common for speakers of CE to pre-pose the object in a sentence, thus making the order of OSV a syntactic feature of CE. This feature is termed as ‘unmarked OSV.’ Example 5.9 1

Yes, I think many many easy words we have forgotten. (ID-1)

2

R:



U6: Because I want to come to Beijing very much, but other university I can’t choose. (ID-3)

3

So, um … I think the love is important, and the money I don’t care. (ID-11)

4

Probably some other kind of jobs I also want to try. (ID-28)

5

Actually when I came here, um … Beijing is … was so unfamiliar to me, so lots of things I want to know, and many experience I never had go … had gone. (ID-30)

6

But I … I’m afraid the both languages I can’t speak very well … very well. [laugh] (ID-36)

So, why did you choose this university instead of other universities?

In example 5.9(1), the object many many easy words in the clause is preposed, whereas the subject we and the verb have forgotten are placed at the end of the clause. Likewise, in examples 5.9(2–6), the overall structure is OSV. It can be noticed that the total number of occurrences of OSV in the ID data is not large, but the syntactic feature is evident in both undergraduate and postgraduate informant groups and it clearly bears the influence or transfer from the informants’ native language. In addition, the feature of unmarked OSV is also to some extent linked to the feature of topic– comment (TC), as analysed in the previous section, because the pre-posed object can sometimes be taken as the topic, while the subject and verb as the comment.

Syntactic features of Chinese English

Inversion in subordinate finite wh-clauses (ISC) ISC refers to the inverted subject–operator in subordinate finite whclauses, as if it were in an independent wh-question. ISC can occur in native varieties of English. For example, Quirk et al. (1985: 1051–1052) have observed that ‘although the subordinate clause usually does not have subject–operator inversion, such inversion may occur, particularly when the clause functions as complement and the superordinate verb is BE or when it functions as appositive.’ For example, (1) The problem is who can we get to replace her. (2) Your original question, why did he not report it to the police earlier, has not yet been answered (p. 1052). However, the reason for occurrences of ISC in the ID data is likely to be the transfer from Chinese, in which questions ‘can be subjects or direct objects of another verb’ (Li & Thompson, 1981: 554–555). For example, wŏ

jìde

nĭ

I

remember you

yĭqián

zhù

zài

năr

before

live

at

where

de

shì

I remember where you lived before. shénme

rén

zuò

zŏngtŏng

what

person

serve:as

president

shì

yī

jiàn

hĕn

zhòngyào

be

one

CL

very

important NOM

matter

Who serves as president is a very important matter.

Example 5.10 shows how ISC occurs in the ID data. Example 5.10 1

Um … because I … I didn’t know what should I learn, and my father … ma … made a decision, and I just came. (ID-5)

2

I really don’t know what is International English. (ID-27)

3

I think, I don’t know which noun should I use, I think as a supervisor, I … I should learn to accept. (ID-28)

4

It’s actually … um … it is made in the kind of … I don’t know what is … how should I put it, but it is made of bamboo. (ID-29)

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The frequency of the occurrences of ISC in the ID data is lower than that of other syntactic expressions of CE (cf. table 5.1). However, since ISC occurs in both undergraduate and postgraduate informant groups, according to Hypothesis 1 as listed in the earlier section ‘Data analysis for syntactic features of CE,’ this feature is also a candidate for being a syntactic feature of CE.

The ND data analysis for syntactic features of CE Although the ND data is full of lexical CE features, as analysed in chapter 4, I did not anticipate finding many syntactic CE features. Firstly, the ND data is well-edited written data. Secondly, the ND data may contain features of journalistic English, rather than syntactic features exclusive to CE. For example, Scollon (2000: 777) has pointed out that news stories are characterized by ‘the use of formulas and of topic-specific vocabulary.’ Formulas can be identified in many stories. For example, the phrase 友好 關系 (friendly relations) is very commonly found in stories covering the meeting of representatives from a nation friendly to China with Chinese officials in Beijing. Or in the press conference question and answer format, the formula ‘When asked X, Y said’ is commonly used to introduce the statements of the official. Vocabulary in finance stories relies heavily on the use of comparative statistics, sports stories use records, times, and numbers, and stories covering official meetings use names, titles of governmental positions, and the names of official places. (p. 777)

However, well-edited and polished as the ND data is, it can not be entirely free of features that are unique to CE. I assume that the majority of news writers and editors for China Daily are Chinese, and by definition, they are users of CE. Even if the news articles that they have written or edited are well-polished, polishing can only ever take place at the surface. Additionally, as Scollon (p. 772) argues with regard to China Daily, ‘within that international journalistic style there is a significant accommodation to the Chinese structure.’ I assume that in addition to the genre and discourse representations of this ‘accommodation’ as analysed by Scollon, this ‘significant accommodation’ may also be represented in the forms of certain syntactic features of CE.

Syntactic features of Chinese English

The syntactic features identifiable in the ND data include nominalization, multiple-coordinate construction, and modifying–modified sequencing.

Nominalization Quirk et al. (1985: 1288–1289) define ‘nominalization’ as a noun phrase that has ‘a systematic correspondence with a clause structure.’ A noun phrase is defined, according to them (pp. 1238–1239), as having four constituent parts. (1) The HEAD, around which (for the most part) the other constituents cluster and which dictates concord with other parts of the sentence.

[The tall girl standing in the corner] is my sister.



[The tall girls standing in the corner] are my sisters.

(2) The DETERMINATIVE, which includes (a) predeterminers, eg: all, both, double; (b) central determiners, eg: the articles, this, some; (c) postdeterminers, eg: numerals, many, few, several. (3) The PREMODIFICATION, which comprises all the items placed before the head other than determinatives, notably adjectives (or, rather, adjective phrases,) and nouns:

some very expensive furniture



some very expensive office furniture

(4) The POSTMODIFICATION, comprising all the items placed after the head, notably:

prepositional phrases:

the car outside the station



nonfinite clauses: the car standing outside the station



relative clauses: the car that stood outside the station



complementation: a bigger car than that

In terms of nominalization, Quirk et al. (1985: 1288–1290) claim that ‘we can match elements of the noun phrase (head, modifiers, determinatives) with elements of clause structure, considered semantically in terms of the verb and its associated participant roles of agentive, affected, etc.’ Based on Quirk et al.’s definition, I have identified a large number of nominalized noun phrases (NNPs) in the ND data, particularly in the hard

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news articles in which time is a factor. Table 5.2 shows the number of nominalized noun phrases and their average number per sentence in four of the hard news articles in the ND data. Table 5.2

Distribution of nominalized noun phrases (NNPs) in four articles in the ND data

Article in the ND data

Number of NNPs

Number of sentences

Average number of NNPs per sentence

ND-4

18

13

1.4

ND-7

24

17

1.4

ND-13

12

9

1.3

ND-20

24

18

1.3

Subtotal

78

57

1.4

As shown in table 5.2, the four articles selected from the ND data, namely, ND-4, ND-7, ND-13, and ND-20, all contain approximately 1.3 to 1.4 NNPs per sentence. By analysing all 78 NNPs in the four articles, I can tentatively categorize the NNPs into five groups depending on the part of the NNP which has a ‘correspondence’ with a clause structure, and on the number of NNPs in the case of a compound NNP. If it is the ‘head’ of the NNP that is correspondent with a clause structure, then the NNP is a head nominalized noun phrase (HNNP). Example 5.11 The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State Council decided to increase investment in the sectors of education, health and culture in rural areas, (with the aim of improving the living conditions of farmers.) (ND-4)

In example 5.11, the head of the noun phrase ‘investment in the sectors of education, health and culture in rural areas,’ which is ‘investment,’ has a correspondence with the clause structure ‘to increasingly invest in the sectors of education, health, and culture in rural areas.’

Syntactic features of Chinese English

Similarly if it is the ‘premodification’ or the ‘postmodification’ of the NNP that corresponds with a clause structure, then the NNP is a premodification or postmodification nominalized noun phrase (PreNNP or PostNNP). Example 5.12 1

A just concluded two-day rural work conference has ushered in a new development stage for work in the three issues. (ND-7)

2

The crowded trains, planes and buses attest to the high volume of people embarking on the sacred journey home. (ND-20)

In example 5.12(1), the premodification of the noun phrase ‘A just concluded two-day rural work conference’ contains a clause structure, i.e., ‘the two-day rural work conference that was just concluded.’ Likewise, in example 5.12(2), the postmodification of the noun phrase, ‘the high volume of people embarking on the sacred journey home,’ also contains a clause structure, i.e., ‘the high volume of people that are embarking on the sacred journey home.’ Therefore, we can name the underlined NNPs in 5.12(1) and 5.12(2) as PreNNP and PostNNP respectively. As can be expected, there is also another kind of NNP, which falls into a category where two or more parts of a noun phrase are nominalized. I will call this type of NNP a Mixed NNP (or MNNP). Example 5.13 The prevailing perception blames the backwardness of rural areas on a national policy that in the past put industrialization ahead of rural development. (ND-7)

In example 5.13, the noun phrase ‘The prevailing perception’ has a correspondence with a clause structure in both its premodification and head, i.e., ‘What is perceived and what is prevailing.’ Therefore, the underlined NNP in example 5.13 is an MNNP. Apart from HNNP, PreNNP, PostNNP, and MNNP, there is still another NNP in the ND data, which I will call a Compound NNP or CNNP. Unlike the above-mentioned four types of NNPs, a CNNP consists of two or more NNPs.

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Example 5.14 1

Therefore, it is a fair judgment as well as timely recognition that agricultural development has made huge contributions to and laid a solid foundation for the country’s present-day accomplishments. (ND-7)

2

While visiting the Miyun Reservoir, the biggest of its kind in Beijing, Hu pointed out that the protection and better use of water resources were relevant to the city’s overall economic development as well as residents’ living standards. (ND-13)

3

Top Chinese officials have set the guiding principle for the development of agriculture in the coming year, by focusing on bringing more benefits to farmers and narrowing the income gap between rural and urban areas. (ND-4)

4

Hu’s remarks demonstrate a down-to-earth evaluation of the current generally bright picture for the nation’s development. (ND-7)

The underlined NNP in each of examples 5.14(1), (2), and (3) consists of two component NNPs, and in example 5.14(4), three component NNPs. Hence, they are Compound NNPs or CNNPs. Interestingly, the relationship between the component NNPs in 5.14(1) and (2) is somewhat different from that in 5.14(3) and (4). In 5.14(1) and (2), the component NNPs are paratactic in that they can be independent of each other; whereas in 5.14(3) and (4), the component NNPs are hypotactic, because one of the NNPs is pre- or post-modified by one or more NNPs. For example, in 5.14(1), ‘a fair judgment’ and ‘timely recognition’ are paratactic; while in 5.14(3), ‘the guiding principle’ is modified by ‘the development of agriculture,’ and therefore they are hypotactic. In summary, nominalized noun phrases (NNPs) in CE can be classified into head nominalized noun phrases (HNNPs); premodification nominalized noun phrases (PreNNPs); postmodification nominalized noun phrases (PostNNPs); mixed nominalized noun phrases (MNNPs) with more than one part of a noun phrase being nominalized; and compound nominalized noun phrases (CNNPs), which can be further classified into paratactic CNNPs and hypotactic CNNPs. The difference between an MNNP and a CNNP is that the former contains only one NNP, while the latter contains at least two NNPs. Appendix 5 shows the categorization of the 78 NNPs in the four news articles from the ND data.

Syntactic features of Chinese English

Appendix 5 shows that postmodification nominalized noun phrases (PostNNPs) constitute over one third of the total NNPs in the four selected news articles. The second most common type of NNPs are premodification nominalized noun phrases (PreNNPs) and hypotactic compound nominalized noun phrases (hypotactic CNNPs). However, in contrast, head nominalized noun phrases (HNNPs), mixed nominalized noun phrases (MNNPs), and paratactic compound nominalized noun phrases (paratactic CNNPs) exist, but less commonly. The reason for the frequent use of PostNNPs and PreNNPs is related to the way in which nominalizations are implemented in Chinese. According to Li and Thompson (1981: 575), different languages may employ different strategies for nominalization, and in Chinese, ‘nominalization involves placing the particle de after a verb, a verb phrase, a sentence, or a portion of a sentence including the verb.’ CE nominalizations tend to reflect Chinese de-structured nominalizations. For example, in the January 9, 2003 edition of the People’s Daily (in Chinese), a hard news article, which corresponds to ND-7 in terms of the news content, has 54 de-structures in a total of 26 sentences. That translates roughly into an average of two de-structures per sentence. Some de-structures are simple and short. Examples include: (1) shíliù (sixteen) dà (Congress) de (NOM) bùshǔ (arrangement) — the arrangement by the Sixteenth Congress (of the Party); (2) míngquè (specific) de (NOM) yāoqiú (requirement) — specific requirement; (3) fādá (advanced) de (NOM) nóngyè (agriculture) — advanced agriculture. However, some de structures are long and complex, for example, (1) zhōngyāng (central) bă (BA)‘sānnóng’ (three agriculture) wèntí (issue) zuòwéi (as) quándăng (all party) gōngzuò (work) zhòng (heavy) zhōng (inside) zhī (genitive) zhòng (heavy) de (NOM) zhànlüè (strategic) sīxiăng (thought) — the strategic thinking that CPC takes the three agriculture-related issues as the Party’s most important task among the important tasks; (2) xīn (new) shìjì (century) qián (first) èrshí (twenty) nián (year) quánmiàn (overall) jiànshè (build) xiăokāng (xiaokang) shèhuì (society) de (NOM) fèndòu (battle) mùbiāo (goals) — the battling goals of building an overall xiaokang society in the first twenty years of the new century; (3) chéngxiāng (town countryside) jūmín (resident) rìyì (day increasing) fēngfù (varied) de (NOM) xiāofèi (consume) xūqiú (demand) — the day-by-day

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increasingly varied consumer demands of the residents both in urban and rural areas. To express long and complex nominalized de-structures in English, news writers and editors are likely to use premodifiers or postmodifiers to modify a noun head. What is also worth mentioning is the fact that nominalized noun phrases occur far more frequently in the hard news articles than in the soft news articles in the ND data. The reasons are possibly that most of the hard news articles in the ND data (1) are translation based, i.e., they are translated into English from Chinese; (2) are formal; and (3) deal with serious topics such as politics, economics, and international affairs. In contrast soft news articles usually involve background information or human-interest stories.

Multiple-coordinate construction Multiple-coordinate construction refers to the parallel structure of two or more conjoins within a sentence. According to Quirk et al. (1985: 941– 942), ‘a conjoin may be any constituent such as a predicate, a predication, a phrase, or a word.’ The key to a coordinate construction is that ‘the conjoins of each construction are parallel to one another in meaning, function, and also (generally) in form.’ The following is a list of the examples of coordinate construction that occur in the ND data, with the conjoins being marked by square brackets. Example 5.15 1

To close the economic gap, top officials agreed yesterday to [deepen the ongoing reforms on the grain distribution system], [further restructure the agricultural sector] and [regulate agricultural business, by making it more efficient and structured]. (ND-4)

2

The main focus of the work over the coming weeks will be [improving the reliability of the craft], [completing the manned operating system which will act as a back up to mission control] and also [adding the finishing touches to the space capsule, to provide a comparatively comfortable environment for the astronauts]. (ND-5)

Syntactic features of Chinese English

3

The vast rural area is afflicted with such problems as [low productivity of agriculture], [irrational agricultural structures], [stagnation in farmers’ incomes] and [heavy economic burdens from an array of fees levied on farmers], [substandard education] and [the absence of a social security umbrella to cover the 800 million rural inhabitants]. (ND-7)

4

At the concert, Wang and 17 other musicians will play music of different styles on traditional Chinese instruments such as [guzheng], [dizi], [xiao], [sheng], [xun], [pipa], [yangqin] and [tanggu] (a drum hung from a wooden frame). (ND-16)

5

He [has composed all the works that will feature in the concert], [will play guzheng and keyboard], and [will direct the large-scale improvisation.] (ND-16)

6

The ministry will maintain the principle of [supporting overseas studies], [encouraging the return of overseas Chinese students], and [lifting restrictions on their coming and going], said Zhou. (ND-17)

Example 5.15(1) contains a multiple-coordinate construction of non-finite verbs; 5.15(2) a coordinate construction of predications; and 5.15(3) of noun phrases; 5.15(4) of single words; 5.15(5) of predicates; and 5.15(6) of nominal –ing participle clauses. While multiple-coordinate construction is also common in native varieties of English, what makes the construction unique in CE is that, when used, it is always coupled with Chinese pragmatic motivations. For example, when it comes to non-finite verbs, predicates, predications, and nominal –ing participle clauses, or in a more general term, verb-related phrases or clauses, chances are that they come in threes. In examples 5.15(1), (2), (5), and (6), each multiple-coordinate construction contains three conjoins. To highlight the conjoins, we have ‘to deepen …, further restructure …, and regulate …’ in 5.15(1); ‘improving …, completing …, and also adding …’ in 5.15(2); ‘has composed …, will play …, and will direct …’ in 5.15(5); and ‘supporting …, encouraging …, and lifting …’ in 5.15(6). It can be noticed that in the four examples that the conjoins are all verb-related phrases or clauses. Examples 5.15(3) and (4) are somewhat different from the other four examples, however, in that the conjoins are nouns or noun-related phrases or clauses. So they do not seem to have as much restraint on the number

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of conjoins as the verb-related phrases or clauses do. Example 5.15(3) has six conjoins and 5.15(4) has eight conjoins in their multiple-coordinate constructions. Pragmatically speaking, Chinese people tend to use figures to express certain thoughts, especially slogan-like political ideas. For example, ‘one country, two systems,’ ‘two-hundred policy,’ ‘Three Represents,’ ‘four modernizations,’ and ‘five-year plan.’ The figure three, in particular, is likely to be used when verb-related phrases or clauses are expressed in China. For example, sānfăn wŭfăn (three anti’s: anti-corruption, waste, and bureaucracy; and five anti’s: anti-bribery, tax evasion, stealing of state property, cheating on government contracts, and stealing state economic intelligence), sānzhōngyú sìwúxiàn (three faithfuls: faithful to the great leader Chairman Mao, the Communist Party, and the revolutionary path of the proletariat; and four infinitely’s: infinitely faithful, love, respect, and worship the great leader Chairman Mao), sān dà găizào (three reforms: the reforms of agriculture, industry, and capitalist trade and commerce industries), sānge yǒulìyú (three favourables: favourable to the socialist productive force, to the comprehensive power of the socialist country, and to the improvement of people’s living standards), sānjiăng (three emphases education, which stresses theoretical study, political awareness, and good conduct), sānge dàibiăo (Three Represents theory: the Party should always represent the development needs of China’s advanced social productive forces, always represent the onward direction of China’s advanced culture, and always represent the fundamental interests of the largest number of the Chinese people). Therefore, although the multiple-coordinate construction is not syntactically unique to CE, the use of three verb-related conjoins is a syntactic feature of CE.

Modifying–modified sequencing Kirkpatrick (1996: 107) argues that ‘while topic–comment is an important sentence type in MSC and is significant in determining ways of sequencing information at sentence level, it is not the only sentence type. In addition, the modifying–modified sequence, which is expressed by the subordinate clause to main clause sequence in complex sentences, is also an important information sequencing principle in MSC.’

Syntactic features of Chinese English

In the section ‘Topic–comment (TC),’ I argued that topic–comment information sequencing of Chinese can be transferred into spoken CE, and hence become a syntactic feature of spoken CE. However, analysis of the ND and SD data does not seem to provide further evidence that written CE is also characterized by topic–comment information sequencing. In this section, following Kirkpatrick’s argument, I will investigate whether the modifying–modified sequence of Chinese is transferred to written CE. In describing the positions of subordinate clauses, Quirk et al. (1985: 1037) have illustrated the possible positions of subordinate clauses (cf. figure 5.1).

MC

MC

MC

SC

SC

SC

Initial

Medial

End

Figure 5.1 Placement of subordinate clauses

‘MC’ stands for a main clause, and ‘SC’ for a subordinate clause. Figure 5.1 shows that the subordinate clause can be in an initial, medial or final position. Quirk et al.’s (1985: 1037) examples of the three arrangements include: When you’re ready, we’ll go to my parents’ place (INITIAL); We’ll go, when you’re ready, to my parents’ place (MEDIAL); We’ll go to my parents’ place when you’re ready (END). They also point out that ‘one of the factors which determine the order in which the constituent clauses of a sentence are arranged is the principle of RESOLUTION, the principle that states that the final clause should be the point of maximum emphasis’ and that in English ‘it is, in fact, a dominant tendency of syntactic structure that the greatest depth of subordination is reached in the final part of the sentence’ (Quirk et al., 1985: 1037–1039). In my investigation of the positions of subordinate clauses in the ND data, I take four subordinators for finite clauses into consideration. They are although (though), because, if, and when. The reasons that I take these four subordinators are that, firstly they are ‘formal indicators of subordination,’

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according to Quirk et al. (1985: 997); secondly, they are simple subordinators that are used in the ND data more frequently than complex subordinators, such as in order that, provided (that), as long as, and as though; and thirdly they generally indicate a clear semantic relationship between the subordinate and main clauses, i.e., concession, reason, condition, and time. I conducted a number of ‘concordance’ searches throughout the ND data using Wordsmith Tools with the search-words although, though, because, if, and when. It turned out to have 33 sentences in total containing one of each of the five search-words. The following is a list of the sentences. Example 5.16 Sentences containing although in the ND data 1

Although it is not a requirement, most participants are currently staying in China, either receiving an education or working. (ND-6)

2

Although a routine meeting as it is customary for the country’s top decision-makers to unveil their strategies for rural China at the beginning of each year, the conference, jointly sponsored by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and State Council, can still be regarded as special this year. (ND-7)

Example 5.17 Sentences containing though in the ND data 1

‘Though I cannot go back home this Spring Festival, I am preparing New Year presents for my family,’ he said. (ND-8)

2

So even though he showed little interest in the instrument, he did not let his father down. (ND-16)

3

For that reason, the shooting of ‘Tianlong Babu’ has generated a great deal of enthusiasm at home, though it is still under production. (ND-3)

4

The law does not specify any particular diseases, though the registration rule lists leprosy. (ND-1)

5

Ni’s parents and sisters are not asking for any gift though, but she has decided to take 1,000 yuan (US$120) home with her. (ND-8)

6

Though Shanghai’s dishes are delicious, I still long to eat the food from my hometown. (ND-8)

Syntactic features of Chinese English

Example 5.18 Sentences containing because in the ND data 1

Zhou Xiaowen, the chief director of the latest work, admitted he sensed mounting pressure because everyone from taxi drivers to primary school students would be critiquing the TV series and looking to see if an old favorite was being respectfully retold. (ND-3)

2

Because many farmers lack adequate knowledge and experience to distinguish counterfeit goods they are generally more vulnerable. (ND14)

3

‘We are facing a tough mission because South Korea and Kazakhstan are very close to us,’ Xiao said. (ND-18)

4

Fake medicine, pesticides, seeds and farming equipment deserve special attention because they are particularly harmful to the health and immediate interests of consumers. (ND-14)

5

Not only because it symbolizes the first mark made by the Party’s new generation of leadership on rural policy, but because the country is now bracing for an unprecedented mission—the realization of a xiaokang society, or a moderately affluent life for all. (ND-7)

6

A responsible economist or observer of a currency should take into account the major economic policies of a nation fiscal policy, monetary policy and commercial policy—because all these greatly influence the economic fundamentals which determine the real value of a currency. (ND-15)

7

However, one doctor from the Dongsi Hospital for Gynaecology and Obstetrics said that couples should treat the premarital medical examination seriously because it will have the direct link with their life after marriage. (ND-1)

Example 5.19 Sentences containing if in the ND data 1

This situation means the farmers are unable to make a complaint if their legal rights are infringed. (ND-14)

2

‘If I go back home in such a short period, the comfortable family life will probably prevent me from returning to the work here,’ he added. (ND-8)

3

If the same method is used, Jen said, we compute that the RMB is slightly overvalued against the Japanese yen. (ND-15)

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4

In his keynote speech addressing the conference, Hu Jintao, generalsecretary of the CPC Central Committee, pointed out that ‘if the benefits of xiaokang cannot be attained by rural people, China will fail to live up to its dream of a xiaokang society.’ (ND-7)

5

‘If I rush to the rail station to buy the ticket on January 28, it will take at least half a day for me to get the ticket. I will spend another day and a half on the road home,’ Cheng said. (ND-8)

6

The Marriage Law says a person is forbidden from getting married if a disease from which they suffer makes them ‘medically improper’ for marriage. (ND-1)

7

Jen said the PPP promoters’ arguments are self-contradictory. According to Jen, Japan’s Ministry of Finance said if determined by PPP, the dollar/yen exchange rate should be in 150–160 range. (ND-15)

8

‘If the benefits of xiaokang can not be attained by rural people, China will fail to live up to its dream of a xiaokang society,’ said Hu. (ND-4)

9

If she goes home, she cannot bear the sorrow of coming back to work. (ND-8)

10 If all the necessary factors are taken into consideration, the economist said, he believes the RMB’s exchange rate is in line with China’s economic fundamentals. (ND-15) 11 But what would it be like if many foreigners, or ‘laowai’ as they are nicknamed in Mandarin, got together and chatted in idiomatic Chinese, sometimes even with a pure Beijing dialect? (ND-6) Example 5.20 Sentences containing when in the ND data 1

‘How can the RMB have been grossly overvalued five years ago, and be grossly undervalued now, when it has been pegged to one of the strongest currencies in the world—the US dollar—during this period?’ Jen asked. (ND-15)

2

Back in 1998, when East Asia was in the depths of a financial crisis, the consensus view in the international market was that the Chinese currency renminbi (RMB) was overvalued and doomed to crash. (ND15)

3

Determining the fair value of a currency is difficult, particularly when there are major structural changes that are almost impossible to model, said Morgan Stanley’s Jen. (ND-15)

Syntactic features of Chinese English

4

Later, when he felt guzheng was too limited to express all his musical ideas, he ventured into more complicated music. (ND-16)

5

And from then on, every day at 5 am when other students were still sleeping, Wang went to the classroom to play the guzheng in his own way instead of the way his father and teachers had taught him. (ND-16)

6

When their teachers encouraged them to take part in the contest, they decided to choose crosstalk, or xiangsheng in Mandarin, a verbal art form that teases audiences with words. (ND-6)

7

Tonight, when Chinese people all over the world stay up late to send off the Year of the Horse and welcome the Year of the Goat, they will, as always, wish for a prosperous and peaceful new year. (ND-20)

It can be noticed that in 5.17(5), though is in the final position in the subordinate clause, I still, however, classified the clause as an ‘I’ position, because the subordinate clause is indeed in the initial position. Example 5.18(5), however, contains two independent subordinate clauses preceded by ‘Not only because’ and ‘but because.’ I identified the two subordinate clauses as being one in the ‘F’ position, because in a wider context, the two subordinate clauses function as one subordinate clause, and they are linked backward to the preceding sentence, which is Although a routine meeting as it is customary for the country’s top decision-makers to unveil their strategies for rural China at the beginning of each year, the conference, jointly sponsored by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and State Council, can still be regarded as special this year. I identified the positions of the subordinate clauses with ‘I’ for initial position, ‘M’ for medial position, and ‘F’ for final position. The results are shown in table 5.3. Table 5.3 shows a tendency that written CE prefers initial subordinate clause position. This is especially true with although/though-, if-, and whenclauses. However, because-clauses are an exception, with only one being in ‘I’ position, and the remaining six in ‘F’ position. To account for this phenomenon, I have considered how Chinese speakers normally place the subordinate clauses initiated by the Chinese equivalents of although/though, if, when, and because.

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Table 5.3

Statistics of the positions of subordinate clauses preceded by although/ though, because, if, and when in the ND data

Number of subordinate clauses

‘I’ position

although

2

2

though

6

4

2

because

7

1

6

if

11

8

3

when

7

4

1

2

Subtotal

33

19

1

13

Search-word

‘M’ position

‘F’ position

According to Li and Thompson (1981: 633–655), in many sentences composed of two linked clauses, ‘each of the two constituent clauses contains a linking element, the first clause having a forward-linking element and the second one a backward-linking element.’ Examples of forward-linking elements in Chinese include: de shíhòu (NOM time = when, while), yĭhòu (after), yĭqián (before), de huà / rúguŏ / jiărú / jiăshĭ / yàoshi (if), chúfēi (unless), jíshǐ / jiùshi (even if), suīrán (although/though), yīnwèi / yóuyú (because), zhǐyào (if only, as long as). Examples of backward-linking elements include: kěshi / dànshi / búguò / ránér (but, nevertheless, however), wèideshì (in order to), suǒyĭ (so), yīnwèi (because). It can be noticed that in the above examples, the Chinese equivalents of although/though, if, and when are all forward-linking elements. That means, the subordinate clauses preceded by these equivalents tend to be placed in ‘I’ position. Therefore, it can be predicted that speakers of CE would prefer to place the although/though-, if-, and when-subordinate clauses in the ‘I’ position, functioning as modifying clauses, whereas the main clauses, placed in ‘F’ position, function as the modified clauses. Thus, we have the modifying–modified sequence. However, it can also be noticed in the above examples, that yīnwèi (because) is different from the other subordinators in that it can both be forward-linking and backward-linking. For example, (1) yīnwèi (because) tiān (sky) hēi (black) le (CRS), suǒyĭ (so) wǒ (I) méi (not)

Syntactic features of Chinese English

chūqu (exit:go) — Because it had gotten dark, I didn’t go out. (Li & Thompson, 1981: 636); (2) zhù (live) sùshè (dormitory) bǐjiao (relatively) róngyi (easy) yīnwèi (because) xuéxiào (school) gài (build) le (PFV) hěn (very) duō (many) xīn (new) de (NOM) sùshè (dormitory) — It’s easy to live in the dorm because the school has built a lot of new dorms. (p. 655). If yīnwèi (because) is used as part of a correlative pair with suǒyĭ (therefore), it is undoubtedly a forward-linking element. The only exception is when yīnwèi is preceded by the affirmative copula shì, and suǒyĭ is preceded by the word zhī. In such a case, it would be ‘zhīsuǒyĭ … shìyīnwèi,’ that is, the subordinate clause is placed in the ‘F’ position. However, if yīnwèi is used independently without suǒyĭ, it can either be a forward-linking or backward-linking element. Furthermore, when used independently, it is likely that the yīnwèi-clause carries the focus of the sentence. If that is the case, then the yīnwèi-clause is more likely to be placed in ‘F’ position. As far as the position of a subordinate clause in a sentence is concerned, Xie (1990: 86–87) argues that ‘the subordinate clause final position and its common use in Modern Standard Chinese is largely because of the influence of Western languages on Chinese since the May Fourth Movement.’ He also explains that ‘this variation of clause order is often used to highlight the main clause, although this usage seldom occurs in classical Chinese.’ Based on the above analysis of the yīnwèi-clause, we can propose a few assumptions. Firstly, under the transfer effect of the Chinese yīnwèiclause, it is likely that speakers of CE will place the because-clause in the ‘F’ position, if it carries the focus of the sentence. Secondly, if the becauseclause carries the focus of the sentence, then it is more likely to be the modified clause, even though it is the subordinate clause. In other words, the subordinate clause is not necessarily identified with the modifying clause. Thirdly, if we take the analysis of the although/though-, if-, and whenclauses, as well as the because-clause in CE into consideration, we can draw the conclusion that CE speakers tend to follow the modifying–modified information sequence, although at the surface level, the position of the because-clause seems to provide contrary evidence.

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The SD data analysis for syntactic features of CE The SD data displays the fewest syntactic features of CE, as short stories are in a genre that is different from the ID and the ND data. They are full of narration, description, and dialogue. However, the dialogues in the SD data display a number of syntactic features of CE. These features include the use of imperatives and tag variation strategy.

The use of imperatives In the SD data, one of the identifiable features is the use of imperatives. Imperative sentences, as shown in the SD data, are used in various social contexts by people in different relationships. Example 5.21 1

His mother, Jian, put in, ‘Yaning, be patient. Tell her to just wait a few months. When your father becomes the vice director, he’ll ask for a new apartment. They’ll give us one for sure.’ (SD-1)

2

‘Where’s your mother?’ asked Guhan.



‘She’s at Uncle’s,’ his son answered, then turned to Meili. ‘Go tell her Dad is back.’ (SD-2)

3

The man on the phone said they’d detained a worker of ours, named Huang Baowen. He wouldn’t tell me what had happened. He just said, ‘Indecent activity. Come as soon as you can.’ (SD-6)

4

‘Oh, don’t give me this, please.’



‘You don’t smoke?’



‘I do. Tell you what, give it to Dr. Mai. He’ll help Baowen more.’ (SD-6)

5

This time Mrs. Pan said (to the match-maker), ‘Tell Liu Feng to stop thinking of my daughter. He isn’t worthy. He’s the rooster that dreams of nesting with a swan.’ (SD-7)

6

Finally one of them asked me, ‘What do you want?’



‘Let’s see—what’s the best stuff you have here?’ I said.



‘Just tell me what you want.’



‘What’s you most expensive cake?’



The other woman muttered, ‘As if he could afford it.’ (SD-7)

Syntactic features of Chinese English

7

‘Want some tea?’ Jiang Bing asked Nimei.



‘Yes.’ She was lying on her bed with both hands under her neck. The room still smelled musty, though the windows had been open since she came home two hours ago. (SD-8)

8

‘You can probably use some half-baked bricks. Much cheaper, you know—just four fen apiece.’



‘Wonderful. Ask him to get me five hundred of those.’ (SD-8)

9

‘Trust me,’ she told him (her husband). ‘Go buy a carp. Stew it tomorrow afternoon and take it to my office. It’s for yourself, not for me.’ (SD-8)

10 Nimei (the head nurse) said, ‘Be careful, Director Liao. Don’t eat the head or suck the bones, and don’t eat too much for the time being. Your stomach needs time to recover.’ (SD-8) 11 She turned to the soldiers. ‘Tell your leader we thank him.’ (SD-8) 12 By the company’s regulations I was supposed to give her two drumsticks, two thighs, two wings, and two breasts. She said to me, ‘Be a good man, Hongwen. Give me more meat.’ Somehow I couldn’t resist her charming smile, so I yielded to her request. (SD-12) 13 He turned to the spectators. ‘Comrades, I’m a true victim of this capitalist Cowboy Chicken. See how skinny I am.’

‘Like a starved cock,’ I said. People laughed.



‘Stop blustering,’ Peter said to him. ‘Show us your medical records.’ (SD-12)

Example 5.21 shows that imperative sentences are used by a mother talking with her son at a home dinner, as in 5.21(1); between spouses, as in 5.21(2), (7), and (9); by a mother talking with her daughter’s match-maker, as in 5.21(5); by a doctor talking with her patient (note that the patient is not an ordinary patient, but an official of powerful influence), as in 5.21(10); between colleagues or friends, as in 5.21(8) and (12); and even between new acquaintances, as in 5.21(3), (4), (6), (11), and (13). In Chinese, imperatives (or sometimes with a subject nĭ, ‘you,’ or nĭmen,‘the plural you’) are often used to express a command or a request. For example, (1) màn-man-de (slowly) kāi (drive) — Drive slowly!; (2) nĭ (you) zuò (sit) zhèli (here) — Sit here!; (3) nĭmen (you:PL) kuài (fast) qù (go sleep) shuìjiào (sleep) — Go to bed quickly (all of you)! (Li & Thompson, 1981: 452).

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Although imperatives in Chinese as shown in the above examples do not sound as abrupt and impolite as their English translations, they do have the illocutionary force of a command or a request. In addition, the use of imperatives can also indicate social distance or closeness, a pragmatic feature of CE that will be discussed in chapter 6. Imperatives in Chinese can occur with such softening elements as qĭng ‘invite‘ or ‘please,’ láojià ‘excuse me,’ or máfan ‘to trouble,’ and the sentence-final particle ba (Li & Thompson, 1981: 461). For example, (1) qĭng (please) shàng (ascend) zuò (seat) — Please take your seat; (2) láojià (please) nĭ (you) bă (BA) zhèi (this) fu (CL) huà (painting) guà (hang) zài (at) wòfáng (bedroom) lĭ (in) — Please hang this painting in the bedroom; (3) máfan (please) nĭ (you) lái (come) chá (tea) — Please bring tea; (4) nĭ (you) shuìjiào (sleep) ba (SA: Solicit Agreement) — Go to bed, OK? (pp. 453 and 461). It can be noticed that in Li and Thompson’s examples (1)–(4) above, the way to soften the imperatives is to add a word at the sentence initial position, or to add a sentence-final particle ba. The imperatives themselves remain unchanged in form. However, in English, according to Quirk et al. (1985: 832), ‘requests are often expressed by questions and statements, e.g.: Will you shut the door, please?, Would you mind shutting the door?, Could you shut the door for me?, I wonder whether you would mind shutting the door,’ although such words as please and kindly may also be ‘added to imperative sentences with the illocutionary force of a request to convey greater overt politeness: Please eat up your dinner; Kindly move to the next seat.’ Native English speakers tend not to use imperatives but ‘whimperatives’ as they respect the autonomy of the listener. Drawing on the above analysis, I assume that CE speakers tend to use imperatives (with or without softening elements) to express commands or requests; while native English speakers may prefer the use of questions and statements that convey indirect commands or requests in comparable contexts. If this assumption holds true, it can be anticipated that the use of imperatives as commands or requests is a syntactic feature of CE.

Tag variation strategy Another identifiable feature in the SD data is the tag variation strategy. A tag is usually a short syntactic structure added to the end of a statement,

Syntactic features of Chinese English

and thus turns it into a question, termed as a tag question. In Chinese, a tag is normally a short ‘A-not-A question form of certain verbs.’ Tag questions in Chinese serve functionally ‘to seek confirmation of the statement that occurs before the tag’ (Li & Thompson, 1981: 546). For example, (1) nĭmen (you:PL) shi (be) jiŭ (nine) diănzhōng (o’clock) kāi (open) mén (door) de (NOM), duì (right) bu (not) duì (right)? — You opened at nine o’clock, right? (2) wŏmen (we) qù (go) chī (eat) shuǐguǒ (fruit), hăo (good) bu (not) hăo (good)? — Let’s go eat some fruit, OK? (3) gāi (be:one’s:turn) nǐ (you) kāi (drive) chē (vehicle), xíng (OK) bu (not) xíng (OK)? — It’s your turn to drive, OK? (4) tā (3sg) zài (DUR) gēng (plow) tián (field), shì (be) bu (not) shì (be)? — S/He is plowing the field, right? (p. 546). In English, however, tags are somewhat different from those in Chinese in terms of the complexity of their structures and functions. Some of the ‘general rules’ for tags in English described by Quirk et al. (1985: 810) include: (1) the tag question consists of operator and subject in that order; (2) the operator is generally the same as the operator of the preceding statement; (3) the subject of the tag must be a pronoun which either repeats, or is in coreference with, the subject of the statement, agreeing with it in number, person, and gender; and (4) if the statement is positive, the tag is generally negative, and vice versa. For example, (1) The boat hasn’t left, has it? (2) Joan recognized you, didn’t she? (p. 810). Quirk et al. (1985: 814) have also described ‘invariant’ tags that occur in English as having ‘the same form whether the statement is positive or negative.’ For example, (1) They forgot (didn’t forget) to attend the lecture, am I right?/isn’t that so?/don’t you think?/wouldn’t you say? (2) She passed the exam, right? (3) She didn’t pass the exam, eh? /ei/ . According to Quirk et al., tags in English are generally used to invite the listener’s response to them, be it verification or confirmation. Cheng and Warren (2001: 1436) conducted a corpus-based intercultural communication study comparing the syntactic form and pragmatic use of tags by non-native speakers (Hong Kong Chinese) and native speakers of English. They came to the conclusion that Hong Kong Chinese use tag questions when communicating in English ‘much less frequently’ compared with native speakers of English; and that the syntactic realization of English tag questions by Hong Kong Chinese tends to be ‘the use of

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invariant forms of tag questions, namely, isn’t it and is it.’ In addition, they attributed these features to L1 (Cantonese) transfer. In my CE research on tag questions in the SD data, I have also observed the infrequent use of tag questions. One possible reason is that, although the dialogues in the SD data were written in English, they occur in Chinese communicative settings as the short stories in the SD data are all stories about Chinese in China. Infrequent as they are, the tag questions in the SD data display a feature of CE. Example 5.22 1

‘Boys and girls, you’ll eat sautéed purslanes this evening. It tastes great, different from anything you’ve ever had. Tell me, do you all want to have purslanes for dinner or not?’



‘Yes! We do,’ a few voices cried. (SD-3)

2

He said, ‘You must be nice to me from now on. Remember to save lots of goodies for me, got it?’



She nodded without looking at him. (SD-3)

3

‘We’re going to gather more purslanes this afternoon. Aunt Chef couldn’t cook those we got yesterday because we turned them in too late, but she’ll cook them for us today. So everybody must be a good child and work hard. Understood?’ (SD-3)

4

‘When did you see him last?’



‘At dinner yesterday evening. He said he was going to see somebody. He has lots of buddies in town.’



‘Is that so?’ (SD-6)

5

‘But the marriage is a fake! You lied to your mother too, didn’t you?’



‘She wanted me to marry.’ (SD-6)

6

‘He just wanted to have a good time. That was all. It’s nothing like adultery or bigamy, is it?’



‘But it’s a crime that got him put in jail,’ I said. (SD-6)

7

‘Look,’ he said, ‘that girl works on the train. As long as the iron wheels move in our country, she’ll have her rice bowl.’



‘So I’m a bad match, eh?’ I asked.



He nodded and we said no more. (SD-7)

Syntactic features of Chinese English

8

With a false smile Jinglin said to him, ‘Uncle, we’re one family and shouldn’t be so mean to each other. Let’s find a quiet place to talk this out, all right? We can’t negotiate in front of such a crowd.’ (SD-12)

As shown by examples 5.22(1)–(8), the tag variation strategy comes in three variations. Variation one is the use of an A-not-A question. For example, in 5.22(1), the kindergarten teacher asked the kids for confirmation as to whether they all wanted to have purslanes for dinner. The teacher uses an A-not-A question, that is, do you all want to have purslanes for dinner or not? This type of variation is likely to be the result of transfer from Chinese, because the structure of A-not-A is primarily the format for a Chinese tag question. Variation two is the use of a variety of invariant tags. For example, in examples 5.22(2), (3), (4), (7), and (8), tags such as got it?, understood?, Is that so?, eh?, and all right? are used. Here, got it? in 5.22(2) is meant to be a threat when a boy was bullying a girl, asking her to save lots of ‘goodies’ for him. Understood? in 5.22(3) is meant to solicit agreement by the kindergarten teacher from the children. Is that so? in 5.22(4) is a response of the second speaker to the statement of the first speaker. Instead of using an operator-subject tag, that is, Has he? or Does he? in this particular case, the second speaker used an invariant tag question, Is that so? In 5.22(7), an invariant tag, eh?, is used to verify the speaker’s statement So I’m a bad match. In addition, in 5.22(8), another invariant tag, all right?, is used to solicit agreement by the speaker, suggesting both the speaker and the listener find a quiet place to talk this out. Variation three does not lie in the tag itself, but the response to a tag question. Both examples 5.22(5) and (6) contain an operator-subject tag, i.e., didn’t you? and is it? However, what makes the two examples unique is the response to the tag question. Instead of providing a direct yes–no response, the second speakers in examples 5.22(5) and (6) simply elaborated on their own responses, overlooking the first speakers’ intention of seeking verification or confirmation of their statements. In summary, the SD data displays only a limited number of syntactic features that are unique to CE, because it seems that the narrative and descriptive genre of the short story conforms largely to the syntactic

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conventions of native varieties of English. However, the dialogues in the SD data do display a number of identifiable syntactic features of CE, among which the use of imperatives and the tag variation strategy are outstanding. With regard to the SD data, analyses of its lexis, discourse, and pragmatics show more clearly CE features.

Conclusions In this chapter, I have identified and analysed the syntactic features of CE in the ID, ND, and SD data. I first defined ‘syntactic features,’ which are mainly concerned with syntactic inter-variety differences. I then discussed the motivations behind the syntactic features, including preference, innovation, and transfer. My major assumption is that the contact of Chinese with English and the syntax of Chinese lead to most of the CE syntactic features but from different motivations. The ID data has revealed more syntactic features than the ND and SD data. This is most likely because the ID data is spoken data, while the ND and SD data are written data. The syntactic features in the ID data include adjacent default tense (ADT), null-subject/object utterances (NS/O), co-occurrence of connective pairs (CCP), subject pronoun copying (SPC), yes–no response (Y/NR), topic–comment (TC), unmarked OSV (OSV), and inversion in subordinate finite wh-clauses (ISC). The syntactic features in the ND data include nominalization, multiplecoordinate construction, and modifying–modified sequencing. The syntactic features in the SD data include the use of imperatives and tag variation strategy. A full list of these features is provided in appendix 4.

6

Discourse and pragmatic features of Chinese English

In this chapter, I will identify discourse and pragmatic features of CE through an analysis of the ID, ND, and SD data. In particular, I will investigate CE speakers’ and writers’ discourse and pragmatic strategies when they communicate in English. I will first set up a framework for analysing CE discourse and pragmatic features of CE. I will then separately describe and analyse the ID, ND, and SD data, and draw a number of conclusions about the discourse and pragmatic features of CE.

Framework for analysing discourse and pragmatic features of CE In chapters 4 and 5, I analysed the lexical and syntactic features of CE. The discourse and pragmatic features of CE are of equal if not greater importance. Kirkpatrick (2000a: 86) claims that ‘cultural expectations’ about how texts are spoken or written are as important as vocabulary and grammar. In this chapter, I will describe and analyse the ID, ND, and SD data in the light of cultural expectations. This dimension of research is largely in line with discourse analysis and cross-cultural pragmatics. According to Yule (1996a: 83–88), ‘discourse analysis focuses on the record (spoken or written) of the process by which language is used in some context to express intention,’ whereas ‘cross-cultural pragmatics’ is ‘a broad area of investigation’ that covers ‘the study of differences in expectations based on cultural schemata.’ Speakers of CE who have been taught an ‘Anglo’ model, by definition, possess competing sets of discourse and pragmatic knowledge of both Chinese and English. When communicating with other speakers in English, they transfer not only lexical and syntactic features from Chinese into English, as discussed in chapters 4 and 5, but also discourse and pragmatic

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features. Liu (1995: 255), using a Chomskyan metaphor, proposes that the ‘observable transfer of speech patterns’ is ‘surface-structure’ transfer, whereas ‘the transfer of deeper sociocultural values and beliefs’ is ‘deepstructure’ transfer. Another Chinese scholar, He (1994: 16–17), argues that: foreign language users have their own pragmatic principles associated with the communication in their mother tongue. These principles, if adopted in the communication in the foreign language, are likely to cause pragmatic breakdowns in either pragmalinguistic or sociopragmatic terms. However, cognitively speaking, the mother tongue pragmatic principles are always playing a dominant role in the foreign language communication.

Following Liu and He, I will investigate whether deep-structure transfers characterize or are reflected in the discourse and pragmatic features of CE. I will first explain what I mean by discourse and discourse features of CE, and pragmatics and pragmatic features of CE.

Discourse and discourse features of CE For the functional purpose of identifying discourse features of CE, I define the term ‘discourse’ as an instance of extended language use in the ID, ND, and SD data. A discourse is taken in this context as being concerned with the way English is used by speakers of CE, rather than what its lexis or syntactic structures are. There are a number of factors that motivate discourse variations across cultures. However, in this book, I intend to investigate the discourse features of CE in terms of cohesion, coherence, and schema.

Cohesion Yule (1996b: 139) claims that ‘we, as language users, make sense of what we read in texts, understand what speakers mean despite what they say, recognize connected as opposed to jumbled or incoherent discourse, and successfully take part in that complex activity called conversation.’ To carry out these activities, we intuitively assess whether a text, either written or spoken, is well composed in terms of cohesion, by means of identifying the use of pronouns, lexical connections, or discourse connectors such as

Discourse and pragmatic features of Chinese English

however, consequently, or last but not least. Yule (p. 141) points out that ‘the conventions of cohesive structure differ from one language to the next.’ Take the following discourse from ND-7 for example (the discourse is arranged in the form of numbered paragraphs). Example 6.1 1

To a country where farmers make up more than half of the population, rural prosperity and the well-being of farmers carries prominent weight in China's overall development blueprint.

2

It is easy to understand that good work in the three agriculture-related issues—the countryside, farmers and farming—represents a shared will of the Party, government and people.

3

A just concluded two-day rural work conference has ushered in a new development stage for work in the three issues.

4 Although a routine meeting as it is customary for the country’s top decision-makers to unveil their strategies for rural China at the beginning of each year, the conference, jointly sponsored by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and State Council, can still be regarded as special this year. 5

Not only because it symbolizes the first mark made by the Party’s new generation of leadership on rural policy, but because the country is now bracing for an unprecedented mission—the realization of a xiaokang society, or a moderately affluent life for all.

Example 6.1 is a part of a cohesive CE newspaper article. The pronoun it in paragraph 5, ‘Not only because it symbolizes the first mark …,’ refers to the ‘just concluded two-day rural work conference’ in paragraph 3. Lexical coreferents include ‘a country where farmers make up more than half of the population–China–the country,’ ‘farmers–rural–agriculture–countryside,’ ‘a just concluded two-day rural work conference–a routine meeting–the conference,’ ‘the Party–government–the country’s top decision-makers–the Central Committee of the Communist party of China (CPC)–State Council– the Party’s new generation of leadership,’ and ‘China’s overall development blueprint–an unprecedented mission–the realization of a xiaokang society–a moderately affluent life for all.’ Discourse connectors in the example include although, not only because, and but because.

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In addition, what makes example 6.1 look cohesive to a Chinese is that it follows a traditional Chinese text structure, namely, qĭ-chéng-zhuănhé (beginning–continuing–transition–summary). Kirkpatrick (1997: 229) quotes the Dictionary of Chinese Rhetoric defining qĭ-chéng-zhuăn-hé as ‘a common logical belles-lettres structure and sequence.’ Qĭ is the opening or beginning, chéng continues or joins the opening to the next stage, zhuăn is the transition or turning point, and hé is the summary or conclusion. In example 6.1, paragraph 1 serves as the opening, bringing up the topic of ‘rural prosperity and the well-being of farmers.’ Paragraph 2 serves as the transition, joining the topic to the next stage by mentioning that ‘good work in the three agriculture-related issues’ represents ‘a shared will of the Party, government and people.’ Paragraphs 3 and 4 and most of paragraph 5 serve as the transition or turning point, claiming that the ‘just concluded two-day rural work conference’ is ‘special.’ The last part of paragraph 5 serves as the conclusion by saying that ‘the country is now bracing for an unprecedented mission,’ which well reflects the ‘overall development blueprint’ in the opening paragraph.

Coherence The second factor that helps us to distinguish texts that make sense from those that do not is coherence. The key to coherence, according to Yule (1996b: 141) ‘is not something which exists in the language, but something which exists in people. It is people who make sense of what they read and hear. They try to arrive at an interpretation which is in line with their experience of the way the world is.’ Since speakers of CE and native speakers of English vary in their linguistic and cultural experiences, what seems to be coherent to speakers of CE may not necessarily be interpreted as being so by native speakers of English, and vice versa. Take the following discourse from SD-11 for example. Example 6.2 … when Jinli stood at their doorstep one evening and begged them to allow her to say a word to Dandan, her mother-in-law refused to let her in, saying, ‘She doesn’t want to see you. She has no such mother as you. Get away with your penciled eyes.’ …

Discourse and pragmatic features of Chinese English

‘When—when will she come home?’ Jinli asked. ‘This is her home,’ said Chigan’s mother. ‘Please, let me have a look at her.’ Tears were gathering in her eyes, but she tried suppressing them. ‘No. She doesn’t want to be disturbed by you.’ ‘Mother, forgive me just this once, please!’ ‘Don’t call me that. You’re not my daughter-in-law anymore.’ The door was shut.

In SD-11, Jinli left her hometown Muji City in China for New York of ‘the Beautiful Land,’ leaving her daughter and husband behind. Her parentsin-law, both being high-ranking officials in Muji City Administration, lost face because of the ‘heartless woman.’ So, when Jinli came back to Muji City four years later, wanting to see her daughter, who was staying with her grandparents, Jinli’s parents-in-law, they refused to let Jinli see her daughter. In example 6.2, there are places which may appear incoherent to a non-Chinese reader. For example, ‘This is her home’ does not seem to cohere with ‘when will she come home?’ and ‘Mother, forgive me just this once, please!’ does not superficially cohere with ‘Don’t call me that. You’re not my daughter-in-law anymore’ either. However, the deep-rooted Chinese cultural values on what distinguishes a good mother from a ‘heartless woman’ ensure that CE readers will figure out intuitively the coherence in the spoken discourse. To Jinli, her daughter’s ‘home’ is apparently her and her husband’s home, rather than her parents-in-law’s home. However, since Jinli left home for America, and left responsibility for her daughter to her parents-in-law, her parents-in-law took it for granted that Jinli’s daughter belonged to them, and therefore provided a ‘home’ for her. In the second instance, for the same reason as in the first instance, Jinli’s mother-in-law felt offended when Jinli addressed her as ‘mother.’ She therefore did not respond to Jinli’s plea as to ‘forgive’ her ‘just this once, please.’ Instead, she replied, ‘Don’t call me that. You’re not my daughter-in-law anymore.’

Schema The third discourse feature that I will consider is schema. Carrell and Eisterhold (1988: 76) point out that a text or a discourse only ‘provides directions for listeners or readers as to how they should retrieve or

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construct meaning from their own, previously acquired knowledge.’ They interpret this ‘previously acquired knowledge’ as ‘background knowledge,’ and the ‘previously acquired knowledge structures’ as ‘schemata.’ They also suggest (p. 79) a distinction between ‘formal schemata (background knowledge of the formal, rhetorical organizational structures of different types of texts),’ and ‘content schemata (background knowledge of the content area of a text).’ Schemata are generally used in the interpretation of what we experience and what we hear or read. Some schemata are culturally specific and are therefore unique to people from a certain cultural background. Take the following spoken discourse from ID-2 for example. Example 6.3 R: What about inside your dormitory? U3: Inside? They’re different. In my dormitory, I think it’s a little mess. Lots of polluted air. And we … we’re a little lazy. We don’t want to clean our room. I … we feed a cat. R: Oh, really? U3: Yes. It’s very dirty I think. It’s not very clean. So my … my dormitory isn’t very clean. So many waste papers, but we have to make it clean every week. Once a week. R: How many people are there in the dormitory? U3: A big room has three. A house has three rooms. In the big house, there are ten people. In the small room there are three. In my room there are four …

The discourse in example 6.3 starts with the author’s question about the ‘inside’ of the student’s dormitory, because the student has just commented on how beautiful the surroundings of the dormitory building are. Then the student says it’s ‘different’ with ‘a little mess,’ ‘lots of polluted air,’ because they are ‘a little lazy.’ Until now in the discourse, the pronoun shift from ‘In my dormitory’ to ‘And we … we’re a little lazy’ indicates that the student is sharing the dormitory room with others. In China, the sharing of dormitory rooms by university students is the conventional knowledge structure (schema). University students seldom have single bedrooms. The discourse in example 6.3 then proceeds with the student saying that they (referring to himself and his other dormmates) feed a cat. This goes greatly

Discourse and pragmatic features of Chinese English

against the author’s schema, because for the author it is rare for university students to keep a cat in their dorm room. So, the author’s response is one of surprise ‘Oh, really?’ Later the student explained that it was a lost cat, and they simply took pity on it and brought it back to their dormitory room. At the end of the discourse, the author’s question about how many people there are in the student’s dormitory once again conforms to the schema that Chinese university students share dormitory rooms. A further example is provided by the following discourse on a typical Chinese way of cooking fish, from SD-8. Example 6.4 Having scaled and gutted it, he rinsed it twice with clean water. He heated half a wok of vegetable oil on a kerosene stove and put in the fish to fry for a few minutes. … The deep-frying had gotten rid of the fish’s earthy smell. Next he boiled it in plain water. As the pot was bubbling, he sliced a chunk of peeled ginger, diced a thick scallion, crushed four large cloves of garlic, poured half a cup of cooking wine, and took out the sugar jar and the sesame oil bottle. … Not until the broth turned milky did he put in the spices and the vegetables, all at once. After adding a touch of salt and a spoon of sesame oil, he turned off the fire, ladled up a bit of the soup, and tasted it. ‘Yummy,’ he said and smacked his thin lips.

The discourse in example 6.4 conforms to a Chinese schema of cooking fish, including ‘the deep-frying,’ ‘boiled it in plain water,’ the use of ‘ginger,’ ‘scallion,’ ‘garlic,’ ‘cooking wine,’ ‘sugar,’ ‘vegetables,’ ‘a touch of salt,’ and ‘sesame oil’ after ‘the broth turned milky.’

Pragmatics and pragmatic features of CE Yule (1996a: 3) defines pragmatics as ‘the study of the relationships between linguistic forms and the users of those forms.’ He claims that pragmatics is concerned with four areas, including (1) the study of speaker meaning: this has more to do with the analysis of what people mean by their utterances than what the words or phrases in those utterances might mean by themselves; (2) the study of contextual meaning: this involves the interpretation of what people mean in a particular context and how the context influences what is said; (3) the study of how more gets

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communicated than is said: this explores how a great deal of what is unsaid is recognized as part of what is communicated; and (4) the study of the expression of relative distance: on the assumption of how close or distant the listener is, speakers determine how much needs to be said. Based on Yule’s interpretation of pragmatics, my primary concern in this section is the relationship between CE and CE speakers. I intend to investigate the pragmatic features of CE by analysing the ID, ND, and SD data for any sociopragmatic encodings that reflect the underlying Chinese cultural values and pragmatic preferences of CE speakers. I will look into face and politeness phenomena and the role of hierarchy in Chinese society, together with the guanxi network and its associated practices, and how these notions and practices are implemented in CE through speech acts and implicatures.

Politeness, face, and hierarchy Politeness is ‘a major concern in pragmatics,’ according to Kasper (1990: 193), as linguistic and other forms of politeness determine social appreciation. The most approximate equivalent in Chinese to ‘politeness’ is lĭmào. The Chinese character lĭ originally had the religious meaning of ‘sacrifice,’ from which the present meaning of ‘present/gift’ or ‘protocol/ ceremony’ derives. The modern interpretation of lĭ has moved from the Confucian rites and rituals to propriety and politeness. The Chinese character mào literally means ‘face’ or ‘appearance.’ It is related to two separate but related concepts in Chinese social relations, namely, liăn and miàn (or miànzi). Liăn is commonly associated with a person’s physical face, or moral character, while miànzi represents social perceptions of a person’s prestige. It is important for anyone in the Chinese society to maintain face in both of its senses, because face often translates into either personal moral quality, or power and authority. A loss of liăn may result in a loss of trust within a social network, while a loss of miànzi may result in a loss of authority. According to Gu (1990: 239), ‘there are basically four notions underlying the Chinese conception of lĭmào: respectfulness, modesty, attitudinal warmth, and refinement.’

Discourse and pragmatic features of Chinese English

‘Respectfulness’ is self’s positive appreciation or admiration of other concerning the latter’s face, social status, and so on. ‘Modesty’ can be seen as another way of saying ‘self-denigration’. ‘Attitudinal warmth’ is self’s demonstration of kindness, consideration, and hospitality to other. Finally, ‘refinement’ refers to self’s behavior to other which meets certain standards. (p. 239)

With regards to the politeness principle, Gu (1990: 239) proposes that ‘denigrating the self and respecting the other remain at the core of the modern conception of lĭmào.’ Gu also emphasizes four politeness maxims, including (1) the self-denigration maxim: denigrate the self and elevate the other; (2) the address maxim: address your interlocutor with an appropriate address term; (3) the tact maxim (in impositives): minimize cost to the other and maximize the benefit received; and (4) the generosity maxim (in commissives): maximize the benefit to the other and minimize the cost to the self (pp. 245–249). What remains essential in the notion of lĭmào or ‘politeness’ and the four politeness maxims in Chinese society is the role of hierarchy, that is, to assign everyone their defined place in society and the behaviours appropriate to their position. Gu’s (1990) research on politeness phenomena in modern Chinese shows that the classical notion of lĭ formulated by Confucius (551–479 B.C.) refers to ‘the social hierarchy and order of the slavery system of the Zhou Dynasty (dating back to 1100 B.C.), which was regarded by Confucius as an ideal model of any society’ (p. 238). Nonetheless, the modern interpretation of lĭ as ‘politeness’ and the classical Chinese interpretation as ‘hierarchy’ cannot be separated. Gu’s research also shows that ‘it is lĭ (i.e. social hierarchy) that gives rise to lĭ (i.e. politeness),’ and that ‘it is lĭ (i.e. politeness) that expresses and helps maintain lĭ (i.e. social hierarchy and order)’ (p. 239). Therefore, politeness for Chinese speakers is primarily embedded in their communication of social hierarchy. This social hierarchy is also embodied in interpersonal relationships, as illustrated in the Analects of Confucius, in terms of ruler and subject, and father and son (Lau, 1979: 114), and the later interpretation of Confucius’ social hierarchy as the wŭlún (five relationships) ideology, i.e., ruler–subject, father–son, husband–wife, elder brother–younger brother, and friend–friend.

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Knowing that the notions of politeness, face, and hierarchy permeate the fabric of Chinese society, I hypothesize that it is likely for Chinese people to reflect these notions in their use of English. The extract below from SD-8 provides an example. Example 6.5 Director Liao was going to leave the hospital in two days. He was grateful to the couple and even said they had treated him better than his family. On Tuesday afternoon he had the head nurse called in. He said, ‘Nimei, I can’t thank you enough!’ ‘It’s my job. Please don’t mention it.’ ‘I’ve told the hospital’s leaders that they should elect you a model nurse this year. Is there anything I can do for you?’ ‘No, I don’t need anything,’ she said. ‘Jiang Bing and I are very happy that you’ve recovered so soon.’ ‘Ah yes, how about Young Jiang? Can I do something for him?’ She pretended to think for a minute. ‘Well, maybe. He’s worked in the same office for almost ten years. He may want a change. But don’t tell him I said this or he’ll be mad at me.’ ‘I won’t say a word. Do you think he wants to leave the hospital?’ ‘No, he likes it here. Just moving him to another office would be enough.’ ‘Is there a position open?’ ‘Yes, there are two—the Personnel and the Security sections haven’t had directors for months.’ ‘Good. I’m going to write a note to the hospital leaders. They’ll take my suggestion seriously. Tell Young Jiang I’ll miss his fish.’ They both laughed. Everything seemed to be going as Nimei had planned. Hsu Peng had written back and said he would be happy to come to her house for tea. She was certain Jiang Bing’s promotion would work out, because none of the hospital leaders would dare disobey Director Liao, whose department decided their promotions and demotions. If Jiang Bing became the chief of a section, he’d hold a rank equal to a vice regimental commander’s, which, although still several ranks lower than Hsu Peng’s, shouldn’t be too unpresentable. True, the promotion hadn’t materialized yet, but she could

Discourse and pragmatic features of Chinese English

be confident it was already in the works. In addition, her daughter had just been notified that a nursing school in Jilin City had admitted her. Nimei felt she could finally meet Hsu Peng without embarrassment. (SD-8)

Example 6.5 shows how politeness, face, and hierarchy are interrelated in Chinese society. Firstly, the relative hierarchy of people is seen as important. Out of the four figures mentioned in the example, Director Liao is the highest in the hierarchy; Nimei and Jiang Bing as a couple occupy a lower position; whereas Nimei’s ex-boyfriend, Hsu Peng, holds an intermediate position between them and Director Liao, because ‘if Jiang Bing became the chief of a section, he’d hold a rank equal to a vice regimental commander’s, which … [is] still several ranks lower than Hsu Peng’s.’ What is also worth noticing in this example is that the Chinese military ranking system, for example ‘a rank equal to a vice regimental commander’s,’ is used as a yardstick for measuring one’s civil position in the social hierarchy. Figure 6.1 shows the hierarchy. High

Director Liao Hsu Peng Nimei and Jiang Bing

Low

Figure 6.1 Social hierarchy among Director Liao, Hsu Peng, and Nimei and Jiang Bing

Secondly, people of different hierarchical positions in example 6.5 address each other differently. Elsewhere in SD-8, both Nimei and Jiang Bing address Director Liao with a governmental title plus surname, i.e., ‘Director Liao.’ In contrast, the couple address each other by given or full names, such as Nimei and Jiang Bing. However, Director Liao addresses Nimei as Nimei and Jiang Bing as Young Jiang. This supports Gu’s interpretation of the address maxim, that ‘the inferior tends to choose those address terms which are more formal (a means of showing respect), whereas the superior favours those terms which are informal and which boost solidarity’ (1990: 251).

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Thirdly, Nimei and Jiang Bing’s politeness to Director Liao involves not only the four notions underlying Gu’s interpretation of lĭmào, namely, respectfulness, modesty, attitudinal warmth, and refinement, but also the notions of present/gift, sacrifice, and observance of social hierarchy as analysed earlier in this section. Because of Nimei and Jiang Bing’s politeness, Director Liao gives a tremendous amount of face to them, who are hierarchically lower than he is. He has told the hospital’s leaders that they should elect Nimei as a model nurse that year. In addition, having worked out that Nimei wants her husband Jiang Bing to have a promotion, Director Liao promises that he is going to ‘write a note to the hospital leaders.’ Such a promise elevates both Director Liao himself and the couple. Hence everybody’s face is enhanced. .

Fourthly, since Nimei’s ex-boyfriend Hsu Peng is higher in the hierarchy than her husband, she felt it would be a loss of face to have him ‘come to her house for tea,’ even if the meeting was initiated by Hsu Peng. However, as she had nearly organized her husband’s promotion and they had received news that ‘her daughter had just been notified that a nursing school in Jilin City had admitted her’ (if a child is admitted to a college, especially in a provincial capital city, like Jilin in northeast China, the parents are sure to gain face), Nimei felt ‘she could finally meet Hsu Peng without embarrassment,’ meaning she would not lose much face. Fifthly, based on the tact maxim and generosity maxim, Nimei and Director Liao can be polite to each other. On the one hand, Nimei minimizes cost to self at the conversational level by saying ‘It’s my job. Please don’t mention it’ when Director Liao thanks her for the fish that has taken her husband a substantial amount of money and time to buy and cook. In addition, Nimei also minimizes cost to others at the motivational level by saying ‘No, I don’t need anything’ in response to Director Liao’s offer ‘Is there anything I can do for you?’ On the other hand, Director Liao also minimizes cost to self by saying ‘I’ve told the hospital’s leaders that …’ and ‘I’m going to write a note to the hospital leaders,’ which, although seemingly easy, are going to involve a significant amount of power negotiations, because promoting someone to director of the Personnel or the Security sections in an organization in China is not as easy as simply telling the leaders what to do, or simply writing a note.

Discourse and pragmatic features of Chinese English

Last but not least, Nimei is also polite to her husband in an indirect way by denigrating herself in relation to him. After she has indicated to Director Liao her wish for her husband’s promotion, she adds that ‘But don’t tell him I said this or he’ll be mad at me.’ By so doing, Nimei has elevated her husband by assuming that her husband has been willing to cook for Director Liao without any pragmatic goals in mind. The underlying idea of exchanging favours thus looks as if it were hers alone. In addition, by saying ‘he’ll be mad at me,’ Nimei puts herself again in a lower position in relation to her husband.

Social distance and closeness: A dynamic guanxi network Conlan (1996: 730) argues that ‘the twin concepts of Social Power and Social Distance’ are ‘central to the phenomenon of linguistic politeness.’ Social power is the underlying construct for social hierarchy. It is the power differential among people that manifests face and politeness phenomena in a society. Likewise, social distance and social closeness are also associated with face, politeness, and hierarchy in a society. One term that better captures the concept of social distance and closeness in Chinese society is the notion and practice of guanxi. The term guanxi literally means ‘relationship.’ It generally refers to how people in a society relate with one another. Gu (2002: 278–279) illustrates the ‘repertoire of guanxi’: On the basis of degree of social prescription, and degree of personal involvement, interpersonal relations fall into four general categories. The first is organizational role relation, being official, supposedly impersonal, and prescribed by role and role-related regulations. The second is community relation, being semi-official or unofficial, impersonal to a much lesser degree than the first, prescribed by community consensus. The third is friendship group relation, being unofficial, personal, bound by good will and mutual appreciation. The fourth is kinship relation, being personal, intimate in comparison with the other three, and bound by blood connection or marriage.

Resembling Kachru’s model of three circles, figure 6.2 illustrates Gu’s repertoire of guanxi, and extends it further to include ‘strangers.’

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Strangers

Friends and acquaintances

Members of family or extended family

Figure 6.2 The inner, outer, and expanding circles of guanxi

The inner circle of guanxi comprises members of one’s family or extended family, corresponding to the fourth category of Gu’s repertoire of guanxi. This circle is characterized by the ‘insider-ness’ of guanxi, or as a proverb goes, ‘qīn bù qīn, yìjiā rén. Wàirén jiūjìng shì wàirén’ (Being close or not depends on whether it is a family. Outsiders are outsiders). The outer circle of guanxi comprises one’s friends and acquaintances, and it corresponds to Gu’s third, second, and first categories. This circle is characterized by the ‘commonness’ or ‘together-ness’ of guanxi. The Chinese character tóng is generally used to describe people with this type of guanxi. For example, tóngxué (classmates), tóngshì (colleagues), tóngbàn (companions). People in this circle normally tend to develop closeness or friendship. The Chinese proverb ‘yìgēn líba sānge zhāng, yígè hăohàn sānge bāng’ (A fence needs the support of three stumps, and a tough guy needs the help of three friends) captures the guanxi relationship in this circle. The expanding circle of guanxi comprises strangers, where one-off guanxi or no guanxi occurs, such as the guanxi with a taxi driver, a shop assistant, a waiter, or a policeman. In addition, guanxi has another pragmatic implication in Chinese society. The Chinese folk terms zhăo guānxi (seek relations), lā guānxi (pull

Discourse and pragmatic features of Chinese English

relations), and găo guānxi (manipulate relations) capture the widespread practice of making use of this type of pragmatic guanxi for personal or organizational gains. Such guanxi permeates the fabric of Chinese society, and it is an important notion in the minds of Chinese people. Interestingly, the term guanxi is also a synonym of ‘importance,’ ‘significance,’ or ‘things that matter.’ For example, méi guānxi (literally meaning ‘do not have relations’) in Chinese means ‘it doesn’t matter’; while yŏu guānxi (literally meaning ‘have relations’) in Chinese means ‘it is important or significant.’ The importance of guanxi in Chinese society fits well within Hofstede’s (1986) individualist versus collectivist cultural dimension, where in China, commonly classified as a collectivist culture, it is assumed that: any person through birth and possible later events belongs to one or more tight ‘in-groups,’ from which he/she cannot detach him/herself. The ‘ingroup’ (whether extended family, clan, or organization) protects the interest of its members, but in turn expects their permanent loyalty. (p. 307)

What is essential is that within guanxi, one is able to prevail upon another to perform a favour or service. Therefore, people involved in guanxi or a guanxi network are generally expected to exchange favours in terms of goaldirected interpersonal or inter-organizational strategic interactions. Although guanxi permeates the fabric of Chinese society, it does not mean that all types of interpersonal relationships fall into this pragmatic category of guanxi. For example, this pragmatic guanxi network is not generally used to describe relationships within a family, nor is it used to describe relationships which are commonly defined by bureaucratic norms, such as employer–employee or teacher–student relationships. One of the key distinctions is that a pragmatic guanxi network is primarily for the exchange of favours, and hence, it needs setting-up and nurturing, which, in most cases, can be demanding in terms of time and resources. Another distinction is that a pragmatic guanxi network is a dynamic notion. Some of the guanxi in a network can be one-off, while others can be long-lasting. As the society at large changes, the way people relate to one another varies in social distance and closeness.

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Example 6.5 also shows how Nimei, in collaboration with her husband Jiang Bing, manipulates the guanxi network with Director Liao, and with her ex-boyfriend. Firstly, Nimei is the head nurse, while Director Liao is her patient. This bureaucratically defined nurse–patient relationship is not of any apparent guanxi or significance. However, Director Liao is not just a patient, he is also a director ‘whose department decided their [the hospital leaders’] promotions and demotions.’ To Nimei, there is some sort of hidden pragmatic guanxi to explore. As SD-8 relates, Director Liao is ‘tired of the liquid stuff’—‘rice porridge and egg-drop soup’ served by the hospital canteen—so he asks the head nurse Nimei for ‘something else for a change,’ preferably ‘fish,’ thus rendering Nimei an opportunity to set up guanxi with Director Liao. Since what is in her mind is her husband’s promotion, she naturally wants her husband Jiang Bing to get involved in the guanxi. So she asks him to cook fish for Director Liao. Every morning from then on, Jiang Bing got up early and went to the riverside to buy fish. Sometimes he bought a silver carp, sometimes a pike, sometimes a catfish; once he got a two pound crucian, which he smoked. Each day he cooked the fish in a different way, and his dishes pleased the director greatly. Soon Jiang Bing ran out of money. When he told Nimei he had spent all their wages, she suggested he withdraw two hundred yuan from their savings account. He did, and day after day he continued to make the fancy dishes. (SD-8)

Later, as SD-8 continues: A few times Director Liao wanted to pay Nimei for the fish, but she refused to accept any money from him, saying, ‘It’s my job to take care of my patients.’ Gradually the director and Jiang Bing got to know each other. Every day after Liao finished dinner, Jiang would stay an hour or two, chatting with the leader, who unfailingly turned talkative after a good meal. (SD-8)

This shows how Jiang Bing gets ‘naturally’ involved in the guanxi with Director Liao. Although developing and nurturing the guanxi is expensive and demanding for Nimei and Jiang Bing, it is well worth the ‘investment.’

Discourse and pragmatic features of Chinese English

Secondly, in terms of social distance and closeness, what is culturally interesting in example 6.5 is Director Liao saying that the head nurse and her husband ‘had treated him better than his family.’ Considering the position Director Liao holds, it is obvious that his relation with Nimei and Jiang Bing is of a type similar to ruler–subject. However, by saying that Nimei and Jiang Bing are better than his family, Director Liao shortens the social distance to father–son. Later on, when Director Liao has made his promise in return of ‘favours,’ he asks Nimei to ‘Tell Young Jiang I’ll miss his fish.’ Such an utterance not only shortens their social distance, but also in a sense strengthens their social closeness, indicating their guanxi has developed well. Thirdly, the discourse of favour–exchange is apparent in example 6.5. It starts with Director Liao’s being ‘grateful to the couple.’ He then ‘had the head nurse called in’ to thank her. The head nurse is expected to decline his thanks. What follows is the favour–exchange proper. ‘I’ve told the hospital’s leaders that they should elect you a model nurse this year. Is there anything I can do for you?’ As the head nurse further declines his ‘favour,’ a bigger favour is offered by Director Liao: he promises to ‘write a note’ to promote Jiang Bing to director of either Personnel or Security. When the favour–exchange comes to an end, ‘They [Nimei and Director Liao] both laughed.’

Culturally specific speech acts and implicatures Utterances perform actions and these are known as speech acts. The concept of speech act is central to pragmatics. People do not simply produce utterances, and when they do so, they have some kinds of functions in mind. Therefore, speech acts are often given specific labels in English, such as apology, compliment, or request. These speech acts are to some extent culturally loaded because pragmatic norms and conventions in different cultures vary. For example, Trosborg’s (1987: 164) research on native speaker Danish ‘apology strategies’ reveals ‘a deviation from NS-E (native speakers of English) norms for a number of strategies.’ Kirkpatrick’s (1991: 198) research on letters of requests by Chinese also reveals that Chinese and English speakers vary in their request strategies. For Chinese, ‘the salutation, facework, reasons, the request itself, and the sign off are

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each an integral part of a letter of request and must be presented in that order for the request to be judged normal and polite.’ Implicature is referred to as ‘an additional conveyed meaning’ (Yule, 1996a: 35). It is another central concept in pragmatics, because pragmatics is, in part, the study of invisible meaning, or how people recognize what is meant even when it is not actually said or written. An implicature is often based on the shared assumptions and expectations of the speakers. The concept of shared assumptions and expectations is largely in line with Grice’s cooperative principle (1975: 45): ‘Make your conversational contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged.’ Under the cooperative principle, four categories can be distinguished, namely, ‘Quantity, Quality, Relation, and Manner,’ along with their respective ‘attendant maxims’ (pp. 45–46). When these maxims are violated, the hearer will draw a conclusion or pragmatic implication or implicature. For example, when Director Liao says in example 6.5 that ‘I’ve told the hospital’s leaders that they should elect you a model nurse this year. Is there anything I can do for you?’ Nimei’s reply, ‘No, I don’t need anything,’ seems both qualitatively and quantitatively adequate and relevant. However, Nimei has skilfully violated the maxim of quantity by adding that ‘Jiang Bing and I are very happy that you’ve recovered so soon.’ In addition, the marked order of ‘Jiang Bing and I’ rather than the unmarked Chinese order of ‘I and Jiang Bing’ violates the maxim of manner. Hence, implicatures occur. As a result, Director Liao responds with ‘Ah yes, how about Young Jiang? Can I do something for him?’ making further favour exchange possible. In addition to the implicatures, example 6.5 consists of a number of speech acts, including expressing gratitude, making and responding to a request, disguised as it is, of getting Jiang Bing promoted, and making a promise. The first speech act is expressing gratitude. Director Liao sincerely expresses his gratitude to Nimei and Jiang Bing, because while staying in the hospital, he has been ‘specially’ treated by the couple. So, when he is leaving the hospital, he says to the couple that they have treated him better than his family. In addition, he has Nimei called in, and says to her that

Discourse and pragmatic features of Chinese English

he cannot thank her enough. As a cultural norm, a Chinese under such a circumstance normally minimizes cost to self, for example, as when Nimei responds ‘It’s my job. Please don’t mention it.’ Therefore the discourse of expressing gratitude becomes: thanking (of the thanks-giver)—minimizing cost (of the thanks-recipient). The second speech act is making and responding to a request. As part of the favour exchange, Nimei’s request, despite being disguised, is to ask Director Liao to help and promote her husband Jiang Bing to director of the Personnel or Security sections of the hospital. The timing for making the request is important, because at the time the request is skilfully made, Director Liao is seeking an opportunity to thank Nimei and Jiang Bing for their ‘special’ treatment of him. In this context, the ‘special’ treatment is facework. When Director Liao asks Nimei what he can do for her husband Jiang Bing, she does not reveal the request proper, but she gives a reason to justify the request first: ‘He’s worked in the same office for almost ten years.’ She then adds that ‘He may want a change.’ Indirect and disguised as the ‘request’ is, Director Liao picks it up immediately: ‘Do you think he wants to leave the hospital?’ Nimei then further clarifies the request: ‘Just moving him to another office would be enough.’ Having fully picked up the request, Director Liao asks ‘Is there a position open?’ Nimei’s response fully discloses the request: she wants Director Liao to help promote her husband to director of either the Personnel section or Security section. The request in this case is not disclosed all at once, but in several stages. That is partly because the requester is hierarchically lower, and partly because the request is of significant benefit to the requester (or her husband). Upon Director Liao’s affirmative response to the request, ‘They both laughed,’ which serves as a sign-off of the whole request process. To sum up, a discourse of making and responding to a request can be: facework (which also serves to set up guanxi)—justification of request— request proper (stages one, two, three, …)—response to the request (which is affirmative in this case)—sign-off.

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The third speech act is making a promise. Having picked up Nimei’s request, Director Liao makes a promise: ‘I’m going to write a note to the hospital leaders. They’ll take my suggestion seriously. Tell Young Jiang I’ll miss his fish.’ The promise itself is to ‘write a note.’ To confirm the validity of the promise, Director Liao adds that ‘They’ll take my suggestion seriously.’ It goes without saying that it is true, because as far as power hierarchy is concerned, Director Liao is superior in relation to the hospital leaders, because his department ‘decided their promotions and demotions.’ Once the validity of the promise is confirmed, Director Liao further points out its justification: Young Jiang has been so nice to him, so he would be happy to do something in return. Therefore, a discourse of making a promise becomes: promise—validity of the promise—justification of the promise. In conclusion, the pragmatic features of CE centre around the deepstructure cultural values and pragmatic preferences of CE speakers. To understand CE and CE speakers, it is essential to have a basic understanding of how notions of politeness, face, and hierarchy work, and of how guanxi networks operate through culturally specific speech acts and implicatures of CE speakers.

Data analysis for discourse and pragmatic features of CE To analyse discourse and pragmatic features of CE, I will look again at the ID, ND, and SD data. Having analysed the data for lexical and syntactic features of CE, I anticipate that the data will also contain discourse and pragmatic features of CE. As analysed in the preceding section on the ‘Framework for analysing discourse and pragmatic features of CE,’ there are a number of discourse features of CE in terms of what constitutes a cohesive and coherent discourse in CE, and how Chinese schemata are incorporated into CE discourses. There are also pragmatic features of CE concerning pragmatic notions including politeness, face, hierarchy, and guanxi networks in Chinese society, and how these notions are sociopragmatically encoded in culturally specific speech acts and implicatures.

Discourse and pragmatic features of Chinese English

The ID data analysis for discourse and pragmatic features of CE Discourse plays an important part in communication. Li (2002: 560) stresses that ‘knowledge of the interlocutor’s discourse system, coupled with one’s readiness to accommodate to it, has a good potential to make the conversation flow more smoothly, in a way comparable to what oil or grease can do to a sluggish engine.’ As interviewer in the ID data, I share the discourse system and Chinese as a first language with the majority of the informants for the ID data. To accommodate the interests and concerns of the informants, I mainly focused on a number of discourses, including the informants’ ancestral hometown discourse, career choice discourse, and the discourse of their social values. In the following sections, I will focus on the ancestral hometown discourse, and explore how CE speakers cooperate when introducing or talking about their ancestral hometowns, and henceforth produce a cohesive and coherent spoken discourse with a Chinese ancestral hometown schema embedded in it. I will also focus on pragmatic features of the roles of parents and responding to compliments as displayed in the ID data.

Ancestral hometown discourse Among the 72 informants for the ID data, only three were Beijing local residents, while the remaining 69 were from varying places outside Beijing. Since the interviews were conducted in Beijing, most of the informants referred to their hometowns and how they compared Beijing with their hometowns. The notion of ancestral hometown is important to a Chinese. As Li (2002: 559) points out, there exists a ‘traditional Chinese practice of referring to one’s ancestral hometown (jíguàn) as part of one’s Chinese identity.’ Ancestral hometown (jíguàn) is also referred to in Chinese as lăojiā, which literally means ‘old home.’ Therefore, it is natural and culturally appropriate to start an interview with university informants in Beijing by inquiring where their hometowns are. In some cases, even if the informants’ hometowns were not elicited, they introduced their hometowns voluntarily. Through a series of examples, I will build up an ancestral hometown discourse of CE speakers by starting with elements

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including the location and size of the hometown, and then adding optional extras to the discourse. Example 6.6 R: Alright U3, can you start introducing yourself to us? U3: Yeah, my name is U3, and I’m from Hebei Province. The city of Shijiazhuang. And I’m from a very small county. Very small. But I love it. I miss it. Maybe it isn’t very busy. But I think it’s very beautiful. R: Now, U4, so …, yes. U4: My name is U4, and I come from the city of Anyang, in Henan province. You know Anyang is a historic city. And in the Shang province (dynasty), Shang period, it is the capital of China. (ID-2)

In example 6.6, informant U3 first introduced the province, and then the city, followed by the county where he was from. He also commented on its size, that is, ‘very small.’ He then revealed his emotion towards it: ‘I love it. I miss it.’ His further comments on it were ‘Maybe it isn’t very busy. But I think it’s very beautiful.’ In contrast, informant U4 gave a briefer introduction to his hometown: the city, the province, its being ‘a historic city,’ its being ‘the capital of China’ in the ‘Shang period [dynasty].’ From the two student informants, it can be concluded that a likely discourse for an ancestral hometown includes: its location (city, province), size, history, plus the speaker’s feeling for it, and a few positive remarks about it, for example, its beauty and its quietness. The following examples support this. Example 6.7 R:

Okay, so, U23, where are you from?

U23: I come from a small town in Guilin. R:

Okay.

U23: Um … though Guilin is well-known by its beautiful view, I think my hometown is more beautiful than Guilin. R:

Oh, really?

U23: So, I very proud to invite you to visit my hometown, and I’m very pleasure to be a guide for you.

Discourse and pragmatic features of Chinese English

R:

Okay, I’m very happy. So if I could, I would go to your hometown. Okay, so, how different is your hometown from Beijing?

U23: Um … R:

Very very different (laugh).

U23: My hometown’s sky is blue. I think the Beijing’s sky is groom. R:

Is groom? Okay, and how about the food? Do you like the food in Beijing?

U23: Um … I don’t like the food in Beijing, because I like the lajiao. R:

Pepper. So, you like pepper. Very good. How do you think about the people in Beijing?

U23: People. The Beijing people is very kind. When you ask him the road, he is very kindly to tell you. R:

Very good. U24, are you from Beijing?

U24: No. R:

No. Okay, where are you from?

U24: I come from Inner Mongolia. R:

Oh, Inner Mongolia. Okay, um … when people say, you know, talk about Inner Mongolia, people say Inner Mongolia is grassland, horses, sheep.

U24: But my area is agricultural area. My … my hometown is a town called Linhe, on the plain of Hetao. I think the weather of my hometown is just like Beijing, but I think the air pollution of Beijing is so serious. R:

Yes. It’s so serious. Now, when you first came to Beijing, what impression did you have on the city?

U24: Beijing is so large. R:

Yes.

U24: And there are so many tall buildings. R:

Yes.

U24: And there are so many people and I think Beijing is so crowded, too crowded. R:

Yes. (ID-12)

In example 6.7, informant U23 introduced his hometown by first saying it was ‘a small town in Guilin,’ and then he stressed that it was ‘more

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beautiful than Guilin,’ which is well-known for its scenery. He then extended an invitation to the interviewer to visit his hometown, and offered to be a ‘guide.’ An invitation that follows the introduction to one’s hometown is relatively common in Chinese culture. However, such an invitation is not generally taken seriously, because an invitation to his or her hometown merely indicates the politeness of the speaker, and also the pride the speaker takes in his or her hometown. In contrast, informant U24 introduced the region of his hometown ‘Inner Mongolia,’ and then its specific location: ‘a town called Linhe.’ After that he commented on its weather, and suggested its air quality, size, architecture, and crowdedness through a comparison with Beijing. Based on these two informants, elements such as an invitation to visit one’s hometown, and the description of its weather and architecture can be added to the ancestral hometown discourse. Example 6.8 illustrates other topics that can form part of the ancestral hometown discourse. Example 6.8 P5: My name P5. Weifang is my hometown. R: Okay, Weifang? Alright. P5: Yeah. I think Weifang is famous for kites. R: Yes. Kites, flying kites. P5: By the way, have you been there? R: No. Sorry. P5: If you have the chance, you are more than welcomed. R: Thank you. P5: Although I come from Weifang, so I didn’t have the chance to … to see the Kites Festivals, because I’m always outside in the school. So I didn’t have the chance. I don’t think they are very interesting. R: Yeah, talking about the Weifang Kite Festival, is it an annual festival or every two years, so … P5: I think it’s an annual festival. There are many foreigners. And I think it must be very interesting. I hope I can have the chance to see the opening ceremony. R: Alright good. Now P6, so … P6: I also come from the Northeast China. Which province are you from?

Discourse and pragmatic features of Chinese English

R: Liaoning. Liaoning province. P6: I’m also from Liaoning province. R: I’m from the city Fushun. P6: Oh, I’m from Jinzhou. Fushun is the hometown of Leifeng. R: Yes. Ha ha ha. Exactly. Yes. P6: I’m from Jinzhou. And I think it’s nothing specially interesting from my hometown. Maybe other people, other people told me our accent is special, always use the ascending accent at the end of the sentence. R: Right. Yes, exactly. P5: I think I know what happened in Jinzhou. A very famous battle. Yeah, a battlefield, named Liaoshen Zhanyi. R: And I remember when I was a child, when I was learning I … I … I … came across a text, which is jĭnzhōu nèige dìfang chū píngguŏ [Jinzhou produces apples]. The apples can be famous, all over the world. No, all over China. P6: Jinzhou is … Oh, Besides Jinzhou is famous for the battle, there are a lot of food. R: You mean seafood. P6: Roast chicken. R: Roast chicken? Yes. (ID-21)

In example 6.8, informant P5 introduced her hometown Weifang by mentioning its most famous products, kites, and its well-known cultural attraction, the Kite Festival. As can be expected, an invitation was extended to the interviewer to visit her hometown. Informant P6 introduced her hometown by referring to ‘Northeast China,’ and then ‘Liaoning’ province. When the interviewer said that he was also from Liaoning province, and that his hometown was Fushun city, informant P6 immediately added that ‘Fushun is the hometown of Leifeng,’ a national hero who Chairman Mao asked the whole nation to learn from in the 1950s. When informant P6 said she was from ‘Jinzhou,’ and that the ‘accent is special’ in Jinzhou, both the interviewer and the other student informant agreed, and they further came up with what Jinzhou was famous for: a historic battle, and its fruit. At last the informant concluded with the special food of her hometown: ‘roast chicken.’ So, a few more elements, including the festival activities, dialects, and food can be added to the ancestral hometown discourse.

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In example 6.9, informant P22 makes it clear that ‘as far as specialty is concerned, most people come up with something that can be eaten,’ and he listed a well-known speciality of his hometown county: fenlongchuan (rice noodles and fish in a bamboo container), a dish ‘favoured by Mao Zedong [Chairman Mao].’ Example 6.9 R:

So, where specifically in Jiangxi are you from?

P22: Um … Ganzhou city. R:

Ganzhou city. Okay.

P22: It’s very small and I think it’s very cosy … it’s very comfortable city. R:

Yes, cozy and comfortable. Yes, and Jiangxi produces very good tea. I think, okay, so what else is special in Ganzhou?

P22: Um … I think … as far as specialty is concerned, most people come up with something that can be eaten. R:

Yes, food.

P22: Um … in Ganzhou, let me think, actually … actually every county in Ganzhou has its own specialties. I think it’s very difficult for me to mention. R:

Specific things?

P22: To tell you the truth, I can’t … I don’t know which is the leading one. R:

Just tell me one in your mind, or even in Chinese, that will do.

P22: Fenlongchuan is produced in Xinguo County that one which favoured … favoured by Mao Zedong. R:

Oh, really? Fen long chuan. It’s a dragon boat … dragon boat, long chuan?

P22: No no no no no. It’s actually … um … it is made in the kind of … I don’t know what is … how should I put it, but it is made of bamboo. R:

Bamboo? Yes.

P22: We put some needles … some noodles sorry, some noodles and some fish. (ID-28)

In summary, from the ancestral hometown discourse of CE speakers as revealed in the ID data it can be concluded that these speakers generally relate positively to their hometowns, because the underlying principle

Discourse and pragmatic features of Chinese English

is that their hometowns constitute part of their identity. In making an ancestral hometown discourse sound cohesive to Chinese interlocutors, it is essential that relevant topics be exploited. These topics include historical events, food, weather, architecture, dialects, and typical cultural activities. CE interlocutors also subconsciously make an ancestral hometown discourse coherent by asking about relevant information regarding the above-mentioned aspects. Scollon and Scollon (2001: 100) argue that ‘a spoken discourse represents the joint product of all of the participants in the situation.’ This joint product can be culturally specific. Other inquiries in the joint product in a Chinese societal context, for example, gardening, garage sales, or neighbourhood watch, as are normal in an Australian discourse, would be regarded as incoherent in terms of an ancestral hometown discourse. This is also in line with the Chinese ancestral hometown schema, in which an ancestral hometown is generally regarded as the root, the identity, and the final destination and resting place of its people, and a place in which people take great pride. The social bonds among people from the same ancestral hometown also often play a part in formulating a social guanxi network. Figure 6.3 illustrates the ancestral hometown discourse. location size special food Ancestral hometown discourse

dialect(s) (historical significance) (typical festive activities) (weather) (architecture) (speaker’s feeling about it [‘I love it’]) (positive remarks [‘It’s beautiful’])

Figure 6.3 Ancestral hometown discourse of CE speakers

The ID data shows that among the topics in the ancestral hometown discourse, location, size, special food, and dialect(s) always occur, while other topics are optional depending on the context of communication.

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Role of parents In terms of pragmatic features, the ID data displays how the student informants relate to their parents in making personal decisions, including career choices, and how they implement certain speech acts, including making or responding to complements, as the following examples show. The relevant parts are italicized. Example 6.10 U1: I think, when we, how to say, take part in the college entrance exams, I heard this university is very famous, but when I choosed the college for me, there’re many choices, and first I think this university is Beijing. Beijing is a good position, good city, and have lots of opportunities in the future. So, er … and the second I think it’s my score. I can’t choose Beida or Qinghua. And third is my father’s intention. I think that’s all. (ID-1)

Informant U1 listed a number of reasons for his choice of the university, one of them being that it is his ‘father’s intention.’ The following examples also suggest that in making decisions, a parent’s ‘intention’ generally plays a part. Example 6.11 R: Alright. Very good. Okay, back to U6. Do you think English is very important in your future job? U6: Yes, I think it is very important. A lot of people think so. My … my father and my mother told me it was. I think it was very much. R: Interesting. Right. It seems to me that you are a good boy in your home, because you always listen to your parents. You always say that, you know, my father tells me, or my mother tells me … Is it common for … for a university student to do this? To listen to their parents? U6: I’m not quite sure, but my … my roommates (are) all like me. (ID-3)

Informant U6 thought that English was very important in his future job, partly because ‘a lot of people think so,’ and partly because his parents ‘told’ him ‘it was.’

Discourse and pragmatic features of Chinese English

Example 6.12 1 R:

Now would you please tell me why you chose computer as your major? When you … when you first came to this university, why did you choose computer science?

U10: Because it’s very hot. R:

It’s very hot. Okay, it’s a hot major.

U10: Yes, it’s a hot major. And my … my father choose it … chose it for me. R:

Oh, your father chose it. Did you agree with your father?

U10: Um … because I … I didn’t know what should I learn, and my father ma … made a decision, and I just came to this university. R:

Did your mother agree with your father?

U10: Yes. (ID-5) 2 R:

Now, U29, so, what do you want to do in the future?

U29: To the point, I don’t like law very much. R:

Alright. (laugh)

U29: I choose law is not my own choi … oh … chance … choice. Because I should listen to my parents, but I’m very interested in kao gu. R:

Kao gu. Archeology.

U29: Ah, yeah, archeology, because I’m very interested in history, so I think the choi … the choos … the chance … the choice to law is false. R:

Okay. (laugh) So is it very common for parents to make a decision for the children or the child.

U29: Yes, I think it is. Most of my classmates is the same to me. R:

Really? Did you discuss with your parents when you make such a very important decision?

U29: Yeah. I like listen to my parents, because I love them very much. I don’t want them to be sad. Yeah, for I’m very proud of them. R:

Okay, yes. This is very interesting. (ID-15)

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In examples 6.12(1) and (2), both informants U10 and U29 followed their parents’ choices in terms of their majors. Informant U29 also pointed out that it was common for parents to make such decisions for their children. Example 6.13 1 P4: Because I don’t like science … how to say, natural science. I’m interesting … I’m interested in social sciences, um … because I don’t like numbers. And my mathematics score is very low. So when I take the entrance exam of college I chose English as my major. But my first choice is not the university, my former university. I wanted to come here. Not this university, I want to go to Beijing, because the capital is always my dream. And my parents told me that if you want to study, you should go there. (ID-20) 2 R: Now at this time, can you say you are independent from your parents? P15: (laugh) Um … no. I think economically probably I … I am independent, but emotionally, I always depend on my parents. R: So, yes. P16: When we are in trouble, we often ask for … for advice from parents. R: Yes, okay. Then do you normally agree with your parents? P15: Normally I will agree. R: Okay. (ID-26)

In examples 6.13(1) and (2), informants P4, P15, and P16 are all postgraduate students. In terms of seeking and accepting advice from parents, they shared the same values as their undergraduate counterparts. Based on Garrott’s (1995: 219) survey on Chinese cultural values, ‘filial piety (obedience to parents, respect for parents, honouring of ancestors, financial support of parents)’ is among the values of supreme importance to the Chinese. Examples 6.10, 6.11, 6.12, and 6.13 show that at the pragmatic level, informants in the ID data tend to reflect their Chinese cultural values in their use of English. However, some cultural values may change over time. In addition, CE speakers, as bilinguals, also acquire new cultural values from their English

Discourse and pragmatic features of Chinese English

learning. The following examples of responding to complements show that two sets of pragmatic norms are at work.

Responding to compliments Example 6.14 R:

So what qualities are important for modern times?

U10: I think the skills that communicate with someone else is very important. R:

The communication skill is very important.

U10: Yes, the communication skill. And computer skill. And English. R:

Yes, I think you’re having the three.

U10: Oh, no, no, no. (ID-5)

In example 6.14, informant U10 deflected the interviewer’s compliment with a Chinese culturally appropriate ‘no, no, no.’ In contrast, examples 6.15(1), (2), and (3) below show that the compliments were accepted. These have, in a way, seemingly violated Chinese cultural norms. Example 6.15 1 U11: Um … I’d like to be a teacher to …, but in fact, I’m more interesting … interested about … um … music. R:

Okay, oh, yes. You are very good at singing.

U11: Ah, thank you. (ID-6) 2 R:

Now, um … may I have your name please?

U22: U22. R:

U22, oh, a very good name.

U22: Um … thanks. (ID-11) 3 R:

Okay, so you speak … both of you speak very good English. I’m very much impressed.

U22: Thank you. (ID-11)

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Interestingly, in the following examples, the informants adopted a different strategy to compliments—they neither rejected nor accepted (through thanking) them. Instead, they avoided responding or explaining why they might appear good at something. In other words, they adopted an avoidance strategy to compliments. An alternative interpretation of this avoidance strategy could be that respondents may not have had enough time to express acceptance or rejection of the compliments, even if they were willing to do either one, because other questions were immediately asked and they had to reply to them. Example 6.16 1 R:

U34, your English is very good. Do you often practice speaking English with your classmates or friends?

U34: In class, I speak English a lot, but after class, I seldom use it. And I often practice my reading English. (ID-17) 2 R:

Yeah, U33, your English is also very good. Do you enjoy learning English?

U33: Of course. I … after class … I watch … see a lot of movies. In … in that situation, I can learn the pure English … American English, and I think in China, there’s not a good … don’t have a good environment to learn English, because people don’t say English. (ID-17) 3 R:

No wonder you are so tall and beautiful. (laugh) You’re always eating seafood!

U45: (laugh). (ID-23)

Example 6.17 provides an example of cultural norms existing side by side. Informant P36 mixed both avoidance strategy and traditional Chinese strategy to respond to compliments. When the interviewer first complimented her by saying ‘you are a genius,’ she simply explained her ability but did not respond to the compliment. A while later, when the interviewer further complimented her by saying ‘You’re really somebody to … admire.’ She responded with ‘Oh, no.’

Discourse and pragmatic features of Chinese English

Example 6.17 R:

By the way, do you have any working experiences?

P36: Yes, I have worked for several years. R:

Okay, what did you do?

P36: I have done the job as the Russian translator. R:

Russian translator?!

P36: Russian translator, because my major was Russian, my past major was Russian literature. (laugh) R:

Oh, you are a genius. (laugh) Now, what did the working experience bring to you?

P36: Um … I think that working as a Russian translator help me a lot, but the most important thing I have learned from that is um … I have learned to … um … how to study language by myself. (laugh) R:

So, you self … um … you self learned the Russian?

P36: Um … not, I self learned English. (laugh) R:

Oh, I have to look up at you! You’re really somebody to … um … to admire.

P36: Oh, no. (ID-36)

The above analysis of the responses made by the informants to compliments in the ID data shows that these informants not only possess two competing sets of norms in terms of responding to compliments, they have also developed a pragmatic avoidance strategy for unsettling situations. To summarize, an analysis of the ID data shows a number of discourse and pragmatic features of CE, including the ancestral hometown discourse among Chinese university student informants, the role of parents in the decision making of the informants, and features that suggest competing norms in relation to their responses to compliments.

The ND data analysis for discourse and pragmatic features of CE The ND data is written data. According to Scollon and Scollon (2001: 100), ‘a written discourse represents the one-sided product of a discourse by the

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participants who compose the text. The other participants, the readers, can more or less take it or leave it in their interpretation of the text, but they cannot manage an alteration in the basic structure of the text.’ They (p. 102) also point out that an ‘abstract’ relationship exists between the writer and the reader of the written discourse of a press release or a newspaper article. They propose the notion of implied writers and implied readers: as the writer writes the press release, he or she takes on a role, the role of the implied writer, speaking with the voice of the government in whose name the document is issued. … The governmental press release may be published in a newspaper which might be read by people of many different social positions and statuses. (p. 102)

These notions of one-sidedness and implied writers versus implied readers of a written discourse of newspaper articles, coupled with culturally specific discourse pattern preferences of CE speakers and writers, may to a large extent determine the underlying discourse features of the ND data. A crucial discourse feature is the deductive pattern versus the inductive discourse pattern. I will examine the ND data to see how these discourse patterns operate in CE. Deductive reasoning is a way of reasoning that moves from a general idea or set of facts to a particular idea or fact. However, when people talk about deductive argument or rhetoric in the ways mentioned above, they mean that the main thesis is presented towards the beginning of a text and that support for the thesis is mentioned after it. In contrast, inductive reasoning is a way of reasoning in which known facts are used to present general laws. So, when people talk about inductive argument or rhetoric, they mean that the support for the thesis is presented before the thesis itself is explicitly stated. (Scollon, Scollon, & Kirkpatrick, 2000: 94)

As to the inductive versus the deductive pattern, Scollon and Scollon (2001: 87) argue that ‘there is nothing inherently Asian or western about these patterns.’ They also argue that ‘both the inductive (topic-delayed) and the deductive (topic-first) patterns of discourse are used for the same main purpose. That purpose is to reduce the overall ambiguity of the discourse.’

Discourse and pragmatic features of Chinese English

A deductive discourse pattern usually starts from the more general and moves toward the more specific. It is also informally called a ‘top-down’ discourse. In contrast, an inductive discourse pattern usually moves from specific supporting details to broader generalizations and conclusions. It is also called a ‘bottom-up’ discourse. The ND data shows both inductive and deductive discourse patterns. The choice of a pattern depends partly on the relationship between the implied writers and the implied readers of the news texts, and partly on the types of news. ND-1 is about scrutinizing a draft law to abolish premarital medical tests, as revealed in its title: ‘Premarital test may be optional—State Council scrutinizes draft law that would leave choice to couples.’ Its discourse pattern is below. Topic

The State Council is scrutinizing a draft regulation that would abolish the requirement for engaged couples to undergo premarital medical test in favour of privacy protection.

Justification

A positive comment by a professor.

Topic continuation

The content of the draft law.

Background information (1) The legitimacy of the State Council in issuing the law; (2) the relevant marriage law; (3) relevant statistics. Further justification

(1) The premarital test being ‘irrelevant’ and ‘an intrusion of people’s privacy’; (2) comments of a couple in favour of the draft law.

Counter opinion

Comments by a doctor on the positive side of premarital tests.

Further justification

Further comments by the professor.

Further information

The government authority made no comment; the prediction of the law taking effect.

This shows a typical deductive pattern of discourse in the ND data. The topic is introduced at the very beginning, followed by background information, justifications and further information. One of the possible reasons for the deductive discourse pattern is that ND-1 is about a draft law, and the issuing authority of the law, the State Council, is an organizational

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body which occupies a high position in the hierarchy. Another possible reason is that the news writer takes the role of the implied writer in Scollon and Scollon’s terms, ‘speaking with the voice of the government in whose name the document is issued’ (2001: 102), and that ‘the implied reader is assumed to be a law-abiding, interested, dutiful citizen.’ Accordingly, a topdown deductive discourse pattern appears to be appropriate. The ND data also contains inductively arranged discourse. ND-14, which is entitled ‘Crack down on fake goods,’ provides an example. Reason

(1) Spring Festival is approaching; (2) rural markets are becoming brisk; (3) it is urgent that fake goods are prevented from flowing into rural markets.

Background information (1) In recent years, active measures have been taken; (2) great achievements have been made. Reasons

(1) Producers and sellers of fake goods focus on rural markets; (2) farmers tend to buy a lot around Spring Festival; (3) they are more vulnerable because they lack the knowledge to distinguish fake goods; (4) rural markets are scattered, not centralized, and therefore difficult to supervise; (5) some local governments even take protective measures for fake goods; (6) farmers’ legal rights cannot be protected.

Conclusion

The illegal activities of making and selling fake goods must be cracked down upon.

Judging from the content of the news article, it looks more like an appeal from concerned people or organizations for the government authorities to take urgent and effective measures to regulate rural markets and to crack down on fake goods. In terms of the writer–reader relationship, the implied writer takes on a role of someone calling for action, while the implied reader is the relevant government departments and the society at large. Therefore, a bottom-up inductive discourse pattern appears to be appropriate.

Discourse and pragmatic features of Chinese English

In addition to the deductive and inductive discourse patterns, other patterns appear, because not all news articles in the ND data are argumentative texts. Some news articles are reports of current or cultural events, including ND-6: ‘Laowai performers shine: Overseas lovers of local culture set to battle it out,’ ND-10: ‘Creating friendlier classrooms,’ ND11: ‘Nianhua combines tradition, art and prayer: Century-old wood block painting enlivens atmosphere of Spring Festival,’ and ND-16: ‘Guzheng musician rocks on: “Cross over” theme goes beyond scope of East–West relations.’ These news reports do not usually follow an overt deductive or inductive discourse pattern. They normally follow a descriptive pattern that shows when, where, and how news events take place; what happens; and who gets involved. However, there is another pattern, which I will term as an ‘alternate frame– main pattern,’ in which a discourse can be deductive or inductive at the global level, but at the level of paragraphs or sub-discourses, a ‘framework’ may alternately proceed or follow a main point. A frame–main structure is a pattern in which a framework is set in order to ‘present the main point’ (Kirkpatrick, 1996: 109). The following discourse of ND-7 illustrates this alternate frame–main pattern. Frame (1) Rural prosperity and the well-being of farmers carries prominent weight; (2) good work in the three agriculture-related issues represents the shared will of the Party, government and people; (3) a two-day rural work conference was just concluded; (4) it was a special conference; indicated that the country is bracing for an unprecedented mission—the realization of a xiaokang society. Main

In his keynote speech addressing the conference, Hu Jintao, general-secretary of the CPC Central Committee, pointed out that ‘if the benefits of xiaokang cannot be attained by rural people, China will fail to live up to its dream of a xiaokang society.

Frame

(1) The Chinese people, on the whole, have made a historic leap; the situation in the countryside is far from satisfactory; (2) the vast rural area is afflicted with problems; (3) it is a past national policy that is to blame.

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Main

(1) It is time to focus on rural development; (2) policy-makers have vowed to bring more benefits to farmers and narrow the gap between rural and urban areas.

The pragmatic features of the ND data, in terms of politeness and hierarchy, have intrinsic connections with their discourse features. The underlying reason for over one-third of the 20 newspaper articles in the ND data adopting a deductive discourse pattern is that these articles are about Chinese government regulations, policies, or national news events on politics, economy, or science and technology. The implied writers of these articles adopt higher positions in terms of social hierarchy and represent the voices of the government or other authorities. ND-1, as analysed above, is an example, where ‘the State Council is scrutinizing a draft regulation that would abolish the requirement for engaged couples to undergo premarital medical tests in favour of privacy protection.’ Other examples include ND-2: ‘Flights ready for take-off,’ in which, the voice of ‘mainland civil aviation authorities’ is presented as regarding applications for ‘cross-Straits indirect charter flights by Taiwanese airlines’; ND-4: ‘Farmers target of help,’ in which, the voice of ‘top Chinese officials’ is taken to ‘set the guiding principle for the development of agriculture’; and ND-5: ‘Manned space mission ever nearer,’ in which, the voice of ‘leading engineers’ involved in the Shenzhou V spacecraft project is adopted regarding ‘the country’s first manned spacecraft.’ Similarly, the implied writers of ND-9, ND-13, and ND-17 also assume roles higher in the social hierarchy, making it likely for a top-down deductive discourse to be adopted. This also supports the argument made in the earlier section ‘Politeness, face, and hierarchy’ that ‘politeness for Chinese speakers is primarily embedded in their communication of social hierarchy.’ To summarize, the ND data shows both inductive and deductive patterns of discourse. The choice of a pattern depends partly on the relationship between the implied writers and the implied readers of the news articles, and partly on the types of news. However, a number of news articles in the ND data do not follow an overt deductive or inductive discourse pattern. In addition, the ND data also shows an alternate frame–main discourse pattern. The pragmatic features of the ND data, such as politeness and hierarchy, have intrinsic connections with the discourse features. The

Discourse and pragmatic features of Chinese English

analysis of the ND data supports the argument that politeness for Chinese speakers is primarily embedded in their communication of social hierarchy.

The SD data analysis for discourse and pragmatic features of CE The SD data also displays a number of discourse and pragmatic features of CE. Zhang (2002: 311) argues that throughout Ha Jin’s works, ‘elements of Chinese discourse patterns are interwoven in the text in almost seamless fashion.’ These sociopragmatic discourses are often reflections of the cultural norms and social values of Chinese society throughout the last quarter of the twentieth century. In this section, a number of key concepts as encoded in the SD data are categorized. In addition, ways in which these concepts are reflected in CE discourses and pragmatics are discussed. These categories sometimes overlap. For example, the discourse of political status is associated with the discourse of power and hierarchy.

Discourses of political status and political life In example 6.18, Chiu Maguang is being interrogated and being asked a number of formulaic questions regarding his identity. One of the questions concerns his ‘political status.’ In a Chinese context, there are three possible options in response to this question, which are ‘Masses,’ ‘Youth League member’ or ‘Communist Party member.’ In terms of ‘political life,’ a Communist Party membership and a Youth League membership are indicators of one’s political status, and they are also the greatest honours one can possibly achieve. Therefore, Chiu Maguang’s reply that he was a ‘Communist Party member’ suggested that he must have been arrested by mistake, because the Chinese schema of a Communist Party member is that a Party member is always a model for the Masses, and that a Party member always voluntarily maintains the social order. However, his Party membership had a different effect on the chief who felt that Chiu should have been punished more, precisely because he was a Party member. Example 6.18 ‘Your name?’ the chief asked, apparently reading out the question from a form.

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‘Chiu Maguang.’ ‘Age?’ ‘Thirty-four.’ ‘Profession?’ ‘Lecturer.’ ‘Work unit?’ ‘Harbin University.’ ‘Political status?’ ‘Communist Party member.’ The chief put down the paper and began to speak. ‘Your crime is sabotage, although it hasn’t induced serious consequences yet. Because you are a Party member, you should be punished more. You have failed to be a model for the masses and you—‘ ‘Excuse me, sir,’ Mr. Chiu cut him off. ‘What?’ ‘I didn’t do anything. Your men are the saboteurs of our social order. They threw hot tea on my feet and on my wife’s feet. Logically speaking, you should criticize them, if not punish them.’ (SD-1)

In the next two examples, the importance of the Party is further illustrated. Given the importance of the Party membership and Youth League membership, it can be easily understood how vital the Cadre Section or the Political Department of an organization is. Therefore, when Tan Na, in example 6.19, the Director of the Cadre Section, walked into the office, the general relaxed atmosphere there suddenly became frozen. In example 6.20, after Manjin was involved in an indecent affair, he was prepared to be demoted to the Wheel Factory. However, the Political Department only issued him a warning, which could later be removed from his file, and would therefore not affect his political career. The term ‘file’ (or dăng’àn in Chinese) in examples 6.19 and 6.20 has a significant cultural weighting in the political life of the Chinese. It is a record of one’s political life including details of one’s honours, awards, or offences and punishments, or any counterrevolutionary tendencies. It is kept by the Party branch of one’s workplace. To transfer from one job to another, or from one place to another, one has to make a request to the

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Party branch holding the file to release it to the Party branch of the new location, otherwise, the transfer can not be effected. In a sense, the file governs Chinese people’s fate and political careers. The relevant sections in the following examples are italicized. Example 6.19 The office rang with laughter. Bofan slapped a green cannon in front of a red elephant on the chessboard. Then they stopped laughing as the door opened and the director of the Cadre Section, Tan Na, walked in. She wanted to see a league member’s file, which Manjin helped her find in a cabinet. (SD-5) Example 6.20 He was ready to return to the Wheel Factory, but no such orders ever came. He felt a little relieved when he was informed that the Political Department had issued only a discipline warning to him, for such an action wouldn’t affect his official career and would be removed from his file at the end of the year if he worked well. It seemed all the leaders were eager to forget this case. (SD-5)

Example 6.21 makes it explicit that being ‘expelled from the Party’ is a ‘very severe punishment’ and can end people’s ‘political lives.’ Example 6.21 The two Party members among them didn’t go to jail, though they were expelled from the Party, a very severe punishment that ended their political lives. (SD-6)

The discourses of political status and political life often reflect the following key cultural aspects of Chinese life: (1) Communist Party membership and Youth League Party membership are key indicators of political status; (2) one’s file plays an important role in one’s political life as well as career opportunities; and (3) those in charge of the Cadre Section, and the Political Department, and specifically, the file, have power over other people’s fates and political lives.

Discourses of law and social order The following examples show the relationship between law and social order. In example 6.22, the reasoning of the chief is that even a ‘serious

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crime’ can be free of a severe punishment, and that self-criticism with a sincere attitude can be enough for one’s release. It implies that the chief is more powerful in terms of keeping the ‘social order’ than the law is. Example 6.22 ‘Now you have to admit you are guilty,’ the chief said. ‘Although it’s a serious crime, we won’t punish you severely, provided you write out a self-criticism and promise that you won’t disrupt the public order again. In other words, your release will depend on your attitude toward this crime.’ (SD-1)

Example 6.23 further illustrates how law is perceived by people in terms of maintaining social order. When Chiu Maguang got to know that his wife had sent over Fenjin to rescue him, he ‘was overcome with a wave of nausea,’ because Fenjin ‘held no official position’ and he ‘merely worked in a private law firm that had just two lawyers.’ What he wanted was a cadre from ‘the school’s Security Section.’ As far as Chiu Maguang was concerned, social order and justice could be better maintained by a ‘cadre’ from his work unit than a lawyer from a private law firm. Example 6.23 Then it dawned on him that Fenjin must have been sent over by his bride. What a stupid woman! A bookworm, who only knew how to read foreign novels! He had expected that she would contact the school’s Security Section, which would for sure send a cadre here. Fenjin held no official position; he merely worked in a private law firm that had just two lawyers; in fact, they had little business except for some detective work for men and women who suspected their spouses of having extramarital affairs. Mr. Chiu was overcome with a wave of nausea. (SD-1)

Examples 6.24 and 6.25 show how ‘unusual connections’ may lead to special legal treatment. It is another way of showing how law is overridden in maintaining social order. Example 6.24 Many people were not satisfied with the punishment Tingting had received. In the long run, telegraphy would be a better profession than typing; you could send and transcribe telegrams for thirty or forty years before retirement, whereas you could type well only so long as you were

Discourse and pragmatic features of Chinese English

young and had good eyesight. Chang Bofan often said to his clerks, ‘This is unfair. In our new society, men and women must be equal—equal in work, in pay, and in punishment.’ Sometimes he insinuated that Tingting must have had unusual connections among the top leaders of the company. (SD-5) Example 6.25 To our surprise, a week later Chigan filed for divorce. Who could have imagined this feckless man was capable of taking such a step? It must have been his parents who planned it and used their connections to make the court give priority to the case, for without delay the divorce was granted. Jinli didn’t seem to mind losing her husband, though she did fight in court for custody of her daughter. The judge said she was an irresponsible parent, then announced to her, ‘Out of our concern for the child’s physical and mental health, this court declines your request.’ She was, however, ordered to pay thirty-yuan in child support a month. (SD-11)

Furthermore, examples 6.26 and 6.27 show that in legal matters, a Party secretary, a Director of a factory, a Chief, and a high-ranking officer can all play an important role, especially when these people are involved with favour-exchange and backdoor practice. In such cases, the power of these people often overrides the law, and therefore is likely to be abused. Example 6.26 Fortunately both the Party secretary and the director of our factory were willing to accept Baowen as a sick man, particularly Secretary Zhu, who liked Baowen’s kung fu style and had once let him teach his youngest son how to use a three-section cudgel. Zhu suggested we make an effort to rescue Baowen from the police. In the men’s room inside our office building, he said to me, ‘Old Cheng, we must not let Baowen end up in prison.’ I was grateful for his words. (SD-6) Example 6.27 I begged Chief Miao and a higher-ranking officer to treat Baowen leniently and even gave each of them two bottles of brandy and a coupon for a Butterfly sewing machine. They seemed willing to help, but wouldn’t promise me anything. For days I was so anxious that my wife was afraid my ulcer might recur. One morning the Public Security Bureau called, saying they had accepted our factory’s proposal and would have Baowen transferred to the mental

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hospital in a western suburb, provided our factory agreed to pay for his hospitalization. I accepted the offer readily, feeling relieved. (SD-6)

The discourses of law and social order in the SD data often reflect: (1) the power of the law can sometimes be overridden by social hierarchical power; (2) the Security Section of one’s work unit is often more influential than the law (especially a private law firm); (3) the overriding social hierarchical power makes favour exchange, and its associated backdoor practice, possible.

Discourses of power and hierarchy Power relationships and social hierarchy are consciously observed in Chinese society. Power is often associated with privileges and the ability to grant a wide range of them, as illustrated in examples 6.28, 6.29, and 6.30. Power, in these particular examples, translates into a new apartment assigned by one’s work unit; an urban residence card and a good job for one’s child living in the countryside at the call of Chairman Mao; it may even be as trivial as dining in the guesthouse with inexpensive but better quality food six days a week. Example 6.28 Tong Guhan was a simple man, not very interested in power. But recently he realized that if he were the vice director, he could have moved into a new apartment long ago and said to his son, ‘Prepare for the wedding!’ and he could also have written to his daughter, ‘Forget veterinary medicine and come back home. I’ll get you a residence card and find you a good job here.’ Obviously the solutions to both problems depended on whether his promotion would materialize in time. (SD-2) Example 6.29 Most of his colleagues were either married or engaged, and would eat in the dining room of the guesthouse that provided board and lodging for locomotive engineers, stokers, train police, and attendants. Food was inexpensive there and of better quality. You could buy meat and vegetables separately, and a chef would cook them in a wok for you within minutes. The manager of the guesthouse would grant the dining privilege only to some of the cadres who worked at the company’s headquarters, which was close by. If he

Discourse and pragmatic features of Chinese English

wanted, Manjin could eat there every day; but six days a week he would walk farther east and have lunch and dinner in the Workers Dining Hall, near the company’s shopping centre. (SD-5) Example 6.30 As the head of the Security Section in the factory, I had some pull and did what I could to help the young couple. Soon after their wedding, I secured them a brand-new two-bedroom apartment, which angered some people waiting in line for housing. I wasn’t daunted by their criticism. I’d do almost anything to make Beina’s marriage a success, because I believed that if it survived the first two years, it might last decades—once Baowen became a father, it would be difficult for him to break loose. (SD-6)

Example 6.31 shows how hierarchy is manifested in conversation. In SD-2, Fei is a young man who recently joined the Party, and was going to take the place of Guhan as a section leader, because Guhan was rumoured to be leaving for a higher position. Fei was thus apparently lower in the hierarchy to Guhan. Therefore, when he communicated with Guhan, he followed the ‘call–answer–facework–topic adjacency sequence’ (Scollon & Scollon, 2001: 91). In contrast, when Guhan went to see his superiors, they introduced the topic directly without facework and said that they wanted him to ‘take a trip to Taifu City’ to get their money back from a coal mine. Even though the imposition of the request was huge, Director Li did not use any facework to mitigate the request. On a lighter note, the fact that ‘Li poured him a cup of green tea from a tall thermos bottle’ may be taken as a form of facework, but a native Chinese would not interpret it as such. Instead of functioning as facework, the act in this case would normally be interpreted by a Chinese as an indication of social distance, because Director Li treated Guhan as a guest. At the end of this example, ‘Li gave him a meaningful look and tapped his cigarette over the ashtray on the desk, revealing the stump of his third finger lost in the Korean War.’ Interestingly, to a Chinese, ‘the stump of his third finger lost in the Korean War’ can also communicate social distance and hierarchy, because in contemporary China, a synonym of a ‘leader’ is a person who once ‘shouldered a gun’ (kángguo qiāng de) in the Korean War, and especially a person who ‘was physically hurt’ (fùguo shāng de) in the War. Therefore, power and hierarchy are very subtly communicated in this example.

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Example 6.31 On arrival at the cannery, he ran into Fei, a spindly young man who had recently joined the Party. ‘Good morning, Old Tong.’ Fei greeted him pleasantly, his round head tilted to one side. ‘Did you have a good bus ride?’ ‘It was all right,’ Guhan replied lukewarmly. ‘Director Li wants to see you.’ ‘About what?’ ‘I’ve no idea.’ Guhan disliked Fei, who seemed too clever and oily. It was rumored that Fei would lead the Packing Section if Guhan left for his new position. The warmth Fei exuded made Guhan feel that the young man couldn’t wait to take over. He went to Director Li’s office in the back of the factory building. At the sight of him, Li poured him a cup of green tea from a tall thermos bottle and said, ‘Old Tong, Secretary Liu and I want you to take a trip to Taifu City.’ ‘What for?’ ‘To get our money from the coal mine.’ Li winked. His eyes were so big that some workers called him Director Ox-Eyes behind his back. Guhan had heard of the debt. Knowing he had no choice, he said, ‘Of course I’ll go.’ ‘You’ll represent our factory as our vice director. I hope they’ll pay us this time, otherwise we won’t be able to operate next year. The apartment building has gobbled up most of our funds.’ ‘I’ll try my best, Director Li.’ Guhan’s face brightened at the mention of his new title. ‘I wish you luck, Old Tong. Be stubborn with them.’ Li gave him a meaningful look and tapped his cigarette over the ashtray on the desk, revealing the stump of his third finger lost in the Korean War. (SD-2)

The discourses of power and hierarchy often reflect that: (1) power is a symbol of privileges; (2) the power to grant privileges can be used and abused; (3) the hierarchy of relationships is consciously observed, and it affects the way people communicate with each other.

Discourse and pragmatic features of Chinese English

Discourses of guanxi and backdoor practice Guanxi as a lexical item of CE has been discussed in chapter 4. In this section, I will show that guanxi is also reflected in Chinese discourse. People involved in guanxi or a guanxi network are generally expected to exchange favours in terms of goal-directed interpersonal or inter-organizational strategic interactions. Gu gives this guanxi-associated and goal-directed discourse the umbrella term of ‘backdoor practice’ (Gu, 2002: 273). In example 6.32, when Guhan went to clear up the debt between his cannery and a coal mine, he begged Manager Ren of the mine to ‘cherish the friendship between the mine and the cannery,’ an act which indicates the importance of guanxi. Example 6.32 The following afternoon Guhan went to the mine’s office building again, but Manager Ren was out visiting the injured workers at the hospital. He left Ren a note, begging him to cherish the friendship between the mine and the cannery and clear up the debt without further delay. (SD-2)

Example 6.33 shows how backdoor practice is implemented. After Old Cheng visited his son-in-law in the mental hospital, he went to the nurses’ office to thank nurse Long Fuhai for his kindness with his son-in-law. To warm up guanxi, he took a carton of Peony cigarettes as a token of his regards. However, Long Fuhai said to him ‘It’s the doctor’s wheels that you should grease.’ This is a euphemistic expression suggesting a backdoor practice, in this case, to doctor Mai. Example 6.33 I took a carton of Peony cigarettes out of my bag and put it on the desk, saying, ‘I won’t take too much of your time, young man. Please keep this as a token of my regards.’ I didn’t mean to bribe him; I was sincerely grateful to him for treating Baowen well. ‘Oh, don’t give me this, please.’ ‘You don’t smoke?’ ‘I do. Tell you what, give it to Dr. Mai. He’ll help Baowen more.’ I was puzzled. Why didn’t he want these top-quality cigarettes if he smoked? Seeing that I was confused, he went on, ‘I’ll be nice to Baowen

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without any gift from you. He’s a good man. It’s the doctor’s wheels that you should grease.’ ‘I have another carton for him.’ ‘One carton’s nothing here. You should give him at least two.’ I was moved by his thoughtfulness, thanked him, and said goodbye. (SD-12)

Example 6.34 is another example of how backdoor practice is implemented. Gu (2002: 293) illustrates the schema of backdoor discourse as starting with ‘phatic talk’ followed by ‘real business,’ and then by ‘closing’ and ‘farewell.’ In this case, the phatic talk is the exchange of ‘a few words’ plus two cartons of cigarettes as ‘guanxi warm-up’ in Gu’s term (p. 293). The real business is Old Cheng’s asking Dr. Mai to take special care of his son-in-law, a homosexual being treated in a mental hospital. The closing shows that Old Cheng’s goal was attained, and the farewell follows: ‘I rose to my feet and thanked the doctor.’ Example 6.34 After we exchanged a few words, I took out both cartons of cigarettes and handed them to him. ‘This is just a small token of my gratitude, for the New Year,’ I said. He took the cigarettes and put them away under his desk. ‘Thanks a lot,’ he whispered. … I rose to my feet and thanked the doctor for his candid words. He stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray on the windowsill and said, ‘I’ll take special care of your son-in-law. Don’t worry.’

The discourses of guanxi and backdoor practice, therefore, often reflect that: (1) guanxi is always important and useful; (2) backdoor practice, although seemingly complicated in itself, makes goal-directed interactions less complicated and bureaucratic; (3) guanxi and backdoor practice are closely associated, and the expressions ‘to pull a guanxi’ (lā guānxi) and ‘to walk through the backdoor’ (zŏu hòumén’r) are used interchangeably.

Discourses of work unit (or dānwèi) and welfare The concept of work unit (or dānwèi) is changing, but it still has impact on the Chinese in various aspects of their lives. At the time when Ha

Discourse and pragmatic features of Chinese English

Jin’s short stories took place, ‘work unit’ generally referred to an urban industrial state-owned enterprise or institution where people were salaried on a monthly basis. People who had a work unit at that time had ‘iron rice bowls’ or jobs for life with cradle-to-grave welfare arrangements, including expenses involved with healthcare, medical treatment, personal hygiene (including bath-taking), family planning (such as free contraceptive products), transportation to and from the work unit, and magazine and newspaper subscriptions. The welfare arrangements also involved the provision of education (from kindergarten to university) for the children of those employed in the work unit, and arrangements of jobs for them when they completed their education or, in the context of the 1970s, when they returned from the countryside, where they had been sent to be re-educated at the behest of Chairman Mao. A substantial part of work-unit life included striving to obtain pay raises and better housing. Guanxi, backdoor practice, the concepts of power, and social hierarchy were often at work in a work unit. In example 6.35, when Guhan, representing his work unit (the Cannery), came back alive from a trip to clear up debts with another work unit, where he suffered a memory loss after the well-known Big Earthquake in Tangshan, and later recovered from it, he took his work unit seriously: ‘I belong to the cannery. When I’m alive, I am their man; when I’m dead, I am their ghost. They have to take me.’ He even thought that ‘the cannery might provide him with new housing.’ Example 6.35 Guhan had a large heart and assured his children that everything would be all right and that the cannery might provide him with new housing, because this mess had been caused by nature and nobody should be responsible for it. He told his family, ‘I’ve worked for them for over twenty years, so I belong to the cannery. When I’m alive, I am their man; when I’m dead, I am their ghost. They have to take me. Don’t worry so much. It’s good just to be alive.’ (SD-2)

Example 6.36 shows that a common source of interpersonal attachment or resentment among fellow workers or colleagues in the same work unit comes from the individual differences in terms of how often they get pay raises or how much their pay raises are.

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Example 6.36 When talking about Tingting, they rarely failed to mention Benchou, who was a senior clerk in the Security Section at the railroad company’s headquarters and could often be found in Tingting’s office. Benchou was in his early forties, dark and handsome, but he was married and had two children. ‘An old bull wants to chew tender grass,’ people would say behind his back. Both Bofan and Shuwei disliked Benchou, because he had gotten two raises in the past three years, whereas they each had only one. (SD-5)

Example 6.37 shows another aspect of the work unit. When Baowen was arrested by the Public Security Bureau, his parents or immediate relatives were not informed first, but rather officials of the Security Section of his work unit. This indicates that the work unit plays the role of one’s parents or guardians. Because of this, to have one’s wrongdoings reported to one’s work unit instead of one’s parents often posed a greater threat to one’s face, and this could therefore serve as a great restraint to wrongdoing. Example 6.37 At the Public Security Bureau I was surprised to see that about a dozen officials from other factories, schools, and companies were already there. I knew most of them—they were in charge of security affairs at their workplaces. A policewoman conducted us into a conference room upstairs where green silk curtains hung in the windows. We sat down around a long mahogany table and waited to be briefed about the case. The glass tabletop was brandnew, its edge still sharp. I saw worry and confusion on the other men’s faces. I figured Baowen must have been involved in a major crime—either an orgy or a gang rape. On second thought, I was sure he couldn’t have been a rapist; by nature he was kindhearted, very gentle. I hoped this was not political case, which would be absolutely unpardonable. (SD-6)

Example 6.38 serves as evidence to show that one’s work unit was normally responsible for one’s healthcare. However, in this case, it need not have been the responsibility of the work unit to take care of Baowen’s hospitalization costs, because he was arrested by the police, a fact which could fairly justify his dismissal from the work unit. The guanxi discourse in this case is predominant, because the Baowen’s father-in-law was the Director of the Security Section of his work unit. ‘I’ in the example refers to Baowen’s father-in-law.

Discourse and pragmatic features of Chinese English

Example 6.38 One morning the Public Security Bureau called, saying they had accepted our factory’s proposal and would have Baowen transferred to the mental hospital in a western suburb, provided our factory agreed to pay for his hospitalization. I accepted the offer readily, feeling relieved. (SD-6)

Example 6.39 further shows the attachment of employees to their work unit. They generally associate their well-being with that of their work unit. Example 6.39 Bitch! I cursed to myself. But I gave some thought to what she said, and she did have a point. The restaurant had almost become our work unit now; we’d all suffer if it lost money. Besides, to file for compensation, I’d first have to admit I had pilfered the ice cream and cheesecake. That would amount to asking for a fine and ridicule. (SD-12)

Example 6.40 shows how important it was for people to have a work unit. Being removed from one’s work unit meant belonging to ‘the army of the unemployed.’ This, in turn, would lead to a series of problems in one’s life. As pointed out earlier in the lexical analysis of CE, the negative connotation of lifestyle in CE is evident in this context, i.e., ‘she could get along just by pleasing an old man.’ Example 6.40 Two years after she left for America, her name had been removed from the payroll of the Teachers College, so now she no longer had a work unit and belonged to the army of the unemployed. How can she live without a job? we wondered. This is China, a socialist country, not like in New York where she could get along just by pleasing an old man. She didn’t know she had lost her teaching position for good, assuming the removal of her name was temporary. She was shocked when they told her that because of her lifestyle in America, she was no longer suitable for teaching. (SD-11)

The discourses of work unit and welfare, therefore, often reflect that: (1) a work unit is closely associated with the welfare of its employees; (2) a work unit assumes the role of parents or guardians of its employees; (3) hierarchy is important in a work unit; and (4) the interpersonal relationships among employees within a work unit are affected by the extent to which they receive favourable or special treatment.

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Discourses of face, and name and honour As I have discussed earlier, face is a key cultural value in Chinese society. The following examples show how face is reflected in the SD data. In example 6.41, Director Old Tong felt so humiliated to have a criminal as his son-in-law that he requested his daughter to divorce his son-in-law. He did so because his face had been threatened, especially considering the fact that Old Tong, his daughter, and son-in-law were all in the same work unit, and that he was the Director of the Security Section. Example 6.41 I took a few spiced pumpkin seeds from a bowl, stood up and went over to the window. Under the sill the radiator was hissing softly with a tiny steam leak. Outside, in the distance, firecrackers, one after another, scattered clusters of sparks in the indigo dusk. I turned around and said, ‘He’s not worth waiting for. You must divorce him.’ ‘No, I won’t,’ she moaned. ‘Well, it’s impossible for me to have a criminal as my son-in-law. I’ve been humiliated enough. If you want to wait for him don’t come to see me again.’ I put the pumpkin seeds back into the bowl, picked up my fur hat, and dragged myself out the door. (SD-6)

Example 6.42 shows that publishing people’s names in newspapers, and having their pictures posted on the streets are effective ways of making people lose face publicly. Liu Feng was involved in an ‘illegal’ business, and as a result, he was imprisoned for three months. In addition to the imprisonment, which included physical torture, his face was also damaged through the appearance of his name in newspapers, and the posting of his picture on the streets. A consequence was that he was considered by the family of the girl he had been courting to be a hoodlum. Therefore, the loss of face can heavily affect one’s personal and public life. Example 6.42 He described his plan, which was to buy fancy cigarettes in the South and sell them in our city at a higher price. As his partner, I’d get forty percent of the profit if I provided labor and a tenth of the capital. I agreed to take part in the business, although I knew it was illegal. A month before the Spring Festival, I went to Shanghai and shipped back a thousand cartons of

Discourse and pragmatic features of Chinese English

Amber cigarettes, but we didn’t sell all the goods before the police arrested us for profiteering. We lost everything—the police confiscated the money we’d made and the remainder of the cigarettes. I was imprisoned for three months, while Dongping got two years because he’d been in the business for a long time and had other partners. I didn’t know he was a ‘professional.’ Our names appeared in newspapers; our pictures were posted on the streets. So, to the Pans I must’ve seemed a hoodlum. At times I couldn’t help feeling ashamed of myself. (SD-7)

Example 6.43 illustrates that one’s ‘name and honour’ is paramount. Suing an offender for money was considered far less important than guarding one’s name and honour. When Jinli got to know that it was Fan Ling that had been spreading rumours of her lifestyle problems in America, she decided to ‘sue’ Fan Ling, and make her ‘pay.’ However, the very act of suing was greatly misunderstood by people who knew Jinli, because they thought it was a matter of name and honour which no money could buy. Suing was an American solution not a Chinese one. Example 6.43 Later Jinli declared she would ‘sue’ Fan Ling for calumny and make her ‘pay.’ That was an odd thing for her to say. Who had ever heard of a court that would handle such a trifle? Besides, there was no lawyer available for a personal case like this, which should be resolved either through the help of the school leaders or by the victim herself. Some people thought Jinli must have lost her nerve; this might prove that she had indeed led a promiscuous life abroad. Also, why on earth would she think of “pay” as a solution? This was a matter of name and honor, which no money could buy. She ought to have fought for herself, that is, to combat poison with poison. (SD-11)

The discourses of face, and name and honour often reflect that: (1) face, name, and honour are paramount in Chinese society; (2) as part of punishment for criminals, their face is often publicly damaged; (3) if one follows other cultural values (such as American), one can be ridiculed or misunderstood by one’s fellow Chinese. The discourse types and features of CE that are reflected in the SD data are interwoven with the pragmatic features of CE. The study of CE pragmatics is essentially the study of the intended meanings and assumptions of CE

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speakers, alongside the purposes or goals, and the kinds of speech acts they perform when they communicate in English. Much of what CE speakers say and communicate is determined by social relationships shaped by Chinese cultural values and pragmatic norms. In order to make sense of what the stories in the SD data communicate, non-Chinese readers have to have an understanding of Chinese cultural values and behaviours as illustrated in the preceding sections, and the pragmatic features that reflect Chinese cultural values and pragmatic norms. The pragmatic features of the SD data typically involve the assumptions that are generally shared by speakers of Chinese, and the expectations based on Chinese cultural discourses and schemata. Ways in which meanings are constructed and communicated by CE speakers in English are often culturally unique. For example, the use of Chairman Mao’s quotes can convey meanings far beyond what the quotes literally mean. In SD-1, when Mr. Chiu was mistakenly arrested and put in detention, he reminded himself that he should have taken the detention in his stride. A sentence that Chairman Mao had written to a hospitalized friend rose in his mind: ‘Since you are already in here, you may as well stay and make the best of it (jì lái zhī zé ān zhī).’ By using a quote of Chairman Mao, the intended meanings that were conveyed included: (1) Mr. Chiu’s respect for social hierarchy, which indirectly indicated that he was a good law-abiding citizen; (2) Mr. Chiu’s learnedness and good education, as being compatible with his social status as a university lecturer; (3) Mr. Chiu’s belief in the power of an unchallengeable truism as embedded in the quote. Indeed, other cultures could well express the quote in many different ways, but the fact that it was expressed using a quote of Chairman Mao makes it distinctively Chinese for the CE readers of the short story, who share cultural assumptions and expectations. Li (1998: 37) has further argued that ‘echoing the voice of some established authority, past or present, is one way of showing shared cultural values and, in so doing, helps preserve group harmony, which is collectively prized much more than the individual’s display of personal whims or bright ideas.’

Discourse and pragmatic features of Chinese English

The use of Chairman Mao’s quotes is only one of the pragmatic features of the SD data. Other pragmatic features of the SD data are partly encoded in the use of curse words, metaphors, proverbs, and address terms, and the features are also partly reflected in the Chinese discourses described in the preceding sections. Some of the curse words, metaphors, proverbs, and address terms in the SD data have been dealt with in chapter 4, where lexical features of CE are discussed. However, these linguistic expressions are often so culturally unique that they bear pragmatic encodings. Ha Jin has a unique and creative way of contextualizing these expressions in his short stories. Zhang (2002: 307) has pointed out that Ha Jin’s ‘innovations’ are not mere dull translations of Chinese, but achieve a dramatic and arresting literary effect. … Specifically, Ha Jin’s linguistic ingenuity seems to lie in the ability to blend the linguistic forms and semantics of Chinese and English to create a hybrid language of his own.

Zhang notes that ‘the use of curse words and obscenities in literature often reflects the underlying cultural values of a particular society’ (2002: 307). In the SD data, for example, curse words in the forms of loan translations occasionally occur. Example 6.44 1

Late in the afternoon he was taken to the Interrogation Bureau on the second floor. On his way there, in the stairwell, he ran into the middleaged policeman who had manhandled him. The man grinned, rolling his bulgy eyes and pointing his fingers at him as if firing a pistol. Egg of a tortoise! Mr. Chiu cursed mentally. (SD-1)

2

When a guard came to collect the bowl and the chopsticks, Mr. Chiu asked him what had happened to the man in the backyard. ‘He called our boss bandit,’ the guard said. ‘He claimed he was a lawyer or something. An arrogant son of a rabbit.’ (SD-1)

3

Sponge in hand, I went over to clean the table littered by that man. The scarlet Formica tabletop smelled like castor oil when greased with chicken bones. The odor always nauseated me. As I was about to move to another table, I saw a hole on the seat the size of a soybean burned by a cigarette. It must have been the work of that son of a dog; instead of refunding his money, we should’ve detained him until he paid for the damage. (SD-12)

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In examples 6.44(1), (2), and (3), ‘Egg of a tortoise,’ ‘son of a rabbit’ and ‘son of a dog’ are all curse words, though their connotations differ slightly. ‘Egg of a tortoise’ often refers to a bastard, or a bully. ‘Son of a rabbit’ refers to pedant or someone who is very unimportant, and similarly ‘son of a dog’ refers to someone who does not have much conscience. What these expressions share is that they all refer to the ‘son’ of a certain animal. This conforms to the significance of hierarchy in Chinese society, where calling someone a son, or worse still, a grandson is a way of cursing him or her. In the above examples, calling people the son of an animal, according to Chinese cultural norms, is a very strong form of curse. Example 6.45 The crook was flabbergasted, looking at me and then at Jinglin, whose fat face became as hard as though made of copper sheet. With a trembling hand he took the money and mumbled, ‘Foreign dogs.’ He turned and hurried away. In no time he disappeared in a swarm of pedestrians. (SD-12)

‘Foreign dogs’ is used in example 6.45 as a way of cursing those Chinese who work for Cowboy Chicken, a foreign-funded fast food restaurant. ‘Dogs’ in Chinese is a derogatory term, but it is also a term that bears the widespread meaning of being faithful. Therefore, ‘foreign dogs’ was used by the crook, as he thought the Cowboy Chicken employees were faithful lackeys to their foreign owners. Example 6.46 1

‘Not true,’ said Weilan, a scrawny girl. ‘Teacher Shen told us it tastes great.’



‘How can you know?’



‘I just know it.’



‘You know your granny’s fart!’



‘Big asshole,’ Weilan said, and made a face at him, sticking out her tongue. (SD-3)

2

Baisha pointed at Peter’s nose and said sharply, ‘Peter Jiao, remember you’re a Chinese. There are people here who don’t have enough corn flour to eat while you burn chicken every night. You’ve forgotten your ancestors and who you are.’ (SD-12)

Discourse and pragmatic features of Chinese English

A common way of cursing people by Chinese is to refer to people’s older generations or in some cases their ancestors. In example 6.46(1), a bully cursed his kindergarten classmate Weilan by saying ‘You know your granny’s fart!’ In example 6.46(2), it is enough to curse someone by merely saying ‘You’ve forgotten your ancestors and who you are.’ In a society where hierarchy plays an important role, referring to someone as a member of the younger generation, or saying bad things about someone’s older generations can both be ways of cursing. Some curse words are metaphors that occur across cultures. For example, ‘a night owl’ in example 6.47(1) means someone who does most of his or her work during the night time, and ‘an old fox’ in example 6.47(2) refers to someone who is sly, cunning, and a sweet-talker. Example 6.47 1

He knew I was a night owl and always went to bed in the wee hours, never bothering about morning exercises. Again I expressed my admiration for his good health. (SD-10)

2

Mr. Shapiro was an old fox, good at sweet-talking. (SD-12)

However, in addition to those metaphors that are used in many cultures, the SD data also displays metaphors that are of Chinese cultural and pragmatic significance. For example, ‘a flowered pillowcase’ in example 6.48(1) refers to someone who is good-looking, but without much of a brain or wisdom. ‘Stinking broken shoe’ in example 6.48(2), which can also be taken as a curse, refers to someone, especially a woman, who commits adultery. ‘Wolves’ in example 6.48(3) refer to people who are extremely hungry. ‘An ant in a heated pan’ in example 6.48(4) refers to someone who is restless and helpless. In addition, a ‘Party Secretary’ in example 6.48(5) refers to someone who does little work; a ‘housewife’ in example 6.48(6) refers to someone who is small-minded, and a ‘number-one Buddha’ in example 6.48(7) refers to someone who is kind-hearted and patient. These metaphors undoubtedly reflect social and cultural values, and therefore when used convey pragmatic meanings that are understood by CE speakers, as they share cultural assumptions and expectations.

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Example 6.48 1

He wasn’t just handsome, like a flowered pillowcase without solid stuff in it; he studied serious books and was learned, different from most of us, who merely read picture books and comics. (SD-4)

2

‘I, I …’ Her teeth were chattering and she couldn’t speak. They pulled her out while she was sobbing.



‘Stinking broken shoe!’ the other man cursed



Manjin felt uneasy, seeing that Tingting had lost all her charm, her permed hair bedraggled. She looked much older, as though in her forties, five or six wrinkles on her forehead. (SD-5)

3

By the midday some people in the marketplace had heard of this rare bargain, and they came in, all eating like starved wolves. (SD-12)

4

Mr. Shapiro paced back and forth like an ant in a heated pan, while Peter remained quiet, his thick eyebrows knitted together. (SD-12)

5

We nicknamed Mr. Shapiro ‘Party Secretary,’ because just like a Party boss anywhere he did little work. The only difference was that he didn’t organize political studies or demand we report to him our inner thoughts. (SD-12)

6

When I expressed my dissatisfaction to my fellow workers, Feilan said to me, ‘You’re small-minded like a housewife, Hongwen. As long as this place does well, we’ll make more money.’ (SD-12)

7

We were angry at Mr. Shapiro, who again was acting like a numberone Buddha. If you run into an evil man, you have to adopt uncivil measures. Our boss’s hypocrisy would only indulge this crook. (SD-12)

In the SD data, literal English translations of Chinese proverbs are also used. These proverbs serve as effective ways of justifying people’s behaviours, because in Chinese culture, proverbs are seldom challenged or questioned. In example 6.49(1), when Mr. Chiu, a law-abiding university lecturer, was mistakenly arrested by what he called ‘eggs of tortoise,’ he thought he was incapable of justifying his innocence. So he said to himself, ‘when a scholar runs into soldiers, the more he argues, the muddier his point becomes.’ In example 6.49(2), when the stocky and stout Beina married one of the most handsome unmarried men in the factory, people said that ‘a hen cooped up a peacock.’ In example 6.49(3), a proverb is used to illustrate that, although the Chinese Liberation Party was small,

Discourse and pragmatic features of Chinese English

it was effective. In example 6.49(4), the proverb ‘give the hardest steel to the blade’ was used by the vice chairman to justify the apparently unfair treatment of some of the students in his department, which was to assign a foreign expert to teach English only to those students in the top classes. Example 6.49 1

Looking at the ballpoint and the letter paper left for him by the guards when they took him back from the Interrogation Bureau, Mr. Chiu remembered the old saying, ‘When a scholar runs into soldiers, the more he argues, the muddier his point becomes.’ (SD-1)

2

But to many young women in our sewing machine factory, Beina’s marriage was a slap in the face. They’d say, ‘A hen cooped up a peacock.’ Or, ‘A fool always lands in the arms of fortune.’ True, Baowen had been one of the most handsome unmarried men in the factory, and nobody had expected that Beina, stocky and stout, would win him. (SD-6)

3

Six or seven years ago, a half-wit and a high school graduate had started an association in our city, named the China Liberation Party, which eventually recruited nine members. Although the sparrow is small, it has a complete set of organs—their party elected a chairman, a secretary, and even a prime minister. (SD-6)

4

After two years’ study, many of us in the lower classes had caught up and knew English as well as some of those in the top class, which had always been taught by a British or Canadian expert. Whereas we had never had a native speaker to teach us. As a result, our spoken English was deplorable. The department refused to consider our demand seriously, but to forestall another strike, Professor Fang, who had been appointed its vice chairman lately, agreed to have a dialogue with us. So we all gathered in a classroom and listened to him explain why the hierarchical order of the classes should remain unchanged. His reason was that we could hire only one foreign expert at a time, and that this person should teach the best students. He mentioned the saying ‘Give the hardest steel to the blade.’ We did not disagree about that. What we contended against was the permanency of the top group. (SD-10)

Address terms are also of pragmatic significance in Chinese society. Zhang (2002: 308) argues that ‘address terms play an important role in conveying cultural messages, especially concerning the status of the interlocutors and

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the power-relation between them.’ The SD data is full of examples in which address terms bear pragmatic meanings. Example 6.50 The man cleared his throat and said, ‘Miss Chen, we appreciate your interest in the job.’ She was taken aback by his way of addressing her, not as a ‘Comrade,’ as though she were a foreigner or a Taiwanese. He went on, ‘We studied your file the day before yesterday. I’m afraid I have to disappoint you. That’s to say, we can’t hire you.’ (SD-11)

Back in the 1980s, to address a woman as ‘Miss Chen’ instead of ‘Comrade Chen’ could be a way of indicating that she was not one of ‘us,’ as Comrade was a common address term, while Miss, Mr., or Ms. were address terms exclusively for foreigners or people from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. Example 6.51 1

Shan’s hand trembled and she spilled her apple brandy. The wine stained the cuff of the mayor’s trouser leg and the head of his leather boot.



Guhan stepped forward and grasped her arm, saying with a smile, ‘Excuse us, Comrade Mayor. She has drunk too much.’



‘I understand,’ the leader replied unemotionally. (SD-2)

2

The instant they entered Everyday Hardware, a group of policemen sprang at them, pinned them to the cement floor, and handcuffed them from behind. With stupefied faces smeared by sawdust, they screamed, ‘You’re making a mistake, Comrade Policemen! We didn’t steal anything!’ (SD-9)

Examples 6.51(1) and (2) show that at the time Ha Jin’s short stories took place, ‘Comrade’ was a cover-all term to address people, whether it was the Mayor or the Police. In addition, as shown in examples 6.52(1), (2), and (3), ‘Teacher,’ ‘Aunt’ and ‘Uncle’ were also address terms that were commonly used by Chinese, and they are still used as such. The word ‘Lord’ (or lǎoye in Chinese) in example 6.52(3) was also used as an address term. It was a term used to address the judge in a judicial court, or the masters by the servants in ancient China. Here it is used ironically.

Discourse and pragmatic features of Chinese English

Example 6.52 1

When they arrived at the field, Teacher Shen plucked a purslane from between two turnip seedlings. (SD-3)

2

She said loudly to the children, ‘We’re going to gather more purslanes this afternoon. Aunt Chef couldn’t cook those we got yesterday because we turned them in too late, but she’ll cook them for us today.’ (SD-3)

3

I never thought money could make so much difference. The same children who were often told to avoid me will call me Uncle now whenever they see me. Their parents won’t stop asking how things are or whether I have eaten breakfast or lunch or dinner. Many young men in our neighborhood greet me as Lord Liu, and some girls keep throwing glances into my office when they pass by. (SD-7)

In addition to the use of curse words, metaphors, proverbs, and address terms, the Chinese cultural discourse that has been described in the preceding section also contributes to the pragmatic features of CE. To understand CE, people need to have some knowledge of how key Chinese discourse and cultural values work in the society. The SD data reveals that at the time when Ha Jin’s short stories took place, these Chinese discourse and cultural values included: (1) the importance of people’s political status and political life; (2) the special relationship between law and social order; (3) the significance of power and hierarchy in society; (4) the permeability of guanxi and its associated backdoor practice in social networking; (5) the impact of the work unit (or dānwèi) and its role in providing welfare; and (6) the importance of keeping face and maintaining name and honour. An understanding of these discourse and cultural values will help non-Chinese speakers or readers to decode CE.

Conclusions This chapter explored the relationship between CE and CE users by identifying discourse and pragmatic features of CE. The analysis of the discourse and pragmatic features of CE is important because these features inevitably entail the transfers of deeper Chinese cultural values and beliefs by Chinese users of English.

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In this chapter I first developed a framework for analysing CE discourse and pragmatic features. I have defined discourse as an instance of extended language use, and argued that it is concerned with the way English is used by speakers of CE. The discourse features identified in the data comprise a cohesive and coherent Chinese discourse in line with Chinese schema. In terms of pragmatics and pragmatic features of CE, I have adopted Yule’s (1996a: 3) definition of pragmatics, i.e., ‘the study of the relationships between linguistic forms and the users of those forms.’ I have applied this definition to the identification of pragmatic features of CE by analysing the data for sociopragmatic encodings that reflect the underlying Chinese cultural values and pragmatic preferences of CE users. I have also considered a number of key Chinese pragmatic notions and concepts including face, politeness, social hierarchy, and guanxi and suggested how an understanding of these is essential if non-Chinese are to be able to successfully interpret CE discourse and texts. As far as discourse features are concerned, I have identified the ancestral hometown discourse in the spoken ID data; the inductive versus deductive discourse and frame–main discourse in the written ND data; and a number of sociopragmatic discourses in the SD data including discourses of political status and political life; law and social order; power and hierarchy; guanxi and backdoor practice; work unit and welfare; and face, name and honour. As far as pragmatic features are concerned, I have identified in the ID data how child–parent relationships affect the informants in their personal choices and decisions, and how certain speech acts are implemented in CE, including making or responding to compliments. In the written ND data, I have identified how the notions of implied writers and implied readers of newspaper articles affect the discourse patterns of these articles. I have also identified how social hierarchy is communicated through different discourse patterns, and how pragmatic features are intrinsically connected with the discourse features in the ND data. In the written SD data, I have identified pragmatic features through the analysis of culturally unique expressions in the SD data, such as quotes from Chairman Mao, curse words, metaphors, proverbs, and address terms. I have shown that these expressions have encodings that reflect Chinese pragmatic norms and cultural values.

Part C

Implications of Chinese English as a model

This part of the book explores the implications of CE as a model for ELT in China, and for intraand intercultural communication involving speakers of CE.

7

Implications for ELT in China

Taking CE as a model for ELT would have positive implications for the Chinese classroom. This chapter looks in particular at university English learning and teaching, and focuses on four major components of ELT in China, namely, students, teachers, teaching approaches, and English textbooks.

Background to ELT in post-1949 China Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the teaching of foreign languages has been a part of school education. English began to be extensively taught from the mid-1960s, especially in universities. Prior to the supremacy of English as a major school subject, Russian was the preferred foreign language, during what Lam (2002: 246) calls ‘the interlude with Russian.’ However, in what he calls ‘the back-to-English movement’ Russian was displaced by English in Chinese schools in the 1960s due to the changes in China’s diplomatic relations with the former Soviet Union. Since the late 1970s, English has become one of China’s most widely studied foreign languages, an inevitable result of China’s Open Door and economic and political reform policies. Children in cities currently begin learning their ABCs in kindergarten. ‘In most cities, kindergartens are popular if they offer an English programme, because parents want their children to learn English as early as possible because of theories of the advantages of learning a foreign language at an early age’ (Kang, 1999: 46). However, most Chinese children first learn English formally in primary school, or in some rural areas in secondary school. English is not only a compulsory subject in secondary and postsecondary school curricula, but also one of the major subjects for secondary and post-secondary school entrance examinations. According to Bolton

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(2003a: 48) the number of secondary teachers of English increased from 850 in 1957 to around 500,000 in 2003, while he notes that the number of English speakers is estimated to be over 200 million and growing rapidly.

The increasing popularity of English has been challenging for the ELT industry in China. At the tertiary level, there is an ongoing need for qualified teachers of English. The Cultural Revolution (1966–76) resulted in ‘a fault zone’ (Xu, 2002: 231) in many academic fields in China, including foreign language education. During the Cultural Revolution, very few people were trained or educated to be professionals and intellectuals. In addition, a considerable number of those who were trained as teachers of English in the late 1970s and early 1980s went abroad to the United States or other English-speaking countries, or ‘plunged into the sea’—a Chinese saying describing those who engaged themselves in business, trade, administration, or management, for which their English skills were highly valued. Going abroad and ‘plunging into the sea’ were two crazes that arose in China with the implementation of the Open Door and economic and political reform policies. The Chinese, especially educated adults and university students, are motivated to learn English because they believe it will enable them to join an educated elite group and to have access to better jobs, more opportunities, and a wider world. ‘Learning English has thus become an obsession’ (Wang, 1999: 45).

University students Having been a teacher of TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) in China (including Hong Kong) for nearly two decades, I recognize that the motivations of the majority of Chinese university students for learning English are more instrumental than integrative. To use Kachru’s (1988: 6) terms, they use it as a ‘tool’ instead of using it to join a ‘club’ of native speakers. Chinese university students need to meet the minimum requirement of passing the national College English Test Band IV (CET4) in order to obtain their bachelor’s degrees. Once they have passed CET4, some of them may want to achieve a higher level in their English learning, and to pass the national College English Test Band VI (CET6). These examinations have a strong wash-back effect on the teaching and learning

Implications for ELT in China

of English as well as on society as a whole. Chinese society, including prospective employers, regards performance in these examinations as an important indicator not only of English proficiency, but of an overall level of intelligence. In addition, a considerable number of students want to pass certain external English tests, such as TOEFL, IELTS, and GRE for their future studies abroad. ELT in Chinese universities is divided into two strands, one for a relatively small number of English majors, the other—officially termed ‘College English’—for the overwhelming majority of students who are nonEnglish majors. For the majority of these non-English major students, the classroom learning of English often involves four 50-minute class sessions a week. These typically focus on expanding the students’ English vocabulary and improving their reading and listening skills, with some occasional instruction being provided in writing and speaking skills. These nonEnglish majors are required to study English for at least two years or four semesters. These students are keen to improve their English and their performance in English examinations. They are also keen to learn information that is concrete, useful, and practical for their future careers. They want their classroom atmosphere to be lively and they wish to engage in activity-based learning. They also want to be provided with state-of-the-art materials and to have teachers who can provide them with up-to-date information about other cultures and international current affairs. However, the expectations of the students are not often met because of the limitations of many textbooks, and examination-driven teaching approaches. A lack of autonomy means that teachers are often unable to write their own material or adjust their teaching to their students’ needs and expectations. As a consequence, most students feel that they cannot learn English effectively and efficiently because what they learn is not often relevant to them or practical, but rather is imposed on them.

University teachers The feeling of being imposed upon is also common among teachers. They are often acutely aware of ‘the gap between the kind of English that they teach and the English that their students will need in their future academic

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and professional pursuits’ (Senior & Xu, 2001: 68). Jing (1999) of Nanjing University of Technology describes ELT in China as ‘a kettle of warm water that never reaches the boiling point.’ He has underlined a number of causes for this, including low-level repetition in vocabulary learning and teaching in secondary schools and universities, a mismatch between the vocabulary taught and current society, the impracticality of the content, and ‘the negative wash-back effect’ on ELT of national English tests such as CET 4 and CET 6. Jing’s central argument is that ELT in China should be directed towards the teaching of ‘practical English,’ and that students should be taught to ‘use the language as a tool.’ Although teachers are aware of the gap between what is taught in the English classroom and what can be practically used, it is difficult for them to provide their students with extensive and authentic exposure to real-life English. The various English examinations that students are expected to take largely influence the content and method of ELT in China. In addition, university teachers of English are constrained by tradition. Senior and Xu (2001: 67) argue that in the educational system of China traditional Chinese notions about the teacher still hold sway. They note that teachers are assumed to have an authoritative grasp of their subjects, and their job is to transmit that knowledge to students rather than showing students how to access information themselves. With such a tradition, university teachers of English tend to prefer direct instruction and correction to providing opportunities for creative language use, because although they are generally confident about their knowledge of the structure of the language, they are diffident about providing information about sociolinguistic aspects of the language. This is due to their limited exposure to and familiarity with the cultures of the inner circle countries. Teachers struggle to provide their students with the extensive and authentic exposure to real-life English that they know students crave. Many teachers are aware of the limitations of their own knowledge of English and want to update their understanding of the sociolinguistic dimensions of the English language.

Implications for ELT in China

The teaching approach Current ELT classroom instruction in China varies from traditional grammar-translation to communicative approaches. In the past few decades, communicative approaches have been gaining popularity. In adopting communicative approaches, Senior and Xu (2001: 67) show that Chinese teachers of English often face a number of difficulties, including ‘increasing class sizes; the need to prepare students for examinations; deeply rooted beliefs about the efficacy of the grammar-translation method; and their own limited knowledge of sociolinguistic aspects of the English language.’ In spite of the difficulties for communicative teaching approaches in China, many teachers, according to Jin and Cortazzi (1998: 757), propose that ‘the more collective cultures, such as those in China, see learners as a group; teachers give priority to whole-class needs and goals, and emphasize the connections of the individual to the class.’ External examinations, unfortunately, have generally focused on the forms rather than the functions of English. For this reason teaching approaches ‘with Chinese characteristics’ and ELT teaching in China have emphasized language forms, for example, forming the subjunctive mood rather than showing students the contexts in which the subjunctive mood is used. A typical English lesson involves the teacher providing background information, explicating vocabulary and grammar, paraphrasing or translating the text, and checking text-related exercises or administering exam practice tests. Information is therefore largely transmitted through a core textbook that is carefully designed so that language items are presented progressively.

The university English textbook A number of textbook series published in China in the 1980s and 1990s included mainly texts written in standard Englishes expressing the cultural values of Americans or British. An example is the textbook series College English: Intensive Reading (Dong, 1986). According to Xu’s (2002: 233) survey of this series, 32 texts (80%) of the 40 texts in Books I–IV are by American authors or taken from American sources (magazines, newspapers, or book series), and seven texts (17.5%) are by British authors or from

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British sources. Only one text, which is about the British sailor Francis Chichester, is source-unknown. In other words, no cultures other than American or British are reflected in this textbook series. As a consequence, students are theoretically only exposed to texts of American and British cultures in the English classroom. What Chinese students learn from such textbooks are the linguistic expressions and cultural values of Americans or British. With their teachers’ help, students memorize linguistic expressions and decode the cultural values embedded in the texts. They take these expressions and values as having authenticity for their use of English in China. They do not have the opportunity to challenge the knowledge or put it to use in their immediate contexts. Gray (2000: 280) argues that this is the case for much ELT material, with students ‘at the receiving end of a virtually one-way flow of information’ and with ‘little opportunity for them to respond to or challenge the information they receive from the perspective of their own culture.’

CE and ELT in China The assertion that ELT in China has never reached a boiling point has been an issue for over a decade. Chinese English teachers, researchers, as well as students have been working hard in various ways, but ELT in China is a huge undertaking, and it is a system that involves many interrelated components. A number of fundamental questions need to be addressed before progress can be made. These include: Why do Chinese need to learn English? What English is learned and taught in the Chinese classroom? Who knows best about CE and ELT in China? While some students in China are eager to learn English, Zhao and Campbell (1995) claim that many resent having to learn it, and only do so because they have to and because of its importance for educational advancement and social and economic mobility; most are not learning it for international communication. Kirkpatrick and Xu (2002: 277–278) also argue that ‘the great majority’ of Chinese learners of English are ‘far more likely to use it with other non-native speakers,’ and point out that it is not for intraethnic communication either.

Implications for ELT in China

If the goal of learning English is not to facilitate intraethnic and international communication, but for educational, social, and economic advancement, it may be more appropriate to choose a more relevant and attainable variety of English as a model for ELT in China rather than choosing exonormative models. It may be that ELT in China has not reached a boiling point precisely because of the past practice of setting exonormative varieties, such as British or American English, as models. Tomlinson (2004: 3) argues that teaching ‘an irrelevant and unattainable variety of English’ might be one reason that millions of ELT students have been excluded from and diminished by the learning process, failing to learn English as a result. To make ELT more accessible to Chinese students, ELT professionals may need to consider bringing CE into the Chinese classroom. This will be a difficult task because the general public and, as Kirkpatrick (1999) points out, Chinese Ministry of Education officials and ELT professionals in China retain a strong preference for the teaching of a native speaker variety as the standard. For the government this means British English, though young people are leaning towards American English. Tomlinson (2004: 3) argues that non-native English speakers usually learn what they want to learn from what is available to them. And what is available to them is much more than what they are taught; it’s also the language they are exposed to, the language they produce themselves, the paralinguistic expressions of the people they interact with, the whole context of the learning environment inside the classroom and outside in the real world, both during and after a course.

If Tomlinson’s argument holds true, then the English that Chinese teachers and students are teaching and learning cannot be pure American or British English. It must be CE, because it is CE that they are bound to use. The issue of ‘who knows best’ is regarded by Tomlinson (2004: 3) as being neglected in ELT, especially in various TEFL contexts. It is ironical in his view that ‘so far the main proponents of teaching a variety of international English have been native speaker (or at least native speakerlike) applied linguists. Not many are teachers and not many are users of English as a foreign language.’ In other words, Chinese teachers of

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English, who constitute the great majority of ELT practitioners in China, are marginalized in the ELT profession. They are marginalized because ELT models in the past few decades in China have been mainly exonormative and the majority of Chinese teachers of English have limited access to how these models are authentically used and are not, by definition, speakers of these models. The choice of CE as a model for ELT would establish Chinese teachers of English as the ones who know best, which is critical in a ‘Confucian heritage culture’ such as China.

Implications of CE as a model for ELT in the Chinese classroom The choice of CE as a model for the ELT classroom in China would have a number of positive implications for Chinese students and teachers, and teaching approaches and textbooks.

Implications for Chinese students and teachers Choosing CE as a model in the ELT classroom in China would help to: address the needs of Chinese students and teachers in terms of their current and future use of English; contextualize the learning and teaching experiences of Chinese students and teachers; maximize the mother tongue experiences of Chinese students and teachers in their learning and teaching of English; and raise students’ and teachers’ awareness of their Chinese identity through their use of English.

Addressing the needs of Chinese students and teachers One of Kachru’s (1992a: 357–358) six fallacies about English learning and teaching is ‘that in the Outer and Expanding Circles, English is essentially learned to interact with native speakers of the language.’ While a considerable number of university students want to pass external tests to go abroad for further studies and to better qualify themselves for the globalizing world, the opportunities for the majority of Chinese students to interact with native speakers of English are limited. As stated earlier, the majority of Chinese students do not learn English for intraethnic communication or mainly for communication with native

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speakers of English. They learn it because it is a compulsory subject; for educational, social, and economic advancement; and for the limited international communication that might arise with both native and other non-native speakers of English. Chinese teachers, on the other hand, need to qualify themselves as ELT professionals, to provide students with knowledge about the language, and to serve in the ELT classroom as models of successful English learners and users. Even if some Chinese students and teachers want to become native-like English speakers, the current use of CE in the Chinese classroom implies that they do not have to do so to satisfy the requirements of English learning and teaching. As Smith (1991: 36) puts it, ‘no one needs to become more like native English speakers in order to use English well.’ Tomlinson (2004: 3) emphasizes that non-native speakers must recognize their own needs in relation to which variety of English to learn, the method of learning it, the materials to use, and the type of assessment. CE is the logical choice for use in the teaching and learning of English. It would answer the needs of Chinese teachers and students.

Contextualizing learning and teaching experiences Two other fallacies about English learning and teaching proposed by Kachru (1992a: 357–358) are that ‘English is necessarily learned as a tool to understand and teach American or British cultural values, or what is generally termed the Judeo-Christian traditions’ and that ‘the goal of learning and teaching English is to adopt the native models of English (e.g., RP or GA).’ This belief in teaching cultural values and Received Pronunciation, i.e., British English, or General American in the past few decades in China has led to varying degrees of decontextualization of ELT in China. One symptom of this is the failure of ELT to come to a boil. Tomlinson (2004: 3) warns of the ‘danger’ that ‘an expert syllabus could be imposed on learners without any input from them and without a methodology to bring it to useful life.’

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To avoid this danger, English learning and teaching in China needs to be contextualized. It is desirable that Chinese students use English to satisfy their own needs. Brumfit (1982: 6) argues that the success of learning English as a foreign language depends on the learners’ ‘integrating the language with their own ideological and social needs.’ However, traditional ELT in China has been very much tied to British and American cultures. When Chinese students have authentic contacts outside their classrooms, they find that very few people choose to talk about British or American cultures with them. Instead, these students are often expected to discuss Chinese culture. Although they have a great deal of knowledge about this, they often have difficulties describing it in English. Jing (1999) gives an example of a foreign teacher who asked some students what they typically ate for breakfast. The students could not answer properly because they did not have the vocabulary for describing a Chinese breakfast, such as, ‘steamed buns’ and ‘rice porridge.’ They could of course lie, and say, in relation to the cultures in their textbooks, that they had milk and bread. These students’ difficulty is not surprising given that even Chinese teachers of English may find it difficult to describe their typical breakfast, such as yóutiáo, dòujiāng, and zhácài, the equivalents of which in English are ‘fried bread stick,’ ‘soybean milk,’ and ‘pickled mustard leaf.’ To contextualize English teaching, teachers need to be aware of the aims of ELT. Cook (1999: 197) points out that language teaching needs to address goals ‘that relate to the students’ life within the classroom’ and ones ‘that relate to the students’ use of English outside the classroom.’ These two types of goals, in the context of ELT in China, can be integrated by bringing CE into the Chinese classroom. This would enable Chinese students to have a taste of authentic language in use and provide them with realistic data for language learning. The choice of CE as a model would also have implications for recruiting English teachers. Traditionally, native-speaking English teachers have been preferred. These teachers often believe that learners must absorb the foreign culture in order to learn the foreign language (Alptekin & Alptekin, 1984: 21–22). Such a notion to a certain extent decontextualizes English learning and teaching. Chinese students are likely to take these nativespeaking English teachers as role models, but will soon find it difficult to

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speak and use the language in exactly the same way as their teachers do. These students may be able to pick up a few colloquial expressions, or some background knowledge of the countries where the teachers come from. However, it is difficult for them to put what they have picked up from their teachers into use in contexts other than their classrooms. Chinese teachers of English may serve as better language models for students. They have both tangible and intangible influences on the students. They usually have extensive experience of learning and using English as a foreign language, and this experience, both successful and unsuccessful, almost never fails to arouse the interest of students in learning the language. Chinese English teachers also have an awareness of the historical, cultural, and social sensitivity towards English in the Chinese context. In addition, they are well aware of the needs and expectations of their students, and can therefore help contextualize ELT in the Chinese classroom. Prodromou (1988: 39) argues that the use of local varieties of English enables teachers to ‘be sensitive to the status of English as an international language on the one hand and the learners’ cultural background on the other.’ This too suggests that Chinese teachers of English may be better placed to meet the needs of English language learners in China.

Maximizing mother tongue experiences in learning and teaching English The choice of CE as a model would help maximize the mother tongue experiences of Chinese students and teachers in their learning and teaching of English. Traditionally while learning English, ‘students are always translating into and out of their own languages—and teachers are always telling them not to’ (Swan, 1990: 96). However, some research (Cook, 2001; Xu, 2002; Butzkamm & Caldwell, 2009) identifies mother tongue use and code-switching by learners as valuable pedagogical tools in the classroom. In addition, Llurda (2004: 317) emphasizes the need for ELT in EFL contexts to ‘draw on the previous knowledge of the language learner through exploiting their knowledge of their own language and culture.’ Chinese students of English by definition are different from monolingual users of English. They are trained to be bilinguals. When they have to use

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English, for example, taking English examinations, having job interviews in English, or reading newspapers and watching TV programmes in English, their mother tongue experiences remain relevant. Therefore, what students need in learning English is to expand their knowledge and enrich their experience in both English and their mother tongue. They should be provided with conditions to fulfil their roles as successful bilinguals, and the mother tongue experiences they express in English should be acknowledged as evidence of bilingual creativity. The use of CE would help satisfy these needs by maximizing the transfer of the mother tongue knowledge and experiences of both Chinese students and teachers inside and outside the classroom. In addition to Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, Chinese teachers should also talk about Ha Jin’s short stories, which have been discussed in this book.

Raising students’ and teachers’ awareness of their Chinese identity Given that China is a nation of expanding circle English, Chinese students and teachers have traditionally seen English as not being their own language, but the language of its native speakers. Therefore, when they speak English, they do not wish to be identified as being Chinese and they attempt to hide their Chinese identity. Kirkpatrick and Xu’s (2002) survey on Chinese attitudes to English varieties and CE shows that 60.2% of the respondents disagree with the statement that ‘When I speak English, I want other people to know that I am from China.’ Xu’s (2006) later survey shows no significant changes in students’ unwillingness to identify themselves as Chinese when speaking English. In the outer circle, the issue of non-native speakers’ identity through English has been well addressed by Kachru. He argues that ‘the most important outcome of pluricentricity is that the traditional English canon has been de-mythologized and new canons have been established with their own identities: literary, linguistic and cultural’ (1988: 4). In the Chinese context, however, the issue of identity has not yet been addressed. Although at present intelligibility in terms of accuracy and fluency is the primary concern of Chinese students and teachers, it does not mean that identity will not become an issue for them. It is likely that in the near

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future, a concern for Chinese identity through English will develop among Chinese speakers of English. The motivations for expressing identity through English can be analysed in line with Maslow’s theory of human motivation (1970: 35–47). Maslow posits a hierarchy of human needs with physiological needs at the lowest level. Above that are four levels of needs: for safety, for belongingness and love, for esteem, and for self-actualization. At the physiological level, Chinese students and teachers do not have an urgent need to use English. For the majority of Chinese students and teachers, the need for safety remains predominant, which in this context means their sense of security in terms of accuracy and fluency when they use English. As soon as such a need is satisfied, the need for belongingness and love starts to emerge. At this stage, the community will be seeking to use the standard varieties of English in order to belong or be loved. The most common two options for Chinese students and teachers are British or American English. CE is not currently among the options. The need for esteem is associated with identity and it is at this stage that Chinese students and teachers will be thinking about the relationship between their use of English and their identity. At the very top of Maslow’s hierarchy is the need for self-actualization. According to Maslow, if such a need is to be satisfied, ‘a musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be. He must be true to his own nature’ (Maslow, 1970: 46). Thus an American must speak American English, an Indian, Indian English, and a Chinese, Chinese English (CE). The choice of CE as a model would help raise Chinese students and teachers’ awareness of their Chinese identity through the use of English. Its adoption would support them by suggesting that English can be Indian and Singaporean as much as British or American, and it can also be Chinese, with distinctive features or Chinese characteristics. It would also suggest to them that the distinctive features of CE are a necessary means for them to express and understand their own cultures through English, because these distinctive features are reflections of the development and changes in Chinese society. As Chinese students and teachers gain security

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and confidence in using English to express their beliefs, cultures, and ways of life, there may come a time in the not-so-distant future when they will adopt CE willingly to communicate their identity in the context of World Englishes.

Implications of CE for English teaching approaches and textbooks The choice of CE as a model for ELT in the Chinese classroom would have a number of positive implications for teaching approaches and English textbooks. Such a choice would help: validate culturally Chinese ELT approaches; develop innovative ELT approaches that connect the classroom with Chinese society; legitimize texts about cultures other than English; and develop texts about different cultures in cross-cultural perspectives.

Validating culturally Chinese ELT approaches The traditional use in the ELT classroom in China of approaches similar to audio-lingual methods and text-centred grammar-translation methods as well as the eclectic nature of the approaches adopted (Ho, 2002: 6), and the presence of some approaches associated with Confucian heritage, such as memorization and repetition (Jin and Cortazzi, 2002: 138), raise questions about the ability to adopt a communicative approach. CE could play a significant role in reconciling Chinese cultural traditions with Western communicative teaching approaches. Firstly, the use of CE would imply that not only CE expressions but also the mother tongue and experiences of students and teachers are allowed in the classroom. Teaching approaches that have been traditionally used would then become more real or authentic, and could be more easily integrated with communicative approaches. Secondly, the use of CE would help to create conditions under which Chinese students are trained to code-switch between Chinese and English, a skill that is naturally required of them outside the classroom, such as when they are surfing the internet, watching movies in English with Chinese subtitles, or translating materials between English and Chinese for practical purposes.

Implications for ELT in China

Developing innovative ELT approaches that connect the classroom with Chinese society The choice of CE as a model would help to develop innovative teaching approaches that connect the classroom with society. Traditional Chinese approaches are text-based and teacher-centred, while the communicative approaches that have been attempted so far in the Chinese classroom primarily focus on how students interact with native speakers of English. Senior and Xu (2001: 65) note that students in Eastern and Western cultures ‘expressed disappointment with their learning more often than might have been expected.’ They argue that there may be ‘inherent problems’ (p. 73) in approaches that are located near the extreme ends of the continuum: teacher-centeredness and student-centeredness. It can be argued that these inherent problems lie in the fact that in these approaches, the link between the classroom and society in general has not been given priority. This has allowed exonormative models of English such as British or American English to prevail in the Chinese classroom over the past two decades. Senior (2002: 397–403) proposes a ‘class-centred’ approach to language teaching based on the notion of ‘language classes operating as communities of learners.’ This approach stresses the importance of ‘developing nonthreatening classroom atmospheres, in which students feel comfortable enough to interact readily with others in the target language.’ It also stresses the importance of setting up learning tasks by teachers ‘to accommodate not only the learning but also the social needs of their students.’ In a class-centred approach for ELT in the Chinese setting, CE would help to develop a non-threatening classroom atmosphere. Traditionally, with exonormative varieties of English as classroom models, Chinese students had few opportunities to put what they learned in the classroom into authentic use in society. This led to a sense of insecurity. They worried about their limited English vocabulary, insufficient knowledge of ‘correct’ English grammar, and the inappropriate use of English. The use of CE would enable students to readily interact among themselves and with the teacher in the classroom, and to put what they have learned into use outside the classroom.

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Legitimizing texts about cultures other than English The choice of CE as a model would help to broaden the perspectives of Chinese students and teachers on World Englishes through legitimizing texts about cultures other than English. The ongoing research on varieties of English in outer and expanding circle nations, including CE, is a reflection of the pluricentricity of the English language. Kachru (1996: 135) points out that this pluricentricity ‘raises issues of diversification, codification, identity, creativity, cross-cultural intelligibility, and of power and ideology.’ Bolton (2003a: 256) also argues that ‘an important strand to the World Englishes paradigm is its potential for pluralism and pluricentricity. Pluricentricity in the Chinese context may involve a reconsideration of the discourses of both Chinese and English.’ The choice of CE as a model would legitimize texts about Chinese cultures, and also imply that texts about non-Chinese cultures can be selected for textbooks. Since the turn of the century, there have already been some changes in this direction in China. The College English: Intensive Reading series (Dong, 1986) exclusively contained texts about Anglo cultures. However, the currently used textbook series New Horizon College English: Intensive Reading (Zheng, 2002) includes a number of texts about cultures other than English. One text (in Book II, Unit 3) describes a birthday dinner for a father in a Chinese household. The text emphasizes the love, pride, and power that the mother expresses in her cooking; the cultural schema of cooking a Chinese dish—‘she tossed the garlic in the hot oil’; the mother’s strategic routines of making ‘negative remarks about her own cooking’; and the rest of the family’s ‘diplomatic’ responses to the mother. Chinese culture is also reflected indirectly through the series of cultural misunderstandings committed by the daughter’s Western fiancé. He brings a bottle of French wine as a gift for the parents, drinks ‘two frosted glasses full’ while everyone else has a half-inch ‘just for a taste,’ and agrees with the mother’s criticisms of her own cooking. Other texts in the series describe other cultures. One example concerns the brain drain in India during the 1960s and 1970s, when young people dreamed of going to America—‘the land of opportunity’—after finishing their tertiary education in India.

Implications for ELT in China

Such texts, coupled with CE as a model for ELT in the Chinese classroom, can help Chinese students to gain knowledge of a comprehensive sociolinguistic profile of the language they are learning.

Developing texts about different cultures in cross-cultural perspectives The choice of CE as a model would help to broaden the perspectives of Chinese textbook writers and editors, so that they develop texts about different cultures in cross-cultural perspectives. Such texts illustrate how cultures other than English, including Chinese, are interpreted by native speakers of English, and how Anglo cultures are perceived by Chinese or other non-native speakers of English. In Japan the textbook Intercultural English provides such cross-cultural perspectives (Honna & Kirkpatrick, 2004), including, for example, a text that shows how Chinese culture is interpreted by a native speaker of English. Xu’s (2004a: 61–62) survey of the forty texts of the 2002 textbook series New Horizon College English: Intensive Reading shows that although these texts still predominantly present Anglo-American cultures and social values narrated by first person (singular or plural) native English speakers, they also contain texts in cross-cultural perspectives written by non-native speakers of English. Five, or 12.5%, of the texts have an Anglo-American social-cultural reference but are narrated by non-native speakers of English. One of these shows how a Chinese student, upon arriving in the United States, practises and experiences the cultural routine of introducing people to each other. Such texts are useful because many Chinese university students plan to study abroad. Through such texts, they can better understand linguistic and cultural routines in an Anglo cultural context, although the text mentioned above shows the embarrassment of the writer’s not being able to manage the routine in question. Texts about different cultures in cross-cultural perspectives are not difficult to find. Ha Jin’s story ‘After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town,’ for example, would make excellent teaching material. The story is narrated by a young man named Hongwen, who works for an American boss in China in a KFCstyle American fast food restaurant, and so experiences Chinese-American corporate culture. The story is thus a mix of Chinese and Anglo cultures

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from a Chinese perspective. It is therefore culturally relevant to Chinese readers. From Hongwen’s perspective, Chinese readers can understand how an American and a Chinese may misunderstand each other and reach a compromise.

Conclusions This chapter illustrates how the choice of CE as a model for ELT in the Chinese classroom could help to address a number of needs that teachers and students have, and how it could encourage improvements in teaching approaches and textbooks. There is presently a worldwide paradigm shift from English to Englishes. In this context, it can be argued that the choice of CE as a model, with certain unique linguistic and sociolinguistic features, is not only feasible but also desirable.

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Implications for intra- and intercultural communication

One of the defining characteristics of CE is that it is used by Chinese for intra- and international communication. In this chapter, I will discuss the implications of CE for intra- and intercultural communication involving speakers of CE. In discussing these implications, I will refer to Hymes’ (1974: 62) SPEAKING model, particularly the components of setting, participants, ends, and norms.

The use of CE in context The use of CE is contextualized in China, as English is currently only used in limited domains. There are also degrees of nativization, as proposed by Zhang (2003: iii), in terms of English as a medium of intranational communication and English for international communication. The choice of CE as a model, as noted in chapter 7, would contextualize the learning and teaching of English in China. In addition, the process of contextualization enhances intra- and intercultural communication in that the appropriate use of CE may help address a number of essential components for successful interpersonal communication including settings, participants, ends, and norms. The SPEAKING model was proposed by Hymes (1974: 62) in his seminal work Foundations in Sociolinguistics: An Ethnographic Approach. The name of the model comes from the first letters of the components of speech communication, including setting and scene, participants, ends, act sequence, key, instrumentalities, norms, and genre. Hymes (54–62) states that these components generally refer to physical circumstances; speaker and audience; goals and outcomes; form and order of the event; the tone, manner, or spirit; the medium of transmission of speech; social rules; and

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categories such as poem, myth, tale, proverb, riddle, curse, prayer, oration, lecture, commercial, form, letter, and editorial. The SPEAKING model determines how an event of communication is implemented, for example, what language to use, which norms to follow, and how purposes are communicated. The use of CE has an intrinsic relationship with Hymes’ SPEAKING model in terms of analysing events of intra- and intercultural communication involving speakers of CE. Firstly, the use of CE is contextualized in China. This indicates that the setting where English is used plays an essential role in determining how English is used, and how communication takes place. Take, for example, a tour guide showing a group of international tourists from Southeast Asia around the Palace Museum in Beijing. The setting and scene (the ‘S’ in Hymes’ model) determine what language can be used, and what can be communicated between the tour guide and the tourists. Secondly, the use of CE reflects the relationship between the use and users of CE. For example, in an ELT classroom, the teacher and students use English to talk about news and current affairs in China or to recall personal anecdotes about English learning. The fact that the participants (the ‘P’ in Hymes’ model) are ethnically Chinese is, to a great extent, related to the use of CE. Thirdly, the use of CE reflects the relationship between language and culture, and this goes beyond events of intra- and intercultural communication in an attempt to search for inherent linguistic and cultural norms. ‘Norms’ (the ‘N’ in Hymes’ model) are related to what is linguistically and culturally appropriate in communication. For example, when two Chinese friends meet each other in the morning, if they choose to greet each other in English, they may have a number of choices, including ‘Hi! How are you?’, ‘Where are you going?’, or ‘Have you eaten your breakfast?’ The second and third questions are culturally appropriate in certain parts of China if they are asked in Chinese. However, whether their English equivalents are appropriate depends on how CE is accepted or used among speakers of English in China. In this sense, norms also play an important role in intraand intercultural communication, although they are not as tangible as grammatical rules. In summary, the use of CE is contextualized, and this has implications for intra- and intercultural communication involving speakers of CE.

Implications for intra- and intercultural communication

Implications of the use of CE for intracultural communication Intracultural communication in English among Chinese takes place in domestic domains such as education and research (e.g., ELT, Chinese journals with English abstracts and indexes), professional settings (e.g., job interviews, English media), popular culture (e.g., radio and television programmes), official settings (e.g., English training for civil servants, testing of English proficiency for employment purposes), interpersonal communication activities (e.g., email correspondence), and others. Appropriate use of CE in the Chinese context would have positive implications for intracultural communication among speakers of CE. It would help to authenticate intracultural communication activities among speakers of CE, incorporate Chinese norms in intracultural communication, and strengthen the bilingual creativity of Chinese speakers of English.

Authenticating intracultural communication activities The majority of Chinese believe that authentic use of English occurs only when they communicate with native speakers of English. Cheng (1992: 163) argues that ‘in spite of the number of people involved in learning English, there is no English-speaking Chinese community; nor does English serve as an interlanguage among the nation’s fifty-six ethnic groups.’ He therefore concludes that ‘English is used primarily in international communication, and written English in China appears in publications mainly for international consumption.’ However, changes have taken place since China’s Open Door and reform policies in the late 1970s. English is increasingly used by Chinese as a means for social and economic mobility. It is also used in a number of domestic domains as listed above. For example, taking English proficiency tests has become one of the major contextualized and authentic uses of English by Chinese. These tests range from public school term examinations to externally administered English tests, including IELTS, TOEFL, and GRE. Chinese, especially university students, also authentically use English when they listen to popular songs in English, watch DVD movies in English, access information in English on the Internet, and send each other emails in English or Chinese–English

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mixed codes. These uses of English may not involve native speakers of English, but they are authentic. In intracultural communication in English, Chinese speakers of CE need to be aware of the authenticity of their use of English. In the Chinese context, preparing for English examinations is authentic, while imitating American or British pronunciations is not; introducing oneself, and expressing one’s interests and skills in a job interview in English is authentic, while reciting the speeches by the U.S. presidents or the British prime ministers is not; and writing emails in English or mixed codes is authentic, while the attempt to write as a native speaker of English is not. Hymes (1980: 20) argues that ‘in actuality language is in large part what users have made of it.’ Therefore, it can be argued that using English for Chinese purposes is a feasible solution as far as English for intracultural communication in China is concerned. English can be used by Chinese, in and outside China, to express Chinese cultures, and to communicate the uniqueness of Chinese among other peoples around the world. For example, speakers of CE should ideally be able to know how to express what they have for breakfast in English, and how to describe their traditional customs and various festivals in English. They should also be able to read English newspapers and watch and listen to English news about Chinese current affairs. Chinese culture-bound activities can be expressed in words appropriate to the English of native speakers, for example, ‘bread’ instead of ‘steamed bun,’ ‘shadow boxing’ instead of ‘taichi,’ and ‘Chinese violin’ instead of ‘erhu’; however, people will then risk the loss of authenticity. Authenticity matters in intracultural communication among speakers of CE.

Incorporating Chinese norms in intracultural communication When describing the process of English nativization in the outer circle, Li (1998: 39) argues that English has developed into a world language used by learners in different EFL communities for intra- and inter-ethnic communication. Accordingly, there is no reason to see systematic deviations from Anglo-American norms

Implications for intra- and intercultural communication

at the pragmatic and discourse levels as errors. Rather, there is room to analyze these as non-native speakers’ attempts to use L2 in such a way as to conform to their L1 pragmatic norms and cultural values.

Li’s argument can also be applied to the expanding circle, such as China. If two Chinese choose to greet each other in English by asking ‘Have you eaten?’ or ‘Where are you going?’, as they would in Chinese, there is no need to argue whether they have adopted a correct or incorrect way of greeting each other. Such greetings apparently sound more natural and appropriate to them than exonormative greetings such as ‘How do you do?’, ‘How are you?’, or ‘How is it going?’ In the ID data analysis for discourse and pragmatic features in chapter 6, the ancestral hometown discourse as a Chinese norm to start a conversation among people from different parts of China always yields an extended exchange of information. As analysed in that chapter, in making an ancestral hometown discourse sound cohesive to Chinese interlocutors, it is essential that relevant topics be exploited, including historical events, food, weather, architecture, dialect, and typical cultural activities of one’s hometown. One implication of the above analysis is that if Chinese discourse and pragmatic norms facilitate intracultural communication in English, these norms should be actively incorporated in the communication among users of CE. In the SD data, Ha Jin incorporates uniquely CE expressions and Chinese cultural norms into his stories which are easy to perceive, especially for those with knowledge of Chinese cultures. In his short story ‘Alive,’ for example, CE expressions such as ‘grinding a chunk of dough with a rolling pin,’ ‘kneading together the edges of a wrapper with his fingertips,’ and ‘stirred the stuffing in a porcelain bowl with a pair of chopsticks,’ together with the Chinese schema of a vividly depicted happy family making dumplings (jiǎozi), can make Chinese readers of English associate intimately with their mother tongue expressions and experiences. It can be argued that properly incorporated Chinese linguistic and cultural norms in intracultural communication can enhance communication among speakers of CE.

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Strengthening the bilingual creativity of speakers of CE The use of CE can strengthen bilingual creativity among Chinese speakers of English in their intracultural communication. Kachru (1988: 7) points out that there are deep sociological, linguistic, attitudinal and cultural reasons for what he calls the ‘contexts of diversification’ of English. The diversification, he argues, is ‘symbolic of subtle sociolinguistic messages’ including a ‘marker of creativity potential.’ Kachru (1995: 9) identifies three strands in such creativity: The first strand is that of cultural identity of a variety. It has an ideological and metaphysical context that goes beyond a mere translation. The second strand brings in culture-specific personal interactions in the news media, in matrimonial advertisements, in obituaries, and in letters of invitation. The third strand relates to discourse strategies and speech acts. These are transcreated into English to approximate the Asian and African backgrounds.

The use of CE in the Chinese context has implications for bilingual creativity among speakers of CE. CE by definition is characterized by the transfer of Chinese linguistic and cultural norms at varying levels of English. This transfer creates opportunities for bilingual creativity. In addition, speakers of CE possess two sets of competing norms associated with Chinese and English. When engaged in intracultural communication, these speakers adopt bilingual discourse strategies and relevant norms in CE to facilitate communication. For example, in the ancestral hometown discourse discussed in chapter 6, one of the most common topics is where the speakers come from and what their hometowns are like. When referring to their hometowns, they use bilingual strategies to talk about local dialects, products, customs, and traditions. The linguistic features of CE identified in this book can be regarded as evidence of bilingual creativity. Take for example, how nativized Chinese English words, such as individualism, migrant workers, labour farms, and a flowered pillowcase, have all shifted their meanings from Anglo-American contexts to approximate Chinese society. These instances of bilingual creativity do not impede intracultural communication. Instead, if used appropriately, they serve as a common ground for shared knowledge among speakers of CE.

Implications for intra- and intercultural communication

Implications of the use of CE for intercultural communication Compared with intracultural communication among speakers of CE, intercultural communication between Chinese and other speakers of English takes place in a much wider range of domains, including politics, economics, culture, diplomacy, the military, science, technology, business, trade, finance, tourism, education, and various industries involving nonChinese speakers of English. The use of CE could have a number of positive implications for intercultural communication. Firstly, it could make Chinese and other speakers of English aware of the commonalities and particularities among themselves in their intercultural communication. Secondly, it could make people aware of the competing cultural norms in intercultural communication. Thirdly, it could help Chinese speakers of English build up identities as both Chinese and competent bilingual users of English in intercultural communication.

Increasing awareness of commonalities and particularities Intercultural and international communication not only involves a lingua franca, but also an appreciation of social and cultural differences, what Bickley (1982: 86) calls ‘all those areas of behavior which are not shared across national or cultural lines.’ CE, more than any exonormative variety of English, would be better able to encourage this kind of communication. CE’s uniquely Chinese lexical, syntactic, discourse, and pragmatic features could make Chinese and other speakers of English aware of both the commonalities and particularities in one another’s linguistic and cultural backgrounds. This effect of CE in communication would be similar to the effect of reading Ha Jin’s writings. Zhang (2002: 313) lists a number of linguistic devices that Ha Jin uses to convey ‘the particularities of Chinese political and social life.’ These particularities will be evident to international readers, enabling them to better understand and communicate with English speakers from China.

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However, while social and cultural differences form part of the basis for intercultural communication, if not addressed properly, they also tend to create problems between different speakers of English. Scollon and Scollon (2001: 156) note that some ‘differences in discourse patterns lead directly to unwanted social problems such as intergroup hostility, stereotyping, preferential treatment, and discrimination.’ Hopefully, CE would not only form a basis for intercultural communication, but also be more likely to motivate Chinese and other speakers of English to engage in intercultural communication, thus making the problems identified by Scollon and Scollon less likely.

Increasing awareness of competing cultural norms The notion of linguistic and cultural norms is one of Hymes’ SPEAKING components for speech communication (i.e., ‘N’ for ‘norms’). It is also an important element in intercultural communication, because people generally follow linguistic and cultural norms appropriate to their social contexts and adjust to or shift from one set of norms to another when the settings (S), participants (P), and ends (E) of their communication vary. In this way people behave appropriately in the eyes of others and also communicate who they are. Kachru (1996: 148) points out that interactions between non-native English speakers from different backgrounds ‘take place in localized (nativized) discoursal strategies of, for example, politeness, persuasion, and phatic communion modelled after the speech acts of a dominant local language transcreated into English.’ Such localized discoursal strategies are pertinent to linguistic and cultural norms of people from diverse backgrounds. Bamgbose (1998: 2) has developed a classification of norms in a cross-cultural perspective: a ‘code norm’ is ‘a standard variety of a language or a language selected from a group of languages and allocated for official or national purpose’; a ‘feature norm’ is ‘any typical property of spoken or written language at whatever level and the rules that go with its production or use’; and a ‘behavioural norm’ is ‘the set of conventions that go with speaking including expected patterns of behaviour while interacting with others, the mode of interpreting what is said and attitudes in general to others’ manner of speaking.’

Implications for intra- and intercultural communication

Code and feature norms in this classification are often referred to as ‘linguistic norms’ in intercultural studies, while behavioural norms fall largely into the category of cultural norms. In intercultural communication involving speakers of English with different linguistic and cultural norms, it is always the differences in linguistic norms, e.g., unique features of pronunciation, lexis, and grammar, that people find difficult to adjust to in the initial stages of communication. However, more challenging are the differences in cultural norms. Levels of politeness, irony, and sense of humour, under- or overstatement can sometimes be misinterpreted when speakers of English engage in intercultural communication. In addition, norms form a hierarchy in terms of ‘the highest norm of communication’ and its ‘subordinate norms’ (Bartsch, 1987: 212). The highest norm of communication is to express oneself in such a way that what one says is recognisable and interpretable by others in agreement with what one intends them to understand.’ The highest norm of communication indicates that intercultural communication involves norm accommodation by both the speaker and the hearer. The key to norm accommodation is to be aware of the competing norms among people engaged in intercultural communication. It is likely that the linguistic and cultural norms of CE may be dominant if the intercultural communication takes place in China (Xu, 2004b: 287). Therefore, it is useful for both Chinese and other speakers of English to be aware of the linguistic and cultural features and norms of CE. Such an awareness will in turn enhance intercultural communication involving Chinese and other speakers of English.

Building up identities as both Chinese and bilingual users The use of CE occurs within the paradigm of World Englishes. The term ‘Englishes,’ according to Kachru (1996:135), is ‘indicative of distinct identities of the language and literature.’ Appropriate use of CE by Chinese speakers of English does not only help Chinese identify themselves as Chinese but also as competent bilingual speakers in the international English-speaking community. Since Chinese and English are currently two of the major languages in the world with an incomparable number

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Implications of Chinese English as a model

of speakers, the implications of the increasing use of CE for intercultural communication would be significant. Firstly, the use of CE would imply that Chinese speakers are capable of communicating internationally, with both native and other non-native speakers of English, in a wide range of domains. As the general proficiency of English learners in China improves, and as the authentic use of English in China as a means of communication or social and economic mobility increases, it can be anticipated that CE will be appropriated linguistically and socio-culturally in varying Chinese contexts, and that CE users will be identified not only as Chinese, but also as competent bilingual users in their communication with other speakers of English. Secondly, the use of CE would also imply that CE users are distinctive from native and other non-native speakers of English, because CE is characterized by the transfer of linguistic and cultural norms between Chinese and English. As bilingual speakers of Chinese and English, CE users often speak, switch, or mix codes of the two languages depending on the different configuration of the elements in the SPEAKING model. It is natural that in international communication, CE users not only exchange and share information with other speakers of English, but also display linguistic and cultural features that are unique to CE. Ha Jin is an example of a competent CE user, exploring the uniqueness of Chinese English in his stories and successfully managing to communicate interculturally with readers all other the world. Messud (2000: 9) states that ‘it is impossible to escape the impression that for Ha Jin, the English language—potentially so pliable, so complex—is ultimately an unwieldy tool that merely suffices for his purposes’ and that ‘his works read as if he had written them in Chinese and merely undertaken the translations himself.’ Ha Jin is only one representative of a vast number of CE users. The identity of Ha Jin as an ethnically Chinese writer of English shows that CE users are distinctive in the international English-speaking community. Kachru (1988: 5) points out that English is now essentially an exponent of local cultures, and that in a majority of contexts, ‘the shift is from the native-speaker-oriented text to the localized text in which the bilingual and bicultural competence of an interlocutor is taken for granted.’ In addition, as the localized character of the language increases, naturally ‘the diversity becomes more marked.’

Implications for intra- and intercultural communication

In the case of CE, bilingual and bicultural competence and the increasing number of users will help make Chinese speakers of English a distinctive group in the international English-speaking community. Thirdly, the use of CE by Chinese speakers implies that as an integral part of the international English-speaking community, speakers of CE will need to build up their confidence and their Chinese identity when communicating internationally in English. However, currently in China, competent CE users form a relatively small elite group, including interpreters, translators, journalists, editors, teachers, and people who are engaged professionally in international English communication, for example, those in diplomacy, foreign trade, and foreign affairs. The acknowledgement of CE and CE users, to a large extent, is constrained by attitudinal, and social and economic factors. Kirkpatrick (1999: 13) argues that in countries such as China, ‘for there to be any change, there needs to be a change of philosophy, a change of mindset, about the role(s) and value of English.’ Kirkpatrick (2007: 10–11) also proposes an ‘identity–communication continuum,’ saying that language has three major functions: ‘The first is communication—people use language to communicate with one another. The second is identity—people use language to signal to other people who they are and what group(s) they belong to. The third, which is closely related to identity, is culture—people use language to express their culture.’ The major concern of the majority of Chinese speakers of English is smooth communication with accuracy and fluency benchmarked against native varieties of English. As a consequence, a learner mentality prevails among Chinese speakers of English. To a Chinese, English is seldom used, but always learned and practised in a decontextualized manner. Authentic use of English in most cases, without involving native speakers of English, therefore is hardly recognized. Chinese speakers of English with the learner mentality tend to experience difficulties in intercultural communication and develop certain responses, for example, a readiness to apologize for poor English, a propensity to take responsibility when miscommunication occurs, a preference for writing over spontaneous speaking in English, and a seeming lack of involvement in social networking with other international participants.

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Implications of Chinese English as a model

It is necessary that Chinese users of English be aware that English is not the sole possession of the minority native speakers, and that it is widely used by people from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds for a variety of purposes. It is important to build confidence and show their Chinese identity in intercultural communication. Hymes (1980: 25) argues that ‘communication cannot be equated with a common language,’ and states that English is no longer ‘an exclusive possession of the English and the Americans—there are perhaps more users of English in the Third World, and they have their own rights to its resources and future.’ Therefore, in the long run, speakers of CE should have self-assurance in events of intercultural communication as much as any other speakers of English, and participate equally and fully as members of the international Englishspeaking community.

Conclusions Within the paradigm of World Englishes, the notion of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in China needs to be demystified. English is a means for social and economic mobility for Chinese speakers of English as much as for intra- and intercultural communication. This chapter shows how the appropriate use of CE in the Chinese context could have positive implications for both intra- and intercultural communication.

Summary

One major aim of this book is to describe and analyse the features of CE in order to investigate the extent to which it is a developing variety of English. It then moves on to assess what the implications would be if CE was taken as a model for ELT and its implications for intra- and intercultural communication.

Major findings The major findings are summarized below. The analyses of the lexical, syntactic, and discourse and pragmatic features of CE were carried out with reference to three sets of data, namely, the interview data (ID), the newspaper data (ND), and the short story data (SD).

Lexical features of CE CE lexis comprises three groups: Chinese loanwords (that is, transliterations and loan translations of Chinese) or what I call ‘inner circle CE lexis’; nativized Chinese English words or outer circle CE lexis; and English words that are common to other varieties of English or expanding circle CE lexis. The lexical features of CE are derived from inner circle and outer circle CE lexis. This book shows that the ID data is characterized by a large number of transliterated borrowings from Chinese, and a number of nativized Chinese English words, some of which are potential candidates for inner circle and outer circle CE lexis. This book also shows that the ND data displays a pattern for CE lexis, which is that a transliteration is often followed by a loan translation or an explanation. As CE develops, it can be expected that this pattern may gradually disappear. The SD data is characterized by loan

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Summary

translations, and idioms or proverbs literally translated from Chinese. A list of CE lexis identified in this book is presented in appendix 3.

Syntactic features of CE The syntactic features of CE are characterized by transfers from Chinese into English by CE speakers. Most syntactic features of CE identified in this book are derived from the ID data, while only a few syntactic features exist in the ND data and the SD data. This is predictable as the ID data represent spoken data while the ND and SD data are written data. Typical syntactic features of CE in the ID data include adjacent default tense (ADT); null-subject/object utterances (NS/O); co-occurrence of connective pairs (CCP); subject pronoun copying (SPC); yes–no response (Y/NR); topic–comment (TC); and inversion in subordinate finite wh-clauses (ISC). The syntactic features in the ND data include nominalization, coordination of clause constituents, and modifying–modified sequencing. The syntactic features in the SD data include the use of imperatives and tag variation strategy. A list of these features is presented in appendix 4.

Discourse and pragmatic features of CE The discourse and pragmatic features of CE entail the transfer of cultural values and beliefs from Chinese into English. This book identifies a number of discourse features of CE. The ancestral hometown discourse was identified in the ID data. The inductive versus deductive discourses, and the frame–main discourse were described for the ND data. In addition, a number of sociopragmatic discourses exist in the SD data, including political status and political life; law and social order; power and hierarchy; guanxi and backdoor practice; work unit and welfare; and face, name, and honour. As far as the pragmatic features of CE are concerned, this book has shown how cultural speech acts are implemented by Chinese speakers of English, how pragmatic features are intrinsically connected with the discourse features, and how Chinese pragmatic norms and cultural values are encoded in CE. The ID data shows the importance of child–parent relationships for the informants’ personal choices and decision making,

Summary

and the ways in which the informants make or respond to compliments. The ND data suggests how the distinction between the implied writers and readers of newspaper articles affects the discourse patterns of those articles, and how social hierarchy is communicated through different discourse features. The SD data illustrates how culturally encoded expressions, such as curse words, metaphors, proverbs, and address terms reflect Chinese pragmatic norms and cultural values.

Implications of CE as a model for ELT in the Chinese classroom The choice of CE as a model for ELT in the Chinese classroom would have a number of positive implications for Chinese students and teachers of English. It could help address the needs of Chinese students and teachers in terms of their current and future use of English, contextualize the learning and teaching experiences of Chinese students and teachers, maximize the mother tongue experiences of Chinese students and teachers in their learning and teaching of English, and raise students’ and teachers’ awareness of their Chinese identity through their use of English. In addition, the choice of CE as a model would also have a number of positive implications for teaching approaches and English textbooks in China. It could help to validate culturally Chinese ELT approaches, develop innovative ELT approaches that connect the classroom with Chinese society, legitimize texts about cultures other than English, and encourage the development of a variety of texts about different cultures in crosscultural perspectives.

Implications of the use of CE for intra- and intercultural communication The use of CE would have a number of positive implications for intra- and intercultural communication. Appropriate use of CE in the Chinese context would help authenticate intracultural communication activities among speakers of CE, incorporate Chinese norms in intracultural communication, and strengthen the bilingual creativity of Chinese speakers of English. It would also help Chinese and other speakers of English become aware

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that there are commonalities and particularities among themselves, and that there are competing cultural norms in the context of intercultural communication. Furthermore, appropriate use of CE could help Chinese speakers of English build up identities as both Chinese and competent bilingual users of English in intercultural communication.

Concluding remarks Research on World Englishes has been conducted for nearly half a century. In the context of Asian Englishes, much research has been carried out on Indian English, Malaysian English, Singapore English, Filipino English, and Hong Kong English. It is still controversial whether the ‘WE-ness’ among users of English (as opposed to an ‘us vs. them’ attitude) includes CE and Chinese speakers of English. However, increasing evidence shows that CE has developed to a stage at which it deserves attention from academics and the public both in China and abroad. This book takes a step in this direction by providing a data-based study of CE. Nonetheless, data-based as this book is, the corpus of data is relatively small and more studies should be carried out on varying corpora involving different types of texts and using more data from the categories studied in this book, i.e., ID, ND, and SD data. In addition, this book does not involve a data-based description of phonetic and phonological features, and I would predict substantial variation in this area due to Chinese dialectal influences on the use of English by Chinese. Finally, aside from the SD data, the source of the data for this book is mainly Beijing, so issues of varieties within a variety, i.e., the second stage in Kachru’s model for non-native Englishes (1992a), or the plural form of ‘Chinese Englishes,’ to use Bolton’s (2003a) term, need to be addressed, certainly for the major Chinese dialectspeaking areas. In relation to the study on regional difference in CE and to Kachru’s model for non-native Englishes, sociolinguistic research is recommended to identify a model for the development of CE, and to evaluate the extent to which the model is applicable to the development of other performance varieties of English in the expanding circle. CE is likely to become a variety of English. Firstly, the guesstimated 10 to 70 million competent Chinese users of English (Yang, 2006) and 200 to 350 million Chinese who currently learn English will speed up the development

Summary

of CE. Secondly, as a result of China’s economic and socio-political reforms and the Open Door policy, rapid changes have taken place in China. These changes have enhanced and increased communication between China and the rest of the world, encouraging the spread of English in China. Thirdly, an increasing number of regional and international events are hosted in China. These facts all suggest the likelihood of Bolton and Tong’s (2002: 180) prediction that ‘with China’s emergence as a world power, with its increasing integration into the world system, China will need English to project its own presence on the regional and the international scene.’ This book suggests that this English will be CE and it will be important for the international English-speaking community to become familiar with it. Research on CE as a variety of English in the expanding circle contributes to the studies of World Englishes. Berns (2005: 92) points out that ‘as more research is conducted and more studies made of the sociolinguistic reality of English across expanding circle contexts, it becomes increasingly difficult to take seriously the charge that the Englishes of this circle are products of poor teaching and learning.’ Kirkpatrick (2007: 151–152) predicts that CE is likely soon to become the most commonly spoken variety of English in Asia, because of the attitudes of Chinese speakers of English towards an acceptance of CE as a variety, together with the sheer number of speakers of CE. In conclusion, this appears to be the dawning of the age of expanding circle Englishes in general and of CE in particular. CE is likely to become a ‘future power’ (Xu, 2010: 282) and a major expanding circle English in the years to come, and its features and their implications should be understood and acted upon.

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Appendices

Appendix 1: Description of the data The data used in this book includes 36 interviews with Chinese speakers, 20 newspaper texts, 12 short stories, and two questionnaire surveys involving a total of 424 respondents. These are described in more detail below.

Interviews The 36 interviews were conducted in Beijing. Each interview lasted around 20 to 30 minutes with the author interviewing two informants at a time in English. There were occasions in the interviews where code-switching and code-mixing between English and Chinese occurred, but English was the dominant language used in all of the interviews. The interview topics centred around the informants’ hometowns, university campus lives, personal interests, and their future career options. The 72 informants were divided into two groups. Group A comprised 36 second-year university undergraduate students with majors including mechanical engineering, electronic engineering, management and business administration, computer science, and law. Group B comprised 36 first-year or second-year postgraduate students majoring either in English linguistics or literature. Their English proficiency was generally higher than that of Group A.

Newspaper texts The 20 newspaper texts were selected from China Daily. China Daily is the leading English newspaper in China, and it is affiliated with the State Council, the central government of the People’s Republic of China. Most of the journalists working for China Daily are bilingual in Chinese and English. There are also native English specialists working as language editors or polishers. Table A1.1 shows the titles of the articles.

Appendices

Table A1.1 The titles of the articles in the ND data

Code

Title

ND-1

Premarital test may be optional: State Council scrutinizes draft law that would leave choice to couples

ND-2

Flights ready for take-off: All applications for indirect charter flight due to be approved in near future

ND-3

Louis Cha’s kung fu tale retold

ND-4

Farmers target of help: Leaders pledge to narrow gap between city and countryside

ND-5

Manned space mission ever nearer

ND-6

Laowai performers shine: Overseas lovers of local culture set to battle it out

ND-7

China Daily Commentary: Improve rural China for a more affluent nation

ND-8

To go back or not go back for festival—that is the tough question

ND-9

Health care faces chances and challenges: More and better medical services will be needed

ND-10

Creating friendlier classrooms

ND-11

Nianhua combines tradition, art and prayer: Century-old wood block painting enlivens atmosphere of Spring Festival

ND-12

Top 10 peaks listed

ND-13

Hu: Promote economic development

ND-14

Crack down on fake goods

ND-15

Stable RMB proponents weigh in: Economists refute reports that China’s yuan is undervalued

ND-16

Guzheng musician rocks on: ‘Cross over’ theme goes beyond scope of EastWest relations

ND-17

Overseas study spells success

ND-18

Chinese athletes head for Asian Winter Games

ND-19

Orphans radiate smiles at special party

ND-20

China Daily Commentary: Good luck to all in Year of the Goat

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Short stories The 12 short stories were taken from the collection entitled The Bridegroom by Ha Jin (2000), who left China in 1985 for the United States, and whose first language is Chinese. The twelve short stories were originally written in English. All of them describe life in China from the 1960s to the 1990s. Table A1.2 lists the titles of the short stories. Table A1.2 Titles of Ha Jin’s short stories in the SD data

Code

Title

SD-1

Saboteur

SD-2

Alive

SD-3

In the Kindergarten

SD-4

A Tiger-Fighter is Hard to Find

SD-5

Broken

SD-6

The Bridegroom

SD-7

An Entrepreneur’s Story

SD-8

Flame

SD-9

A Bad Joke

SD-10

An Official Reply

SD-11

The Woman from New York

SD-12

After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town

Questionnaire surveys Two questionnaire surveys were conducted at a university in Beijing. In the first survey, the questionnaire was given to 171 students; 88 of them were English majors, consisting of 30 male students and 58 female students; 83 were engineering students, consisting of 77 male students and 6 female students. There were thus a total of 107 male and 64 female respondents. In the second survey, the same questionnaire was given to 253 different students at the same university; 129 were English majors, consisting of 36 male students and 93 female students; 124 were engineering students, consisting of 96 male students and 28 female students. Therefore, a total of 132 male students and 121 female students responded to the second questionnaire. In all, there were 424 responses.

Appendices

Appendix 2: Questionnaire survey on attitudes towards Chinese English Age:

Gender: Male _ Female _ (please put a ü )

Place of birth: First dialect:

(city/province) (for example: Guangdong dialect; Shanghai dialect, etc.)

University subject (major): To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements? (Please ü the appropriate circle)

Statements 1. I am a native speaker of standard Putonghua. 2. Only people from certain areas of China speak standard Putonghua. 3. Chinese would rather speak their own dialect of Chinese than standard Putonghua. 4. Standard English is ‘good’ or ‘proper’ English, which is ‘correct’ in pronunciation, grammar, and meaning. 5. When we learn English, we should learn British English. 6. When we learn English, we should learn American English. 7. Only native English speakers can speak Standard English.

Strongly agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly disagree

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8. There are many standard Englishes in the world. 9. When I speak English, I want other people to know that I am from China. 10. Standard English is easier to understand than other varieties (for example, the English spoken by Singaporeans or Japanese, etc.) 11. English is now the most important international language. 12. One day there will be a standard variety of English called Chinese English. 13. Most Chinese need English so that they can communicate with English native speakers. 14. Most Chinese need English so that they can communicate with other non-native speakers of English.

Appendices

Appendix 3: Lists of inner circle CE lexis Inner circle CE lexis by transliteration Word

Short gloss

Bai Mao Nu

name of a Chinese revolutionary opera, literally ‘White-haired Girl’

banli

Chinese chestnut

Bayi qiyi

August 1st Uprising, a historical event in 1927. August 1st has later been observed as ‘Army Day’

bok choy

a term borrowed from Cantonese, referring to an Asian member of the cabbage family

cheongsam

a term borrowed from Cantonese, referring to a distinctive Chinese dress

chop suey

a term borrowed from Cantonese, referring to a Chinese dish consisting of vegetables and a gravy, literally ‘fried vegetables’

chow mein

a term borrowed from Cantonese, referring to a Chinese dish consisting of a combination of noodles and vegetables, literally ‘fried noodles’

Confucius

a Chinese philosopher (551–479 B.C.), also known as Kong Fuzi

congou

black tea grown in China

dandan mian

spicy peanut noodles, Sichuan recipe

Dayuncun

the athletes’ village of the 21st Universiade held in 2001 in Beijing

dazibao

big character posters, usually for political purposes

dimsum

a traditional Chinese cuisine, light refreshments

dizi

a musical instrument, bamboo flute

doudou

acne, pimple

doujiang

soybean milk

falungong

a Chinese spiritual movement, literally ‘practice of the wheel of law’

fen

a Chinese monetary unit, 100 fen equal 1 yuan

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fenghuang

mythological Chinese birds that reign over all other birds, also known as the Chinese Phoenix

fengshui

an ancient Chinese proto/pseudo/ethnoscience that addresses the layout of cities, villages, dwellings, and buildings, literally ‘wind and water’

fuye

a sideline or side occupation

ganbei

a Chinese toast which requires all present to empty their glasses in one gulp; cheers; bottoms up

ganbu

party and administrative officials

ganqing

a key concept in Chinese, loosely translated as ‘feeling’ between two people or two organizations

ginseng

a common name for several plants of the family Araliaceae, valued for their medicinal properties, literally ‘man root’

guanxi

a key concept in Chinese that describes a personal connection between two people in which one is able to prevail upon another to perform a favour or service

guohua

traditional Chinese ink and colour paintings

guzheng

a traditional Chinese string instrument, or Chinese zither

Han

a member of the principal ethnic group of China

houmen

a secret or underhand means of access (to a place or a position), literally ‘back door’

hua

a language or a dialect in Chinese

Huizu

one of China’s largest minority groups

jiajiao

private tutoring

jiaozi

Chinese dumplings

jinshi

imperial-doctoral degree, administered in the capital every three years in dynastic China

juren

imperial-master’s degree, administered at the provincial level every three years in dynastic China

kang

a Chinese bed or sleeping platform that was sometimes heated with pipes coming from the kitchen stove

Appendices

kowtow

to kneel and touch the forehead to the ground in expression of deep respect, worship, or submission, as formerly done in China

kumquat

small, edible, orange-like fruit

kung fu

Chinese martial arts

Kuomintang

name of a political party in mainland China and Taiwan

kwai-lo

the devil people; foreigners, literally ‘ghost’

lajiao

hot pepper, chilli

laowai

a casual and respectful term in Chinese for ‘foreigner’

li

a traditional Chinese measure of distance, today standardized at 500 meters

mah-jong

a game of Chinese origin usually played by four persons

malatang

a boiled hot and spicy snack on bamboo skewers

maodun

conflict or contradiction, literally ‘lance and shield’

maotai

a well-known Chinese alcoholic beverage, distilled from a variety of sorghum

menggu bao

Mongolian tents, or yurts in Inner Mongolia

menshen

door gods

nianhua

Chinese Spring Festival pictures, a form of Chinese folk art

nianyefan

Chinese New Year’s Eve meal

oolong

a traditional Chinese tea somewhere between green and black tea

piaoyou

Peking Opera fans

pingpang

table tennis, also known as ping-pong

Pinyin

a system to phonetically render Chinese ideograms in a Latin alphabet

pipa

a traditional Chinese musical instrument, Chinese lute

puke

cards used for Poker games

Putonghua

the official spoken language of China, literally ‘common spoken language’

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Appendices

qinqing

emotional attachment among family members or relatives

ren

Chinese word for person, people, or human beings

renminbi

the official currency of China, abbreviated as CNY, literally ‘people’s currency’

San Kong

the three well-known tourist sites in Qufu, the hometown of Confucius, namely Kongfu, Kongmiao, and Konglin, or the Mansion, Temple, and Cemetery of Confucius

Shenzhou V

the first manned space mission launched by China on 15 October 2003

sheng

a traditional Chinese wind musical instrument

shuizhuyu

a Sichuan dish, literally ‘water boiled fish’

sumiao

a means of drawing, or pencil sketch

taichi

a Chinese system of physical exercises designed especially for selfdefence and meditation, also known as ‘taiji quan’

tanggu

a traditional Chinese percussion instrument

Tian’anmen

the principal entrance to the Imperial Palace Grounds, commonly called the Forbidden City, in Beijing, China, literally ‘Gate of Heavenly Peace’

tianqiao

footbridge or overpass, literally translated as ‘sky bridge’

tofu

a soft cheese-like food made by curdling soy milk

wonton

a term borrowed from Cantonese, referring to a small Chinese dumpling filled with a mixture of seafood, meat, or vegetables eaten in soups or as appetizers

xiangsheng

a traditional Chinese comedic performance in the form of a monologue or a dialogue, also known as ‘crosstalk’

xiao

a traditional Chinese wind instrument

xiaokang

a society of modest means, or a middle-class society, a term used by the Chinese government starting around 2002 to refer to the goal for China to reach by the year 2020

xing

fishy smell

Xinyang maojian

a type of green tea produced in Xinyang, Henan province

Appendices

xiucai

a scholar who passed the imperial examination at the county level in the Ming and Qing dynasties in China

xuanxiuke

an optional or elective course in school

xun

one of the oldest ancient Chinese wind instruments

yamen

local bureaucrat’s, or mandarin’s, office and residence of the Chinese Empire from the Qing dynasty, where the bureaucrat and his staff conducted government business of the town or region, settling disputes, maybe jailing a lawbreaker or two, issuing decrees and policies, and living daily life

yang

a Chinese word for ‘goat’

yangqin

a Chinese musical instrument, also known as ‘santur’ and ‘cymbalom’

yasuiqian

gift money given to children by seniors in China around the Chinese New Year, literally ‘money to hold back the years’

youtiao

fried bread stick

yuan

China’s monetary unit, also known as renminbi (RMB)

yumaoqiu

a Chinese word for ‘badminton’, literally ‘feather ball’

zhacai

pickled mustard leaf

Zha Mei An

name of a Peking opera performance

zhiji

a Chinese word of ‘intimate friends’, literally translated as ‘knowing self’

zhuanchang

a Chinese word for ‘speciality, or special skill or knowledge’

Inner circle CE lexis by loan translations Word

Chinese equivalent in Pinyin, and short gloss

the 863 Program

863 jìhuà China’s national development program for high technology

anger and gas

nùqì anger, rage, fury

army overcoat

jūn dàyī an overcoat that was popular throughout the Cultural Revolution and the 1980s in China

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Appendices

backdoor

hòumén a secret or underhand means of access (to a place or a position)

barefoot doctor

chìjiǎo yīshēng Chinese rural health worker in Mao’s era, often inadequately trained, but practising as a doctor while working in the fields

bird’s nest

yānwō a well-known dietary material in traditional Chinese medicine, believed to be made by swallows with small fish and other material

black market

hēishì an illegal market in which goods or currencies are bought and sold in violation of rationing or controls

building a welloff society in an all-round way

quánmiànjiànshè xiǎokāng shèhuì an objective for China, put forward at the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2002

capitalist roader

zǒuzīpài a term used by leftist radicals during the Cultural Revolution to attack two prominent leaders, Deng Xiaoping and Liu Shaoqi

Chinglish

zhōngguó yīngyǔ a blend of Chinese and English, often in the form of English words with Chinese syntax, such as ‘Good good study, day day up’ meaning ‘Study hard and make progress every day’

counterfeited goods

jiǎmào wĕiliè chǎnpǐn goods including pirated and low-quality products

the Cultural Revolution

wénhuàdàgémìng a catastrophic reform movement initiated by Mao Zedong in 1965 to eliminate counterrevolutionary elements in the country’s institutions and leadership

dragon boat

lóngzhōu an open boat in a traditional Chinese style, propelled solely by paddlers using single bladed paddles, steered by use of a steering oar, fitted with a drum, head, and tail

dress warmly and eat their fill

wēnbǎo fundamental demands of the Chinese, also a sign of moving away from poverty

egg of a tortoise

wángbadàn a Chinese curse word

eight-grain porridge

bābǎozhōu also known as eight-treasure porridge, which has at least eight ingredients, including rice, beans, jujube, and nuts, symbolizing a bumper grain harvest

eight-legged essay

bāgǔwén a style of Chinese traditional writings specifically for imperial examinations in the Ming and Qing dynasties

Appendices

eight-treasure rice pudding

bābǎofàn a sweet steamed rice pudding with dried fruits and nuts, usually served as a Chinese New Year dessert

fake and shoddy commodities

jiǎmào wĕiliè chǎnpǐn cf. counterfeited goods

the fees-to-tax reform

fèishuì gǎigé a reform on fees and taxes in rural China

Five Classics

wǔjīng the corpus of five Confucian classics, comprising Yi Jing (Classic of Changes), Shi Jing (Classic of Poetry), Li Ji (Classic of Rites), Shu Jing (Classic of History), and Chun Qiu or Lin Jing (Spring and Autumn Annals)

Five Grains’ Sap

wǔliángyè a well-known Chinese white spirit distilled from fermented grains

Flying Horse moped

fēimǎ mótuō a certain Chinese brand of moped

Flying Pigeon bicycle

fēigē zìxíngchē a certain Chinese brand of bicycle

a foreign devil

yángguǐzi a Chinese derogatory term for ‘foreigners’

Four Books

Sìshū the Chinese classic texts selected by Zhu Xi in the Song dynasty to serve as an introduction to Chinese philosophy and Confucianism, comprising Da Xue (Great Learning), Zhong Yong (Doctrine of the Mean), Lun Yu (Analects of Confucius), and Meng Zi (Mencius)

four modernizations

sìgè xiàndàihuà China’s development strategy of modernizations in agriculture, industry, science and technology, and national defence, a concept launched by Zhou Enlai at the Fourth National People’s Congress (1975) in China

certificates of merit

jiǎngzhuàng a type of honour certificate usually put in a frame

freestyle boxing

sàndǎ a type of martial arts, also known as ‘vale tudo’

fried soy paste

zhájiàng a sauce for noodles

Gang of Four

sìrén bāng a term used by the post-Mao leadership to denote the four leading radical figures, namely Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan, and Wang Hongwen, who played a dominant political role during the Cultural Revolution until Mao’s death in September 1976 and their arrest several weeks later

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Appendices

to get rich is glorious

zhìfù guāngróng a slogan popular in contemporary China

the gods of the door

ménshén a Chinese decoration placed on each side of an entry to a temple, home, business, etc., believed to keep evil spirits from entering

Great Leap Forward

dà yuèjìn a campaign conceived by Mao Zedong in late 1957, and adopted by the National People’s Congress in 1958, a drive to increase industrial and agricultural production following the suspension of Soviet aid and the desire to catch up with the advanced nations of the world

Great Production cigarettes

dàshēngchǎn xiāngyān a certain brand of Chinese cigarettes

Green Bamboo Leaves

zhúyèqīng a certain brand of Chinese liquor

hawthorn flakes

shānzhāpiàn a Chinese sweet, made of hawthorn fruit

healthcare items and nutritional food

yíngyǎng bǎojìan pǐn health food or products often given as gifts for the elderly

hometown language

jiāxiānghuà the dialect of a person’s hometown

ice-cream bricks

bīnggùn’er ice lolly, or ice-cream bar

Imperial Academy

hànlínyuàn an institution, founded in China in the eighth century, that performed secretarial and literary tasks for the court. Also known as the ‘Hanlin Academy’

imperial competitive examination

kējǔ kǎoshì imperial China’s civil service examination system, invented in the Sui dynasty

inner heat

shànghuǒ or nèirè a symptom associated with having a cold, or pressure

inner thoughts

sīxiǎng thinking, or what’s in one’s mind

iron rice bowl

tiĕ fànwǎn a term used in China to refer to an occupation with guaranteed job security, as well as steady income and benefits. Traditionally, people considered to have iron rice bowls included military personnel, members of the civil service, as well as employees of various state-run enterprises

Appendices

join the Revolution

cānjiā gémìng a phrase that is used by Chinese seniors referring to the time when they joined the army, the workforce, or the Communist Party

local language

dìfang huà or fāngyán a dialect of Chinese that is spoken in certain parts of China

local specialities

tǔtèchǎn local food or products that are unique to a particular place in China

Long March

Chángzhēng the 25,000-li (12,500-kilometer) march that Mao Zedong and his Communist Red Army underwent to avoid being captured and killed by China’s Nationalist Party from 1934–35

the long sword

chángjiàn a form of Chinese martial arts performed with swords

mantis boxing

tángláng quán a classical Chinese martial arts system founded during the Kangxi reign (1662–1722) at the beginning of the Qing dynasty

martial arts movies

wǔdǎ diànyǐng movies of a genre that involves Chinese martial arts, or kung fu, and are characterized by extensive fighting scenes employing various types of martial arts

May 4th Movement

Wǔsì yùndòng one of the famous anti-foreign movements in China, also known as ‘the Chinese Enlightenment.’ Taking place on May 4, 1919, it marked the beginning of the upsurge of nationalist feeling, with unity of purpose among patriotic Chinese of all classes

meat coupons

ròupiào ration coupons for meat used in China during the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, when the supply of meat was limited

Mid-Autumn Festival

Zhōngqiū jié a traditional Chinese festival falling on the 15th day of the eighth month of the Chinese lunar calendar. The full moon on this day symbolises family unity and togetherness

mung bean soup

lǔdòu tāng a soup that is made of mung beans. Believed to have some medical effect to relieve inner heat

name and honour

míngyù a term that is closely associated with one’s ‘face’ in Chinese culture

national food coupon

quánguó liángpiaò a type of ration coupon for grain and rice used across China during the 1960s, 70s, and 80s

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Appendices

New Year pictures

niánhuà Chinese New Year woodblock prints, one of the most common forms of household decoration in China. Most are designed to celebrate the New Year, and with their themes of optimism and their brilliant colours they bring a spark of light into an otherwise dreary mid-winter environment

One country, two systems

Yīguó liǎngzhì an idea originally proposed by Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping in 1984, for the unification of China

Open Door policy

kāifàng zhèngcè a Chinese government policy issued in 1978 by which China began to allow international trade and foreign direct investment

the Opium War

Yāpiàn zhànzhēng a trade-inspired war between the United Kingdom and the Qing Empire in China from 1839 to 1842, and from 1856 to 1860

paper tiger

zhǐ lǎohu one that is seemingly dangerous and powerful but is in fact timid and weak. It is said to have been first translated from Chinese when Chairman Mao Zedong said of the U.S. in 1956 that ‘the United States is nothing but a paper tiger’

the Party’s call

Dǎng de hàozhào a phrase that was popular in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, referring to the guidance of the Communist Party to the Chinese youths

Peony cigarettes

Mǔdān xiāngyān a brand of Chinese cigarette

Phoenix bicycle

Fènghuáng zìxíngchē a brand of Chinese bicycle

plunge into the sea

xiàhǎi give up one’s former occupation and get engaged in business, trade, administration, or management

political status

zhèngzhì miànmào a Chinese concept referring to one’s political status of being a Communist Party member, a Youth League member, a Young Pioneer, or simply none of these, the ‘Masses’

political studies

zhèngzhì xúexí weekly, biweekly, or monthly group meetings with colleagues or employees of the same work unit, when government policies or current affairs are studied and discussed

a potbelly like a military general’s

jiāngjūndù also known as a ‘beer belly’, the fat stomach that a man develops when he has drunk a lot of beer for many years. In Chinese culture, it is often positively referred to as a military general’s belly

prevent sunstroke

fángshǔ prevent suffering heat stroke

Appendices

Project 211

211 gōngchéng an effort of the Chinese government to develop 100 top universities in China for the 21st century

pseudo-classic palaces and houses

lóutángguǎnsuǒ buildings that resemble ancient Chinese architecture

Red Guard

Hóngwèibīng an activist youth movement in China, prominent during the Chinese Cultural Revolution of the late 1960s, that espoused Maoist principles

reform and opening up

gǎigé kāifàng a series of government policies issued since 1978 aiming to improve the economic and political status of China

returned overseas students

guīguó liúxuéshēng Chinese students who have done their degrees and returned to serve in China

a revolutionary Martyr

gémìng lièshì the people’s liberation army soldiers who died at wars

rice bowl

fànwǎn cf. iron rice bowl

running dogs

zǒugǒu lackeys; people who help someone harm other people

saving face

liú miànzi allowing one to maintain one’s dignity or prestige; designed to avoid admitting something embarrassing

self-criticism

zìwǒ pīpíng an oral or written report of one’s wrong-doings and one’s determination to rectify them

son of a dog

gǒuzǎizi a curse in Chinese for a person who acts like a running dog

son of a rabbit

tùzǎizi a curse in Chinese for a person whom people look down upon

special economic zone

jīngjì tèqū a geographical region, such as Shenzhen or Zhuhai in China, that has economic laws different from China’s typical economic laws with the goal of increasing foreign investment

spiced beans

wǔxiāngdòu a Chinese food made of broad beans

Spring Festival

Chūnjié the traditional Chinese New Year festival based on the Chinese lunar calendar

Spring Festival pictures

níanhuà cf. New Year pictures

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starved wolves

èláng an expression in Chinese meaning ‘very hungry’ people

steamed bread

mántou steamed buns that are served in Northern Chinese cuisine. Made with wheat flour, white, and soft and fluffy in texture, being much less dense than baked breads

sworn brothers

bǎ xiōngdì close friends who help each other especially in sorting out troubles

Temple of Heaven

Tiāntān literally the ‘Altar of Heaven,’ situated in southeastern urban Beijing, in Xuanwu District. First constructed in 1420, and thereafter visited by all subsequent emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties

terra cotta warriors and horses

Bīngmǎyǒng also known as the ‘Terracotta Army,’ inside the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, was discovered in March 1974 during the sinking of wells for farmland irrigation construction near Xi’an, Shaanxi province, China. The army consists of more than 7,000 life-size tomb terra cotta figures of warriors and horses buried with the self-proclaimed First Emperor of Qin (Qin Shi Huang) in 210 B.C.

three direct links

sāntōng also known as the ‘Three Linkages,’ comprises direct postal, transportation (especially airline), and trade links between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan. Since the end of major combat operations of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, all such contact has been routed through intermediate destinations, mainly via Hong Kong or Macau

Three Represents theory

Sāngè dàibiǎo lǐlùn a policy developed by Jiang Zemin for the Communist Party of China. The formal statement of the theory is: ‘Reviewing the course of struggle and the basic experience over the past 80 years and looking ahead to the arduous tasks and bright future in the new century, our Party should continue to stand in the forefront of the times and lead the people in marching toward victory. In a word, the Party must always represent the requirements of the development of China’s advanced productive forces, the orientation of the development of China’s advanced culture, and the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people in China.’

a three-section cudgel

Sānjiégùn a type of Chinese kung fu, using a weapon consisting of three sections, usually made of wood or metal

tidal wave of peasant workers

míngōng cháo inter-provincial migration of rural labourers

Appendices

township enterprises

xiāngzhèn qǐyè also known as ‘township and village enterprises’ or TVEs, are Chinese rural enterprises

tree-ear soup

mù’er tāng soup cooked with jelly fungi, which the Chinese believe to be able to improve breathing and circulation

twisted rolls

huàjuàn a twisted form of steamed bun, often with some seasoning

underground factories

dìxià gōngchǎng factories that involve the manufacture of fake and shoddy products, or illegal business

Watermelon Festival

Xīguā jié a festival that takes place between June and July in Daxing County, Beijing, China, involving watermelon tasting, folk performances, visits to farmers’ houses

a well-off society

xiǎokāng shèhuì cf. xiaokang

work unit

dānwèi the basic-level organization through which party and government officials control the social, political, and economic behaviour of residents. The dānwèi typically controls the allocation of housing, grain, edible oil, and cotton rations; the issuance of permits to travel, to marry, and to bear or adopt children; and permission to enter the army, party, and university and to change employment

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Appendices

Appendix 4: List of CE syntactic features Feature type

Examples

Adjacent default tense (ADT)

Last year, I write a letter ... I write two letters every week.

Null-subject/ object utterances (NS/O)

1. Sometimes just play basketball, and sometimes go to the Beijing Library, and sometimes just play some games on computer. 2. We can see movies, and other activities about English. Yes, I like very much.

Co-occurrence of connective pairs (CCP)

1. Yes, although it’s not as big as Beijing, but I like it, because I was born in it. 2. Because in the canteen of our school, it is too crowded at the first of this semester, so we wouldn’t like to go ... go there to have our lunch or supper, so we choose some small res ... restaurant to have our food.

Subject pronoun copying (SPC)

Some of my college classmates they like to dress up very much, and they don’t like to study very much.

Yes–no response (Y/NR)

Researcher: You mean your hometown is not so crowded? Informant: Yeah. Not so crowded.

Topic–comment (TC)

You know, I think this society, the people get more and more practical.

Unmarked OSV (OSV)

So, um ... I think the love is important, and the money I don’t care.

Inversion in subordinate finite wh-clauses (ISC)

I really don’t know what is International English.

Nominalization

Examples

Head nominalized noun phrases (HNNPs)

investment in the sectors of education, health and culture in rural areas

Premodification nominalized noun phrases (PreNNPs)

‘long-term’ land-use rights

Appendices

Postmodification nominalized noun phrases (PostNNPs)

the top priority given to deepening reform in rural areas

Mixed nominalized noun phrases (MNNPs)

the prevailing perception

Paratactic compound nominalized noun phrases (paratactic CNNPs)

rural prosperity and the well-being of farmers

Hypotactic compound nominalized noun phrases (hypotactic CNNPs)

the guiding principle for the development of agriculture

Multiplecoordinate construction

To close the economic gap, top officials agreed yesterday to deepen the ongoing reforms on the grain distribution system, further restructure the agricultural sector and regulate agricultural business, by making it more efficient and structured.

Modifying– modified sequencing

Because many farmers lack adequate knowledge and experience to distinguish counterfeit goods they are generally more vulnerable.

Use of imperatives

His mother, Jian, put in, ‘Yaning, be patient. Tell her to just wait a few months. When your father becomes the vice director, he’ll ask for a new apartment. They’ll give us one for sure.’

Tag variation strategy

1. Tell me, do you all want to have purslanes for dinner or not? 2. Remember to save lots of goodies for me, got it? 3. So everybody must be a good child and work hard. Understood? 4. So I’m a bad match, eh? 5. Let’s find a quiet place to talk this out, all right?

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Appendices

Appendix 5: Categorization of the 78 nominalized noun phrases from the four ND articles Category

Examples

Head nominalized noun phrases (HNNPs)

1. investment in the sectors of education, health and culture in rural areas (ND-4) 2. well-off in the broadest of senses, not only materially, but socially (ND-4) 3. a 5.9 per cent increase (ND-4) 4. the transfer of surplus rural workers to urban areas (ND-4) 5. the country’s top decision-makers (ND-7) 6. the backwardness of rural areas (ND-7) 7. the country’s present-day accomplishments (ND-7) 8. the protection and better use of water resources (ND-13) 9. the management of the reservoir in line with relevant laws (ND-13) 10. the guidance of the important thought of ‘Three Represents,’ (ND-13) 11. their dearly beloved (ND-20)

Premodification nominalized noun phrases (PreNNPs)

1. ‘long-term’ land-use rights (ND-4) 2. the three agriculture-related issues—the countryside, farmers and farming (ND-4) 3. the fees-to-tax reform (ND-4) 4. much improved health services and school facilities (ND-4) 5. the living conditions of farmers (ND-4) 6. China’s overall development blueprint (ND-7) 7. a shared will of the Party, government and people (ND-7) 8. A just concluded two-day rural work conference (ND-7) 9. a new development stage for work in the three issues (ND-7) 10. people’s living standards (ND-13) 11. advanced high-tech products (ND-13) 12. high added-value crops (ND-13) 13. The crowded trains, planes and buses (ND-20) 14. an unprecedented 1.82 billion trips (ND-20) 15. the predicted holiday buying spree (ND-20) 16. continued economic success (ND-20) 17. the combined efforts of us all (ND-20) 18. a favourable social and legal environment (ND-20)

Appendices

Postmodification 1. the top priority given to deepening reform in rural areas (ND-4) nominalized noun 2. the financial burdens imposed by unreasonable administrative charges (ND-4) phrases 3. a string of such charges which have been levied in the (PostNNPs) countryside (ND-4) 4. another important way to increase rural incomes (ND-4) 5. a country where farmers make up more than half of the population (ND-7) 6. good work in the three agriculture-related issues—the countryside, farmers and farming (ND-7) 7. the conference, jointly sponsored by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and State Council (ND-7) 8. a must for the country to fulfill its xiaokang target (ND-7) 9. his keynote speech addressing the conference (ND-7) 10. a national policy that in the past put industrialization ahead of rural development (ND-7) 11. time for us to turn our eyes to rural development (ND-7) 12. the attention of policy-makers (ND-7) 13. The key to building an overall well-off society (ND-13) 14. the national lead in building an overall well-off society (ND-13) 15. the valuable chance to make better success at their jobs (ND-13) 16. the high volume of people embarking on the sacred journey home (ND-20) 17. the influx of home-bound travelers (ND-20) 18. the number of tourists visiting China’s scenic hot spots (ND-20) 19. one of the 12 animals chosen by the Chinese in a cycle to name each year (ND-20) 20. a high profile in the forthcoming lunar new year (ND-20) 21. the attention of people searching for greetings to send to friends and family (ND-20) 22. the country’s efforts to stimulate domestic demand (ND-20) 23. The magnitude of public attention focused on the welfare of migrant workers as well as the unemployed and other poor social sectors (ND-20) 24. the push to create a more civilized society (ND-20) 25. the new year filled with courage and hope (ND-20)

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Appendices

Mixed nominalized noun phrases (MNNPs)

1. The prevailing perception (ND-7) 2. Unbalanced economic and social development in rural China (ND-7) 3. the great reform and opening-up achievements of the Beijing municipal government (ND-13) 4. The country’s pioneering achievements on the economic front in the last 12 months (ND-20) 5. a reputation for being brave and diligent (ND-20) 6. the health and prosperity of their friends, loved ones and fellow citizens (ND-20)

Paratactic compound nominalized noun phrases (paratactic CNNPs)

1. rural prosperity and the well-being of farmers (ND-7) 2. an unprecedented mission—the realization of a xiaokang society, or a moderately affluent life for all (ND-7) 3. a fair judgment as well as timely recognition (ND-7) 4. the city’s overall economic development as well as residents’ living standards (ND-13) 5. The auspicious sounding Chinese character and related folklore (ND-20)

Hypotactic compound nominalized noun phrases (hypotactic CNNPs)

1. the guiding principle for the development of agriculture (ND-4) 2. A four-point proposal for developing agriculture in China (ND-4) 3. its cherished dream of building a xiaokang society (ND-4) 4. the ongoing reforms on the grain distribution system (ND-4) 5. employment in township enterprises or the rapidly growing service sectors of cities (ND-4) 6. the first mark made by the Party’s new generation of leadership on rural policy (ND-7) 7. a down-to-earth evaluation of the current generally bright picture for the nation’s development (ND-7) 8. an historic leap from having only adequate food and clothing to leading a basically affluent life by the end of last century (ND-7) 9. our efforts to achieve even greater goals including an overall xiaokang society and modernization within the century (ND-7) 10. a friendly chat with some returned overseas students (ND-13) 11. goat representations as puns for commercial promotion (ND-20) 12. overall good prosperity for the country’s consumer market in the coming holiday season (ND-20) 13. the first year for the country to reach for its ambitious goal of creating an all-inclusive affluent xiaokang society by 2020 (ND-20)

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241

Index

address maxim, 115, 117 address term, 56, 115, 117, 161, 165–167, 168, 170, 203 ad hoc loanword, 34, 39, 40–41, 42, 47, 49–52 adjacent default tense (ADT), 69–72, 106, 202 alternate frame–main pattern, 143 amelioration, 35, 37, 42, 43 ancestral hometown discourse, 127–133 ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), 12 Asian Englishes, 1, 12–15, 16, 24, 204 authenticity in the use of English, 4, 23, 176, 192 avoidance strategy, 138–139 backdoor practice, 149, 150, 153–154, 155, 167, 168, 202 backward-linking element, 75, 98, 99 bilingual creativity, 4, 182, 191, 194, 203 bilingual user, 195, 197–200, 204 bottom-up discourse, 141, 142 calquing, 14 CE lexis, 3, 23, 27–59, 201–202, identification and classification, 29–33

China Daily (newspaper), 28, 38, 84, 206 China English, 4, 16–22, 24, 28 Chinese borrowing in English, 18, 23, 45 Chinese-Coloured English, 17 Chinese cultural discourse, 160, 167 Chinese English definition, 1, 16–24 endonormative variety, 5

features, 27–168 member of World Englishes, 21–22 number of learners and users, 4, 13

Chinese identity through English, 178, 182–183, 199, 200, 203 Chinese loanword, 3, 27, 32, 33–34, 39, 201 Chinese pidgin English, 17, 20 Chinese-style English, 17 Chinese variety of English, 2–4, 21 Chinglish, 4, 16, 17, 18, 20, 40, 216 class-centred approach, 185 code-switching and code mixing, 181, 206 coherence, 110–111 cohesion, 108–110 collectivist culture, 121 compound nominalized noun phrase (CNNP), 88, 89 compliment, 123, 127, 137–139, 168, 203 Confucian heritage culture, 178, 184 conjoin, 90, 91, 92 contextualization of ELT, 179–181, 189 co-occurrence of connective pair (CCP), 69, 74–76, 106, 202 cross-cultural perspective, 184, 187–188, 196 cross-cultural pragmatics, 107 Cultural Revolution, 34, 54, 55, 56, 57, 172, 216 cultural values, 15, 111, 114, 126, 136, 158, 159, 160, 161, 163, 167, 168, 175, 176, 179, 193, 202, 203 curse words and obscenities, 161–163

Index

deductive discourse pattern, 141–142, 144 deep-structure transfer, 108 developing variety, 1, 22 discourse connector, 108–109 discourse features, 107–168, 202–203 double-subject sentence, 81 endonormative variety, 5 English as a Foreign Language (EFL), 2, 10, 181, 192, 200 English as a Native Language (ENL), 2, 10 English as a Second Language (ESL), 2, 10 established variety, 22 exonormative educational model, 5 expanding circle, 10, 27, 33, 58, 120, 178, 182, 186, 193, 201, 204, 205 face, 24, 35, 55, 111, 114–119, 126, 144, 156, 158–159, 167, 168, 175, 202 facework, 123, 125, 151 filial piety, 52, 136 forward-linking element, 98–99 frame–main sequence, 24 Global English, 2 grammaticalization scale, 64 Grice’s cooperative principle, 124 guanxi, 33, 34, 40, 114, 119–123, 125, 126, 133, 153–154, 155, 156, 167, 168, 202, 212 head nominalized noun phrase (HNNP), 86, 87, 88, 89 Hymes’ SPEAKING model, 189–190, 196 198 hypotactic CNNP, 88, 89 identity–communication continuum, 199 imperative, 100–102, 106, 225 implicature, 114, 123–126 implied reader, 140, 141, 144, 168 implied writer, 140, 141, 144, 168, 203 Indian English, 4, 9, 183, 204 indigenization of English, 13 inductive discourse pattern, 140–143 innovative syntactic feature, 62–63 institutionalized variety, 5, 10, 11 interference variety, 18

interlanguage, 5, 20, 191 International English, 2, 177, 199, 200, 205 invariant tag, 62, 103, 105 inversion in subordinate finite wh-clauses (ISC), 69, 83–84, 106, 224 language and culture (relationship), 6, 190 lexical connotation, 23 lexical features, 14, 27–59 lexical innovation, 14 lingua franca, 2, 12, 195 loan translation, 14, 18, 34, 40, 45, 46, 48–49, 51–52, 54, 55, 58, 59, 161, 201 Maslow’s theory of human motivation, 183 metaphor, 161, 163, 167, 168, 203 modifying–modified sequencing, 15, 85, 92–99, 106, 202, 225 mother tongue, 4, 18, 20, 108, 178, 181–182, 184, 193, 203 motivations for syntactic features, 61–63 multiple-coordinate construction, 90–92 name and honour, 158–159, 167, 168, 202, 219 native speaker, 5, 19, 103, 110, 123, 172, 178, 182, 185, 187, 191, 192, 199, 200 nativization, 5, 11, 19, 20, 189, 192 New Englishes, 10–11 nominalization, 65–66, 85–90, 106, 202, 224 nominalized noun phrase (NNP), 66, 85–90, 226 non-native speaker, 2, 5, 6, 15, 103, 176, 179, 182, 187, 193, 198 norms, 189, 190, 197 Anglo norms, 3, 5, 192 behavioural norms, 196, 197 Chinese norms, 4, 191, 192–193, 203 code norms, 196, 197 cultural norms, 1, 3, 67, 125, 137, 138, 145, 162, 190, 193, 194, 195, 196–197, 198, 204 discourse norms, 3, 24, 193

243

244

Index

feature norms, 196, 197 linguistic norms, 1, 5, 67, 190, 193, 194, 196–197 norm hierarchy, 197 pragmatic norms, 24, 123, 137, 160, 168, 193, 202, 203 rhetorical norms, 2, 3

null-subject/object utterance (NS/O), 72–74 paratactic NNP, 88, 89 pejoration, 35, 37, 42, 43 performance variety, 5, 10 phatic talk, 155 politeness, 24, 102, 114–119, 126, 130, 144–145, 168, 196, 197 politeness maxims, 115

postmodification nominalized noun phrase (PostNNP), 88, 89 pragmatics, 14, 21, 24, 27 , 106, 107, 108, 113–114, 123, 124, 145, 159, 168 pragmatic features, 1, 3, 14, 24, 107–168, 193, 195, 201, 202–203 preference syntactic features, 61–62, 65 premodification nominalized noun phrase (PreNNP), 88, 89 pro-drop, 72 proverb, 54, 57, 59, 161, 164, 167, 168, 202, 203 schema (schemata), 18, 107, 111–113, 126, 127, 133, 145, 154, 160, 168, 186, 193 formal schemata, 112 content schemata, 112

semantic broadening, 35, 36, 42 semantic narrowing, 35, 36, 42–43 semantic shift, 18, 35, 38, 42, 56, 57 Singapore English, 4, 14, 61–65, 204 Sinicized English, 16–17 social closeness, 119–123 social distance, 37, 102, 119–123, 151 social hierarchy, 114–119, 144, 145, 150–152, 155, 160, 168, 203 social power, 119

sociolinguistic transfer, 6 speech act, 24, 114, 123–126, 127, 134, 160, 168, 194, 196, 202 standing loanword, 34, 39, 40, 47–48, 54 student-centeredness, 185 subject pronoun copying (SPC), 65, 69, 76–77, 106, 202 subordinator, 93–94, 98 superordinate, 44, 45 syntactic features, 3, 14, 60–106, 107, 126, 202, 224 syntax, 20, 23, 24, 27, 60–61, 63, 106 tag, 23, 62, 102–106, 202 tag question, 23, 103–105 tag variation strategy, 102–106, 202

teacher-centeredness, 185 three circles of Englishes, 9–10 top-down discourse, 141–145 topic-comment (TC), 24, 69, 79–81, 82, 92–93, 106, 202, 224 topic-prominent, 77, 80 transfer syntactic features, 63–64 transliteration, 18, 34, 39, 41, 46–47, 49–50, 54, 58, 59, 201, 211 unmarked OSV, 69, 81–82, 106 wash-back effect, 172, 174 WE-ness, 2, 204 work unit, 30, 32, 55, 57, 146, 148, 150, 154–157, 158, 167, 168, 202 World Englishes, 2, 9–11, 16, 20, 21–22, 184, 186, 197, 200, 204, 205 classification, 9–10 conceptualization, 9 criteria, 22 phases of development, 10–11 subdiscipline, 9 the journal, 2, 21

Yes-no response (Y/NR), 77–79 zero pronoun, 72, 74