Abstracts of Major Papers in This Issue

Reflections on Postcolonialism and Its Future: An Interview with Robert J. C. Young, by Robert Young and SHENG Anfeng, p. 1

In this long but interesting interview, Young explores various issues of postcolonialism and its possible future developments. He discusses the prevalent application of postcolonialism in different parts of the world and its changes, the rising and retrogress of nationalism, and the problems of comparative literature. As a “dissident Marxist,” he discusses his critical absorption of Marxism and his innovation based upon it. He also mentions the system of postcolonialism he has established, the connection between postcolonialism, eco-criticism and theology, and the relationship between postcolonialism and modernity.

A Functional Linguistic Approach to Formal Equivalence: Transitivity in the English Translations ofSongofaRoamer, by ZHANG Wei, p. 18

Formal elements constitute a fundamental dimension in translation equivalence. Functional linguistics stresses mutual dependence between linguistic forms and linguistic functions, highlighting the meaning potentials of arrangement of linguistic forms. By way of a contrastive analysis of transitivity betweenSongofaRoamerand its English translations, the present research emphasizes the significance of formal equivalence in translation practice, hence proving the applicability of systematic functional linguistics in translation studies.

“Oedipus Complex” in Pound’s Creative Translation of Chinese Poems, by WEI Jiahai, p. 23

Although greatly influenced by Chinese literary traditions, Ezra Pound’s creative English translation of Chinese classic poems has by no means eliminated all Western literary traditions. This paper explores the unsurpassable anxiety and a love-hatred-interwoven “Oedipus Complex” to the Western literary traditions underlying Pound’s translation poetics. The observation centers on the poetics’ analogy to ancient tradition, the Western classic discourse mode, Western literature’s narrative tradition, and the rationalist logical tradition in Western culture.

Zi and Ci as the Unit of Cultural Translation: Localization of the World and Internationalization of China, by CHEN Weiheng, p. 28

This paper demonstrates, under the context of global linguistic and cultural communication, the importance of Zi as a linguistic unit in translation of foreign cultures into Chinese and of Chinese culture into foreign languages. It argues that translating foreign culture into Chinese Zi is a process of signification, along which the foreign culture is familiarized in Chinese culture with the support of Chinese Zi’s forms; and that in transmitting Chinese culture into the world, Chinese Zi are translated in the form of Ci, hence forming a process of syllabification, depriving Chinese characters of their formal support and stressing their phonetic element. This de-signification in the surface can in depth maintain Chinese culture’s foreignness and is conducive to its international transmission.

An Empirical Study on Differentiating Raising Verbs from Control Verbs by Chinese Learners of English: A Proposed Syntactic Diagnosis for L2 Learners, by MA Zhigang, p. 33

Traditional syntactic diagnostics have proved to cause confusion for L2 learners of English in differentiating English raising verbs from control verbs. This article proposes that focalization (including pseudo-cleft and interrogative) can be a better substitute in L2 settings for traditional diagnostics intended for English native speakers. The result of the empirical study conducted on Chinese learners of English (college students at five levels of proficiency) reveals that second language learners may have full access to the semantic distinction between raising and control verbs. Traditional criteria for differentiating the two types of verbs are mainly based on the intuition of native speakers of English, and are ineffective in L2 settings. The results also show that the underlying semantic distinctions between raising and control verbs are very likely to be universally accessible to both L1 speakers and L2 learners, although their grammatical judgment differs to a great extent. The unsatisfactory manifestation of L2 grammar may well be traced back to the imperfect mapping between L2 learners’ semantic and syntactic knowledge.

A Corpus-based Analysis of the Use of Procedural Vocabulary by Chinese Advanced EFL Learners, by ZHANG Xia, p. 41.

The Procedural Vocabulary (PV) put forward by Widdowson qualifies as the “common core” vocabulary because of its high frequency, wide range and even distribution in language use. Therefore, PV is essential to both language study and teaching practice. In the meantime, PV becomes the bottleneck for SLA because of its diversified use and meaning. In the current study, a procedure to extract PV from actual language use is devised and adopted to examine the PV use by Chinese advanced EFL learners compared with the natives’ use. The comparison and analysis is conducted at two levels, the general level of PV rank information and the more detailed analysis of the function and content words constitution of PV. Conclusions include that learner writing is closest to native writing as far as PV rank information is concerned; the distribution patterns of function and content words among learner and native PV are significantly different, etc.

A Comparative Study of Word Order in Chinese and English from a Typological Perspective, by LI Jinman, p.45

On the basis of previous typological findings on word order, a detailed comparative study of word order in modern Chinese and English from a typological perspective has been undertaken. Evidence presented in this paper shows that though both as an SVO language, Chinese and English have as many differences as their similarities in word order. Typologically speaking, the differences between the two languages are attributable to the unique features of Chinese word order rather than English word order. English in general is a typical VO language and patterns almost the same as the dominant typological features of VO languages while Chinese is an atypical VO language with some distinctly rare characteristics not attested in other languages around the world, which generally behaves intermediate between V-initial and V-final languages. The typological features of Chinese word order can be better understood from the perspective of genealogical retention and areal influence as well as internal development.

Semantic Representations and Pragmatic Functions of Metonymy in the News Discourse, by ZHU Donghua, p. 51

Metonymy, abiding by the own logic, plays an irreplaceable role in language creation and human communicative activities. This study, based on the cognitive interpretation of metonymy and the Communicative Principle of Relevance Theory, analyzes semantic presentations and pragmatic functions of metonymy in News Discourse. The study generalizes the semantic characterization of two types: the new connotation of the old words and the creation of new words, which corroborate that metonymic thinking plays more endogenous role than that of metaphor in the human cognitive structures. Simultaneous analysis in the news discourse on the role of their pragmatic functions: political function, economical function, interpersonal functions and rhetorical function, provides a way for the metonymic construal.

Gothic Images in Southern Gothic Fiction: A Comparative Study onAbsalom,Absalom! andBeloved, by ZENG Lihong and LI Ming, p. 56

William Faulkner’sAbsalom,Absalom! and Tony Morrison’sBelovedare representatives of Southern Gothic fiction. The present study discusses the image of ghosts in the above novels. The conclusion is that gothic images in the novels help reveal the social problems, the cultural characters and secrets of American South, and interpret the trauma of southern American within and after slavery. The comparison of the two novels also indicates the inner relevance between Faulkner and Morrison.