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A corpus-based approach to tense and aspect in English-Chinese translation.

Research output: Contribution to conference - Without ISBN/ISSN Conference paperpeer-review

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A corpus-based approach to tense and aspect in English-Chinese translation. / Xiao, R. Z.; McEnery, A. M.
2002. Paper presented at The 1st International Symposium on Contrastive and Translation Studies between Chinese and English, Shanghai, China.

Research output: Contribution to conference - Without ISBN/ISSN Conference paperpeer-review

Harvard

Xiao, RZ & McEnery, AM 2002, 'A corpus-based approach to tense and aspect in English-Chinese translation.', Paper presented at The 1st International Symposium on Contrastive and Translation Studies between Chinese and English, Shanghai, China, 8/08/02 - 11/08/02.

APA

Xiao, R. Z., & McEnery, A. M. (2002). A corpus-based approach to tense and aspect in English-Chinese translation.. Paper presented at The 1st International Symposium on Contrastive and Translation Studies between Chinese and English, Shanghai, China.

Vancouver

Xiao RZ, McEnery AM. A corpus-based approach to tense and aspect in English-Chinese translation.. 2002. Paper presented at The 1st International Symposium on Contrastive and Translation Studies between Chinese and English, Shanghai, China.

Author

Xiao, R. Z. ; McEnery, A. M. / A corpus-based approach to tense and aspect in English-Chinese translation. Paper presented at The 1st International Symposium on Contrastive and Translation Studies between Chinese and English, Shanghai, China.

Bibtex

@conference{bd54a3ade70e4186a746f1ae9b499af2,
title = "A corpus-based approach to tense and aspect in English-Chinese translation.",
abstract = "English is predominantly a tense language, whereas Chinese is exclusively an aspect language (c.f. Wang, 1943:151; Gao, 1948:189; Gong, 1991:252; Norman, 1988:163). While tense and aspect both provide temporal information, they are two different concepts. Tense is deictic in that it indicates the temporal location of a situation, i.e., its occurrence in relation to a specific reference time . Aspect is non-deictic in that it is related to the temporal shape of a situation, i.e., its internal temporal structure and ways of presentation, independent of its temporal location. As such, Chinese does not have the grammatical category of tense, because the concept denoted by tense is indicated by content words like adverbs of time or it is implied by context . Aspectual meanings, however, are signaled by aspect markers, grammaticalised function words that convey aspectual meaning. In short, Chinese grammatically marks aspect but does not grammatically mark tense. English, however, grammatically marks both tense and aspect. Even though both languages mark aspect, the aspect system in these two languages differs significantly. In this paper, we will explore these differences using an English-Chinese parallel corpus, showing how aspectual meanings and temporal notions in English texts are translated into Chinese.",
keywords = "corpus, tense/aspect, English-Chinese translation",
author = "Xiao, {R. Z.} and McEnery, {A. M.}",
note = "This is a plenary lecture given at the conference.; The 1st International Symposium on Contrastive and Translation Studies between Chinese and English ; Conference date: 08-08-2002 Through 11-08-2002",
year = "2002",
month = aug,
day = "8",
language = "English",

}

RIS

TY - CONF

T1 - A corpus-based approach to tense and aspect in English-Chinese translation.

AU - Xiao, R. Z.

AU - McEnery, A. M.

N1 - This is a plenary lecture given at the conference.

PY - 2002/8/8

Y1 - 2002/8/8

N2 - English is predominantly a tense language, whereas Chinese is exclusively an aspect language (c.f. Wang, 1943:151; Gao, 1948:189; Gong, 1991:252; Norman, 1988:163). While tense and aspect both provide temporal information, they are two different concepts. Tense is deictic in that it indicates the temporal location of a situation, i.e., its occurrence in relation to a specific reference time . Aspect is non-deictic in that it is related to the temporal shape of a situation, i.e., its internal temporal structure and ways of presentation, independent of its temporal location. As such, Chinese does not have the grammatical category of tense, because the concept denoted by tense is indicated by content words like adverbs of time or it is implied by context . Aspectual meanings, however, are signaled by aspect markers, grammaticalised function words that convey aspectual meaning. In short, Chinese grammatically marks aspect but does not grammatically mark tense. English, however, grammatically marks both tense and aspect. Even though both languages mark aspect, the aspect system in these two languages differs significantly. In this paper, we will explore these differences using an English-Chinese parallel corpus, showing how aspectual meanings and temporal notions in English texts are translated into Chinese.

AB - English is predominantly a tense language, whereas Chinese is exclusively an aspect language (c.f. Wang, 1943:151; Gao, 1948:189; Gong, 1991:252; Norman, 1988:163). While tense and aspect both provide temporal information, they are two different concepts. Tense is deictic in that it indicates the temporal location of a situation, i.e., its occurrence in relation to a specific reference time . Aspect is non-deictic in that it is related to the temporal shape of a situation, i.e., its internal temporal structure and ways of presentation, independent of its temporal location. As such, Chinese does not have the grammatical category of tense, because the concept denoted by tense is indicated by content words like adverbs of time or it is implied by context . Aspectual meanings, however, are signaled by aspect markers, grammaticalised function words that convey aspectual meaning. In short, Chinese grammatically marks aspect but does not grammatically mark tense. English, however, grammatically marks both tense and aspect. Even though both languages mark aspect, the aspect system in these two languages differs significantly. In this paper, we will explore these differences using an English-Chinese parallel corpus, showing how aspectual meanings and temporal notions in English texts are translated into Chinese.

KW - corpus

KW - tense/aspect

KW - English-Chinese translation

M3 - Conference paper

T2 - The 1st International Symposium on Contrastive and Translation Studies between Chinese and English

Y2 - 8 August 2002 through 11 August 2002

ER -