Contrastive Connectors in English and Chinese: A Corpus-Based Study

Abstract

This study examines the features of contrastive connectors in modern British English by employing corpus evidence and discourse analysis. It aims to find out the total number and frequency of these contrastive connectors in modern BrE evidenced in the BNC with a focus on four genres, the genre-related usage of eleven high-frequency contrastive connectors, and detailed usage of HOWEVER. It also compares the overall frequency of contrastive connectors in the four genres of BrE and AmE, and the usage of contrastive connectors in BrE and Chinese, as evidenced in large corpora. Altogether about 68 contrastive connectors in the BNC (containing modern BrE) and 57 in the CCL corpus (containing modern Chinese) are pinpointed. In the BNC, but is most frequent, covering more than half of the total usage of contrastive connectors. In the CCL, 但 dàn (but) is most frequent, covering nearly one fifth of their total usage. In both corpora, 20 most frequent members cover about 95% of all the usage of contrastive connectors. Contrastive connectors are significantly more frequent in the BNC (BrE) than in the COCA (AmE), and so are Chinese contrastive connectors in Taiwan than in mainland China, but with greater variation. About 1.1 times as many contrastive connectors are used in spoken English as in written English, but twice as many such connectors are used in written Chinese as in conversation. The usage of contrastive connectors co-varies with genre. In English such connectors are generally used alone. Even when they occasionally form complex units, contrastive conjunctions still lead and overshadow contrastive adverbials. Concessive clauses in English are flexible in clause order. Contrastive connectors in English are typically used sentencemedially or -initially, but are occasionally used sentence- finally. By comparison, contrastive connectors in Chinese often form correlations or complex units on a more equal basis. Historical influence has led to the co-existence of “one-character” and “two-character” contrastive connectors in Chinese, the former frequent in written genres, the latter in conversation. Concessive clauses in Chinese are of two major patterns which are closely related to specific connectors. Chinese contrastive connectors can never be used sentencefinally. A profile of the usage of however has emerged from a case study of this second most frequent contrastive connector in BrE, concerning the contrastive vs. adverb function, the “unmarked” position, the syntactic patterns and corresponding functions, the semantic reasons for its wide use and dual function in second-initial position of the sentence, the occasional “coordinative” use of however, and its translation into Chinese. Three pedagogical implications arise from this study, based on which concrete teaching suggestions are made. Limitations of this study are acknowledged and some possible lines for future research are proposed.