英汉语言比较之一：形合与意合

英汉语言比较系列之一

综合语(synthetic)的特征是运用形态变化来表达语法关系，拉丁语、德语及古英语等都属于综合语。分析语(analytic)的特征是不用形态变化而用词序及虚词来表达语法关系，汉语是典型的分析语。现代英语是从古代英语发展出来的，仍然保留着综合语的某些特征，但是也具有分析语的特点：有形态变化，但不象典型的综合语那么复杂；词序笔汉语灵活，但相对固定；虚词很多，用得也相当频繁。因此，现代英语属于综合－分析语(synthetic- analytic language)。从语源（Etymology）观来说，英语属印欧语系（Indo-European Language），汉语则属汉藏语系（Sino-Tibetan language）。

一：形合与意合：英语重形合(hypotaxis)，汉语重意合(parataxis)

所谓形合，指的是句中的词语或分句之间用语言形式手段（如关联词）连接起来，表达语法意义和逻辑关系。意合指的是词语或分句之间不用语言形式手段连接，句中的语法意义和逻辑关系通过词语或分句的含义表达。

英语造句常用各种形式手段连接词、短语、分句或从句，注重显性接应（overt-cohesion），注重句子形式，注重结构完整，注重以形显义。英语句中的连接手段和形式（cohesive ties）不仅数量大，种类多，而且用得十分频繁。

汉语造句少用甚至不用形式连接手段，注重隐性连贯（covert-coherence），注重逻辑事理顺序，注重功能、意义，注重以神统形。（汉语介词数量少，大约30个，大多从动词“借”来的。）

1）When I try to understand what it is t hat prevents so many Americans from being as happy as one might expect, it seems to me that there are two causes, of which one goes much deeper than the other. （关系词和连接词）

为什么如此众多的美国人不能如想象中那样幸福呢？我认为原因有二，而两者之间又有深浅之分。

2）He had a disconcerting habit of expressing contradictory ideas in rapid succession.

他有一种令人难堪的习惯：一会儿一个看法，自相矛盾，变化无常。（介词）3）He boasts that a slave is free the moment his feet touch British soil and he sells the children of the poor at six years of age to work under the lash in the factories for

sixteen hours a day.（其他连接手段）

他吹嘘说，任何奴隶一踏上英国的土地就获得自由，而他却出卖穷人家六岁的孩子到工厂干活，每天十六小时，受尽鞭打责骂。

4）打肿脸充胖子，吃亏是自己。（语序）

If you get beyond your depth, you will suffer.

5）种瓜得瓜，种豆得豆。（对照）

As you sow, so will you reap.

6）不吃苦中苦，哪知甜中甜？（设问）

If you have never tasted the bitterness of gall, how can you know the sweetness of honey?

7）不到黄河心不死。（紧缩句）

Until all is over, ambition never dies.

8）欲盖弥彰。（四字格）

The more one tries to hide, the more one is exposed.

9）一个英国人，不会说中国话，有一次在中国旅行。

An Englishman who could not speak Chinese was once traveling in China.

10）那太阳，整天躲在云层里，现在又光芒四射了。

The sun, which had hidden all day, now came out in full splendor.

本节英汉互译练习

1.It had been a fine, golden autumn, a lovely farewell to those who would lose their youth, and some of them their lives, before the leaves turned again in a peacetime fall.

2.Change of information, if any, concerning the contents of this section will be

found in

the appendix at the end of this book.

3.There is nothing more disappointing to a hostess who has gone to a lot trouble or expense than to have her guest so interested in talking politics or business with her husband that he fails to notice the flavor of the coffee, the lightness of the cake, or the attractiveness of the house, which may be her chief interest and pride. (“Western Manners ” )