中国英语词汇特征以《政府工作报告》英文版为例(2)

菜单

5. Conclusion 15

Works Cited 17

1. Introduction

With the emergence and fast development of information technology, the human society has entered the information age, where interpersonal communication is faster and more convenient than ever before. Distance between people is closer and verbal communication is becoming more important. As the most widely used language in the world, English is also experiencing rapid development, and has become the language for global communication. The localization of English in various areas is one of the results of globalization, thus producing a great variety of English under the influence of many factors like geographical environment, ethnicity and cultural uniquenesses. In addition to British English and American English, regional varieties flourish in such forms as Australian English, Indian English and Singaporean English, among many others.

The global spread of English also exerts great impact on the language of Chinese. The development of China English can be seen as a process of linguistic and cultural regeneration of English in Chinese context. English in China, like other varieties of English has its own characteristics and is labeled “China English” by some scholars, although some features of it are still open to questioning and worth studying. The development of English learning and practice in China requires more attention to be paid to China English in the 21st century. By means of a case study of Reports on the Work of the Government, this paper aims at proving the ubiquitous existence and lexical characteristics of China English. 源'自:优尔`!论~文'网www.youerw.com

2. Literature Review

2.1 Research Background: China English as a Variety of English

There is no denying the fact that the English-speaking population has reached a great number in the 21st century, and it is proved to be very true by history.

In fact, English has a history of only about 1,500 years, which is much shorter than that of Chinese, Latin, Greek or French. But it has been on the move since its initial landing in England from northern Europe in the 5th century. The English language reached every corner of the world with the British colonizers. It can be seen that English has already been used nearly all around the globe.

For another, the drastic development of modern science and technology, the coming information age, are all accelerating international exchanges and the wider spread of English.

With the wide spread of English all around the world, the language has been integrated with different cultures and many varieties of English have thus been created. These varieties are called world Englishes or oversea English varieties, such as Indian English and Singapore English. With regard to the research of the varieties of world English, the famous scholar Kachru is worth mentioning.

Professor Kachru pided the English varieties into three kinds in terms of three concentric circles: the inner circle, the outer circle and the expanding circle. The inner circle is the normative English, namely, institutionalized variety, which refers to the traditional culture and linguistic bases of English, expanding from the UK, and the USA, Canada, as well as the English spoken by the speakers of Australia and New Zealand. The outer circle represents the institutionalized non-native varieties, including that of India, Singapore and Nigeria. The expanding circle is the performative varieties of the language which are used essentially in EFL (English as a foreign language) contexts, including that of Japan, Russia, and China.These varieties have their own national and cultural characteristics, while China English is surely one of them.