英语的Actually与汉语的“其实”比较研究

Chapter 1 Introduction

1.1 Significance of the Study
Actually and Qishi are linguistic items which are frequently used in dailycommunication and it appears to be more frequently used in spoken discourse thanthat in written text. Indicated by the online Oxford English Dictionary actually is inthe list of top 1000 frequently used words. Considering the significant role that theyplay in communication, this paper conducts a comparative analysis of actually andQishi by studying the text or discourse in which they occur. Many scholars havenoticed that there exists a special word category, which is in the overlapping part ofadverbs and conjunctions. Scholars have various interpretations or terms to define theword category. Yuan Surong (2013: 4) indicates that the research on this specialcategory is not thorough and he tried to make an overall research on it. In bothEnglish and Chinese, adverb is a controversial word category which is complex andconfusing for a second language learner. The categorization of adverbs is ambiguousand it sometimes does not have precise definitions or boundary like other wordcategories. And some adverbs function as conjunction in discourse. Yuan Surong(2013) uses the term adverbial conjunction to define the word, which an adverb actsas a cohesive tie in discourse or text. This paper aims to study the adverbialconjunctions actually and Qishi used in English and Chinese discourse from threedimensions of language respectively, namely, syntax, semantics and pragmatics.Actually and Qishi are studied separately by English and Chinese scholars. Actually isoften considered as a meaningless word or as an adverb emphasizer and Qishi isstudied within the category of adverbs. But the functions of these two words in text ordiscourse are far more complex and important. This paper tries a comparative methodto study actually and Qishi as adverbial conjunctions, which has hardly been donebefore.
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1.2 Layout of the thesis
This thesis is divided into seven chapters. Chapter one introduces thesignificance of the study, the thesis structure. Chapter two gives the review ofprevious studies on Actually and Qishi at home and abroad. It also introduces thetheoretical basis of the study. Chapter three provides the description of the twoadopted corpora and methodology. The main body includes three chapters. Chapterfour is to analyze and describe the syntactic positions of Actually and Qishi in theselected examples. The statistical analysis is made based on the collected data to mapout the syntactical distribution of Actually and Qishi. The interpersonal function andtextual function are also explained in this chapter with examples. Chapter five is thesemantic configuration of the two adverbial conjunctions; the cohesive devices ofcomponents in Actually and Qishi clause are discussed based on cohesion theory. Thelogical relationship between the elements in the clause and lexical collocations isfound. Chapter six is concerned with the pragmatic function of the two words in thetext on the theoretical basis of discourse markers.
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Chapter 2 Literature Review

2.1 Definition of Adverbial Conjunctions
This thesis aims at comparing Actually and Qishi as adverbial conjunctions fromthe perspective of functional grammar. Adverbial conjunction is a term coined byYuan Surong which refers to adverbs and adverbial expressions which function ascohesive ties in sentences and discourses. (Yuan Surong 2009) Adverbial conjunctionsrefer in particular to the correlative adverbs, the conjunctive adverbs used in texts andadverbial fixed phrases and patterns with discourse functions. (Yuan Surong 2011:126)We put forward correlative adverb. The reason is that there must be a continuum fromadverb to conjunction. That is, there is a transitional zone between adverbs andconjunction. His concept of adverbial conjunction can be shown in the figure below. The existence of adverbial conjunctions in in both English and Chinese has beenrecognized by many scholars at home and abroad, yet the terms they adopt foradverbial conjunctions are slightly different. Larson (1985), Schwarz (1999), Chalker(2001: 5) and Johanessen (2005) propose the term “Correlative Adverbs”. They claimthat Correlative Adverbs refer to such semi-fixed phrases as “either...or...”,“neither...nor...”, “both...and...”, “not only...but also...”, “whether...or...” etc.Meanwhile, they have done in-depth researches on such phrases.
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2.2 Researches on Actually and Qishi
In OED (Oxford English Dictionary1), actually is in the top 1000 frequently usedwords. In online etymology dictionary, it is formed by the way actual+-ly. Actual firstappears in English in early fourteenth century and it is borrowed from Old Frenchactuel, but etymological origin is from Late Latin actualis meaning “active,pertaining to action” adjectival form of Latin actus.2The broader sense of “real,existing” (as opposed to potential, ideal, etc.) is from late fourteenth century. Actuallybecame an English word in early fifteenth century. The meaning of Actually as “infact, in reality (as opposed to in possibility) actively, vigorously” is from mid-fifteenthcentury and that of “at this time, at present” is from 1660s. As an intensively added toa statement and suggesting “as a matter of fact, really, in truth”, it is attested from1762. SUN-YOUNG OH (2000: 243) attempts to compare the differences andsimilarities between actually and in fact. Actually and its variants (as a matter of fact,in fact) have not been previously studied as a linguistic phenomenon. However,actually has not escaped the attention of the prescriptivists. It is possible that the wordactually originated in Britain with a fairly near recent (Aijmer 1986). In spokenEnglish, actually can be replaced by definitely, really or surely to emphasize the tone,but sounds fancier. If you like, you can insert it into any part of the sentence.
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Chapter 3 Research Methodology........26
3.1 Corpus -based Study ........26
3.2 Description of Corpora ....26
3.3 Research Objectives and Questions .........28
3.4 Research Method .......28
Chapter 4 Functional Analysis of Syntactic Features ........30
4.1 Syntactic Structure and Distribution ........30
4.2 The Functional Explanation of Syntactic Structure....46
4.2.1 Interpersonal Function ......46
4.2.2 Textual Function .........48
4.3 Summary ........49
Chapter 5 Functional Analysis of Semantic Relations .....51
5.1 Classification of the Semantic Relation and Characteristics .......51
5.2 Semantic Configurations of the Adverbial Conjunctions ......5
5.3 Cohesive devices of Actually and Qishi ........56
5.4 Summary ........67

Chapter 5 Functional Analysis of Semantic Relations

In this chapter, semantic features of adverbial conjunction actually and Qishi areexplored. Classification and the semantic configuration of the two are made.Combined with cohesion theory, the cohesive function from semantic perspective ispresented. Actually and Qishi signal that a fact goes beyond one’s expectation andpeople use the adverbial conjunctions to make explicit commitment to the truth of theutterance. There are different views when concerning with the semantic meaning andclassification of the semantic meaning of these two adverbial conjunctions. Accordingto Yuan Surong (2013), he indicates that there are two dominant logic-semanticrelations of actually and Qishi. One is the adversative cohesion and the other isadditive cohesion, which can be also called explanatory cohesion. In this chapter thesemantic relation of actually and Qishi are classified into two types in the followingdiscussion.

Conclusion

Since discourse itself is a process, cohesion is also a process. Cohesion indiscourse can be created in four ways: by reference, conjunction, ellipsis and lexicalcohesion. The grammatical cohesion is realized by reference, ellipsis and substitution.As a cohesive means, actually is often used to indicate the semantic relationshipsbetween the following clause and the preceding one, thereby contributing to thecoherence of the text. Actually is very useful when what the speaker is going to say isunexpected on the part of the reader. Without the help of actually, it may be difficultfor the reader to figure out how these two sentences are related to each other. Reference refers to a particular element in a text can be regarded as the referencepoint or explained by the other element. It is a relationship between the reference itemand the referent. Reference is most likely to be evolved from an exophoric relation.The situational reference is exophoric which link outward to some object or person inthe environment. The textual reference is endophoric, which can be further dividedinto anaphoric and cataphoric. The three types of reference are personals,demonstratives and comparatives.
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References (omitted)