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"If triangles were circles...,": A s...

Wu, Cynthia Hsin-feng.

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"If triangles were circles...,": A study of counterfactuals in Chinese and in English.

Record Type:	Electronic resources : Monograph/item
Title/Author:	"If triangles were circles...,": A study of counterfactuals in Chinese and in English./
Author:	Wu, Cynthia Hsin-feng.
Published:	Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, : 1993,
Description:	316 p.
Notes:	Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-05, Section: A, page: 1711.
Contained By:	Dissertation Abstracts International54-05A.
Subject:	Language arts. -
Online resource:	http://pqdd.sinica.edu.tw/twdaoapp/servlet/advanced?query=9326335

"If triangles were circles...,": A study of counterfactuals in Chinese and in English.
Wu, Cynthia Hsin-feng.

"If triangles were circles...,": A study of counterfactuals in Chinese and in English. - Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, 1993 - 316 p.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-05, Section: A, page: 1711.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Harvard University, 1993.

This dissertation is a cross-cultural study of counterfactual (contrary-to-fact) expressions in Chinese and English in relation to counterfactual thinking. Specifically, the study investigates whether an alleged "lack" of linguistic devices for expressing the counterfactual in Chinese influences the counterfactual reasoning of native speakers of Chinese as compared to native speakers of English.Subjects--Topical Terms:

532624
Language arts.

"If triangles were circles...,": A study of counterfactuals in Chinese and in English.
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035 $a (MiAaPQ)AAI9326335
035 $a AAI9326335
040 $a MiAaPQ $c MiAaPQ
100 1 $a Wu, Cynthia Hsin-feng. $3 3283210
245 1 0 $a "If triangles were circles...,": A study of counterfactuals in Chinese and in English.
260 1 $a Ann Arbor : $b ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, $c 1993
300 $a 316 p.
500 $a Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-05, Section: A, page: 1711.
500 $a Adviser: Catherine E. Snow.
502 $a Thesis (Ed.D.)--Harvard University, 1993.
520 $a This dissertation is a cross-cultural study of counterfactual (contrary-to-fact) expressions in Chinese and English in relation to counterfactual thinking. Specifically, the study investigates whether an alleged "lack" of linguistic devices for expressing the counterfactual in Chinese influences the counterfactual reasoning of native speakers of Chinese as compared to native speakers of English.
520 $a Chinese does not use morphological or structural markers equivalent to the English "were," "had been," or "would have been" to indicate counterfactual interpretations, i.e., what does not or did not actually happen. Rendered in Chinese, the sentence "If a triangle were a circle, ... " would read as "If a triangle is a circle, ... " Alfred H. Bloom (1981) hypothesized that the lack of such explicit counterfactual cues in Chinese prevents Chinese speakers from thinking counterfactually as readily as their English-speaking counterparts.
520 $a An experimental study (Study 1), a linguistic analysis, and a content analysis (Study 2) are presented in this dissertation. Study 1 tests the comprehension of 559 Chinese and 124 English native speakers on written material containing counterfactual elements. The linguistic analysis describes linguistic representations of Chinese and English counterfactuals. Study 2 analyzes counterfactual use in spontaneous speech data and newspapers in both languages.
520 $a The following is a brief summary of the results: (1) There is no difference between Chinese and English speakers in their ability to comprehend counterfactual texts. The counterfactual responses to the materials used in Study 1 are largely a function of subjects' general scholastic competence and the specific (culturally unfamiliar) content of the stimuli. (2) The linguistic analysis shows that both Chinese and English have explicit linguistic devices to express the counterfactual, but they exist at different levels in the two languages. In English, the linguistic markings are at the syntactic level, while in Chinese, they are distributed at the lexical, syntactic, and discourse levels. (3) Study 2 reveals different patterns of counterfactual use (frequency, topic, and function) in naturalistic settings. A higher frequency of counterfactual use is found in the English written texts (newspapers) than in the Chinese texts. Chinese and English speakers use counterfactuals with different topics for various purposes.
590 $a School code: 0084.
650 4 $a Language arts. $3 532624
650 4 $a Educational psychology. $3 517650
650 4 $a Linguistics. $3 524476
690 $a 0279
690 $a 0525
690 $a 0290
710 2 $a Harvard University. $3 528741
773 0 $t Dissertation Abstracts International $g 54-05A.
790 $a 0084
791 $a Ed.D.
792 $a 1993
793 $a English
856 4 0 $u http://pqdd.sinica.edu.tw/twdaoapp/servlet/advanced?query=9326335