Comparison of the instantiations of marked Chinese and English tense

A systemic functional approach

Authors

  • He Wei School of Foreign Studies, University of Science and Technology Beijing
  • Ma Ruizhi University of Science and Technology Beijing (USTB)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/lhs.v8i2.257

Keywords:

Systemic Functional Grammar, contrastive study, tense instantiations, temporal circumstance

Abstract

Based on Systemic Functional Grammar, this study compares instantiations of marked tense in Chinese with those in English, including simple and complex tense, and the relationship between tense and temporal circumstance. Compared with the instantiations of tense in English, the grammatical realizations of Chinese tenses do not distinguish between finiteness and non-finiteness, and tend to be located closest to the time of the event; also, unlike the mirror concord relationship between tense and temporal circumstance in English, the relationship between marked Chinese tense and temporal circumstance is that of cooperation. When the temporal direction of the temporal circumstance is in accordance with the temporal deictic meaning of the marked tense, it does not affect the temporal structure of the event; otherwise, addition or removal of a temporal circumstance might change the temporal profile of the event.

Author Biographies

  • He Wei, School of Foreign Studies, University of Science and Technology Beijing

    He Wei is now a professor of linguistics and PhD supervisor with School of Foreign Studies (SFS) in University of Science and Technology Beijing (USTB). She is at the same time deputy dean of SFS, director of Centre for Functional Linguistics and member of the Academic Committee of USTB. In 2003, she received her PhD degree in the linguistic field from Sun Yat-sen University; from 2006 to 2007, she stayed in Cardiff University as a visiting scholar; in 2007, she received her postdoctorate research certificate upon the completion of a research project conducted in Beijing Normal University. At the present time, she holds a few other academic positions, including editor of Journal of USTB and Journal of World Languages, associate editor of Functional Linguistics and editorial board member of Annual Review of Functional Linguistics. Her research interests are in Systemic Functional Linguistics, Discourse Analysis, Functional Syntax, Functional Semantics and Translation. In recent years, she has about 80 works published, including 50 papers, three monographs, 22 collections, four translated books and three textbooks. She has completed 6 important research projects.

  • Ma Ruizhi, University of Science and Technology Beijing (USTB)

    Ma Ruizhi is now an assistant with School of Foreign Studies (SFS) in University of Science and Technology Beijing (USTB) and member of the Centre for Functional Linguistics. Her research interests are in Systemic Functional Linguistics and Translation.

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Published

2013-11-26

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Wei, H., & Ruizhi, M. (2013). Comparison of the instantiations of marked Chinese and English tense: A systemic functional approach. Linguistics and the Human Sciences, 8(2), 257-285. https://doi.org/10.1558/lhs.v8i2.257