Practical Comparative Study of Hand Language

Author: Qian Wencai
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
Features: This book is an academic work that provides a comprehensive comparison between Chinese and German in terms of phonetics, phonology, syntax, and discourse. It serves as a reference book for advanced German majors, graduate students, German teachers, and German language and literature translators for self-improvement, research, and language study. At the same time, it offers rich comparative materials for learners of Chinese in German-speaking countries, helping those with a basic understanding of Chinese to reinforce their knowledge of phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and discourse, further addressing difficulties in these areas. The book synthesizes theories from Chinese and German linguists, employing a practical comparative approach. For certain linguistic phenomena, the author shares insights based on teaching experience and personal learning, avoiding excessive theoretical elaboration to ensure clarity and accessibility for a broad audience. Most of the examples used in the book are sourced and the author avoids inventing them arbitrarily. The book covers topics such as the consistency and similarity among languages of different ethnic groups, conceptual consistency, cognitive consistency, the consistency of iconic and analogical thinking, the differences between languages, the reasons for these differences, and variations in word order due to different cognitive reflections of reality.