A corpus based contrastive approach for the analysis of tense and aspect in translation from English into Mandarin Chinese [Elektronische Ressource] / Mimi Shi. Betreuer: Wolf Paprotté

Englische Philologie A Corpus-based Contrastive Approach for the Analysis of Tense and Aspect in Translation from English into Mandarin Chinese Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Philosophischen Fakultät der Westfälischen Wilhelms-Universität zu Münster (Westf.) vorgelegt von Mimi Shi aus Dalian, Liaoning, China 2011 !Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 12.05.2011 Dekan: Prof. Dr.!Christian Pietsch Referent: Prof. Dr. Wolf Paprott! Korreferent: Prof. Dr. Reinhard Emmerich Abstract Temporal expression is a fascinating topic in linguistics as it is a universal feature in all natural languages but is realized in a variety of different forms. Comparative studies of temporal expression usage within languages and comparing translations between languages are of importance to understanding both individual languages and the accuracy and efficiency of translation. In this dissertation, I examine the topic of tense and aspect usage in English and Mandarin Chinese, two important languages that belong to distant families and have substantial differences in tense and aspect formalization. I investigate three general questions regarding the translation of English tense and aspect into Mandarin Chinese. First, how and to what degree are English tense and aspect translated into Mandarin Chinese? Second, is the translated text target text oriented, source text oriented, or a third code?