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The Learning of Chinese Idiomatic Expressions As a Foreign Language

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The Learning of Chinese Idiomatic Expressions As a Foreign Language Higher Education Studies; Vol. 7, No. 2; 2017 ISSN 1925-4741 E-ISSN 1925-475X Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education The Learning of Chinese Idiomatic Expressions as a Foreign Language Li Liu1 & Jiayi Yao2 1 Faculty of English Education, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, China 2 Faculty of English Language and Culture, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, China Correspondence: Li Liu, Faculty of English Education, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, No. 2 North Baiyun Road, Baiyun District, Guangzhou, China. Tel: 86-136-1144-2506. E-mail: [email protected] Received: March 13, 2017 Accepted: March 17, 2017 Online Published: April 5, 2017 doi:10.5539/hes.v7n2p27 URL: http://doi.org/10.5539/hes.v7n2p27 Abstract Chinese idioms are mostly four-character phrases and are called Quadra-syllabic Idiomatic Expressions (QIEs). It has long been reported that learning of Chinese QIEs poses a great challenge for both young L1 speakers and adult L2 learners as the condensed form is often associated with complicated figurative meanings. The present study explored the factors that influence the learning of Chinese QIEs as a Foreign Language (FL). The results of a comprehension test and a questionnaire showed that semantically transparent QIEs were understood much better than opaque ones; being structurally symmetric also facilitated QIE understanding, but with limited effect. Language transfer was another factor to consider especially when the learners were from mixed nationalities. The results were then compared with those reported in the Native Language (NL) QIE learning and were further discussed in terms of the pedagogical implications for the learning of QIEs in FL teaching. Keywords: Chinese idioms, opacity, symmetry, foreign language learning 1. Introduction As Chinese becomes more and more popular as a Foreign Language (FL) around the globe, studies on the learning of Chinese have raised strong research interest. Chinese idioms, mostly composed of four characters and also called Quadra-syllabic Idiomatic Expressions (QIEs), have long been reported as a great challenge for FL learners (Cui, 2008; Zhang, 2003). The short four-word form is often associated with opaque idiomatic meanings. Yet few empirical studies have explored the learning of QIEs under the FL context so far. Therefore, it is of high necessity to understand why QIEs are so difficult for adult FL learners? Are there some kinds of QIEs more difficult than others? What might be the linguistic factors that influence QIE learning as a FL? 1.1 Chinese QIEs An often-cited definition of Chinese idioms is the one from Xiandai hanyu cidan (Modern Chinese Dictionary) (1959), as cited in the following: Idioms are set phrases and short sentences, usually in pithy forms with concise meaning, prevalent in society, used by the common folk, which have seen ages of constant use. Idioms are mostly composed of four characters. The meanings for some of them are not difficulty to deuce from the constituents, such as “xiao-ti-da-zuo: make an issue out of a minor theme”, which means to fuss about trifles, “hou-lai-ju-shang: those that started late get ahead”, which means “later started finish first”, etc. On the other hand, with some idioms, their meanings cannot be directly gained from their constituents unless we know the semantic fields or the historical sources such as the incident, or the background from which the particular set phrase comes about. Examples of this are “zhao-san-mu-si: three in the morning and four in the evening”, which means “chop and change”, or “of two minds about”; “bei-gong-she-ying: the reflection of a bow in a cup a snake”, which means “take very bush for a bugbear”, etc. (translated in Wu, 1995, p. 63). This definition highlights several features of Chinese idioms: structural inflexibility, semantic opacity, and their ubiquity in daily communication. Chinese idiomatic expressions display a unique cross-linguistic feature as over 95% consist of four characters (Zhou, 1997). Hence they are also referred to as QIEs (Liu & Cheung, 2014). The meaning of Chinese QIEs thus tends to be particularly obscure due to the short four-word format. What’s more, 27 hes.ccsenet.org Higher Education Studies Vol. 7, No. 2; 2017 the use of classical Chinese characters or cultural anecdotes may make the inference of QIE meaning even more challenging. Yet QIE use is pervasive in written and oral discourse. Some studies report that Chinese people prefer to use a greater number of idioms then westerners in their daily communication (Zhang, 2003). Owning to their elegant and prosodic style, QIEs are also frequently employed in public speeches of all kinds (Nall, 2009). Below let’s look at the linguistic features of Chinese QIEs in more detail. 1.1.1 Internal Structure of Chinese QIEs The structure of a QIE still has to conform to the constraints of general grammar in spite of the pithy form (Ni, 1997). Most QIEs consist of two parts: the first two morphemes are the fore part and the last two morphemes the hind part. The relation between the two parts can be various, such as Verb-noun (as in ji-zhong-yao-hai: hit-on-the-vital-point, hit the needle), adjective-noun (as in hai-qun-zhi-ma: disgrace-group-horse, the black sheep), modifier-modified (as in chen-re-da-tie: while-hot-strike-iron, take the good opportunity), etc. And each part also has its own internal structure. It is documented that for more than one third of QIEs, the two parts are symmetric in structure and semantics (Chen, 1982), that is, they have identical internal structure and have similar or opposite meanings. For example, in tian-ya-hai-jiao (sky-end-sea-corner), the fore part tian-ya (sky-end) has identical structure with the hind part hai-jiao (sea-corner), and they both refer to similar meanings: the rather remote area in the globe. Such feature of being symmetric in structure actually provides additional information in QIE meaning inference, as the two parts either reinforce or set contrasts to each other in semantics. 1.1.2 Semantic Opacity of Chinese QIEs The figurative meaning of Chinese idioms varies in terms of its compositionality (Zhang, 2002). Some are more compositional and therefore transparent in meaning as they can be largely understood based on the literal meaning of each constituent, such as shi-ban-gong-bei (work-half-achieve-double). Some tend to be more non-compositional and semantically opaque as the figurative meaning involves specific knowledge of metaphor or metonymy, as in he-li-ji-qun (crane-standing-among-chickens: to stand out in the crowd). What’s more, a fair proportion of Chinese idioms may contain classical Chinese and historical anecdotes, making the overall idiomatic meaning quite conventional and culture-bound. For example, the meaning of liang-shang-jun-zi (a-gentleman-on-beam) describes a well-known historical story and refers to a burglar or thief, instead of a gentleman as indicated literally. 1.2 Learning of Chinese QIEs Current empirical studies on the learning and acquisition of Chinese QIEs are mainly conducted in Native Language (NL) learning. A number of factors have been identified as affecting QIE acquisition. Some of these factors are general ones as they might affect idiom learning in any languages, such as semantic transparency (Lin, 2009; Liu & Cheung, 2014); context and familiarity (Hsieh & Hsu, 2010); while some are of particular significance in Chinese QIE learning as they relate to their unique and salient features, such as the structural format, semantic symmetry, use of classical Chinese, etc. (Huang et al., 1999; Liu & Xing, 2000; Liu & Cheung, 2014). The following will introduce some of the specific studies. Liu and Xing’s survey (2000) of 35758 entries in the dictionary of Han Yu Cheng Yu Ci Hai (Chinese Idiom Dictionary) revealed that about 40% of the idioms in their data exhibit the feature of semantic symmetry (the fore part has identical, similar or opposite meaning to the hind part). Their subsequent lexical retrieval experiment indicated that idioms with semantic symmetry were much easier to memorize than those without. Huang et al.’s study (1999) tested the effect of symmetric structure (i.e., the internal structure of the fore part and the hind part is identical in syntactic relation) and familiarity on idiom identification and re-recognition. The results indicated there was significant effect of both factors in the identification task. Response time for idioms with symmetric structure and familiar idioms were both shorter than those with no such structure and less familiar. But in the re-recognition test, significant effect was only found with structural symmetry but not familiarity. Lin’s study (2009) explored the specific effect of semantic compositionality (or transparency) on Chinese idiom comprehension. Based on the contribution individual constitutes make to the idiomatic meaning and whether background knowledge was required for comprehension, a transparency scale was first developed, which divided Chinese idioms into transparent, semi-transparent and opaque ones. Subsequent comprehension tests on 9 unfamiliar idioms showed that there was a significant effect of idiom type: transparent and semi-transparent idioms both scored significantly higher than opaque ones, while no difference was found between the first two groups. Analysis of post-test questionnaires completed by the subjects showed that background knowledge was recorded as the most frequently selected reason for comprehension difficulty. The author put forward several 28 hes.ccsenet.org Higher Education Studies Vol. 7, No. 2; 2017 teaching implications based on the findings, such as provision of contexts during learning; elaboration of cultural background and encouragement of guessing. Hsieh and Hsu (2010) investigated the role of context, familiarity and linguistic convention in the comprehension of idiomatic expressions by Mandarin-speaking children.
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