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A Contrastive Study on Translating Degree Modification: Functional-Syntactic Analysis of English Pre-modifying Temperers and the Chinese Deriver ‘de’

Author(s)

Ziting Niu, Na Zhao*

Affiliation(s)

Kunming University, Kunming, Yunnan, China *Corresponding Author

Abstract

Degree modification, essential for nuanced expression across languages, presents persistent translation challenges due to structural asymmetries between English and Chinese. This study conducts a systematic contrastive analysis of English pre-modifying temperers and the Chinese ‘de’ structure within the Cardiff Grammar’s Quality Group model. The corpus includes bilingual parallel texts (CCL, COCA) and literary translations. Analysis spans four dimensions: syntactic structure, semantic refinement, pragmatic rhetoric, and cognitive basis. Results reveal that English pre-modifying Temperers realizes through pre-modification, abstractness, objectivity, and figure-first logic, whereas Chinese ‘de’ structure employs post-introduction, concreteness, subjectivity, and background-first logic, reflecting typological differences in hypotaxis vs. parataxis and divergent cognitive styles. Based on findings, three translation strategies are proposed: structural correspondence and transformation (for English-to-Chinese), semantic integration and compensation (for Chinese-to-English), and rank shift of constituents. This research extends the Cardiff Grammar’s cross-linguistic application, provides a unified framework for multi-dimensional contrast, and offers theoretically grounded practical tools for translators, bridging linguistic theory and translation practice.

Keywords

Degree Modification; Cardiff Grammar; Quality Group; Contrastive Linguistics; Translation Strategies

References

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