A Comparative Study of Word Orders In English and Chinese Coordinate Constructions

Yang WU

College of Foreign Languages, Hunan City University, Yiyang, 413000, CHINA

Abstract: Word orders in English and Chinese coordinate constructions vary considerably although they share some similarities. Traditional semantic explanations are not fully sufficient to account for the differences. In this article, we make a comparative study of word orders in English and Chinese coordinate constructions and attempt to provide a semantically, phonologically and pragmatically based explanation.

Keywords: Word Order; Coordinate Construction; Explanation