王敬义
攀枝花学院
四川省攀枝花市617000
English for science and Technology (EST) is a new academic style which began in the 1950s. It is a kind of language used by scientists to conduct academic exchanges with each other or introduce scientific knowledge to the general readers. This chapter introduces the features of EST in terms of vocabulary, syntax and rhetoric.
1Lexical features
There?are?three?characteristics?of?EST?Vocabulary,?which?are?embodied?in?professional?vocabulary,?word?meaning?and?abbreviation.
1.1Low frequency of professional vocabulary
English experts of science and technology from the University of Illinois and Tehran University of Iran have jointly conducted a word frequency survey of English vocabulary of science and technology. They investigated 110,000 words in relevant science and technology magazines, and selected 4178 basic words from them. According to their genera, they were divided into three categories: professional technical words, sub technical words and functional words, and divided into four levels according to their frequency of occurrence. Experts found that the most frequent words are function words, while professional words are the least.（Bao Qing,1983）
1.2Specifically Concentrated Meaning
One of the common features of EST is that the longer the form, the more specific the meaning. It is difficult for us to find a polysemous or polysemous technical vocabulary from a dictionary. Such as:schizosaccharomyces(裂殖酵母) ,phenanthrahydroquinone (菲尔酚) and so on.
2 Syntax Features
This part studies the syntactic features of EST mainly in sentences.
2.1 Using Long Sentences widely
The author of science and technology describes science and technology and other natural phenomena, pays attention to facts and logical deduction, and the definition theorem or description concept given must be rigorous and accurate. So long sentences are used more often. Often a main sentence with a number of clauses, clauses with phrases, phrases with clauses, clauses set clauses, so that the sentence appears very lengthy.
2.2 Using Passive Voice Sentences widely
English has three characteristics: first, the use of articles; second, the use of guide words, it and there; third, the widespread use of passive voice sentences.Passive voice sentences are widely used in EST. According to the statistics of foreign linguists, about one-third of the verbs in science English textbooks of physics, chemistry and engineering are used in passive voice. The passive voice is better than the active voice in explaining the object to be demonstrated, and its position is more prominent.
3Rhetorical Features
English for science and technology is a genre of English, which has its own characteristics in rhetoric, in particular on the use of tense and the choice of rhetoric.
3.1 Limited Use of Tense
According to the research findings of John Lackstrom(1972), an expert in English for science and technology in the United States. He said: narrating the past research uses the past or the present perfect tense commonly; discussing the theory based on the project uses the future tense; discussing the theory part uses the present tense. In addition, we usually use the continuous time, but in the past, we used less the completion time.
3.2 Monotonous Rhetoric
Describing the language of science must pay attention to facts and logic, usually using charts, formulas, numbers to express scientific concepts.
4 Cultural Characteristics
Chinese and Western history and culture, national customs and backgrounds are different, and the cultural atmosphere formed after a long accumulation is also different. Edward Hall's conclusion is that China is a high context culture and America is a low context culture.(Edward Hall, 1988)
EST is an indispensable language style for science and technology workers. The main body of EST is written language. Scientific and technological workers or translators need to master the language characteristics of EST.
[1]爱德华.霍尔. 超越文化[M]居延安,等译.上海:上海文化出版社,1988
[2]保清,苻之.科技英语翻译理论与技巧[M].北京:中国农业机械出版社,1983:29