（英语语言文学专业论文）中美体育赛事即席评论的跨文化研究——以NBA为例.pdf

iv 中美体育赛事即席评论的跨文化研究中美体育赛事即席评论的跨文化研究 以以 nba 为例为例 研究生姓名：左慧芬 导师姓名：李冬梅副教授 学科专业：英语语言文学 研究方向：专门用途英语 年级：2004 级 中文摘要中文摘要 随着国民经济的发展，中国人民的整体生活水平有了很大提高。人们对体育生活的关 注程度和参与积极性也不断增强。本文从文化的角度，以美国 nba 篮球比赛为研究样本， 对中美体育赛事即席评论所呈现出的不同特点进行了比较，并试图用西方学者所提出的相 关文化纬度，中国传统的儒家伦理思想和西方基督教理念来对这些差异加以解释。希望通 过本研究，能填补国内在该领域研究的空白，拓宽研究范围。 通过对 nba 比赛中英文两个版本的录像进行研究，本文着重对中美评论员在感叹句 （词）的使用频率、幽默感的体现和引用数据的频率三个方面所体现出来的差异进行了比 较。首先，我们发现美国评论员在解说和评论过程中使用感叹句（词）的频率远远高于中 国解说员，且音量更高，语调更强。这是因为中国文化深受儒家思想的影响，重视“仁” 、 “礼” 和中庸，人们在日常行为中避免感情的过分表露；而美国文化崇尚个人主义和个 性的展示，比来自集体主义文化的人们更倾向于自由地表达感情。 第二，在英文版本的录像里，笑声的出现频率也比中文版本高得多，而且所有跟比赛 相关的人和事都有可能成为美国评论员开玩笑的对象。相比之下，中国评论员的幽默一般 是“对事不对人” ，语气也友善得多。这些差异主要是由于中国人内省、自制和谦逊的性 格使中国式的幽默对他人的缺点或不妥行为往往采取容忍的态度，而不是把它们当成开玩 笑的对象；而美国人更具有冒险精神、进攻性，思想也更活跃开放。这也许能很好地解释 为什么在英语中人们的过失常常成为开玩笑的对象，这种幽默有时还具有相当的攻击性。 第三，美国评论员在解说评论的过程中引用数据的次数比中国评论员要多。这主要是 由于不同的思维方式引起的。美国人分析性的思维方式将 nba 的统计数据根据篮球技术 进行细化，形成一套独特的统计方式，并成为对球队和球员的表现进行判断和评价的最主 要的依据。 而且， 美国的低情境文化和一元时间概念都要求美国评论员用数据这种最直接、 最高效的手段来解说评论比赛。而中国人整体性的思维方式强调和谐统一，因此，中国评 论员不会仅凭一个球员或球队统计数据的高低来评判他们的好坏，而是更注重综合他们各 方面的表现。 本文还指出了研究中存在的不足，并对今后有待于继续探讨的课题提出了建议。 关键词关键词：中美文化；nba；体育赛事即席评论；对比研究 v a cultural contrastive study of the chinese and american impromptu sports commentaries a perspective based on nba commentaries postgraduate: zuo huifen supervisor:li dongmei major: english linguistics and literature orientation: espgrade: 2004 abstract this paper takes the game of national basketball association (nba) as research object, to make a cultural contrastive study of the chinese and american impromptu sports commentaries. it aims to find out different features of impromptu commentaries between these two countries and then analyze the deep rooted reasons based on a comprehensive understanding of cultural dimensions, ethical thoughts in chinese confucianism and western christianity. it is hoped that the present study can help to fill in the academic blank of this field and broaden the scope of the study of impromptu sports commentaries. by studying the nba impromptu commentaries both in chinese and english, the present paper focuses on three differences between chinese and american commentators: frequency of the use of exclamatory sentences, sense of humor and frequency of statistics quoted. first of all, it is found that the frequency of the use of exclamations by the american commentators is much higher than that by the chinese commentators. moreover, the exclamatory volume is much higher and the tone is much stronger. this is because chinese culture is deeply influenced by confucianism which values “ren” (仁), “li”(礼) and chung yung(中庸). thus chinese people tend to avoid expressing emotions excessively. on the contrary, american culture emphasizes individualism and personality which tends to express emotion more freely than people from collectivist culture like china. secondly, laughter occurs more frequently in american patterns than in chinese patterns, and any person related to the game could become the butt of a joke of american commentators. chinese commentators humor confines itself mainly to the event itself and the personal tone is more friendly. due to the chinese traditional characters of introversion, self-inhibition and modesty, chinese humor often takes a tolerant view of vice and evil instead of condemning them or laughing at them. while, the americans are more explorative, aggressive, open-minded and active, which may evolved into the possible reasons why there are more topics related to vi personal defects and aggression in english humor. thirdly, the frequency of statistics quoted in american commentaries is obviously higher than those in the chinese ones. this is because the americans with their analytic thought pattern divide the technique of nba into several detailed items, forming various statistics, and then evaluating the teams and players performances by the numbers. moreover, low context and monochromic time orientation culture require american commentators to quote statistics frequently to explain situation in the court. compared with american thought pattern, synthesis is the chinese thinking way which emphasizes the harmony and wholeness of the world. therefore, the chinese commentators will not judge a team or a player according to the statistics alone, but rather synthesize their all-round performances. this paper also points out the limitations and makes recommendations to future researches. key words: chinese and american cultures; nba; impromptu sports commentaries; contrastive study 论文独创性声明论文独创性声明 本人郑重声明：所提交的学位论文是本人在导师的指导下进行的研究工 作及取得的成果。除文中已经注明引用的内容外，本论文不含其他个人或其 他机构已经发表或撰写过的研究成果。对本文的研究作出重要贡献的个人和 集体，均已在文中以明确方式标明。本人承担本声明的法律责任。 研究生签名： 日期： 论文使用授权声明论文使用授权声明 本人完全了解广西师范大学有关保留、使用学位论文的规定。广西师范 大学、中国科学技术信息研究所、清华大学论文合作部，有权保留本人所送 交学位论文的复印件和电子文档，可以采用影印、缩印或其他复制手段保存 论文。本人电子文档的内容和纸质论文的内容相一致。除在保密期内的保密 论文外，允许论文被查阅和借阅，可以公布（包括刊登）论文的全部或部分 内容。论文的公布（包括刊登）授权广西师范大学学位办办理。 研究生签名： 日期： 导 师签名： 日期： 1 chapter one introduction sport is one of those human activities that play significant roles in everyday life of people around the world, whether they are participants or just spectators and supporters of it. today, sport has not only become great entertainment, useful recreation and health promoting vehicle, but also can be used as a means to overcome social problems and as such is essential for social integration, inclusion and cohesion in a modern society. in this regard, sport is of high importance because it offers opportunities for all, especially for children and adolescents to meet different people and face different kinds of experiences (physical activities as well as social experiences) which are often lacking in their everyday lives. sport, therefore, can be typified as of potentially high value for people to promote their life skills such as respect and fair play, solidarity, tolerance, team spirit and other key competences which are indispensable in everyday private and professional life. sport also helps participants become more independent and feel better about themselves. the result is positive self-esteem and self-confidence, which are extremely important for determining personal development. with the increasingly reforming and opening of china, the country is becoming stronger and stronger in politics, economy, culture, sport and so on. the chinese people are now seeking for more spiritual enjoyment rather than material fortune alone. these demands are also reflected in sports fields and sport is taking on an increasingly national flavor. more and more people have the willingness to take part in athletics. watching sports programs, especially sports competitions, have become very popular. thus, professional sports channels have emerged as required, and there are about forty sports tv channels broadcasting nearly twenty hours various sports programs every day on average. among these programs, live transmission of sports competitions is audiences favorite due to its sense of timeliness, vividness, excitement and suspensiveness, thus takes a considerable status in modern tv programs. as the audience keep their eyes on the tv screen, they can also hear one or two persons describing, commenting and analyzing what is happening on the field at the same time. this form of sportscast is called impromptu commentary. by impromptu commentary, we mean the reporting of a sport with a voiceover describing the details of the action of the game in progress. the commentators have no prewritten script on in advance and must rely on only background information and previous records of the competitors. their work is relatively fluid, unplanned and full of individual features. on one hand, they must objectively describe the objective situation in the court for the audience as the event unfolds; on the other hand, they may add their 2 own feelings, attitudes, commentaries, analyses, predictions and other subjective opinions towards the players, teams, coaches, judgments, cheering squads, and even the spectators clothes that are related to the game. therefore, it can be said that the impromptu commentaries are culture-bound, because what the commentators say and how they say are strongly influenced by their background, way of thought, education, experiences, like and dislike, etc. the national basketball association (nba), which originated in america in 1946, represents the top level of basketball. todays nba game is one of the most popular and most watched events in the world. it is not only a sport, but also an important means by which america is able to spread its culture to the world. the strength, technique, passion and cooperation showed in the game are attracting a large number of following, poor and rich, white and color, young and old, men and women, for live games as well as television coverage of events. its influence overseas is even beyond native concern. china central television (cctv) began to broadcast videos of nba games in 1996-97 season. there is not an official or unofficial accurate statistics about the amount of nba fans in china, but what can be sure is this number must have grown rapidly after yao ming got the no.1 pick in 2002-03 season draft. from then on, cctv has increased its broadcasting of the nba games to 4 times weekly. chinese nba fans have increased in number after many had given up watching the nba after the retirement of micheal jordan. as we mentioned above, the enjoyment of the games does not only come from “watching”, but also from “listening”. the commentators will tell the audience what is happening out of camera range and which is called “inside story”. without these commentaries, the nba game will not have been so entertaining. in fact, nba impromptu commentaries hold a unique language style which is different from others, such as news, advertising, drama, literature, etc. impromptu commentaries have their own features. however, a consecutive, regular and comprehensive study system of the language of impromptu sports commentaries has not been established in china (王群, 徐力, 2005:1). moreover, the nba game is such an attractive and charming sport for chinese. more and more fans of nba are no longer remain satisfied with watching the plays only, but eager to know this game more comprehensively and deeply. 1.1 purpose of the study this paper aims to make a contrastive study of the chinese and american nba impromptu was 3 commentaries with an attempt to explore and demonstrate the possible differences. on theoretical aspect, according to current research situation and level of impromptu sports commentaries, it is hoped that this study will help to fill in the academic blank and broaden the scope of study on cultural differences between american and chinese impromptu sports commentaries. it is also hoped that this paper can provide some references for both chinese learners of english and american learners of chinese who are interested in cultural dissimilarities. on practical aspect, first, it is hoped that research of this kind can help nba fans understand and appreciate the language of the commentaries of the game better both in english and chinese. second, it is hoped that the different perspective can help the learners of impromptu sports commentaries expand their range of vision and then improve their skills. third, the native nba impromptu commentaries are as wonderful, vivid and colorful as the nba game itself. the american commentators have some special techniques to raise exciting phenomenon and bring the audience to the climax of mood and hence increase the attraction of the game. though we can not say that the american way will completely suit chinese audiences taste as well, there must be something that the chinese commentators can learn and then develop their own skills and techniques. by comparing the chinese and american impromptu sports commentaries from cultural perspective, we could not only cognize the features of both sides, but also acquire a better understanding of cultural differences between the two countries. 1.2 scope of the study commentary means a descriptive spoken account (especially on radio or television) of an event or performance as it happens (thompon, 1999:265). impromptu commentaries include radio commentaries and tv commentaries. as television is one of the most important and popular media for its visual representation of information, timeliness and vividness, therefore becomes the first choice of most audiences who are not able to attend the games in person. so the present study chose live television commentaries as study objects. most chinese nba fans have no chance to sit by the court to watch a live nba game. fortunately, we have satellite and cable tv. we can sit at home and watch the same event happening on the other side of the earth without time distance. the only difference is that what the picture accompanies with is the chinese nba commentators commentaries in chinese 4 rather than the american commentators in english. by watching the english and chinese copies of the games, we could find some notable differences between these two patterns on the whole. these differences might be caused by different languages, different locations, different audience or different cultural backgrounds of commentators. among these possible causal factors, culture can be considered as “synthesized characteristics that distinguish a nation from another” (lin dajin at the same time, the commentators of cctv 5 comment the plays in chinese synchronously and these commentaries are broadcasted to chinese audience and are recorded as well. so the two language patterns are both available in cctv 5 data center.) meanwhile, data from various sources such as journals, books and the internet are also used as needed. it should be notified that the chosen copies, no matter in english or chinese, are all about houston rockets during 2005-06 season. that is because in 2002, yao ming, one of the greatest basketball players of china, got the no. 1 pick. (note: every year the nba teams will draft new players from national collegiate athletic association (ncaa) and overseas players. one of the fourteen teams that did not enter the playoff (季后赛) in last season will get the first chance to select in the draft pool through sortilege. the first picked player by this team in the first round is called the no. 1 pick.) he is the first no. 1 pick without any american background in the past fifty-year history of nba. from then on, houston rockets has attracted the most attention from china. nearly half plays of regular season (常规赛) broadcasted by cctv 5 are about houston 5 rockets. meanwhile, yao mings outstanding performance is changing americans attitude towards chinese basketball and players. cctv 5, the most professional sports channel in china, possesses preponderant technology, human and material resources, thus its commentators commentaries are the most familiar and acceptable ones to chinese audience. therefore, this paper chose the plays of houston rockets and the chinese pattern of cctv 5 commentaries as study objects. 6 chapter two literature review it is discovered, till now, there are few studies that focus on particular issue of nba impromptu commentaries, to say nothing of cultural contrast. but instead there are a considerable number of mediate researches which touch upon different aspects of the impromptu sports commentaries. 2.1 studies at home nowadays, the mass-media, including radio, television, internet, etc., are able to make every possible effort to ensure everyone around the globe access to sports events and news irrespective of location. of course, the main coverage media of sport is television. in china, sports commentaries occurred as a combination of television and sports news. so the related research is ranged in journalism. in recent years, sports journalism has evolved as a major in many sports colleges or universities. however, the courses are set mainly around rules of journalism, communication science, editing theory, news writing and so on, aiming at training the students to be journalists, editors, organizers or hatchers who will be engaged in sports news press in related news or publishing institutions. as for impromptu sports commentaries, though communication university of china in beijing has initiated experimental classes for impromptu sports commentators, they have no professional teachers and specific teaching materials or books, to say nothing of systemic theories, which could tell the students how to be good impromptu sports commentators. all attempts so far are exploratory and experimental, and the academic studies can not meet actual needs. in a word, a scientific and practical system of education and training of sports commentators has not been established yet on academic level in china. in 1999, cctv held the first “china sports commentators seminar” in beijing. sportscasters throughout china gathered together to discuss the art of sports commentaries. from then on, the seminar is held every two years. however, these seminars are more likely a gathering for experience exchange and few formal written materials are published. as for countrywide sports commentators, especially those famous sports commentators, such as song shixiong, sun zhengping, han qiaosheng, huang jianxiang, who are expected to contribute to build the theory system of chinese impromptu sports commentaries, unfortunately, rarely have energy and time to sit down and write seriously. take song shixiong for example, he is not only the most well-known sports broadcaster and commentator in china and even abroad, 7 but also