A Contrastive Analysis of Chinese and English Pet Phrases from the Perspective of Sociolinguistics

Abstract

As terms that do not have practical meaning but can fully express the speaker’s emotion and attitude, pet phrases are widely used in our daily life. While it is hard for us to realize its important role in communication due to its frequent use. As two distinct languages, pet phrases in Chinese and English have quite diverse origins. Therefore, this article will take several typical characteristics as examples and attempt to analyze the differences between Chinese and English in the use of pet phrases and the main causes of such distinctions from the perspective of sociolinguistics. The purpose of this study is to eliminate misunderstandings caused by the pet phrases between Chinese and English speakers so that both sides will gain some insights into each other’s culture, avoid pragmatic failure and achieve the goal of cross-cultural communication.