Hypotaxis and parataxis in the contrast between Chinese and English

In linguistics and translation, hypotaxis and parataxis are generally accepted as the most important characteristics which distinct English and Chinese. Parataxis dominates in Chinese and hypotaxis is in a subordinate position, the meaning restricting the form, while English is the opposite. This essay analyses in details various phenomena of parataxis and hypotaxis in Chinese and English, and explores their inner causes of forming. The article maintains that the idea of wholeness in the traditional Chinese philosophy, the thought of synthesis and the thought of ambiguity in the nationality of Han are the dynamic theoretical bases on which Chinese tends to be in parataxis; hypotaxis is the natural choice that the western has made according to the philolophy of atom and the thought of form logic.