Proceedings of the 2025 9th International Seminar on Education, Management and Social Sciences (ISEMSS 2025)

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A Brief Analysis of English and Chinese Fairy Tales at Lexical, Syntactic, and Textual Level

Authors
Can Huang1, *
1Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, HB, 430070, China
*Corresponding author. Email: huangcan@whut.edu.cn
Corresponding Author
Can Huang
Available Online 12 September 2025.
DOI
10.2991/978-2-38476-462-4_98How to use a DOI?
Keywords
Fairy Tales; Lexical Feature; Syntactic Feature; Textual Feature; Cultural Metaphor; Lexical Density; Cross-cultural Analysis
Abstract

This study conducts a tripartite linguistic analysis of Andersen’s The Nightingale and Ye Shengtao’s Hua Mei, examining lexical, syntactic, and textual features. Lexical statistics reveal dominance of basic words (Andersen 82.3%, Ye 73%) and content words (72.1% vs. 68%), aligning with child cognitive development (Su Xinchun, 2015). Culturally, Andersen employs borrowed terms (e.g., porcelain, Tsing-pe) to construct oriental symbols, while Ye utilizes indigenous craftsmanship lexicon (e.g., sanxian, ge’er) for class critique. Syntactically, The Nightingale prioritizes subordination (60% explicit conjunctions), whereas Hua Mei favors coordination (70% implicit logic). Textually, Andersen relies on cohesion markers (pronouns/conjunctions), contrasting Ye’s coherence via logical connection. These divergences manifest distinct cultural metaphors: Andersen’s nature-machine comparison critiques industrialization from a Western-centralized perspective, while Ye’s Confucian labor ethics expose dehumanization. Findings demonstrate how linguistic strategies influence the expression of emotion and thought in cross-cultural fairy tales.

Copyright
© 2025 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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Volume Title
Proceedings of the 2025 9th International Seminar on Education, Management and Social Sciences (ISEMSS 2025)
Series
Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research
Publication Date
12 September 2025
ISBN
978-2-38476-462-4
ISSN
2352-5398
DOI
10.2991/978-2-38476-462-4_98How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2025 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Cite this article

risenwbib
TY  - CONF
AU  - Can Huang
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/09/12
TI  - A Brief Analysis of English and Chinese Fairy Tales at Lexical, Syntactic, and Textual Level
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 9th International Seminar on Education, Management and Social Sciences (ISEMSS 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 864
EP  - 871
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-462-4_98
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-462-4_98
ID  - Huang2025
ER  -