Comparative analysis of the structure of simple sentences in Russian and Chinese diplomatic documents

Ma Limin Postgraduate student, Department of General and Comparative-Historical Linguistics, Moscow State University 119234, Russia, Moscow, Leninskie Gory str., 1 mlmdiana@yandex.ru

With the expansion of globalization processes, which has intensified interaction between countries at various levels, including political, economic and cultural aspects, the role of diplomacy has become integral. Diplomacy is understood as the principled activity of heads of state, governments and special bodies of foreign relations to implement the goals and objectives of the state's foreign policy, as well as to protect the rights and interests of the state abroad ^{[3, p. 330]}. The effectiveness of this activity often depends on the use of a language that functions primarily within the framework of diplomatic discourse related to institutional messaging ^{[4, p. 255]}.

In the context of the style of the language of diplomacy and its importance in diplomatic exchange, it is necessary to take into account the diversity of cultural and historical factors affecting diplomatic documents. The language, in turn, is a combination of universal and local elements that have roots in the history and culture of the country, and demonstrates a special national style. In diplomatic documents, this conditionality is most clearly manifested, since his language "includes the features of both language and diplomacy" ^{[10, p. 98]}. On the one hand, in an official business style, texts often contain a large amount of information and are intended for re-reading. Such a presentation requires high detail, which leads to long sentences. As M.N. Kozhina notes, the number of words in a sentence can reach 500-600 units^{[2, pp. 56-57]}; on the other hand, the syntactic features of the diplomatic subfield are formed under the influence of the educational level of people involved in diplomacy. They are always outstanding personalities of their time, fluent in the language and able to easily create complex and sophisticated sentences. Also, the formation of syntax was mainly influenced by the written nature of communication: in a written text it is easier to compose and perceive long and structurally complex sentences, and if necessary, you can go back and re-read the sentence. In addition, diplomatic documents also need to "take into account the national and religious traditions of each of the contacting countries" ^{[8, p. 9]}, knowledge of the mentality and customs of the addressees.

The scientist notes that there are certain syntactic features in the business style of writing. One of them is the presence of syntactic parallelism, as well as the use of complex syntactic constructions. ^{[9, p. 177]}. The complex structure of simple sentences in diplomatic documents in Chinese and Russian is due to many factors, including language features and cultural traditions. This means that even when comparing the same document in different languages, unique linguistic features may appear.

In Russian, the construction of complex structures in simple sentences is often accompanied by numerous grammatical changes, verb conjugations and complex grammatical constructions that are embedded into one another, creating an intriguing multi-layered sentence structure. These constructions occupy an important place, complementing, limiting, defining or clarifying the meaning of the main sentence. Such a complex structure helps to avoid ambiguity and misinterpretation, which is especially important in diplomatic documents focused on diplomacy and politically sensitive situations.

1)Prepositional construction

In Russian diplomatic documents, prepositional constructions are used in a variety of ways to express the grounds, goals, conditions, virtues and other aspects of the situation. The widespread use of these constructions is associated with the principle of linguistic economy, which ensures the compactness of sentences when transmitting various relationships. In modern text styles, there is also a proliferation of certain prepositions and expressions to convey the same meanings. Among them:" in the matter of what", "along the line of what", "at the expense of what","in part of what","in favor of what", "in the welfare of what", "in this sense of what", "from what", "accompanied by what" and others ^{[7, p. 119]}.

In diplomatic documents, the prepositional construction "by what" is often used to indicate a way to achieve a certain goal, for example: The parties advocate a solution through dialogue and equal negotiations to the Iranian nuclear problem, issues of reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan...

Of course, complex prepositional constructions are most often found in diplomatic texts. For example: The parties, in the spirit of partnership, will make efforts to promote the development of a multipolar world and the establishment of a new international order.

There is also a part of prepositional constructions that can be used to indicate a goal. For example, "in the interests of what", "in the name of what", "for the benefit of what", etc., the following two sentences can be compared:

- They approve of the necessary and rational reform of the United Nations in order to increase the authority and effectiveness of this organization, strengthen its capacity to respond to new challenges and threats.

- They approve of the necessary and rational reform of the United Nations in order to increase the authority and effectiveness of this organization, to strengthen its capacity to respond to new challenges and threats.

As can be seen from the examples, a simple sentence formed with the help of a prepositional construction "for what purpose" is more concise and more in line with the requirements for a diplomatic framework. This structure not only clearly and concisely expresses complex concepts and relationships, but also enhances the compactness and objectivity of the proposal, making the text more appropriate to the linguistic style of diplomatic activity.

2)Participial and adverbial phrases

The diplomatic style of the Russian language is also characterized by the use of separate terms in simple sentences, such as participial and adverbial phrases. The detached members perform the function of subordinate clauses and mainly act as definitions and circumstances in simple sentences. As a rule, participial and adverbial phrases are placed after the word being defined. A typical example is the following proposal: Russia and China, which are permanent members of the UN Security Council, adhering to the principles of partnership, good neighborliness and friendship, equality and trust, mutually beneficial cooperation and joint development, strictly observing the principles of international law, establish long-term interstate relations of a new type, not directed against third countries. This is a simple sentence, but it contains both participial and adverbial phrases, which makes its structure quite complex. Unlike participial phrases, the position of adverbial phrases acting as circumstances is more free, for example: By helping to reduce tension in international relations and create conditions for stability, security and mutual trust between countries, the NPT makes an important contribution to nuclear disarmament. 

3)Homogeneous members

In simple sentences, a complex structure can manifest itself in the use of homogeneous terms, which can act as a subject, predicate, definition, circumstance, complement, and other roles. Relations of connection, differences, differences, comparisons and others can be expressed between homogeneous members using appropriate conjunctions such as "and", "or", "either", "but", "and".

The Contracting Parties shall make joint efforts to maintain the global strategic balance and stability, as well as in every possible way contribute to the strict observance of the fundamental agreements ensuring the maintenance of strategic stability.

The Parties stress the need to fully respect and take into account the interests and concerns of the States concerned.

In some cases, these relationships can also be expressed without the use of conjunctions; these homogeneous members are connected using punctuation.

The Parties intend to:

– guided by the agreements reached between the heads of State, to consistently ensure the correct course of development of bilateral relations;

– to provide strong mutual support in matters of protecting each other's fundamental interests, primarily sovereignty, territorial integrity, security and development;

...

Unlike Russian, Chinese is grammatically more concise and clear, and it almost completely lacks inflection. Chinese, however, is known for its unique types of sentences, and in the Chinese diplomatic language, like the Russian language, simple sentences are also characterized by a complex structure. This is manifested in the use of a variety of linguistic mechanisms that are designed to ensure the accuracy and expressiveness of statements. In Chinese diplomatic documents, the complexity of the structure of simple sentences is largely due to the use of various linguistic techniques, including homogeneous terms, complex determinants and modifiers, as well as various types of sentences.

1) Prepositional construction

The prepositional construction, like its use in Russian, is widely used in Chinese diplomatic documents. In Chinese, this construction is known as a prepositional complement. This combination of a preposition with its object is used to indicate various aspects such as the place, direction, time, and state of the action or object. Prepositions in Chinese play a key role in expanding the predicate and specifying various parameters such as time, place, method, reason, purpose, subject and object of action, as well as other aspects related to actions and characteristics^{[6, p. 28]}.

Basically, the preposition "?ji?" is used in more formal written speech ^{[5, p. 104]}. This preposition can enhance the statement, giving it a more formal and authoritative character. In diplomatic texts and other official documents, its use may be especially appropriate for accurate and weighty expression of thoughts. For example: ""??in Russian?Ministry of foreign Affairs of Russia and China (the "Parties") claim for the problems of the Korean Peninsula following:?

In Chinese, there is also a class of prepositional constructions with the structure "..............." (using what as what)", which are used quite flexibly and are often found in diplomatic documents, "..........." (using what in as the core), "?....."(using what as the basis), "?......"(using what as a preposition), etc. For example:

?“”?“”(The parties are putting forward a joint initiative based on the ideas proposed by the Chinese side of a "double freeze" (the DPRK's nuclear missile activities and large-scale joint exercises of the United States and the Republic of Korea) and "parallel progress" towards the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and the formation of a peace mechanism on the peninsula, as well as on the Russian phased plan for a Korean settlement.)

In this example,"?""?"""is a prepositional construcii suggestions?koto is understood as using the Chinese side proposed the idea of "double-freeze" (missile and nuclear activities of North Korea and a large-scale joint military exercises of the United States and the Republic of Korea) and "parallel move" to denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the formation of the Peninsula mechanism of the world, as well as on the Russian phased plan Korean settlement as the basis?Such a complex structure greatly exacerbates the complexity of a simple sentence, giving the whole sentence a complex syntactic structure.

The Chinese diplomatic documents also make extensive use of the structure " <url>......top/bottom/center/ inner part" (chap.-preposition with the meaning "to be"-+nouns-directives). This group of prepositional constructions is quite common and rich in meaning. As "?......" (In context) "?......" (Under the premise), "?......" (Under control), "?......" (based On), "?......" (issues), "?......" (under), "?......" (In process). For example:

? (By advocate that the problem of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery was decided by political and diplomatic means within the framework of international law in the interests of strengthening international security.)

2) Complex determinants and modifiers

Chinese diplomatic style often uses complex determinants and modifiers in simple sentences, such as definitions, adverbs, prepositional constructions, etc. These determinants and modifiers describe an object or action, making the meaning of the sentence richer.

Like the prepositional construction in Russian, its use in Chinese diplomatic documents is also quite common. In Chinese, such a construction is called a prepositional complement construction, which is understood as a construction consisting of a preposition and its object, and is used to indicate a place, direction, time, state of action or state.

In Chinese diplomatic documents, sometimes verb-object phrases can be used as definitions in sentences. For example: (We pay tribute to all who fought against fascism in the name of freedom.) In the sentence, both the verb-object phrase "" and the structural particle "?" form the definition of the sentence, which is used to define the complement "?.".

Several modifiers may be present in the same sentence of Chinese diplomatic documents. For example: ...?? (...wanting to promote a fair and rational new international order based on strict adherence to universally recognized principles and norms of international law...). In the example there are two modifiers, formed by a structural particle "?", as well as complex definition, formed islamicism determinant "" and monosyllabically determinant "?".

3) Homogeneous members

Homogeneous members are often found in Chinese diplomatic documents. They can form a phrase whose components are connected by unions "? h?", "? y?", "? j?", " y?j?", " hu?zh?".

?

(Today we commit to preserving and strengthening this legacy for future generations.)

The word "?y?" has a bookish connotation and is commonly found in written speech, especially in formal texts such as diplomatic documents, academic articles and official documents.

50???Today, 50 years later, we celebrate the invaluable contribution of this historic treaty to ensuring the security and prosperity of all countries and peoples of the world.

In Chinese diplomatic documents, after listing homogeneous members, the word "? dng" is often used with the meaning of generalization. Its use indicates that after the listed elements there are several more similar or related ones, but not mentioned in the list. For example:

(We also pay tribute to the amazing diverse benefits of the peaceful use of nuclear energy for energy, medical, agricultural and industrial purposes.)

(The Contracting Parties, in accordance with their national legislation and international obligations of each of them, actively cooperate in the field of combating terrorism, separatism and extremism, as well as in the field of combating organized crime, illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, weapons and other criminal activities.)

4) Comprehensive offer

Chinese scientist An Lihong notes in his article that the number of syllables in Chinese words is significantly less than in other languages such as Russian. This may be the reason that the variety of complex sentences in simple and concise Chinese is much less than in Russian. In many cases, the meaning that needs to be expressed in a complex sentence in Russian can be expressed in a simple sentence in Chinese. There are no explanatory and determinative subordinate clauses in Chinese, however, there is a special type of sentence - , or a comprehensive sentence in which the main subject-predicate structure contains other subject-predicate structures. In such sentences, the subject-predicate structure can express the meaning of Russian explanatory and determinative subordinate clauses. ^{[1, p. 48]}

Sentences of this type often contain a subordinate construction as an object, especially after the verbs "" (to know), "" (to confirm), "" (to mark), "" (to emphasize) and others. Such sentences may express the meaning of explanatory sentences in Russian, for example?

2023 (the Parties acknowledge that the Treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons is the cornerstone of international mechanisms of nuclear disarmament and international non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.)

In this sentence, the phrase "" acts as the object of the verb "" basic proposal.

In one comprehensive sentence, it is possible to simultaneously have several forms of a subordinate clause as a member of the sentence of the main sentence. For example ??? (The Russian Side recognizes that there is only one China in the world, the Government of the People's Republic of China is the only legitimate government representing the whole of China, and Taiwan is an integral part of China. The Russian side opposes Taiwan's independence in any form.) In this proposal all three add-ons: 1) there is only one China; 2) the government of the people's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China; 3) Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. The Russian side opposes Taiwan's independence in any form.

To summarize, it can be noted that both Chinese and Russian diplomatic documents widely use simple sentences with a complex structure. This not only makes the texts informative, but also makes them more compact, which meets the requirements for diplomatic documents. The complex structure in Chinese and Russian diplomatic documents is especially noticeable, especially in sentences containing prepositional constructions and homogeneous terms. However, due to the differences in the features of the Chinese and Russian languages, each of them has its own characteristics. For example, in Russian diplomatic documents, a large number of participial and adverbial phrases are used to build complex sentence structures, while in Chinese diplomatic documents, in addition to using complex determinants and modifiers to enhance the expressiveness of a sentence, a comprehensive sentence is often used. These differences not only reflect the different approaches of Chinese and Russians to writing diplomatic documents, but also show the unique features of both languages in expressing complex ideas and opinions.