The Form-Meaning Relationship in Chinese Expressions of Movement
1. He went from San Francisco through Chicago to New York.
2. He went from San Francisco to New York through Chicago.
In linguistics, form refers to how a sentence is structured, while meaning is what the sentence
expresses. In Chinese, when describing a journey from one place to another, the order of the places
in a sentence must follow the actual route taken in real life. This means the structure of the sentence
should reflect the real-world sequence of travel.
For example, if someone travels from San Francisco to New York and passes through Chicago
on the way, the sentence:
“He went from San Francisco through Chicago to New York”
is considered correct. It mirrors the real journey: first San Francisco, then Chicago, and finally
New York.
In contrast, the sentence:
“He went from San Francisco to New York through Chicago”
sounds awkward or even incorrect in Chinese. That’s because it mentions the final destination
(New York) before the intermediate stop (Chicago), which doesn’t match the actual travel path.
Chinese requires that each step of the journey be mentioned in the order it happens.
This highlights a key feature of the Chinese language: the structure of the sentence must reflect
the actual sequence of events. In other words, Chinese favors a step-by-step description of a
journey that aligns with the real-world path. This makes the meaning clear and logical for the
listener. So, in Chinese, the form (word order) is directly tied to the meaning (the order of the
journey).
Moreover, this way of expressing movement in Chinese shows a strong non-arbitrary relationship
between form and meaning. That means the sentence structure is not random or flexible—it must
match the real-world experience. For example, the sentence “tā cóng Sānfǎnshì jīngguò Zhījiāgē
dào Niǔyuē” (“from San Francisco through Chicago to New York”) presents the cities in the same
order as the actual trip. This is known as iconicity, where the form of the sentence mirrors the
order of events. This structure helps listeners clearly and naturally understand the journey.
Finally, this is a descriptive characteristic of the Chinese language. It reflects how native speakers
actually use language in everyday life, rather than following strict rules set by grammar authorities.
In contrast to prescriptive rules that tell people how language should be used, this feature describes
how Chinese speakers do use word order to represent real-world events—making the language
intuitive and grounded in experience.
In Chinese, this sounds out of order—like saying, “I ate dinner, and then I cooked it.”
In language, form means how something is said or written (the grammar or word order), and
meaning is what it means or communicates.
So, a form-meaning relationship is how the structure (form) of a sentence helps express the
right meaning.
Tell them:
"In Chinese, when you talk about a trip, you have to say the places in the same order you go
there. If you go A → B → C, you must say A, then B, then C. That’s how Chinese shows the
meaning — by putting the words in travel order."
You can use a story example too:
"If you say 'I went from home to school through the park,' people understand you walked past the
park to get to school. But if you say 'from home to school, through the park,' in Chinese that feels
like you're skipping steps or telling it backward."
Why it's descriptive:
• Descriptive grammar explains how native speakers naturally use the language.
• In this case, native Chinese speakers naturally say "从 A 经过 B 到 C" (from A through
B to C) because it feels logical and follows real-world order.
• It’s based on how the language is actually spoken and understood, not how someone says
it should be spoken.
Contrast with prescriptive:
• A prescriptive rule would say, "You must say it this way because it's the proper or
'correct' form."
• For example, in English, a prescriptive rule might say, "Never split infinitives" — even if
people often do in real life.
Final Answer:
✅ The rule about place order in Chinese journey descriptions is descriptive, because it reflects
how the language naturally works, following the logic of real-world movement and
understanding.
