英国语言与文化在历史中的发展-英国文化对英语习语的影响

1、英国语言与文化在历史中的发展-英国文化对英语习语的影响 The Development of British Language and Its Culture in History Abstract Language is the tool for human beings communication as well as the foundation of human beings culture. But for language, there would be no culture in the world. The influence of culture on language is

2、 significant. Being considered to be a very important part of language, idioms have always changed and develo9ped according to culture. The constituents of culture are various, including historical background, religion, geographical environment, literature and art, customs, sport and entertainment a

3、nd so on. English is the most widely used language in the world. British culture is unique. The influence of British culture on English is enormous. The aim of this dissertation is to study the relationship between language and culture, and to prove the great influence of British culture on English

4、idioms. Keywords: language, culture, idiom, influence 。 I The Development of British Language and Its Culture in History 摘要 语言是人类用来交流的工具，同时也是人类文化产生的基础。没有了语言，人 类文化也将不复存在。 文化对语言有着巨大的影响。而习语作为语言的重要组成部分，更是因文化而 发展，变化。文化是一个宽泛的概念，其内容丰富多彩，包括历史背景，地理环境， 宗教信仰，文学艺术，风俗习惯，体育运动等方面。英语是世界上使用最广泛的语 言。英国有着独特的不列颠文化。英国文化对

5、英语习语的影响是不可估量的。 本文便是从文化的各个角度出发，探讨文化与语言的关系，论证文化对语言的 影响。 关键词：语言，文化，习语， 影响。 II Contents Chapter 1 Introduction . 1 Chapter 2 The Influence of British Culture on English Idioms . 3 2.1The Influence of British Historical Background on English Idioms. 3 . The Influence of Roman Conquest on English Idioms.

6、.3 . The Influence of Teutonic Conquest on English Idioms. .4 . The Influence of Scandinavian Invasion on English Idioms.5 . The Influence of Norman Conquest on English Idioms .5 2.2The Influence of Geographical Environment of English Idioms . 6 . The Influence of Seafaring on English Idioms. .6 The

7、 Influence of Fishing on English Idioms. .7 Influence of Mining on English Idioms .7 The Influence of Cattle Breeding on English Idioms.8 2.3 The Influence of Customs on English Idioms. . 8 The Influence of Dining Customs on English Idioms. .8 Influence of Pet Customs on English Idioms.9 2.4 The Inf

8、luence of Bible on English Idioms . 10 2.5 The Influence of Literature on English Idioms. . 11 2.6 The Influence of British Sports on English Idioms. . 12 The Influence of Horse Racing on English Idioms. .13 The Influence of Boxing on English Idioms. .13 Chapter 3 Conclusion . 15 Reference . 16 Ackn

9、owledgement . 17 The Development of British Language and Its Culture in History Chapter 1 Introduction The aim of this dissertation is to study the relationship between language and culture. But for language, there would be no culture in the world. In the process of building up a culture, communicat

10、ion is a must to a certain group of people, for culture cannot be created individually. In other words, culture is the fruit of the cooperation of a certain group of people. On the other hand, language is the principal means whereby we conduct our social lives. When it is used in contexts of communi

11、cation, it is bound up with culture in multiple and complete ways. Then, what are idioms? “Idioms consist of set phrases and short sentences” and “idioms are expressions that are not readily understandable from their literal meanings of individual elements.” Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englis

12、h defines idioms as “a fixed group of words with a special meaning which is different from the meanings of the individual words.” Most phrasal lexemes are idioms, especially a sequence of words that is semantically and often syntactically restricted. Generally speaking, an idiom is a phrase understo

13、od by many people in a specific culture or subculture, and that phrase has a different meaning from the meaning it appears to have. Another important element of this dissertation is culture. Culture can be defined as membership in a discourse community that shares a common social space and history,

14、and common imaginings. Even when they have left that community, its members may retain, wherever they are, a common system of standards for perceiving, believing, evaluating, and acting. These standards are what are generally called their “culture”. Culture can be understood in various ways. It incl

15、udes many elements, such as history, geographical environment, customs, religion, literature, sport, entertainment and so on. Culture is closely connected with language. It has a great influence on language. Idioms, considered to be the essence of a language, take the brunt of the influence of cultu

16、re on language. Culture influences on language in many ways. This fact can easily 1 The Development of British Language and Its Culture in History be found in contemporary English language. For example, since Britain in an island country, fish is a kind of common food in British peoples daily life.

17、Therefore, there appear quite a lot of idioms related to fish, say like big fish, which refers to a very important person. Fresh fish is the pronoun of “recently released prisoner”. Then is fish a part of British culture? Certainly, diet is also an indispensable part of a culture. 2 The Development

18、of British Language and Its Culture in History Chapter 2 The Influence of British Culture on English Idioms 2.1The Influence of British Historical Background on English Idioms The influence of social development on language is enormous. As the society develops, old language vanished, and new languag

19、e appears. In the process of a languages development, historical trace can be easily found in idioms. . The Influence of Roman Conquest on English Idioms. In 55 BC, after conquering the Gaul, the Roman emperor Julius Caesar arrived in the British Isles, but he didnt war with the local Celts. A year

20、later, Caesar made war against Celts and defeated them. But he failed to make the Celts yield. The real Roman conquest in British began in 43 BC. The Roman emperor of that time, Claudius, spent three years in conquering the middle part and southeast of Britain. As a result, Latin was rapidly spread

21、across the British island. It was used as the official language as well as commercial language. The Roman dominance lasted four hundred years in Britain. Four hundred is quite a long time. Naturally, its not different to find the trace of Roman conquest in todays English idioms. Do in Rome as the Ro

22、mans do. Rome is not built in one day. All road leads to Rome. The three idioms above are quite well known all around the world. In the old Roman arena, the victorious gladiators used the palms as the mark of victory. So there appears an English idiom, bear the palm, which means “succeed” or “win”.

23、Worth ones salt is another idiom that has a tight relationship with Roman conquest. This idiom is used to describe, “One person deserves his reward”. Because in the old 3 The Development of British Language and Its Culture in History Roman times, salt was very precious, and as a result, was used to

24、serve as a kind of salary. The idiom thumbs up emanated from the old Roman entertainment. At the time, gladiators fought in the arena to entertain the Roman Aristocrats. If the aristocrats put their thumbs up to a gladiator, that means they agree to let the gladiator survive. In todays English, thum

25、bs up means “agree to”. On the contrary, thumbs down means “disagree” or “go against”. . The Influence of Teutonic Conquest on English Idioms. The Angles came from an angle-shaped land area in contemporary Germany. Their name Angli from the Latin and commonly-spoken, pre-5th Century German mutated i

26、nto the Old English Engle. Later, Engle changed to Angel-cyn meaning Angle-race by A.D. 1000, changing to Engla-land. Some Old English words, which have survived intact, include: feet , geese, teeth, men, women, lice, and mice. The modern word like can be a noun, adjective, verb, and preposition. In

27、 Old English, though, the word was different for each type: gelica as a noun, geic as an adjective, lician as a verb, and gelice as a preposition. Gerry Knowles 135 About in the 44 AD, Angles, Saxon and Jutes invaded Britain .The three nation fought against the local Celts for about one and a half c

28、entury. At the end of the 6th century AD, Celts in Britain is nearly weeded out. This is called Teutonic Conquest in history which has a great impact on the foundation of English language. Though the language of Angles, Saxon and Jutes were different, they had a lot in common. Gradually, the three l

29、anguages merged, which resulted in the origin of modern English. In fact, if it were not for the Teutonic Conquest, British culture and English language would not be the same as todays case. Go through fire and water. This idiom means “to pay any price”. In the Angles-Saxon times, there is a method

30、to judge whether a person is innocent or not. The accused person put his hands in boiling water, if his hands were intact, he was considered to be innocent. The method made come into being the idiom go through fire and water. 4 The Development of British Language and Its Culture in History . The Inf

31、luence of Scandinavian Invasion on English Idioms. From the end of the eighth century to the eleventh, the people of England were in close contact with invaders and settlers from Denmark and Norway. This contact was to have important consequences for the English language in different ways. The conta

32、ct was much closer in the north than in the south of England, with the result that the influence is much greater on the modern dialects of the north. The most northerly dialect areas of English were annexed by Scotland, with the result that English developed differently on either side of the border,

33、 with the older Scottish tongue spoken in the Lowlands, and separated from the dialects of England further south. Gerry Knowles 33 Immigrants from Denmark and NW Germany arrived in Britain in the 5th and 6th Centuries A.D., speaking in related dialects belonging to the Germanic and Teutonic branches

34、 of the Indo-European language family. Today, English is most closely related to Flemish, Dutch, and German, and is somewhat related to Icelandic, Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish. Icelandic, unchanged for 1,000 years, is very close to Old English. Viking invasions, begun in the 8th Century, gave Engl

35、ish a Norwegian and Danish influence which lasted until the Norman Conquest of 1066. th In about the 9 century, Britain was invaded by the Scandinavians or Vikings. Because of the Scandinavian invasion, most part of Britain was influenced by the northern European culture. For instance, some English

36、names emanated from Scandinavian language, such as, Jackson, Thompson, Stevenson, Johnson and so on. In nowadays, we often use the idiom rain cats and dogs to describe the weather. However, not everyone knows this idiom came from northern European mythology. In northern European myth, dog and wolf i

37、s the emblem of wind. On the other hand, cat represents rain. So rain cats and dogs is used to describe a windy and rainy weather. . The Influence of Norman Conquest on English Idioms In about 1035AD, the British prince Edward went back from Normandy to his motherland and take the throne of Britain.

38、 Since Edward spent a long time in France, 5 The Development of British Language and Its Culture in History French became very popular in the stratum of British aristocrats. Following the accession of Edward the Confessor in 1042, England was reoriented towards France and the former Roman Empire, an

39、d away from Denmark and the north of Europe. Undoubtedly the Best-remembered single event was the Norman conquest of England, which followed the battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066. English and French remained in close contact for over 300 years. When English reemerged as the written language of E

40、ngland, and as the spoken language of the upper classes, it was deeply influenced in many different ways by French. These influences were to prove permanent. Gerry Knowles 46 The Norman Conquest has a significant influence on English idioms. Many idioms in modern English are translated directly from

41、 French. Such as take heart, stew in ones own juice, put ones eggs in one basket, have the courage of ones opinions. 2.2The Influence of Geographical Environment of English Idioms People living in different geographical environments create different cultures. Different cultures lead to different lan

42、guage, including different idioms. Britain is an island country, located on the British Isles, in the west of Europe. To the south of Britain is France and to the east of Britain are Netherlands, Denmark and Norway. The main part of British territory includes Britain Island and the northeast part of

43、 Ireland. Britain Island consists of three regions. England occupies the southern and middle part of Britain; Wales occupies the west and Scotland is in the north. Britain Island is the biggest island in Europe. Many important rivers flow into the North Sea that is to the east of Britain. This geogr

44、aphical location plays a very important role in the development of Britain, also in the formation of English idioms. . The Influence of Seafaring on English Idioms. Since Britain is an island country, seafaring plays an important part in British economy and Ordinary peoples daily life. Gradually, many idioms related to seafaring 6 The Development of British Language and Its Culture in History appeared in English When sailors lose control of a boat, they dont know where the boat is going, they are all at sea. When a person do