A Contrastive Study of the Meanings of Color Words between English and Chinese.doc

英汉颜色词语文化内涵对比研究a contrastive study of the meanings of color words between english and chineseabstract: there are differences in the use of colors and color words between english and chinese cultures. the different cultures bring different attitudes towards the same color because of different language habits, historical backgrounds, and traditional customs and so on. although the meanings of color words are restrained by cultures, they reveal wide connotation of cultures. due to the respective cultural background and tradition, peoples feeling and expressions to the color are not the same. we should pay attention to observing not only their basic meaning, but also the deep and broad symbolic meaning. the symbolic meanings of color words often have different features in different language cultures. and some of them even have become taboos and adornments since the meanings of the color words are extended and transferred. meanwhile, the cultural exchanges and the color views have similar phenomenon and coincidence in the languages. this paper tries to illustrate the different symbolic meanings of color words in english and chinese cultures by contrasting and analyzing of them. key words: cultural differences; symbolic meanings; contrast摘 要：因民族历史文化、政治、宗教、习俗和社会环境等因素的影响，英汉文化语言中色彩词用法各异，颜色观也有所不同。中英文化在长期的历史沉淀中形成了各自独特的颜色观，折射出绚丽多姿的民族文化。文化制约了颜色词的意义演变，颜色词的文化意义又折射出了丰富的文化内涵。由于各自的文化背景和传统，人们对颜色的感觉是不同的。我们不仅要注意观察它们本身的基本意义，更要留心它们含义深广的象征意义。象征意义在不同民族语言中往往有不同的特点，有些特点甚至构成了人们对经过引伸、转义以后颜色的崇尚和禁忌。同时，由于文化趋同性和文化的交流，语言所反映的颜色观有相似或相叠合的现象。本文就英汉文化以上方面进行对比分析，试图说明英汉文化颜色词的不同象征意义。关键词：文化差异; 象征意义; 对比contentsi. introduction.1ii. backgrounds.2a. color words and their historical backgrounds.2b. color words in english.3c. color words in tradition chinese cultures.3iii. the necessity and importance of learning the symbolic meanings of color words in english and chinese culture.4iv. basic color words in english and chinese culture.5a. the meaning of “green”.5b. the meaning of “red”.6c. the meaning of “white”.7d. the meaning of “black”.8e. the meaning of “yellow”.8v. the rich cultural connotation of color words.9a. color words can describe different psychology and sentiment.9b. color words reflect history10 1. embody power.10 2. embody rank, status, occupation.10c. color words reflect customs.11d. color words reflect economy.11vi. conclusion.12works cited14a contrastive study of the meanings of color words between english and chinesei. introduction language is the mirror of culture, with the continuous development of human civilization, people have been given new life to the word color and vitality, from the original color and express some kind of simple derived much escaped, so that language more vivid, attractive, and thus appears to increasingly important. “language is the carrier of culture, are an integral part of culture, and culture of different ethnic groups varies” (bedir 34). certain colors appear to correspond to the word literally, but its cultural meaning is not the same, or even likely to vary because of cultural factors of the reasons that the color of the word in different context have been given different meanings.“culture is a foundation to the existence and development of human society” (claire 50). language is one of the most vital factors in shaping the cultural system. the equality between the meanings the cultures of two languages is rarely found in english and chinese. this paper tries to make a contrastive study between english and chinese color phrases so that each culture can be reflected by its represent of colors in which culture is heavily dependent on. as a result, a better communicative ability will be achieved through learning the differences between english and chinese color phrases.nature is decorated with many different colors and mans daily life is also closely linked with colors. “color is an objective thing, its essence is the same to every nation. but the cognition of color, especially colors meaning of analogy and association, it is not entirely the same to every nation” (shao 82). color is a part of our life. color words are frequently used both in english and chinese. a lot of color words are produced under special historical and geographical background. it helps us to understand the world around, like our sense of taste and smell. studying the cultural connotations of the words is of great importance for successful communication. so the culture of colors is very important in our life.there are numerous color words both in english and in chinese, such as the basic color words white, red, black, green, yellow. color words have rich cultural connotations, not only used to describe different psychological changes and emotions, but also used to reflect history, culture, and customs, etc. “color words in english and in chinese have more differences than similarities” (li 45). color words not only reflect the physical properties of colors but also reflect the properties of society. generally speaking, in chinese culture, the symbolic meanings of color words are related to influences of feudal system, feudal superstition, primitive science, and poor education. the colors have strong political symbolic meanings and mystical tendencies. in english culture, the symbolic meanings of color words are affected by the western nationality openness, science, education degree. the color words are of a few mystery meanings. “the symbolic meanings of color words have been formed in the development of society and historical precipitation” (liu 13). it is a permanent phenomenon. in cross-cultural communication, the symbolic meanings of color words embody lots of cultural values and connotations in languages which make the languages more lively, interesting, humorous and warm. therefore the most important things in using color words for us are to understand the cultural traditions, values, and customs. so it is necessary to know and master different connotations of color words both in english and chinese. color words transmit cultural information through cultural communication. good understanding of the symbolic meanings of color words can promote and strengthen cultural exchanges among countries smoothly. we can know that the use of color terms varies from language to language, from culture to culture. ii. backgrounds a. color words and their historical backgroundsfrom the scientific definition, color is a visual phenomenon launched, reflected or caused through certain light wave by the object, it is one kind of visual essential features of human eye.color words, in whatever languages, are used for describing different things. the statistics show that there are more than 7 million kinds of colors can be recognized in the nature. however, the color names are very limited in the languages because there are only dozens of colors expressed in single-morpheme word. a number of color words are expressed by adding modifiers, for instance, crimson, pale red, apple green, azure, coffee color etc. “color words reflect the different cultural connotations in different language” (wang 50). people regard color words with special esteem in different countries. we should not only understand their basic meanings, but also pay attention to their deeply symbolic meanings. the symbolic meanings of color words have different features in different cultures. history, background, aesthetic and psychology are different because of our countrys geography. so, the feeling of the color words will not be the same, and the symbolic meanings of color words will be various.b. color words in english in english, it is easily accepted for colors development of education and science. at the beginning, the english people pay attention to things rationally. they often display the basic meaning of color words to the objective world, so the symbolic meanings of the color words are very direct in english culture. the english people express some abstract cultural meaning with the concrete color of objective things. for example, in english culture “getting red” means the color of “blood”. among the mind in english culture, once the blood trickles, the life end, so people always associate red with the violence, danger, and it is a taboo word in english culture. when english sinologists translate “dream of the red chamber,” they consider that “red” makes english people feel blood, they adopt title “ the story of the stone” to avoid the misunderstanding of the word “red”.c. colors in traditional chinese cultures about five thousand years b.c., during emperors time, people worshiped a single color. after huang di and through the shang, tang, zhou and qin dynasties, the emperors selected colors as symbols based on the theory of the five elements. the order of five elements is water, fire, wood, metal and earth. these are corresponded with the colors black, red, green, white and yellow. “ancient chinese people believed that the five elements were the source of everything in nature” (he 107). as the source of everything comes from these five elements, the colors come from the five elements as well. in the traditional chinese system, five colors (black, red, green, white and yellow) are regarded as standard colors.during the pre-qin period, the symbolic meanings of color words started to show a tendency towards diversification. in order to support the zhou dynasts ceremonial observances, confucius defined the colors of yellow, green, white, red and black as the standard colors and superior colors. he related the five colors to benevolence, virtue and kindness and incorporated them into the formal ceremonies. chinese cultures were affected by the development of feudal society in the past several thousand years. education and science lag behind relatively, so the symbolic meanings of the color words have strong mystery flavor in chinese culture. the development of the objective things are affected by chinese cultures largely. the symbolic meanings of color words are very abundant in chinese culture, for example, the color of red comes from the sun in chinese culture. our ancestor has a kind of instinctive attachment and worships to the sunshine, and red stands for joy and luck.iii. the necessity and importance of learning the symbolic meanings on color words in english culture and chinese culturealthough we may not realize it, we converse with others, we communicate by a lot of expressions connecting with color words or phrases such as “a white day”, “blue monday”, “black market” and so on. thus the “color language” becomes a part of both chinese and english culture. so in order to communicate effectively in an english-speaking country, one should know about the symbolic meanings of the color words which are also an important media through which people communicate with each other.in both chinese and english culture, color words are abundant in cultural connotations. owing to the differences of geographical environments and customs, color words or phrases have different cultural backgrounds in chinese and english languages. in cross culture communication, color words more or less have the same or different features. through learning the symbolic meanings of color words in chinese culture and english culture, we can also know better about the skills used in translating the color words in both cultures. a particular color term may be associated with different things and emotions in different language communities. besides, in the long course of human history, colors keep a close relationship with human beings and have a deep effect on human living and growth. this relationship brings people all kinds of complicated emotions such as love, sympathy, disgust and fear. so it is much necessary for us to learn the symbolic meanings of color words carefully.color is considered to be one of the most useful and powerful design tools you have. people respond to different colors in different ways, and these responses take place on a subconscious emotional level. color as a result of seeing is supposed to be felt the same to people all over the world. however, due to different language habits, historic background, and traditional customs and so on, there are many differences in the use of color words such as “white, yellow and black” as well as in the understanding and mastering of the same color between english and chinese. therefore, it is practically important to know and study the differences, thus promoting the cultural communication and traditional practice.iv. basic color words in english and chinese culture “colors may convey different messages to people of different cultures” (deng 100). due to the respective cultural background and tradition, some phrases containing color words have far surpassed their original messages, forming different connotations. during the zhou dynasty, the symbolic meanings of color words were widely incorporated into the naming of seasons and directions. each season was given a color and a direction. spring was represented by greenish blue sun, its main guardian god was a green-blue dragon, and its direction was east. summer was represented by reddish brightness, guarded by a red sparrow, and its direction was south. autumn was represented by white, guarded by a white tiger, and its direction was west. winter was represented by black, guarded by a black tortoise, and its direction was north. yellow is the center of colors, symbolizing the color of the earth. in china, there is a saying, “yellow generates yin and yang”, and regarding yellow as the center of all colors. a. greengreen is the symbol of vitality and growth. mixed by yellow and blue, it is a harmonious color of energy and balance. green is a neutral color between extremes. red is too close and blue is too faraway while green is just in the middle, red is hot and blue is cold while green is just mild, red is dry and blue is wet while green is just moist, red is radical and blue is conservative while green is just restful. green is in the middle of the material-red and the spiritual-blue, which contributes to its magic effect of calming.in chinese traditional culture, green ranks the first in the five colors, signifying everything grows. in the feudal society, the dress of the government official on a lower level was regularized to be green, so it also symbolized humble. “青衫绿袍” is a symbol of low position in the official career. green is the color of plants and trees, so people often associate the spring, grassland, forests, lakes, jadeite and gem, etc. with green. because of this image, green often implies youth, peace, hope, safety, vitality, etc.in traffic, green lights mean the safety pass, and dark green is the color for postal service. this is an internationally recognized practice. since green means “safety pass” in traffic control, “开绿灯” in chinese means more than literally, as it often implies “those in power especially the leaders give pass or conveniences to certain people by breaking the set rules or regulations”. in the old days, the chinese expression “戴绿帽子(literally to wear a green hat or a green head band)” meant to be a cuckold.“in english there is a term green-eyed or green with envy, both of them mean jealous and envious” (seidl 66). green is also often used to indicate lacking in experience, training or knowledge, as in “youre expecting too much of him. hes still green, you know.” similar in meaning is greenhorn-a person lacking experience, or a newcomer who is not familiar with local customs, the term is often used for immigrants and is mildly derogatory.green is associated with freshness and health. as a symbol of growth, green always makes people think of youth, freshness and new things. for example, “green cheese” is fresh cheese, “green beer” is the beer before processing, “green goods” is fresh vegetable, “green meat” is not a piece of meat of green color, but the fresh meat, a person “in the green” may refer to a teenager or youngster. “keep ones memory green” means not letting someone to be forgotten.b. red red in chinese culture is a basic esteem color. people like red, because they often associate the sun and the color of fire with red. the sun and fire bring people brightness, warmth and happiness. in chineses mind, it signifies excitement and success, loyalism and prosperity. in chinese traditional wedding, people put up the character “喜”, the bride is dressed in red , the bridegroom wears a red flower on his breast. on happy days, people decorate their houses with red lanterns and doublets. for the celebration of marriage, people send the gift-money wrapped in red paper bag called “红包”.in chinese culture, red also stands for luck and joy. in spring festival, the new years day, people print in red, which is called “red letter day”, and people will often put on both sides of the door “红对联(antithetical couplet on red paper)”, or the character “福(good fortune)” on the door, implying “洪福齐天(limitless blessing)”. some people will also put on the window glass “red paper-cuts” and hang “red lantern” at the door, in the evening they will light “red candles” and set off “red firecrackers”. besides, we have a very famous trademark “double red happiness” which is good fortune. those who facilitate other marriages are named “matc