A Contrastive Study on Cultural Connotations of Basic Color Terms between English and Chinese.doc

英汉基本颜色词的文化内涵对比研究a contrastive study on cultural connotations of basic color terms between english and chinese11摘要语言和文化是紧密相连的。一个民族既有自己的语言，又有自己的文化。语言是人类文化的载体，是文化的组成部分，语言像一面镜子反映着民族的全部文化，又像一个窗口揭示着该文化的一切内容，而文化又是语言赖以生存的基础，是语言新陈代谢的生命源泉。词汇作为语言的建筑材料，常常最直接、最具体地反映出人们的社会生活，反映出一个民族或文化的特色。作为一组特殊的词汇群体颜色词，在很大程度上反映了这一语言所根植的社会文化特质，其直接或间接地承载着各民族的文化内涵，蕴涵着各民族浓厚的文化传统，社会风土人情和审美情趣。本文共分三章。第一章对全文进行了简要介绍，对“基本颜色词”和“文化内涵”进行了定义。第二章是本文的主体，对汉语和英语基本颜色词的文化内涵进行了对比研究，分析了产生汉语和英语基本颜色词文化内涵相同点和不同点的原因。第三章总结全文。随着人类文明的不断发展，表示颜色的词汇也相应地不断得到丰富，其意义也从原来表示某种单纯的颜色而派生出许多新的意义，从而使得人类的语言变得更加生动形象、丰富多彩。了解英汉文化的背景知识，掌握表示颜色的词汇在两种语言中的深层涵义，才能进行更有效、更顺利的交际。关键词：基本颜色词，文化内涵，对比研究abstractlanguage and culture are closely linked. a nation both has its own language and its own culture. language is the carrier of human culture and is the consistent of culture. language reflects all the culture of a nation as a mirror, and like a window which shows all the contents of the culture. but the culture is the basis of the language survival, and is the lifeblood of languages metabolism. vocabulary as the building materials of language is often reflecting peoples social life the most directly and specifically, reflecting the characteristics of a nation or culture. as a set of special vocabulary groups-color terms, it is in a large part reflect the social and cultural characteristics which is rooted in this language. it is directly or indirectly carries the cultural connotation of all groups, contains distinctive cultural traditions, social customs, and aesthetics of various ethnic.this thesis consists of three chapters. chapter one is the general introduction in which it defines “basic color terms” and “cultural connotations”. chapter two serves as the main body of this thesis. in the second part of this chapter, a contrastive study is made on the cultural connotations of color terms between english and chinese. and then it comments on the similarities and differences based on the theories. chapter three is the conclusion of this thesis. with the continuous development of human civilization, the vocabularies of colors are continued to be enriched, and the meanings derive many new meanings from the original simple color, which makes human language more vivid and colorful. if we know the background knowledge of english and chinese culture, grasp the color words deep meaning in two languages, we can communicate more effectively and smoothly.key words: basic color terms, cultural connotations, contrastive studytable of contentsacknowledgementsi摘要iiabstractiiitable of contentsivchapter one introduction11.1 the notion of basic color terms21.2 the notion of cultural connotations3chapter two a contrastive study on cultural connotations of basic color terms between english and chinese42.1 contrastive analysis of culture of english and chinese basic color terms42.1.1 black and 黑42.1.2 white and 白52.1.3 red and 红52.1.4 yellow and 黄62.1.5 green and 绿72.1.6 blue and 蓝72.1.7 purple and 紫82.1.8 gray and 灰92.2 causes for similarities and differences9chapter three conclusion11bibliography12河南师范大学新联学院本科毕业论文chapter one introductionthe languages of different nations in amount and classification of color words are different. the color terms as an integral part of language, the use of the color words in english and chinese are very common. but the language is connected with the culture, because the effect of geographical environment, customs and feelings, thinking way, religion, ethnic psychological factors, the different color to the people of different nations are not the same in associate and symbolic meaning of visual and psychological. a classic description in english used to express sensations by using color terms says: “mr. white is a very white man. he was looking rather green the other day. he has been feeling blue later. when i saw him, he was in a brown study. i hope he will be the pink again.” (fan, 2005) most people can read this sentence without understand the meaning of it. this paper analyzes the color words in english and chinese through a large number of color terms then tell the readers the cultural connotation of the basic color terms between english and chinese. after the discussion in this thesis, a clear answer will be found.as the differences of cultural customs, geography, traditional history, religion, national psychology and habits of mind, the color terms sometimes show a unique “personality” of all ethnic groups with significant cultural imprint. this makes the translation of color words need to adopt a different approach. the words to describe the colors are very rich in english and chinese. we are not only to observe their own basic meanings, but also to pay attention to their deeper symbolic meanings. because their symbolic meanings in different national languages often have different characteristics, some characters even constitute the peoples advocate and taboos after the words are extension and transferred their meaning. this symbolic significance of different cultural differences between the colors is due to their cultural and historical background, the difference in the aesthetic psychology, and social development, the history of precipitation in the conventional, it is a permanent cultural phenomenon.what will be discussed in this thesis is the contrast of the cultural connotations of basic color terms between english and chinese. this thesis consists of three chapters. chapter one is the general introduction in which it defines “basic color terms” and “cultural connotations”. chapter two serves as the main body of this thesis. a contrastive study is made on the cultural connotations of color terms between english and chinese. and then it comments on the similarities and differences based on the theories. chapter three is the conclusion of this thesis.1.1 the notion of basic color termsas we know, the basic color terms are the words to express the things colors. for example the words we are very familiar, white and black, yellow and red and so on. the numbers of the color words both in english and chinese are rich. generally speaking, “the color words in english can be divided into two categories: basic color terms and object color terms” (wang, 2009), in this thesis, the discussion will focus on the field of basic color terms, because we use them very frequently in our lives and our world are colorful. from the feeling for color terms of english and chinese people, they are more consistent on the concept of basic color terms.all languages have their own color words that may be used to identify particular colors, such as black in english and 黑in chinese, but there is always a special subset of these words known as basic color terms. a basic color term is defined on the basis of a number of criteria. these criteria are specified by berlin and kay as follows: “(a) be usable in a wide range of contexts (thus ruling out “blond”, for example); (b) be broad or general in meaning, in the sense that it should not be regarded as a kind of any other color (thus ruling out “scarlet” and “azure”, for example); (c) salience, i.e. the word must be one which people think of quickly and readily.” (berlin and kay, 1969) according to criteria given by berlin and kay we have just told, there is no doubt that english has all eleven basic color terms: “black”, “white”, “red”, “yellow”, “green”, “blue”, “brown”, “grey”, “orange”, “purple”, “pink”.as we have just said that the color words in english can be divided into basic color terms and object color terms, at first, the object color terms is the name of some objects, but this object itself has a special color, and then the words of this group has the new meaning, they are not only represent the object itself, but also represent a kind of color, the words in this group are called object color terms, such as silver, because the color of the silver is white, so the word silver has another meaning. the word orange is all the same, the color of the orange is orange, so orange belongs to the object color terms, we dont discuss in this thesis. in english and chinese, people often consider the color word pink is the hyponym of the color red, it belongs to the red, so we will discuss the color pink with the red.consequently, our analysis of the cultural connotations will be focused mainly on the nine pairs of unanimous basic color terms including white, black, red, yellow, green, blue, brown, purple, and gray in english and the same黑，白，红，黄，绿，蓝，棕，紫，and灰in chinese.1.2 the notion of cultural connotationsconnotations belong to the range of study of semantics. one point most linguists agree on is the centrality of words to language. all aspects of language are tied in some way or other to words, which have two aspects, their forms and their meanings. meaning is a complex phenomenon involving relationships between a language and the minds of its speakers, between a language and the world, and between a language and the practical uses to which it is put. many words in different languages give expression to culturally bound conceptual differences. because of the differences between customs, natural environments, religions and values, a word with the same definition may carry different connotative meanings in different cultures. (chang, 2004). palmer suggests that there are some other meanings besides its “literal” meaning in a word (palmer, 1983). in the case of basic color terms, we often take it for granted that the color terms are originally used to refer to the physical features of color categories, but we should keep in mind that the color system is partially determined by the cultural needs instead of being solely based upon their physical features. “for instance, in hanunoo, a language of philippines, all living things are described as green, while dead things as red. to distinguish living and dead bamboo, one says one is green and the other is red, even though bamboo is actually light brown instead of being green when it is living” (palmer, 1983).chapter two a contrastive study on cultural connotations of basic color terms between english and chinese2.1 contrastive analysis of culture of english and chinese basic color termsin this part, contrast will be made on the cultural connotations of basic color terms between english and chinese. chapter one tells us what are the basic color terms and the meaning of culture connotation. of the nine pairs of the basic color termsblack and黑,white and白,red and红,yellow and黄,green and绿,blue and蓝,brown and棕,purple and紫and gray and灰in english and chinese. but the meaning of the word brown is very simple. at first, the english term brown can occasionally be used to mean to do something thoroughly, such as in to brown it up, and in the slang it has another meaning, it means to be angry, such as the phrase to brown off, but the chinese counterpart棕 is short of cultural connotations because customarily chinese people seldom use the term in their lives. so consequently, we will not make further discussion on this pair and our contrast will be focused on the rest eight pairs of basic color terms.2.1.1 black and 黑black is the most common color, their associative meanings are generally similar in english and chinese languages and cultures. they are all have the meaning of sorrow. chinese people wearing black armbands at the funeral, in the western countries, when people go to the funeral they wear black dresses. black in the chinese culture has a heavy sense of mystery; it is a solemn and serious color. the symbol meaning of the black is complex because of the western culture. on the one hand, it symbolizes he serious and justice, such as folklore “黑脸包公” in the traditional peking opera, on the other hand, it gives people a feeling of sinister vicious and horrible for its dark. in chinese, black is often be associated with the negative connotation means “insidious, evil”. for example, “黑暗，下黑手，黑社会”and so on.black is the basic color of taboos in western culture, it reflects the spirits of rejection and disgust of western people. it symbolizes the death, omen and disaster. for example, to wear black for her father, black words, it also symbolizes evil and crime, such as black man, a black deed, black guard. in english we can also find the words that have the corresponding meaning with chinese words, such as: “blacklist 黑名单，black-hearted 黑心，black money 黑钱” (sally, 2004). however, when the word “black” is translated into chinese, it is not all the time to be translated into “黑”. for example, “black in the face 脸色铁青，evil mind 黑心， evil backstage manipulator black sheep 害群之马，black future 暗淡的前途，black-faced 愁眉苦脸，black coffee 不加牛奶和糖的浓咖啡” (sally, 2004). 2.1.2 white and 白in chinese culture, white is contrast with the red, it is a taboo word and it reflect the chinese peoples rejection and disgusting in material and spiritual. so white is the performance of exhausted and lifeless it is a symbol of death. the funeral is called “白事”, and we should located white hall, the clothes of the relatives are white, in chinese we use “白眼，小白脸” to express the dislike of other people, in the traditional opera, white means evil and bad people, for example, cao cao. white is also symbolizes the failure and stupid. but to most chinese and westerners, the color white has some meanings in common. white suggests purity, innocence and honesty. the bride will wear a white dress in the wedding; they connect white with the white snow and the color of lily, and they think that the white is pure and innocent.in chinese, white means purity, death and mourning. the word “white” in“红白喜事”means funeral. sometimes the meaning of white in english is very different with chinese. such as, “a white lie 善意的谎言，the white coffee 牛奶咖啡，white man 善良的人，有教养的人，white-livered 怯懦的，white elephant 昂贵又无用之物.” (sally, 2004) white is always reminiscent of innocent, white war means the economic competition without smoke. in chinese, there are some phrases with the word white, actually have no connection with the color white, they express other meanings, such as, “白开水 plain boiled water，白菜 chinese cabbage，白搭 no use” (sally, 2004) and so on.2.1.3 red and 红in both chinese and english, red is usually associated with happy occasions, it always means happy, warm, lucky and fun. chinese people think that red is valuable. red is the basic color which chinese people are respected, it embodies the chinese peoples pursuit of spirit and object. it symbolizes good luck, happy, chinese people advocate the red rooted that the ancient peoples worship of god. there are “满堂红(success in every field)，开门红(get off to a good start ) and红人(those who are popular and find favor with their bosses)” (sally, 2004) and other words in chinese. there are also “red character of happiness, red quilts, and red antithetical couplet”. (sally, 2004) red letter day means day of commemoration or happy days. because we can find on calendar that holidays such as spring festival, new years day are printed in red, which is called “red-letter days”, while ordinary days are in black. “to paint the town red” is to celebrate wildly, to enjoy oneself to ones hearts content. and “to roll out the red carpet for someone” means to give a hospitable and formal reception.on the other hand, in the english culture, red is often used in a derogatory sense indicating anger, brutality, disaster, trivial formalities, fanaticism, etc. in english, red is mainly means the color of blood, and the western people thinks that blood is the peoples fluid of life, if people have no blood, they will die, so red is always connected with violence and dangerous. here are some examples: “red battle 血战, red figure赤字, in the red亏损, red revenge血腥复仇” (sally, 2004) and so on.pink is the hyponym of red, in chinese, woman often application pink dress and rouge, and her face is rosy and can compared with the beautiful peach flowers, so pink is often associate with women. in english, pink is associated with healthy and good condition, such as, in the pink of health, condition. 2.1.4 yellow and 黄in chinese traditional culture, yellow is the symbol of sacredness, nobleness and majesty. it has a long time that yellow is considered to be the respect color in chinese culture. it means honor and glory. because the yellow river is regarded as our mother river, and yellow is the color of the earth, earth is the condition of everything to be grown, so yellow is very cherish in chinese country, such as “黄袍（yellow robe）黄榜(yellow roll).” (sally, 2004) while in modern times, with changing of the social habits, yellow becomes occasionally related with pornography, filthy, obscene, or vulgar, such as “in the terms黄色电影 (literally yellow films) ，黄色书籍 (literally yellow books)” . (sally, 2004) in contrast, yellow in english culture, to some extent, is derogatory, and usually indicates coward, jealousy, suspicion and craven. the american people use yellow ribbon to express welcome, the following are examples: “yellow belly (胆小鬼) ,yellow dog (卑鄙的人), a yellow dog 可鄙、卑鄙的人” . (sally, 2004)as for the yellow press, yellow covered literature and yellow journals, they are publications that deliberately include sensational news items in order to attract readers.2.1.5 green and 绿in languages of chinese and english, green means peace, life, youth and hope, they have much in common. in spring, the leaves turn green, and the country looks living. if one city is beautiful, that means this city is green and the air of this city is fresh, we call it green city. green means environment protecting, it tell us it is our duty to protect our city. no matter in chinese or english, the symbolism of green is accordant. in chinese, green, representing our nature, is usually used to refer to the specific things. on some occasions, it also suggests life and hope. otherwise, green also has a negative meaning in chinese is “戴绿帽子 (tobecuckold)” (sally, 2004), it means a woman who has married but she has the ambiguous relationship with other man, and in english, it also has the same me