A Study of Cultural Connotations of Color Words Between English and Chinese.doc

毕业论文(设计)AcknowledgementsThis thesis would not have been possible without the assistance of many people, who gave their support in different ways. To them I would like to convey my heartfelt gratitude and sincere appreciation. First of all, I owe my deepest gratitude to my thesis instructor, Ms. Deng Liping, whose valuable guidance, strict requirement and constant encouragement have been indispensable to the completion of this thesis. I would also like to give my sincere appreciation to all the teachers who have taught me in the past four years in my university life. Their excellent teaching has illuminated me and helped me lay a solid foundation for this thesis and my future work.Last but not least, thanks also go to my classmates and friends for their frequent discussion, constant support and encouragement while this thesis is being written.AbstractThere is close relation between language and culture. Language is not only one part of culture, but also a mirror of it. The language of a nation reflects abundant cultural modality of the nation, thus there are great cultural differences between Chinese and English with different cultural backgrounds.Vocabulary is the most active factor in language, and the meanings of color words in the vocabulary are abundant. Various nationalities have formed their unique color views in the long-term history, reflecting gorgeous national cultures. Because of different cultural issues, cultural traditions, psychological and historic backgrounds, the cultural connotations of the English and Chinese color words differ greatly. Thus, these particular cultural connotations are cast under different environments of different nationalities. There are a lot of similarities and differences on the meanings between English and Chinese color words. This thesis gives quite a few examples and idiomatic expressions to analyze the comparison of the connotations of some color words, which explains the importance of deep understanding of cultural connotations of color words in trans-cultural communication. In analyzing the reasons why the differences arise, this thesis puts forward the idea of overcoming the obstacles resulting from the differences, which has great significance in smoothly carrying on cross-cultural communication.Key Words: English and Chinese color words cultural connotations comparison摘 要语言和文化之间有着千丝万缕的联系。语言既是文化的一部分，又是文化的一面镜子。一个民族的语言折射出这个民族纷繁多彩的文化形态，根植于两种截然不同的文化背景之中的英汉两种语言之间不可避免地存在着巨大的文化差异。词汇在语言中最活跃, 词汇中的颜色词意义丰富。各民族在长期的历史沉淀中都形成了各自独特的颜色观，折射出绚丽多姿的民族文化。由于文化内容、文化传统、历史和心理背景不同，很多英汉颜色词的文化内涵差异较大，这些特定的文化内涵意义是不同民族在不同的环境下铸就而成的。英汉颜色词在两种语言中的意义既有相同和相似之处，也存在着很多差异。本文通过列举出一些颜色的惯用法和实例,分析了相当数量的颜色词在英汉语言中的异同，并阐述了深刻了解颜色词的文化内涵在翻译实践中的重要性。在分析差异产生的原因上，提出了克服差异所产生的障碍，对顺利进行跨文化交际有一定的指导意义。关键词：英汉颜色词 文化涵义 比较ContentsAcknowledgements. .iAbstract (English).iiAbstract (Chinese). .iii1. Introduction.12. Revision of color words in English and Chinese .22.1 Implications of color words. .22.2 The comparison of the meanings of basic color words between English and Chinese32.2.1 Corresponding relationship of color words between English and Chinese.32.2.2 Non-corresponding relationship of color words between English andChinese.42.2.2.1 Usage dislocation.42.2.2.2 Meaning vacancies.53. The study of the connotations of color words from cultural aspects 63.1 Colors and national psychology.7 3.1.1 The cultural connotations of red.7 3.1.2 The cultural connotations of black.9 3.1.3 The cultural connotations of white.10 3.1.4 The cultural connotations of yellow.12 3.1.5 The cultural connotations of blue.13 3.1.6 The cultural connotations of green14 3.1.7 The cultural connotations of other colors.153.2 Colors and historic backgrounds .164. Conclusion.18References.1919 A Study of Cultural Connotations of Color Words Between English and Chinese1. Introduction People live in a colorful world and color plays a vitally important role in our lives. As a powerful form of communication, color is irreplaceable. Red means “stop”, yellow means “wait” and green means “go”. Traffic lights send this universal message. Color is an impersonal existence of nature. Thus, in essence, it is the same to all the nations in the world. There are various words in the world to describe colors, which take up a great part in language. Every language has phrases and sentences that cannot be understood literally. Even if one knows the meanings of all the words in a phrase or sentence and understands the grammar of the sentence completely, the meaning of the phrase or sentence may still be confusing, and so it is the case of color words. Language and culture have a close relationship. Language is not only one part of culture, but also a mirror of it. Language is an important tool for human beings to communicate with each other. Language is the symbolic representation of a people, and it comprises their historic and cultural backgrounds as well as their approaches to life and their ways of thinking. Languages of different nations are subject to the social culture, and in turn, reflect special cultural contents of the nations respectively. If people of one nation do not understand the cultural factors of another particular nation, it is impossible for them to communicate effectively and smoothly. Thus, communication can be carried on successfully only in the situation that language knowledge and cultural knowledge are put together.There exist a great number of color terms in both Chinese and English. In some sense, they express the same meaning in Chinese and English, however, there are also many differences. Some color words differ greatly in meanings due to their different historic backgrounds, conventional customs, ways of thinking, ways of living and their different habits of language expressions in these two countries. Ignorance of these dissimilarities would lead to inconvenience in communication. Thus, to have a good master of the differences and similarities of the meanings of color words and their cultural connotations is a prerequisite for a better understanding of Chinese and English cultures, which will promote the cultural communication.2. Revision of color words in English and Chinese2.1 Implications of color words Color, a kind of natural phenomenon, is a result of humans perception to the outside world. There are a great variety of objects, each of which has specific color. With the evolution of human civilization, the vocabulary related to colors, which are called color words or color terms, are used to express the color of certain object. Nowadays, to some extent, color words are regarded as a kind of “common language” for people of different countries. However, due to the great cultural, historical and psychological dissimilarities, color terms of different countries may also have various peculiarities.It is said that there are more than 4000 colors in the world (see Matsumoto, 2000: 186). They can be considered as an extremely complicated color table. Different languages have different numbers of color terms. In Chinese, 赤, 橙, 黄, 绿, 青, 蓝, 紫, the seven colors in the rain bow, are considered to be the basic colors. Nevertheless, in English it is usually considered that there are eleven basic colors, namely white, black, grey, brown, red, green, yellow, blue, purple, orange, and pink (see Cheng Ling, 2005). What is worth mentioning is that the basic color term “青” in Chinese does not have a corresponding basic color world in English. “青” contains the meaning of three basic colors in English, namely blue, green and black. So “青” can be translated as blue, green and black. For instance, “青菜” is green vegetables, “青椒” is green pepper, and “青龙” is green dragon; “青筋” is blue veins, “青天” is blue sky, and “青砖” is blue brick; “青布” is black cloth, “青衫” is black gown, and “青丝” is black hair.2.2 The comparison of the meanings of basic color words between English and ChineseColor terms play a very important role in both Chinese and English. They are sometimes corresponding in translation. Nevertheless, in most cases, they are not. A careful attention to the cultural connotations attached to the color terms, their semantic correspondence and non-correspondence between the two languages may help move away the communicative barriers between Chinese and English and promote the cultural exchange and integration between them.2.2.1 Corresponding relationship of color words between English and ChineseEven if different nations have different languages, customs and different expressions of color terms, their ways of thinking and social activities have something in common, which makes it possible for color terms to have similar uses in different languages. Color terms offer a vivid visual image, so the naming of objects with such terms reflects peoples common recognition of objective things. According to different skin colors, human beings, for example, are divided into four major races: whites (白色人种), yellows (黄色人种), blacks (黑色人种) and browns (棕色人种). Moreover, people use color terms to name countless things of the world, including animals, plants and inanimate beings, such as white ants (白蚁), white light (白光), white terror(白色恐怖), white house(白宫), green tea (绿茶), green revolution(绿色革命), a green belt(绿化地带), red card(红牌), black market(黑市), and black hole (黑洞).2.2.2 Non-corresponding relationship of color words between English and ChineseThe situation that both the reference and association are corresponding mutually is limited. Most of them are non-corresponding on certain occasions. The non-correspondence relationship of color terms between Chinese and English is mainly reflected in: “(1) the same objective thing or thought can be expressed with different color terms; (2) the same objective thing or thought can be expressed with color terms in one language while cant in another language” (Gu Jiazu & Lu Sheng, 1990: 286). The two non-corresponding relationship can be generalized as usage dislocation and meaning vacancy.2.2.2.1 Usage dislocationFirstly, the non-corresponding relationship of Chinese and English color terms is reflected in the usage of different color terms which describe the same objective thing or thought, or it can be said as the usage dislocation of color terms. The uncertainty of humans perception of colors and the ambiguity of the semantic code meanings of natural language colors lead to the differences of definitions and references of scopes between China and English-speaking countries. Chen Yongye (2005) proposes that English colors take “main category”, whereas Chinese colors take “comprehensive category”. The differences of this kind of thinking mode result in different color references of the same thing. For example, (1) Chinese-English: 红糖brown sugar; 红茶black tea; 青一块，紫一块black and blue; 黄豆 soy bean; 红豆 love pea. (2) English-Chinese: black eye 眼圈发青; brown bread 黑面包; purple wine 红葡萄酒. Secondly, the phenomenon of usage dislocation of color terms is also reflected in their imaginary meaning or symbolic meaning. In Chinese, “vulgar interest, decadence, decline and porn” are expressed with “yellow”, while in English with “blue”. For instance, “下流的玩笑;黄段子” blue jokes; “黄色影片” blue film. “Envy; jealousy” are expressed with “red” in Chinese, while “green” in English. For example, “眼红, 害红眼病” green-eyed, be green with envy.2.2.2.2 Meaning vacanciesIt is common that there are many phenomena of vacancies in different languages. There are also a variety of reasons causing the corresponding vacancies between two languages: living environment, customs and habits, different beliefs of religion, different ways of thinking and different habits of language expressions. It is no exception to the corresponding relationship vacancies of Chinese and English color terms. Some color words are used in Chinese but not in English (see Yang Hongyan, 2005). In Chinese, “black” is associated to words like “mysterious, evil, illegal and sinister”; hence there are phrases like “黑幕(inside story)”, “黑心(evil mind)”, “黑色交易(illegal transaction)”, “黑帮(sinister gang)”and “黑户(unregistered resident)”. However, when they are translated into English, “inside”, “evil”, “illegal”, “sinister” and “unregistered” are used respectively to meet with the Chinese term “black”. The color word “white” in Chinese also has various usages, but not all of them are translated into the word “white” in English, such as “白菜(Chinese cabbage)”, “白搭(no use)”, “白费事(all in vain)”, “白痴 (idiot)”, “白眼(treat people superciliously)”, “白衣战士(medical worker)”,etc. The situation of the usage of the color word “yellow” is also different. For instance, “黄豆(soybean)”, “黄历(almanac)”, “黄道吉日(an auspicious day)”, “黄金时间(primetime)”, etc. Take the word “red” of the Chinese language for another example. “红人(a favorite with somebody in power)”, “红榜(honor roll)”, “红利(bonus)”, “红运(good luck)”, “红豆(love pea)”, “生意红火(flourishing business)”. The similar situation is also usually encountered in translation from English to Chinese. Such as “black sheep (不孝之子)”, “to feel blue/in the blues (情绪低落)”, “out of blue (意想不到)”,“green hand (新手)”, “green power (金钱力量)”, “worth a red cent (分文不值)”, “white lie (善意的谎言)”, “white elephant (昂贵而无用之物)”, “yellow dog (卑鄙家伙)”.3. The study of the connotations of color words from cultural aspectsChanges in the meanings of color words are determined by culture, of which the substantial content is in turn reflected by the cultural meaning. Many English and Chinese color words differ in meaning owing to different cultural contents, traditions, psychology, and the cultural connotation differences are likely to cause errors in comprehension and expression. Because of the spread of the modern science and technology and exchange of ideology and culture, the modern views on the colors of various nationalities are reaching unanimity. However, it is in virtue of the factor of culture that different national languages still have a different view of the color. As pointed in the book of Language and culture, “each color word almost has two meanings, the basic and direct meaning, and its cultural extended meaning” (Gu Jiazu & Lu Sheng, 1990: 274). The first meaning is its literal and direct meaning. However, the color words will be more meaningful and more profound than the literal definition if they are put together with certain words. 3.1 Colors and national psychology 3.1.1 The cultural connotations of redThe color red, no matter in English-speaking countries or in China, always has something to do with celebrations and joyful occasions. China is a country that is typically fond of red and the Chinese firmly believe that red could help keep them away from the evil. Hence, in China, red is the symbol of prosperity, festival and success. It is believed that red will bring happiness and good luck. In a traditional Chinese wedding, the bridegroom always wears red flowers on the chest and carries red ribbon, and the bride usually dresses in red and wears red cover. And the whole wedding should be decorated with the red character “喜” and red couplets. In the Spring Festivals, people hang red lanterns, light red candles and stick red couplets. There are many terms and phrases related to red in China, such as “开门红” (to make a good start), “红榜” (honor roll), “红白喜事” (weddings and funerals), and “红娘” (matchmaker) . In the western countries, red stands for some happy events, too. On Christmas day, Christmas Father always dresses in red and wears a red hat. Another example is “to paint the town red” (to celebrate happily); also, “roll out the red carpet for somebody” (to give a lavish welcome). There are also some similarities in expressing peoples mood. English-speaking countries tempt to use “to become red-faced” when they are embarrassed or when they are shy or feel shame. This is the same as “脸红” in China. Chinese people always use “脸红” to refer to embarrassment. Because red is an eyes attracting color, which indicates danger in both the west and the east (see Yang Hongyan, 2005), especially in traffic, red is used as a signal of alarm. So there are some phrases about red in this area in both Chinese and English, such as “红灯”, “红色警报”, “红牌”in Chinese, and “red traffic lights”, “red alert”, “a red card” that is given to the people who break the traffic rules as a punishment in English. In both the two languages, red has the connotation of pornography. Both “the red light district” in English and “红灯区” in Chinese convey the same connotation, which is the symbol of whorehouse in the ancient times. And “红杏出墙” is used to refer to those women who are not loyal to their husbands.There are also a lot of dissimilarities between Chinese and English in their connotations of red. In China, red always indicates some satisfied things or events, especially in the wedding. Nevertheless, in western countries, people always avoid wearing red clothes in a wedding since red has the connotation of devil. So it is more suitable and sensible not to dress in red when attending a wedding party in western countries.Red sometimes is the omen of hoodoo in western countries. In the concept of English nations, red has a close relationship with blood and sacrifice, such as “red hands”, “red battle”, which can not be literately interpreted as “红手” and “红色战争”. But they mean “hands that are full of blood”, and “a fur