中英文中颜色词的比较研究

学年论文 外语学院1001班刘绿he contrast of Color Words in English and Chinese中英文中颜色词的比较研究 Abstract: There are lots of words which stand for color in English and Chinese. But the meaning of color words in these languages has a huge difference. We not only need to pay attention to their basic connotation, but also observe their profound symbolized meaning. Peoples actual life is closely related to color. There are many color expressions, which reflect different culture psychologies and emotional colorings both in Chinese and English. Because the mankind has the same physiological mechanism and vision nerve, the color words are no different in essence, theoretically. However, because of various language culture, historical background, religious belief, mode of thinking, etc. in different nationality, peoples impression of color and expression are different, and the associative meaning produced by the color has nothing in common with each other. There are different and various color words and expressions in English and Chinese. Sometimes it is difficult to find equivalent expression in one language. We need to know these differences; it is good for overcoming the cultural conflict and fostering the communication between the nations. 中英有许多代表颜色的词，但颜色词的意思又大不相同。我们不仅仅要注意它们的基本含义，还要观察它们深刻的象征意思。在中英语中，有很多颜色表达，反映着不同的文化心理和情感色彩。颜色是一种视觉影响，因为人类有同样的心理机制和视觉神经，理论上讲，颜色词在本质上没有区别。但因为不同文化，历史背景，宗教信仰，思维方式等，不同的国家，人们对颜色的认知和表达也不同，颜色的联想意义也不同。中英语中有大量不同的颜色词和表达，有时很难找到对应的表达。我们必须了解这些区别，它有助于我们克服文化冲突，促进国家间的交流。Key words: comparison, color, English, Chinese, different，meaningIntroductionThe color is a kind of human beings aesthesia in the objective world. Various colors exist in the nature or in social life. A colorful nature offers human beings a more interesting living place, otherwise a dull world. Due to different geographical location, cultural and tradition, different nations have different feelings and ideas about colors although they may share some common points on colors. In my view, culture connotation of colorful words reflects to a certain extent the culture and psychology of a certain nation. In different languages, color words have different meanings. Since English and Chinese belong to different families of language, as to the same color words, they have some similarities and differences. Affected by specific feature of language and culture, people have different reflections to colors and consequently the words of colors in both languages carry the different meanings, to the same color words, there are different understanding and usages between Chinese and English culture. Even though Chinese and English nations have a nearly same understanding to natural colors, their distinguished cultural backgrounds cause them to have different feeling about the associative meaning, implication. People have different emotion to color, in commendation or derogatory sense. All these factors form different colorful connotation with their own characteristic. Therefore, to have a contrast study on colorful words is necessary. when getting touching with the color words, we should pay more attention to the symbolic significance of color words, avoid misinterpret words through taking them too literally. In this paper, I just talk about black and white in details, by the way, refer to the difference of other color words.A. black and white I. The similarity of color words between Chinese and English Because the Chinese and English people are under different historical and cultural background, color words are of different connotations:1. English part In western culture, black and white symbolizes darkness and brightness. In the Bible, black symbolizes the evils, devils, pain and misfortunes. So black color is also called “dead color”. White is the symbol of God, angel, happiness, joy and virtue. There is a saying goes, “White symbolizes happiness, joy and purity, but black symbolizes sadness and death.”(Gu Jiazu, 90) Another famous saying by Ralph Waldo Emerson is: “The grey past, the white future.” (Bal tin 1982) In the classic ballet “The Swan Lake”, black swan represents evil, cheat and hatred; white swan represents kind heart, purity and beauty. When it comes to a metaphor of black color, people feel a feeling of something scared and even devil, like: “a black villain” a bastard, a ruffian; “black death” the famous plague over Europe; “black flag” a pirate flag, death sentence flag; “talk black into white” doing sophistry; “black band” underworld, secret crime group; “a black letter day” an inauspicious day, misfortune day; “blackmail” detrude extort; “black money” money that not being declared its duty. All these phrases and words show that “black” is closely related to things that are bad, devil and angry.As the opposite of black, white has the connotations in western culture as beauty, hope, happiness and joy. In the Bible stories, angels have always a pair of pure white wings, with a silver white aureole suspending above their heads; in John Milton s “Paradise Lost”, Satan like other angles has white wings, but when he fall into the hell, he becomes black; Christmas is the grandest festival for the western people in the whole year which is equal to Chinese spring festivals. “A white X mas” a Christmas day all covered with white snow; “white lie” a lie said meant to avoid man from being embarrassed; “a white day” an auspicious day; “days marked with a white stone” days that people are happy. In famous western childrens stories, it had its heroine as “Snow White” which had gained the universal empathy and affection by children all over the world. She is the embodiment of person who is smart, beautiful and kind. The “White House” in Washington, US is the symbol of its nations power. The street which concentrated British government offices in London, UK is called the “White Hall”. Western governments official documents are “whitepaper”. From the examples above, it is not hard to find in western culture, there is a tradition that “white” is attached to importance while “black” is avoid as a taboo. 2. Chinese partIn Chinese culture, both black and white are inauspicious. In ancient articles when referring to black, it means the underclass. In modern times, the derivates of black in Chinese are always with something bad, misfortune, disastrous, evil, like: “黑帮”“黑话”“黑货”“黑心”“黑名单”“背黑锅” “黑匣子”“黑市”seems to be a neutral word but it only be opened and checked after an airplane disaster, so black here symbolizes disaster.In Chinese, whites derivates are always of derogatory connotations of doing thing in vain, looking people down and worthless, like:“白搭”“白费”“白送”“白眼”“吃白食”“一穷二白”“白干”“白痴” and so on. In traditional opera, “白脸”is the symbol of betrayal and cheat. Cao Cao is one role of this kind. Both “黑” and “白” are the opposite side of “红” in contemporary political concept, meaning reactionary, backward and diehard, like: “白区” “白匪” “白军”“白据点” “白色恐怖”“白色政权”and son on.II. The different meaning in the same country 1. in EnglishAs I said above, black symbolizes death, crime and disaster; meanwhile it also has the meaning of grandeur, dignity and honor. “Black suit” and “Black dress” are the most favorable dress in western tradition. In grand occasion, rich and powerful people are always in black. In service industry such as hotel and restaurant, black is the color for higher managing workers. Black men brought to America were called “Negro”. Along with the success against racial discrimination in resent dozens of years, black men are against being called “Negro”; they are against being together called with other minorities “colored people” as well. They chose “ Black” to represent themselves. “Black is beautiful”黑就是美. This was a fashionable slogan at that time. In black mens culture, they call everything with “Black”. “Black-English” 黑人英语； “Black studies” 黑人文化研究; “black terror” 黑人拳击选手. More interesting, in Business English, “be in the black” has the good meaning, which means the business goes well.(有赢余) ；black figure / in the black（盈利、赚钱、顺差）; black figure nation（国际收支顺差国）。 So, “black” isnt equivalent with “黑”. Such as, black sheep“败类”;black eye“丢脸”;black tea“红茶”;black swan“稀有罕见的东西”;black leg“工贼”;in ones black books“被某人嫌恶”;black coffee（不加牛奶的咖啡）; 黑心evil mind ; 黑手evil back stage manipulator; 黑幕inside story; 黑线a sinister line ; 黑话 （argot）、黑暗 （dark），黑面包 （brown bread）.Surely, in some occasion, “white” has derogatory meaning, representing angry, timid and weak. white-hot愤怒的;white feather懦弱；white -faced由于生病脸色苍白的;“White flag” give up fighting; “White-handed” no working but living in comfort; “White-Terror” 白色恐怖；“white trash” 穷苦白人；“white-wash” 零分惨败.2. in ChineseBlack is the royal color in Han dynasty. In modern Chinese language, we praise our fertile earth with “黑油油的土地”；“乌黑发亮的眼睛”“黑里透红的皮肤” for praising peoples appearance. Apart from its derogatory meaning, white can be pure and innocent in Chinese. “清白” Innocent; “白璧无瑕” pure. Sometime white symbolizes justice, kind and brightness; it is the same with Englishs white.So, even though the color words come from the same country, they are not totally the same. Owe to the period they come, the understandings are various.BOther wordsRed stands for blood and fire. In the west, red is always derogatory, representing cruel, mad, disaster and bloody, like: “red hands” murderer, killer Red is also being commendatory in English. In Chinese peoples mind red is symbol for auspicious, success, honest and prosperous. In Beijing opera, Guan Yus facial makeup is red, which symbolizes his straight and loyal characteristic. Yellow is the emperors color. This indicates the worship to earth from ancient times. We see yellow is legally recognized as the color of honor in feudal times. It symbolizes the emperors power, glory and grandeur. But in the west, yellow cannot be treated like this. In English culture, yellow symbolizes always the connotations of sickness, sorrow, coward and disgusting. Conclusion From above we can see, the color words between English and Chinese culture have different reasons of being different. The connotations of color words of different languages have great differences. Basically speaking, in Chinese culture, what color words symbolize is based on the ancient feudal domination, superstition, primitive and backward science. So the Chinese color words have a strong tr