英汉词汇的社会文化内涵对比

1、英汉词汇的社会文化内涵对比,金晶爱 内蒙古民族大学外国语学院 2011年11月4日,语言与文化,语言 即语音、语法、词汇。是文化的组成部分，是文化的最重要的载体，全面储存着文化的整体信息。而词汇更是承担着负载文化的主要任务。敏感地反映着社会生活。 文化 是语言的内涵、交际的具体内容。文化意识是语言交际的思维基础。许多文化凝聚于词汇之中。 文化形态差异反映到语言层面就是语言差异。,不同的语言有不同的文化背景。了解英语国家文化是学好英语的主要环节。下面探讨英语词和汉语词的语义差别。,1、某些事物和概念在一种语言里只有一种表达方式，而在另一种语言里则又多种表达方式。,并非所有动物都要用特殊名称来区分

2、雌雄。人们对某些特殊名称并不熟悉。要用不常见的区分雌雄的词时，常用bull 或cow ， cock或 hen来代替。,公海豹bull seal 母海豹cow seal 公象bull elephant 母象cow elephant 公野鸡cock pheasant 母野鸡hen pheasant 公麻雀cock sparrow 母麻雀hen sparrow,也可用male 、female、she再加上原名。如 公豹 male leopard 母熊猫female panda 母狼she wolf,2、在一种语言里有些词在另一语言里没有对应词,夏练三伏，冬练三九 In summer keep exe

3、rcising during the hottest days； In winter do the same thing during the coldest weather。,Cadre（干部） Official官员；行政人员；高级职员人 Functionary机关工作人员；官员 Administrator行政官员,按道教的宇宙观，阴和阳是两种力量，这两种力量的本质产生了宇宙，保持宇宙和谐。“阴”表示黑暗、雌性、消极的。“阳”表示光明、雄性、积极的。,In Chinese philosophy, medicine, yin, the feminine or negative principl

4、e in nature; yang , the masculine or positive principle in nature.,节气 solar trems 冰糖葫芦 candied haws on a stick 炕 a heatable bricked bed 秤 steelyard 风水 客气 关系 上火,It was packed like sardines. time clock car pool Ambition privacy,3、在两种语言里，某些词语表面上指同一事物或概念，其实各自另有所指。,知识分子 Intellectual Lover First lady 籍贯,b

5、usboy 大忙人 改善生活 rest room high school service station,4、有些词的基本意义大致相同，但派生意义的区别却很大。,政治家(politicianstatesman),Idealist 唯心主义者 She has always been an idealist.So you can understand why she turned down a good job offer to work among refugee immigrants and low-income groups after she got her degree in socia

6、l sindies.,materialist唯物主义者 Quite frankly，I am a materialist。I have got a good-paying job and I want to keep it。I have bought a new home near Westlake，and my wife and I want to enjoy the comforts of life。I had a hard time when I was a kid and I dont want to go though all that again。,Thank you!,Denot

7、ation and Connotation,Denotative meaning of the word “mother” is “the female parent”. Connotative meaning of the word “mother” is the associations we usually have with the word “maternal love”, “care”, “tenderness”, etc. So we can have the sentence “the young teacher is like mother to the kids”.,Mea

8、ning of Words,Cultural differences in lexical meaning occur on both levels of denotative meaning and connotative meaning.,3. Cultural Differences in Connotative Meanings,Words with same denotation but different connotations e.g. color words, animal words Words with connotations in one language but n

9、one in the other e.g. plants like pine tree, bamboo, plum blossom e.g. numbers,1. Paratactic Structure vs. Hypotactic Structure,Parataxis (意合) and hypotaxis (形合) are two grammatical terms describing the ways sentences are built up. Parataxis: the arranging of clauses one after another without connec

10、tives showing the relation between them. Hypotaxis: dependent relation or construction.,ChineseparatacticEnglishhypotactic,明早还赶路呢，睡去吧。 Go to bed now as youll set out early tomorrow. 快点儿，迟到了会挨说的。 Hurry up! Youll be criticized if you are late. 生活费用不断上涨，许多人拿不出这笔开支。 The cost of living is rising and ther

11、efore many people are having a hard time in paying their bills.,ChineseparatacticEnglishhypotactic,听到有人说话，他赶紧将文件放回抽屉，拿起桌上的报纸，疾步回到沙发上，假装读起来。 Hearing someone talking outside, he hurriedly put the file back into the drawer, picked up a newspaper from the table, and hastened back to the sofa pretending

12、to read it.,A Chinese Poem,枯藤，老树，昏鸦， Crows hovering over rugged old trees wreathed with, rotten vinethe day is about done. 小桥，流水，人家， Yonder is a tiny bridge over a sparkling stream, and on the far bank, a pretty little village. 古道，西风，瘦马， But the travelers has to go on down this ancient road, the Wes

13、t wind moaning, his bony horse groaning, 夕阳西下，断肠人在天涯。 trudging towards the sinking sun, farther and farther away from home.,2. Bamboo Structure vs. Tree Structure,Englishtree structure The notion of the tree structure suggest that: There is a basic structure All other constructs sprout out from this

14、 basic structure The expansion of the branching constructs does not affect the basic structure,Englishtree structure7 types of sentence patterns,SV SVO SVC SVA SVOO SVOC SVOA,They are running. Our parents love us. They worked very hard. She was watching TV in the living room. My friend sent me a New

15、 Years card. I found the book very interesting. We shall finish the work as quickly as we can.,Chinesebamboo structure,Chinese sentences are constructed like an up-going bamboo, which means that: There is not a basic structure or framework The Chinese sentences are built up by placing one word upon

16、the other, one phrase upon another or one clause upon another Without the rigid control of a basic framework, the structure may change as the sentence extends.,Chinesebamboo structure,下雨了，快走吧，又该迟到了。 Its raining already. Lets go right away; or well be late again. 处处都有热心人。 You can meet kind-hearted pe

17、ople everywhere./There are kind-hearted people everywhere. 这件事我现在脑子里一点印象都没有。 I do not remember anything about it.,3. Left Expansion vs. Right Expansion,As a result of the parataxis structure and hypotaxis structure, the Chinese and English sentences take different patterns in their expansion: The Ch

18、inese sentences tend to expand from the right to the left with an open beginning and a closed ending. The English sentences tend to expand from left to the right with a closed beginning and an open ending.,书 给我买的书 我姐姐给我买的书 我过生日时我姐姐给我买的书 那是我过生日时我姐姐给我买的书 This is This is the book This is the book that my sister gave me This is the book that my sister gave me on my birthday.,CTP difference,The basic or remote reason for this difference of left expansion and right expansion is the CTP dif