AnExplorationintoConnotativeDifferencebetweenChineseandEnglishColors中英颜色词文化内

1、 毕业论文 论文题目 中英颜色词文化内涵差异研究 系 别英语系 专 业英语外贸 年 级2011 级 学 号 201124062103 学生姓名 指导教师 完成时间 2015 年 4 月 肇庆学院教务处制 An Exploration into Connotative Difference between Chinese and English Color Words A Thesis Submitted to the School of Foreign Languages of Zhaoqing University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirem

2、ents for the Degree of Bachelor of English By: Deng Xianwen Supervisor： Li Tong April 2015 学术诚信声明 本人所呈交的毕业论文，是在指导教师的指导下独立完成。研究工作所 取得的成果、数据、图片资料均真实可靠。除文中已注明引用的内容外，不 包含任何其他人或集体已经发表或撰写过的作品或成果。对本论文的研究做 出重要贡献的个人和集体，均已在文中以明确的方式标明。本毕业论文的知 识产权归属于培养单位。本人完全意识到本声明的法律结果由本人承担。 日期： 本人签名： Abstract Language is the

3、essential component and representation of national culture, which was created and developed via hosting its own culture features in the process of historical development. Color words are the indispensable part of national culture as well. Territory, custom, politics, religion and value difference re

4、sults in connotative meanings of color words difference between Chinese and English culture. The paper is focus on analyzing the explanation and cultural connotation of color words “ Red”“, Green”an d “ Blue ”as follow. Firstly, it introduces the Sapir Wolfe hypothesis as well as the Berlin and Kay

5、basic color theory. Then the similarities and difference description and cultural connotation of Chinese and English basic color words “ Red” , “ Green” and a“re Bplrueese”nted. The third is the causes of cultural similarities and difference of the three color words. Including the difference between

6、 natural environment, tradition and customs, philosophic and religious views. Last but not least, the enlightenment from the contrast that the interaction of color words connotation and cultural influence is what causes the similarities and difference among them. Key words: basic color words “Red”,

7、“Green” and “Blue”; cultural connotation similarities and difference; causes; interaction 内容摘要 各民族在其历史发展过程中创造和发展起来的具有本民族的特点文化，称为民 族文化，而语言既是民族文化的重要组成部分，也是民族文化的表现形式。颜色词 是民族文化中不可或缺的一部分，因为地域、风俗、政治、宗教以及价值观等方面 的不同，中英文化中对应的颜色词也代表不同意义，以至于基本颜色词常会引起误 解。 本文对比总结“红、绿、蓝”在英汉中的阐释及与文化内涵，作出了以下的分 析：首先，叙述了萨皮尔沃夫假说以及柏林与凯

8、伊基本色彩理论作为论述依据； 其次，对比分析中英共有的基本颜色词“红、绿、蓝”描述及其文化内涵共性与差 异；然后，从中英文化共性与差异上分析“红、绿、蓝”文化差异形成的原因，包 括自然环境差异、传统与习俗差异、哲学观差异和宗教差异；最后，做出总结分析， 由此得出颜色词内涵与文化相互影响相互渗透是其产生异同的深层原因的启示。 关键词 ：基本颜色词“红、绿、蓝” ；文化内涵共性与差异；原因；相互影响渗透 i. II Outline Thesis Statement: This thesis analyses the cultural similarities and difference betw

9、een Chinese and English basic color words “ Red”, “ Green” and o“n tBhelu eba”sis of Sapir Wolfe hypothesis as well as the Berlin and Kay basic color theory, and points out the necessity and significance of it. Also, the paper analyzes the causes of similarities and difference between those color wo

10、rds which causes interaction between different culture . 1. Introduction 2. Theoretical Basis 2.1 Sapir Wolfe Hypothesis 2.2 Berlin and Kays Theory of Basic Color Words 3. Cultural Connotations Study on Color Words between Chinese and English 3.1 Common Color Words “ Red” , “ Green” and in“ ChBilnue

11、s”e and English 3.2 Cultural Connotations Similarities and Difference between Color Words “ Red” “ Green” and “ oBfl uCeh”inese and English 3.2.1 Color Word Red/“红” 3.2.2 Color Word Green/“绿” 3.2.3 Color Word Blue/“蓝” 4. Contrast of Cultural Connotation Causes between Chinese and English Color Words

12、 4.1 Causes of Chinese and English Cultural Connotation Similarities 4.1.1 Cultural Perception 4.1.2 Cultural Experience 4.2 Causes of Chinese and English Cultural Connotation Difference 4.2.1 Nature Environment Difference 4.2.2 Tradition and Customs Difference 4.2.3 Philosophic Difference 4.2.4 Rel

13、igious Views Difference 5. Conclusion i. III Table of Contents 1. Introduction 1 2. Theoretical Basis 2 2.1 Sapir Wolfe Hypothesis 3 2.2 Berlin and Kay heosr yT of Basic Color Words 4 3. Cultural Connotations Study on Color Words between Chinese and Englis.h 4 3.1 Common Color Words “ Red” , “ Green

14、” and “ Blue ” in Chine.s.e. .a.n 5d English 3.2 Cultural Connotations Similarities and Difference between Color Words“ Red” “ Green” and “ Blue ” of Chinese and. .E.n.g.l.i.s.h 5 3.2.1 Color WordR红ed” /.“ 5 3.2.2 Color WordGr绿ee”n /.“ 6 4. Contrast of Cultural Connotation between Chinese and Englis

15、h Color Words 8 4.1 Causes of Chinese and English Cultural Connotation Similarities 8 4.1.1 Cultural Perception 9 4.1.2 Cultural Experience 9 4.2 Causes of Chinese and English Cultural Connotation Differenc.e 9 4.2.1 Nature Environment Difference 10 4.2.2 Traditions and Customs Difference 10 4.2.3 P

16、hilosophy Difference 10 4.2.4 Religious Views Difference 11 5. Conclusion 12 Bibliography 13 i. IV 1. Introduction Life is filled with knowledge and can be described with abundant vocabulary to increase the value of it. However, even the talented learners could hardly understand all the meaning of c

17、olor words when describing mood or issues. For example, I learnt from my high school teacher once describing a lady as follows:“ Lucy is a very white lady. She was looking rather green the other day and was in a brown mood when I saw her. I wish shell soon be in a pink mood again.”When classmates re

18、ad this sentence they were confused though the grammar was precise and vocabulary was simple. The primary causes is that we cant understand what those color words represent under different cultural backgrounds. Thus, the same color words may indicate different meanings between Chinese and English be

19、cause language is originated from life and influenced by culture. “There is something behind language and language cannot exit without culture”. (Linguitism:89). The significance of indicating the exact color to describe issues is indispensible. There are around 7,000,000 different colors exist in t

20、he world but only around 3,000 English and 2,300 Chinese color words are generated to be known. As the amazing developing speed of nature and human society ever-growing, it would be even difficult to categorize the color words into clear-cut types. Even though, researchers have divided color words i

21、nto two categories: basic color and object color. In this essay we just analyze three basic color words “Red” , “ Green” and in“ coBnltureas”t views. Since Plato did systematic researches on color words thousands of years ago, many researchers fellow his path to complete the study. According to Berl

22、in and Kay s basic color theory, eleven colors are concluded in English of basic color words, and they are white, black ,blue, orange, purple, pink, green, red, brown, yellow and grey. Based on Berlin and Kay s theory, Chinese professor Yao Xiaoping and Liu Danqing have done a deep research on Chine

23、se color characters and they divided color words as follow characters: 黑，白，红，黄，绿，青，紫，粉红，灰，褐，橙 . Therefore it appears eleven basic color words and we only contrast three of them which are red红/ ，green/绿 and blue/ 蓝. There are five chapters in the essay. Chapter One is the general introduction of the

24、whole essay. Chapter Two will focus on theoretical basis from Sapir Whorf hypothesis as well as Berlin and Kay s theory on color words. The first assumption is aiming at stating the relations between language and culture which provides the real meaning when basic color words are used in a specific l

25、anguage situation. The later indicates the color group that divided scientifically. Three pairs of basic color words “red/红， green/绿， blue/蓝” will be contrasted in Chapter Three in English and Chinese in common. It also make contrast of basic color words similarities and dissimilarities in this chap

26、ter. Chapter Four indicates the reason why basic color words includes of initial similarities and differences. Last but not least, the effect of color words symbolize in daily life are put forward in an essential place. 2. Theoretical Basis Color word study has been continued for a long period. Not

27、until the eighteenth century did two contrasting philosophy theories about the development of the color system of a given language come into being. In the meanwhile, two questions about color word study were put forwarded by Professor Yang Yonglin as following: (1) Is the color-coding system of a la

28、nguage linguistically universal and semantically evolutionary? (2) Is it something linguistically relative and semantically culture-determined? (杨永林 20002b:4) Therefore, in order to due with the two questions, two relative theories were developed to full fill the contrastive study of cultural connot

29、ations of English and Chinese basic color words. They are Sapir-Whorf hypothesis as well as Berlin stability of reference across in formants and across occasions of use, andoccurrence in the idiolects of all informants. (from Berlin and Kay 1969:6) Focus on those principles, Berlin and Kay made an c

30、onclusion that there are different numbers of basic color words in different languages after investigating ninety-eight languages. Eleven basic color words are distinguished through different languages. They also established the set of principles mentioned above to judge the distributional restricti

31、ons of color words in a given language to help explaining the relationships between language and words. 3. Cultural Connotations Study on Color Words between Chinese and English Having discussed the history of studies on color words and two foundational theories on the last two chapters, with the wa

32、y of contrastive compare on cultural connotations of English and Chinese basic color words will be described in the third chapter. 3.1 Common Color Words “ Red”, “ Green” and “ inB Cluhein”ese and English According to the theoretical basis above, we focus on discussing three group of color words in

33、Chinese and English which are Red红/ ， Green/绿， Blue/蓝. In fact, cultural connotation has no precise definition. We will mainly discus the metaphorical meaning, associative meaning, symbolic meaning, emotional meaning and other extended meanings of basic color words. As for the researches on related

34、filed, Geoffrey Leech has proposed that the meaning of a word consists of seven types: conceptual meaning, thematic meaning, connotative meaning, stylistic meaning, affective meaning, reflected meaning and connotative meaning. The last five meaning are called associative meaning cause they are all o

35、pen-ended, indeterminate.(Leech.1987:21-23) In the meanwhile, Chinese linguist Zhu Guangqian also pointed out that a character has associative meanings and contextual meanings besides its literal meaning. 3.2 Cultural Connotations Similarities and Difference between Color Words “ Red”, Green” and “o

36、f BClhu uien”ese and English According to the general introduction of basic color words Red红/ ，Green/绿，Blue/ 蓝 above, in the following pages we are going to contrast the three pairs of color words specifically in two languages. Both similarities and difference will be discuss in each chapters. 3.2.1

37、 Color Word“Re红d”/ Color Red “红” is the favorite color of Chinese nations and became the culture symbolization and spirit reliance of people in China. For a long period of time in Chinese history, people usually connect “红” as good luck, happiness, generous, vitality, elegance, etc. For example, anc

38、ient people made walls and doors into red color as well as cabinets, they dressed their babies with red bellyband（红肚兜） and covered the bride with red veil（红盖头）. Everywhere is in red when Chinese new years coming. “春联” which means Spring festival scrolls, “窗花” which indicates windows paper, “鞭炮” name

39、d as firecracker and lucky money put into a red envelop calle“d大红包” , etc. None of those are not in red color symbolizing good fortune. Except for the celebrating meaning in Spring festival of “红”, it also symbolizes embarrassed, shy or danger. For exampl“e, 眼红” means jealousy;“ 脸红” means shy; “亮红灯”

40、 shows danger or prohibition. Apart from this,“ 红”also shows political sense in Chinese during the revolution period. “红色政权”， “红军”， “红色根据地” and so on. In English, though color “Red”is indicating congratulation or jubilance like “red carpet”for welcoming or Christmas decorations for celebration, nega

41、tive meaning is more used to their lives. Western countries usually connect red as bloody symbolic which means bleeding, danger and violence for exampl“er ed in tooth and claw”（残酷无情， 血 淋淋） ; “a red tag to a bull”（斗牛的红布，易激起怒火之事） ; “have red hands”（杀 人犯）; “red alert”（空袭报警） ; “a red flag”（危险信号旗） . “Red

42、” also contains specific racial overtones like redskin is the pedagogue for North American Indians. In nowadays fast developing acknowledgeable society, Chinese and Western people gradually formed different cognition to red color. Red is used to show lovesick or love in both Chinese and English. How

43、ever, it would be difficult to understand the meaning when some Chinese sentences are used to translate in English such “as一: 颗红心” should be translated into loyal to the Party, having socialist virtues instead of“ a red heart”. Red also symbolizes deficit in economy. The character “红” in Chinese doe

44、snt usually mean “red” in English. For example: 红豆-love pea; 红茶-black tea. 3.2.2 Color Word Gr“ee绿n”/ Green is the color of nature and life. During the tradition of Chinese culture, green（绿 ） has two symbolic meanings, on the one hand, it means chivalrous. For example, those people who against the f

45、eudal rule are named “绿林好汉” . On the other hand, ancient Chinese believed that green is the color showing inferiority. Slaves in Han Dynasty as well as prostitutes after Yuan Dynasty were wearing green hats because of their servile state. Husbands whose wives have paramour are called“ 戴绿帽” showing p

46、redicament. In English, green shows more positive aspects for example: vividness, hope, refreshment, vitality and so on. “In the green wood” means that people are at the prime of life; “a green wound”means that a new wound; “keep the memory green”means that never forget something. Meanwhile, “green”

47、 also symbolize illness and lack of experience or exercise. For example: “look green” means that the person is in bad look while “a green hand” means freshman. Recently, “green”is used to symbolizing environmental friendly and protection. It reminds people to help revising the atmosphere from countr

48、yside and reducing pollution. 3.2.3 Color Word B“lu蓝e”/ England is ocean culture while China is cultivating culture, the color of vast ocean and shiny sky is blue. China has some cultural connotations on colo“r blue”“- 蓝” as follow: Firstly, “蓝” means broadness. When we view the boundless sea and en

49、dless sky, the amazing blue will easily release our minds. Secondly, it symbolizes scholars. Back to Chinese 18 to 20 century, the word“ 蓝衫”（or “秀才） was used to name those people who have passed the imperial examination at the country level, because there was a tradition during the Confucian period

50、that scholars were always dressed in blue clothes. Thirdl“y, 蓝” means being upright. In Chinese, “蓝”is the synonymy of “青”，for example: “青天”means blue sky,“ 青出于蓝而胜于蓝” indicates that the pupil has surpassed his teacher. Lastly, “蓝” symbolizes a plan, especially a good one such a“s 蓝图”, is the future

51、conception. In English, the symbolizes of “blue” would be far more than Chinese. First of all, it symbolizes distance, calmness and justice.“ Blue ” is often used in quiet and saint places such as hospital, church, office, etc. Second, “blue”means high ranking and privilege. “Blue blood ”was used to

52、 refer to nobleman particularly during the Middle Ages. In traditional England wedding, the following is required to give the bride: “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue”(bluemeans dignity in the sentence). Till now, “blue book” in modern Britain is used for indicating o

53、n parliamentary or Privy Council report meanwhile Americans are noting famous peoples names on it. Thirdly and the most ordinary connotation of “blue” is depressed, sad and gloomy. People in London were to believe that it s dismal and melancholy what brings stormy and boring life at sea to them thro

54、ugh foggy weather. Therefore, “in the blues”, “look blue ” means sadness on peoples mood. Americans named“ blue Monday” so as to judge the beginning of a week is in depression. Last but not least, “blue”in English also shows obscenity when indicating films, magazines, jokes or stories. For example,

55、“blue films ”, “blue jokes” may usually contain filthy and vulgar aspect. 4. Contrast of Cultural Connotation between Chinese and English Color Words As the above compare on cultural connotations of the three basic color word“sR ed”, “Green” and “Blue”, we may try to find out that what causes the si

56、milarities and difference between the two languages. As the following passages, we will discus about the reasons why there exists lots of similarities and difference of cultural connotations between the two languages. similarities and dissimilarities to cultural connotations in the two languages. 4.

57、1 Causes of Chinese and English Cultural Connotation Similarities In the following chapters, we will discuss the causes of Chinese and English cultural connotation similarities. We will figure out what kinds of reasons are contained in the culture development. Under the two different cultural backgr

58、ounds, it would be important to understand the factors what causes the connotative similarities phenomenon. 4.1.1 Cultural Perception Perception is a biological term helps finding out how people understand the world. It is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information i

59、n order to represent and understand the environment so that it can make sense. (Schechter, Daniel,2011) Because we can distinguish messages from the world into a common conception, it would not be difficult to understand the common connotations of basic color words in English and Chinese. 4.1.2 Cult

60、ural Experience Famous linguist Layoff once said that: “color categories are determined jointly by the external physical world, human biology, the human mind, plus cultural considerations”. It precisely concluded the different connotations of basic color word between Chinese and English. Furthermore