中英顏色詞文化內(nèi)涵差異研究報(bào)告英語專業(yè)論文

1、-畢 業(yè) 論 文論文題目中英顏色詞文化涵差異研究系 別 英語系 專 業(yè) 英語外貿(mào) 年 級(jí) 2021級(jí) 學(xué) 號(hào) 3 學(xué)生 鄧顯雯 指導(dǎo)教師 彤 完成時(shí)間 2021 年 4 月學(xué)院教務(wù)處制An E*ploration into Connotative Differencebetween Chinese and English Color Words A ThesisSubmitted to the School of Foreign Languages ofZhaoqingUniversityin Partial Fulfillment of the Requirementsfor the Deg

2、ree of Bachelor of EnglishBy: Deng *ianwenSupervisor：Li TongApril 2021 學(xué)術(shù)誠(chéng)信聲明本人所呈交的畢業(yè)論文，是在指導(dǎo)教師的指導(dǎo)下獨(dú)立完成。研究工作所取得的成果、數(shù)據(jù)、圖片資料均真實(shí)可靠。除文中已注明引用的容外，不包含任何其他人或集體已經(jīng)發(fā)表或撰寫過的作品或成果。對(duì)本論文的研究做出重要奉獻(xiàn)的個(gè)人和集體，均已在文中以明確的方式標(biāo)明。本畢業(yè)論文的知識(shí)產(chǎn)權(quán)歸屬于培養(yǎng)單位。本人完全意識(shí)到本聲明的法律結(jié)果由本人承擔(dān)。本人簽名： 日期： . z-AbstractLanguage is the essential ponent and rep

3、resentation of national culture, which was created and developed via hosting its own culture features in the process of historical development. Color words arethe indispensable part of national culture as well. Territory, custom, politics, religion and value difference results in connotative meaning

4、s of color words difference between Chinese and English culture. The paper is focus on analyzing the e*planation and cultural connotation of color words “Red, “Green and “Blue as follow. Firstly, it introduces the Sapir Wolfe hypothesis as well as theBerlin and Kay basic color theory. Then the simil

5、arities and difference description and cultural connotation of Chinese and English basic color words “Red, “Green and “Blue are presented. The third is the causes of cultural similarities and difference of the three color words. Including the difference between natural environment, tradition and cus

6、toms, 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, “Green and “Blue; cultural connotation si

7、milarities and difference; causes; interaction 容摘要各民族在其歷史開展過程中創(chuàng)造和開展起來的具有本民族的特點(diǎn)文化，稱為民族文化，而語言既是民族文化的重要組成局部，也是民族文化的表現(xiàn)形式。顏色詞是民族文化中不可或缺的一局部，因?yàn)榈赜?、風(fēng)俗、政治、以及價(jià)值觀等方面的不同，中英文化中對(duì)應(yīng)的顏色詞也代表不同意義，以至于根本顏色詞常會(huì)引起誤解。本文比照總結(jié)“紅、綠、藍(lán)在英的闡釋及與文化涵，作出了以下的分析：首先，表達(dá)了薩皮爾沃夫假說以及柏林與凱伊根本色彩理論作為論述依據(jù)；其次，比照分析中英共有的根本顏色詞“紅、綠、藍(lán)描述及其文化涵共性與差異；然后，從中英文

8、化共性與差異上分析“紅、綠、藍(lán)文化差異形成的原因，包括自然環(huán)境差異、傳統(tǒng)與習(xí)俗差異、哲學(xué)觀差異和差異；最后，做出總結(jié)分析，由此得出顏色詞涵與文化相互影響相互滲透是其產(chǎn)生異同的深層原因的啟示。關(guān)鍵詞：根本顏色詞“紅、綠、藍(lán)；文化涵共性與差異；原因；相互影響滲透OutlineThesis Statement: This thesis analyses the cultural similarities and difference between Chinese and English basic color words “Red, “Green and “Blue on the basis of

9、 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 words which causes interaction between different culture .1. Introduction2. Theoretica

10、l Basis 2.1 Sapir Wolfe Hypothesis2.2 Berlin and Kays Theory of Basic Color Words3. Cultural Connotations Study on Color Words between Chinese and English3.1 mon Color Words “Red, “Green and “Blue in Chinese and English3.2 Cultural Connotations Similarities and Difference between Color Words “Red, “

11、Green and “Blue of Chinese and English3.2.1 Color Word Red/“紅3.2.2 Color Word Green/“綠3.2.3 Color Word Blue/“藍(lán)4. Contrast of Cultural Connotation Causes between Chinese and English Color Words4.1 Causes of Chinese and English Cultural Connotation Similarities4.1.1 Cultural Perception4.1.2 Cultural E

12、*perience4.2 Causes of Chinese and English Cultural Connotation Difference4.2.1 Nature Environment Difference 4.2.2 Tradition and Customs Difference4.2.3 Philosophic Difference4.2.4 Religious Views Difference5. ConclusionTable of Contents1.Introduction12. Theoretical Basis22.1 Sapir Wolfe Hypothesis

13、32.2 Berlin and Kays Theory of Basic Color Words43. Cultural Connotations Study on Color Words between Chinese and English43.1 mon Color Words “Red, “Green and “Blue in Chinese and English53.2 Cultural Connotations Similarities and Difference between Color Words “Red, “Green and “Blue of Chinese and

14、 English53.2.1 Color Word Red/“紅53.2.2 Color Word Green/“綠64. Contrast of Cultural Connotation between Chinese and English Color Words 84.1Causes of Chinese and English Cultural Connotation Similarities84.1.1 Cultural Perception94.1.2 Cultural E*perience94.2 Causes of Chinese and English Cultural Co

15、nnotation Difference94.2.1 Nature Environment Difference104.2.2 Traditions and Customs Difference104.2.3 Philosophy Difference104.2.4 Religious Views Difference115. Conclusion12Bibliography14. z-1.IntroductionLife is filled with knowledge and can be described with abundant vocabulary to increase the

16、 value of it. However, even the talented learners could hardly understand all the meaning of color words when describing mood or issues. For e*ample, 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

17、in a brown mood when I saw her. I wish shell soon be in a pink mood again. When classmates read 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 backgroun

18、ds. Thus, the same color words may indicate different meanings between Chinese and English because language is originated from life and influenced by culture. “There is something behind language and language cannot e*it without culture. (Linguitism:89).The significance of indicating the e*act color

19、to describe issues is indispensible.There are around 7,000,000 different colors e*ist in the 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

20、 the color words into clear-cut types. Even though, researchers have divided color words into two categories: basic color and object color. In this essay we just analyze three basic color words “Red, “Green and “Blue in contrast views.Since Plato did systematic researches on color words thousands of

21、 years ago, many researchers fellow his path to plete the study. According to Berlin and Kays 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 Kays theory, C

22、hinese professor Yao *iaoping and Liu Danqing have done a deep research on Chinese color characters and they divided color words as follow characters: 黑，白，紅，黃，綠，青，紫，粉紅，灰，褐，橙. Therefore it appears eleven basic color words and we only contrast three of them which are red/紅，green/綠and blue/藍(lán).There are

23、five chapters in the essay. Chapter One is the general introduction of the whole essay. Chapter Two will focus on theoretical basis from Sapir Whorf hypothesis as well asBerlin and Kays theory on color words. The first assumption is aiming atstating the relations between language and culture which p

24、rovides the real meaning when basic color words are used in a specific language situation. The later indicates the color group that divided scientifically. Three pairs of basic color words “red/紅，green/綠，blue/藍(lán) will be contrasted in Chapter Three in English and Chinese in mon. It also make contrast

25、of basic color words similarities and dissimilarities in this chapter. Chapter Four indicates the reason why basic color words includesof 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 B

26、asisColor word study has been continued for a long period. Not until the eighteenth century did two contrasting philosophy theories about the development of the color system of a given language e into being. In the meanwhile, two questions about color word study were put forwarded by Professor Yang

27、Yonglin as following:(1)Is the color-coding system of a language linguistically universal and semantically evolutionary?(2)Is it something linguistically relative and semantically culture-determined? (永林 20002b:4)Therefore, in order to due with the two questions, two relative theories were developed

28、 to full fill the contrastive study of cultural connotations of English and Chinese basic color words. They are Sapir-Whorf hypothesis as well as Berlin & Kays theory of basic color words. 2.1 Sapir Wolfe HypothesisDuring the nineteenth century, color words are considered to have the nature of l

29、inguistic relativity and semantic culture-peculiarity. There states two opposite assumption that on the one hand, the “civilizedsociety in Europe acknowledged more on color words definition and meanings than the “primitive society while on the other hand disagreed.However, two splendid American anth

30、ropologists and linguist Edward Sapir and his student Benjamin Lee Whorf made great progress on the hypotheses concerning language, thought and culture. Whether language could help assisting the method of thinking and different languages may being able to e*press the unique way of understanding the

31、world as following two points of the theory:(1)Language may determine our thinking patterns.(2)Similarities between languages are relative, the greater their structural differentiation is, the more diverse their conceptualization of the world will be.In fact, during to the e*aggeration of influence

32、of language on human beings thought and other ways, not much linguists could accept the first theory. Not until early 1920s to the late 1960s did the theory is widely accepted. However, the road to success is always full of thorns. Though Sapir-Whorf hypothesis made a great effort on the study of th

33、e relationships between language and thought, language and culture, some linguists questioned degree of influences as well as the possibilities that people have mon thoughts of the world.The importance of Sapir-Whorf hypothesis which made great progress on the development of the relationship between

34、 language and thought can not be denied. However, more scholars chose to believe the study on color words is the typical cross-cultural e*ample to prove linguistic relativism. Not until 1960s when Berlin and Kay assumed that it is linguistic universality and semantic evolution that characterize the

35、system of color words in general did the theory been mostly accepted by scientists of related study fields.2.2 Berlin and Kays Theory of Basic Color WordsSeventy years after the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis was put forward, two linguists Berlin and Kay published their seminal and classic book on the study

36、 of relevant field, Basic Color Terms: Their Universality and Evolution. Four basic criteria are divided to judge whether a color word is basic or not in a given language as following:(1)The meaning of color word cannot be speculated from itself.(2)Its meaning doesnt contain that of any other color

37、words.(3)Its application should be wide, not just restricted to a special kind of objects.(4)It must be psychologically salient for informants. Indices of psychological salience include: a tendency to occur at the beginning of elicited lists of color words;stability of reference across in formants a

38、nd 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 conclusion that there are different numbers of basic color words in different languages after investigating ninety-eight languages. Eleven basic

39、 color words are distinguished through different languages. They also established the set of principles mentioned above to judge the distributional restrictions of color words in a given language to help e*plaining the relationships between language and words.3. Cultural Connotations Study on Color

40、Words between Chinese and EnglishHaving discussed the history of studies on color words and two foundational theories on the last two chapters, with the way of contrastive pare on cultural connotations of English and Chinese basic color words will be described in the third chapter.3.1 mon Color Word

41、s “Red, “Green and “Blue in Chinese and EnglishAccording to the theoretical basis above, we focus on discussing three group of color words in Chinese and English which are Red/紅，Green/綠，Blue/藍(lán).In fact, cultural connotation has no precise definition. We will mainly discus the metaphorical meaning, as

42、sociative meaning, symbolic meaning, emotional meaning and other e*tended meanings of basic color words. As for the researches on related filed, Geoffrey Leech has proposed that the meaning of a word consists of seven types: conceptual meaning, thematic meaning, connotative meaning, stylistic meanin

43、g, affective meaning, reflected meaning and connotative meaning. The last five meaning are called associative meaning cause they are all open-ended, indeterminate. (Leech.1987:21-23)In the meanwhile, Chinese linguist Zhu Guangqian also pointed out that a character has associative meanings and conte*

44、tual meanings besides its literal meaning. 3.2 Cultural Connotations Similarities and Difference between Color Words “Red, “Green and “Blue of Chinese and EnglishAccording to the general introduction of basic color words Red/紅，Green/綠，Blue/藍(lán) above, in the following pages we are going to contrast the

45、 three pairs of color words specifically in two languages. Both similarities and difference will be discuss in each chapters. Color Word Red/“紅Color Red “紅 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

46、in Chinese history, people usually connect “紅 as good luck, happiness, generous, vitality, elegance, etc. For e*ample, ancient people made walls and doors into red color as well as cabinets, they dressed their babies with red bellyband紅肚兜 and covered the bride with red veil紅蓋頭. Everywhere is in red

47、when Chinese new years ing. “春聯(lián) which means Spring festival scrolls,“窗花which indicates windows paper, “鞭炮 named as firecracker and lucky money put into a red envelop called“大紅包,etc. None of those are not in red color symbolizing good fortune. E*cept for the celebrating meaning in Spring festival of

48、“紅, it also symbolizes embarrassed, shy or danger. For e*ample, “眼紅 means jealousy; “臉紅 means shy; “亮紅燈 shows danger or prohibition. Apart from this, “紅also shows political sense in Chinese during the revolution period. “紅色政權(quán)，“紅軍，“紅色根據(jù)地 and so on. In English, though color “Red is indicating congratu

49、lation or jubilance like “red carpet for weling or Christmas decorations for celebration, negative meaning is more used to their lives. Western countries usually connect red as bloody symbolic which means bleeding, danger and violence for e*ample “red in tooth and claw殘酷無情，血淋淋;“a red tag to a bull斗牛

50、的紅布，易激起怒火之事; “have red hands殺人犯); “red alert空襲報(bào)警; “a red flag危險(xiǎn)信號(hào)旗.“Red also contains specific racial overtones like redskin is the pedagogue for North American Indians. In nowadays fast developing acknowledgeablesociety, Chinese and Western people gradually formed different cognition to red color.

51、Red is used to show lovesick or love in both Chinese and English. However, it would be difficult to understand the meaning when some Chinese sentences are used to translate in English such as: “一顆紅心 should be translated into loyal to the Party, having socialist virtues instead of “a red heart. Red a

52、lso symbolizes deficit in economy. The character“紅 in Chinese doesnt usually mean “red in English. For e*ample: 紅豆-love pea; 紅茶-black tea. Color Word Green/“綠Green is the color of nature and life. During the tradition of Chinese culture, green(綠) has two symbolic meanings, on the one hand, it means

53、chivalrous. For e*ample, those people who against the feudal rule are named “綠林好漢. 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

54、 whose wives have paramour are called “戴綠帽showing predicament.In English, green shows more positive aspects for e*ample: 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 mean

55、s that never forget something. Meanwhile, “green also symbolize illness and lack of e*perience or e*ercise. For e*ample: “l(fā)ook 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 peop

56、le to help revising the atmosphere from countryside and reducing pollution. Color Word Blue/“藍(lán)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 color “blue-“藍(lán) as follow: Firstly, “藍(lán) means broadness. Whe

57、n we view the boundless sea and endless sky, the amazing blue will easily release our minds. Secondly, it symbolizes scholars. Back to Chinese 18 to 20 century, the word “藍(lán)衫(or “秀才) was used to name those people who have passed the imperial e*amination at the country level, because there was a tradition during the Confucian period that scholars were always dressed in blue clothes. Thirdly, “藍(lán) means being upright. In Chinese, “藍(lán)is the synonymy of “青，for e*ample: “青天means blue sky, “青出于藍(lán)而勝于藍(lán) indicates that t