1、第 1 页吉林华桥外国语学院本 科 毕 业 论 文（2003 级）姓 名： 学 号： 1201030207院 系： 应用英语分院专 业： 英语（国际贸易方向） 指导教师： 第 2 页A Survey of the Cultural Differences in Color words Between Chinese and English论颜色词折射出的中西方文化差异姓 名： 院 系： 应用英语分院 专 业： 英语（国际贸易方向） 指导教师： 吉林华桥外国语学院Jilin Huaqiao Foreign Languages Institute第 3 页AbstractColor is perc
2、eption of people to the objective world. In human language there are a great number of color words recording colors in the world. Since these color words are often used in human language, gradually, they are endowed with rich cultural connotations. In cross-cultural communication, different nations
3、with different cultural backgrounds or people from the same nations with the same backgrounds, but belonging to different social groups or social classes have different perceptions of various colors .The different perceptions of colors result in a series of cultural meanings of color words. Changes
4、in the meaning of color words are determined by culture of which the substantial content is in turn reflected by the cultural meaning. This paper makes an elementary research into the differences between cultural connotation of English and Chinese color words from the following three aspects: Firstl
5、y, the introduction of the definition of language and culture and their relationship. Language and culture are connected with each other .On the one hand, language is the carrier of culture; culture is loaded in language. On the other hand, language is influenced and shaped by culture and meanwhile
6、reflects culture. So the understanding of a culture requires the understanding of the corresponding language and vice versa. Color words are part of human language. Secondly, on the basis of semantics and pragmatics, it intends to discuss color words. Finally, it makes a comparative analysis of conn
7、otations of color words in English and Chinese from different angles. Through analysis of color words, this paper is to point out the cultural differences between English and Chinese words, then to achieve the purpose of avoiding ambiguity and misunderstanding and improving the cross-cultural commun
8、ication ability.Key Words: language; culture; color words; differences 第 4 页摘 要颜色是人们对客观世界的一种感知。在人类语言里，存在着大量记录颜色的符号颜色词。这些词语在语言中经常被使用， 从而使其具有丰富的感情色彩和文化内涵。在跨文化交际中，由于不同民族、不同文化背景或虽属于同一民族、同一文化背景，但分属于不同社会集团或社会阶层的成员，对各种颜色符号的感知是不一样的。由于对颜色感知的不同，使得颜色词具有丰富的文化内涵。颜色词的意义受到文化制约，反之，文化意义又反映了文化的基本内容。本文从以下三个方面就颜色词所折射出的
9、中西方文化差异进行基本的探究：首先，介绍了语言和文化的定义以及它们之间的关系。即语言和文化之间相互联系。一方面，语言是文化的载体；文化是语言的传播者。另一方面，语言受文化影响并由文化塑造，同时语言也反映了文化。其次，基于语义学和语用学相关理论，本文对颜色词进行分析讨论。最后，站在不同角度上，就颜色词对中西方文化进行对比。本篇论文的写作目的在于：通过对颜色词对比分析，揭示其所蕴含的中西方文化差异，避免歧异和误解的产生，从而提高跨文化交际能力。关键词：语言；文化；颜色词；差异第 5 页Contents.Language and Culture.11.1 The Definition of Lang
10、uage and Culture.11.1.1 What is Language 11.1.2 What is Culture11.1.3 The Relationship Between Language and Culture21.2 Color and Culture. .21.2.1 Basic Color Words21.2.2 Color Words and Culture.3.Analysis of Color Words from Semantics and Pragmatics Angles.42.1 Color Words in Semantics42.2 Color Wo
11、rds in Pragmatics.5.Exploration of Color Words.53.1 The Origin of Color Words.5 3.1.1 The Origin of Color Words in Chinese Culture53.1.2 The Origin of Color Words in Western Culture73.2 The Connotative Meaning of Color Words93.2.1 In Chinese Culture93.2.2 In Western Culture93.3 The Application of th
12、e Expanding Meaning of Color Words.103.3.1 In Economy103.3.2 In Policy113.3.3 In Society and Social Life113.4 Color Words in Aesthetics.123.4.1 The Favorite Words Chinese People123.4.2 The Favorite Words Western Countries People.133.5 The Translation of Color Words.133.5.1 The Free Translation.133.5
13、.2 The Parallelism of Translation14 IV.Conclusion14第 6 页Bibliography16A Survey of the Cultural Differences in Color wordsBetween Chinese and English.Language, Culture and color words Language and culture are in a dialectical relationship. Every language is part of a culture, and it serves and reflec
14、ts cultural needs. Many linguists have come to realize that language and culture are so inextricably related that you can not understand or appreciate one without the other. In the first part, it gives a brief introduction of the definition of language and culture and their relationship; in the seco
15、nd part, it introduces color and culture.1.1 The Definition of Language and Culture1.1.1 What is language“The question of what is language? is very difficult to answer and has been studied by linguists and other scholars in various disciplines. Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used fo
16、r human communication.”(Li Zuowen, 2005). This definition has been widely accepted as the most scientific one nowadays.Language is a system because elements in it are arranged according to certain rules. If it were not systematic, it could not be learned or used consistently. Language is arbitrary f
17、or there is no intrinsic connection between the signified and the signifier. Language is symbolic because words are associated with objects, actions and the signifier. Language is vocal because the primary medium is sound for all language. Language is human-specific for it is very different from the
18、 communication systems and other forms of life process. Almost all people have realized the importance of language that it enables us to share our experience with others.1.1.2 What Is CultureThe word “culture” comes from the Latin word “colere”, which means “to cultivate”. The word was originally as
19、sociated with physical activities on lands and production of food. Later, its meaning was extended to the total pattern of beliefs, customs, institutions, objects, arts and techniques that characterize the life of a human community. “Culture consists of all the shared products of human society.”(Rob
20、ertson, 1981) This means that not only such material things such as ideas, customs, family 第 7 页patterns, languages, are all parts of culture. Putting it simply, culture refers to the entire way of life of a society, “the ways of a people.”However, the word “culture” in Chinese consists of two chara
21、cters “wen” and “hua”. The former meaning was “texture” in Old Chinese. Later meaning was enlarged to mean extensively the codes and symbols, cultural relics and books, as well as notions of courtesy morality. The latter meant “turn to changes” when they were first collocated together to mean knowle
22、dge, codes and common sense, their meanings was not as inclusive as at the present time in contemporary Chinese. In the nineteenth century, the collocated Chinese word “wenhua” adopted more connotative meanings from the western countries along with the exchange and confrontation of culture. It exten
23、ts from its narrower definition, which refers only to ideological behavior, to its present one, which includes all the things achieved by human civilization.1.1.3 The Relationship Between Language and CultureAs regards its relationship with language, there are two concepts in academic study, “Langua
24、ge and Culture” and “Language in Culture”. It is easy to see that the two concepts are contrary; language has an equal status with culture in the other. In the order to solve this problem, some linguists proposed that culture could be interpreted in two senses: “Big culture and Small Culture” (Brigh
25、t, 1976). Language is part of Big Culture and equals with Small culture. Language expresses cultural reality. To begin with, the facts, ideas, or events that people express with language are communicable because these expressions refer to a stock of knowledge about the world that other people share.
26、 Language also reflects their speakers attitude, belief, point of view, and the like. In both cases, language embodies cultural reality. But people not only express their experience with languages but also create experience through languages. They give meaning to language through the medium they cho
27、ose to communicate with each other, for example, speaking on the culture they belong to. In a word, other components of culture can only manifest a particular part of culture, while language is storing the whole information of culture in an all-round way.1.2 Color and Culture1.2.1 Basic Color WordsC
28、olor words are very important to each nation; on one hand they reflect a nations understanding of natural environment. For example, “red” for sun, fore and blood, 第 8 页“green” for living plants, “blue” for sky and seas. On the other hand they can meet the cultural needs of different nations so as to
29、 show ones world outlook, philosophy and hierarchy and political stands. For example, in China, people wear red clothes to show happiness and white clothes to show grief. While in Europe people wear white clothes to celebrate wedding and they seldom wear red clothes.All languages have words that may
30、 be used to identify particular colors, but there is always a special subset of these words known as basic color words. A basic color word is defined on the basis of a number of criteria. These criteria are specified by Berlin and Key, as follows: be usable in a wide range of context; be broad or ge
31、neral in meaning, be thinking of quickly and readily. According to this criteria, English has all eleven basic color words: “black”, “white”, “red”, “yellow”, “green”, “blue”, “brown”, “grey”, “orange”,” purple”, “pink”. While Chinese has six basic color words: “black”, “white”, “red”, “yellow”, “gr
32、een “and “blue”. To have a good analysis and understanding of the deep cultural connotation of the words, this paper mainly takes 6 kinds of color words as examples: black, white, red, yellow, blue and green. Other color words are given a brief analysis.1.2.2 Color Words and CultureIn different cult
33、ures, there are different perceptions of color terms. Sapir and Whorf made cross-cultural comparisons of color words as evidence. When people perceive color with their eyes, for instance, they are sensing that portion of electromagnetic radiation that is visible light. The spectrum of visible light
34、is a continuum of light waves with frequencies that increase at a continuous rate from one end to the other. In other words, there are no distinct colors like “red” and “green” in nature. “Culture, through language, guides people in seeing the spectrum in terms of the arbitrary established categorie
35、s that they call colors. Different cultures may divide up the spectrum in different ways.” (Chang Zonglin, 2004) .In other words, the colors they see are predetermined by what their culture prepares them to see.”Human beings share similar sense perceptions of color despite differences in color termi
36、nology from one language to another. The physiology of human eyes is essentially the same. People all over the word can see subtle gradations of color and can comprehend other ways of dividing up the spectrum of visible light. However, as a societys economy and technology increase in complexity, the
37、 number of color words usually also increases. That is to say, the spectrum o f visible light gets subdivided into 第 9 页more categories. As the environment changes, culture and language typically respond by creation new terminology to describe it .It is now clear that the terminology used by a cultu
38、re reflects that cultures interests and concerns, such as in English basic color words are eleven, in Chinese basic color words are six. . Analysis of Color Words from Semantics and Pragmatics anglesColor is perception of people to the objective world. Both nature or in social life, there always exi
39、st many kinds of colors, such as, “colorful life”, “colorful world”. It shows human life is closely connected with colors. Wassily Kandinsky, the founder of modern abstractionism, points it out that “Spirit is always directly affected by colors.” In human language, there are great members of color w
40、ords recording color of the world; these color words are often used in human language, gradually, there are endowed with rich emotional elements and cultural connotations.2.1 Color Words in SemanticsSemantics studies the intrinsic meanings of language. Although the linguists have different opinions
41、in classifying the category of the semantics, Leech divides it into seven kinds: conceptual meaning, connotative meaning, social meaning, affective meaning , reflected meaning, collective meaning and thematic meaning. While, Lyons advocates to divide it into the synonymy, antonym, hyponymy, meronymy
42、. And Halliday emphasizes theories of the three elements of semantics.But all of them think the glossary meaning includes the denotation meaning, the connotation meaning and the cultural meaning. Among them, the connotation meaning expresses people s emotion and attitude to the word what it refers t
43、o. For example, an intuitively obvious conceptual prototype for English “red” is fire, and this is supported be the existence of set phrase like “red-hot” and “fiery red”, and by the association of “red” with danger. By contrast, “hong”(红) in Chinese refers to the color of “pink” according to Origin
44、s of Chinese Characters .The cultural meaning refers to the additional meaning of words, which is endowed with by a particular social cultural background. Here are certain Chinese expressions, like, “red political power”(红色政权),“red guard”（红卫兵）a member of the group of young people, mostly students, w
45、ho supported Mao Zedongs cultural revolution in China between 1966 and 1976 . While the cultural connotation is the integration of the connotation meaning and cultural 第 10 页meaning of glossary in different cultures, including the expanding meaning of glossary in a particular social cultural backgro
46、und, metaphor meaning, association meaning, symbolic meaning, sentimental color, language body color and intrinsic meaning. In English “red” has the meaning of “deficit, in debt”. Such as “red ink”（亏本）, “get somebody into the red”（使某人欠债）.2.2 Color Words in Pragmatics Pragmatics studies the relations
47、hip between people and language. Color words belong to the range of study of pragmatic, which shows the concrete meaning of color words when it is used in a certain context. There are three basic elements leading to the words cultural connotation. First is the inherent meaning of color words. Such a
48、s, green tree, blue sky, white clouds and so on. Second is cultural connotation. The tradition and the psychology of nation, including myth, religious, fable, historical, literature, geographical environment, manners and customs, the way of thinking, aesthetic sentiment and so on. Take “purple” as an example, in the western cult
