A Contrastive Study of Cultural Connotation between English and Chinese Numerical Idioms文档格式.docx

A Contrastive Study of Cultural Connotation between English and Chinese Numerical Idioms文档格式.docx

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本文着眼于英汉民族对数字的不同喜好，探析数字习语的文化内涵及意义的差异。

首先，本文从文化、数字和语言三者的比较出发，分析其内在联系，其次，英汉数字习语的文化内涵都与民族心理、神话宗教有着十分密切的关系，因此本文从这些方面详细分析阐述英汉数字习语不同的文化内涵及意义。

关键词:

数字习语;

文化内涵;

数字;

文化

Abstract

Asweallknow,idioms，consideredastheeliteofthatlanguage，arethemostculture-accumulatedpartofalanguage,conveyingthehistoryandcultureofthelanguageandtheit’susers.（ZhangZhenhua,2007:

1）.Idioms，tingedwithuniquenationalcolors，arecrystallizationsofhumancultureaswellastheessenceoflanguage.Numbersplayavitalroleinthedevelopmentofhumansociety.Therefore，numerousidiomsrelatedtonumbershaveemerged.DuetothesimilaritiesbetweenEnglishandChineseaswellasuniversalmodesofthinking,thesamenumbersmayevokethesameorsimilarfeelingsorassociationsamongpeoplefrombothcultures.Becauseofdifferenthistoricalandculturalsettings,theconnotationsofnumbersinonelanguagedonotalwayscoincidewiththoseinanother.However,onotheroccasionstheymaygivedifferentconnotationstothesamenumber.

Baseduponthetwonations’differentlikesanddislikestowardsnumerals，thisthesisexploresandanalyzesthedifferentculturalconnotationandmeaningofEnglishandChinesenumericalidiomsandmakesacontrastivestudyofthesimilaritiesanddifferencesbetweenEnglishandChinesenumericalidioms.

Keywords:

numericalidioms;

culturalconnotation;

numeral;

culture

TableofContents

1.Introduction

AsanimportantpartoftheEnglishandChineseidioms,numericalidiomsreflectthepsychologicalbases,thetraditionsandcharacteristicsofbothcultures.AgoodunderstandingoftheculturalconnotationsofthenumericalwordsisthebasisfortheproperuseofEnglishandChinesenumericalidioms.Itwillhelpuswithlanguageteachingandlearningaswellcross-culturecommunicationifwehaveaproperunderstandingofthedifferencebetweentheEnglishandChinesenumericalidioms.（ChangRunfang,2008.）

Sofar,manyscholarshavemadesystematiccomparisonbetweenEnglishandChineseidioms.Numericalculturehasattractedscholars’attentionathomeandabroadinrecentdecades,especiallyinChina.Astheglobalizationoftheworldisspeedingupdayafterday,andChinesenumeralscarrysuchrichculturalmessages,itisnecessarytointroducetherichChinesenumericalculturetoforeigncountriesandviceversa.

ThisthesisdiscussesthedifferentculturalconnotationsofbasicnumeralsinbothEnglishandChinesefromtheperspectiveofpsychology,mythologyandreligion.Itcontainsfivechapters.

2.Numbers,languageandculture

2.1Therelationshipbetweencultureandlanguage

Inabroadsense,culturereferstothetotalityofmaterialandspiritualproductscreatedbyhumanbeingsintheirpractice.Specificallyspeaking,itcanbedividedintomaterialculture,institutionalcultureandpsychologicalculture.Inanarrowsense,culturerefersmerelytospiritualproductsincludinglanguage,literature,art,socialideology,etc.Definitionof 

culturehasvariedagreatdealsincetheemergenceofanthropologyinthe19thcenturyandnounanimityhasbeenreachedyet.（Wangzhikui,2001:

23）

Languageandcultureareinseparablefromeachother.Language,ononehand,isthecarrierofculture,ontheotherhand,anecessarypartofit.Anyculturemustbeexpressedinacertainlanguage.

2.2Therolesplayedbynumbersinbothlanguages

Whenhumanthoughtdevelopedtoacertaindegree,numberscameonthesensetomeettheneedofthesocialactivitieswiththehelpofsigns.Numbersareusedforcounting,comparingamounts，performingcalculations,determiningorder,makingmeasurements,representingvalue,settinglimits,abstractingquantities,codinginformation,andtransmittingdata.Everynationhasnecessitytousenumbersintheircountingsystems.Numbersisanorganicpartoflanguage.

Numericalwordswiththeiruniqueconnotationsandfunctionsplayaveryimportantroleinhuman'

sculturalcommunicationanddevelopment.BecauseofthesimilaritiesbetweenEnglishandChineseculturesandmodesofthinking,thesamenumbermayevokethesameorsimilarfeelingsorassociationsamongpeople.However,duetodifferenthistoricalandculturalsettings,theconnotationsofnumbersinonelanguagedonotalwayscoincidewiththoseinanother.Insomecasespeoplemayusedifferentnumberstoexpressthesamefeelingsorfigurativemeanings,whileonotheroccasionstheymaygivedifferentfeelingsorfigurativemeaningstothesamenumber.

3.AbriefanalysisofEnglishandChinesenumericalidioms

3.1Thedefinitionofidiominbothlanguages

It’sbynomeanseasytogiveaclear-cutdefinitionofidioms.Thedefinitionscandifferfrompersontoperson（expertsandscholars）andfromdictionarytodictionary.

AccordingtoLongmanDictionaryofContemporaryEnglish,（2004:

971）anidiomisagroupofwordswithameaningofitsownthatisdifferentfromthemeaningsofeachseparatewordputtogether.Forexample“undertheweather”isanidiommeaning“ill”.

Dictionariesofferverydifferentopinions,sodoexpertsandscholars.Toquoteonlytwoofthemasexample:

Ammer（1997）definesanidiomasasetphraseoftwoormorewordsthatmeanssomethingdifferentfromtheliteralmeaningoftheindividualwords;

andaccordingtotheChinesescholarLuoShiping,anidiomisasetphraseparticulartoalanguageorpeople,whosemeaningisoftendifferentfromthemeaningofthewordsthatitismadeupofandmustbelearntasawhole.（2005:

4）

Inspiteofthedifferencesindefinitionofanidiom,thecommoncharactersaresummedupbyLuoShiping（2005:

13），“whendeterminewhetheranexpressionisanidiom,threepointsmaybetakenintoconsideration:

first,therehavetobetwoormorethantwowordsinanidiom;

second,thestructureisrelativelyfixedanditspartscannotbereplacedarbitrarily;

third,themeaningcannotbederivedbyaddingupthemeaningofeveryconstituentoftheexpressions.”Forinstance,“tospillthebeans”hasnothingtodowith“bean”;

infact,itmeans“totellsomethingthatissecret”.

3.2Thepatternofidiominbothlanguages

Englishidiomscontainsetphrases（setphrasesarethoseidiomswhoseformissetandmanyofthemareratherrigidandcannotappearinitsvariants.）;

proverbs（proverbisanembodimentandminiatureofanation’slanguageandculture,hailsfromordinarypeopleandrootsincommonlife,mirroringwisdom,thoughtandsensationofthemasses.）;

allusions（allusionisadirectorindirectreferencewiththecharacteroreventinhistory,legends,literature,ect.）;

slang（slangisakindoflanguageoccurringchieflyincasualandplayfulspeech,madeuptypicallyofshort-livedcoinagesandfiguresofspeechthataredeliberatelyusedinplaceofstandardtermsforaddedraciness,humor,irreverence,orothereffect.）etc.

Chineseidiomsarecomposedofsetphrases（成语）,proverbs（谚语）,slangexpressions（俚语）,allusions（典故）andtwo-partallegoricalsayings（歇后语）andAntitheticalcouplets（对联）.Setphraseareusuallycomposedoffourcharactersandtheyareforceful,terseandvividinimagery.

InbothChineseandEnglish,therearemanynumericalidiomsrelatedtosuchforms.

1）“Fifthcolumn”means“agroupofsecretsympathizersorsupportersofanenemythatengageinespionage,sabotageandothersubversiveactivitieswithinthedefenselinesorbordersofanation.”（Englishsetphrase）

2）“乱七八糟”means“Atsixesandsevens”（Chinesesetphrase）

3）“Astitchintimesavesnine”means“小洞不补大洞吃苦”（Englishproverb）

4）“说归说，做归做”means“Tosayisonething;

todoisanother.”（Chineseproverb）

5）“Catch22”means“Asituationinwhichadesiredoutcomeorsolutionisimpossibletoattainbecauseofasetofinherentlyillogicalrulesorconditions”（Englishallusion）

6）“朝三慕四”means“someonewhochangeshismindfrequentlyorcontradictone’sownwords”（Chineseallusion）

7）“two-bitwhores”means“臭婊子”（Englishslang）

8）“二百五”means“Astupidperson”（Chineseslang）

9）“一条绳上栓着的两只蚂蚱-谁也跑不了”means“Twograsshopperstiedtoonecord,neithercangetaway”（two-partallegoricalsayings）

10）“三千里外一条水，十二时中两度潮”means“thereisachannelbeyondfourthousandli,andthechannelisontheflowtwiceinasingleday（Antitheticalcouplets）

4.ContrastivestudyofculturalconnotationbetweenEnglishandChinesenumericalidioms

EnglandandChinahavegonethroughthousandsofyearshistory,eachcountryhaveformeditsownculture.CulturalconnotationisanindispensablefactorinthestudyofEnglishandChinesenumericalidioms

4.1Theculturalconnotationofnumeralidiomsrelatedtopsychology

InbothEnglishandChinesecultures,fromancienttimestillnow,“wordfetishism”hasaffectedpeople’ssub-consciousness.Itisbelievedthatcertainnumberscontainmagicalorspiritualpowerwhichcanbringpeoplebadorgoodfortune.Therefore,numbers’culturalconnotationisinseparablefrompeople’spsychology.Eachcultureovertheageshasevolvedandgiventoitsmembersaunique“psychologicalset”ororientationtowardrealityandthissetactuallydetermineshowitsmemberseeandprocessinformationfromtheenvironment.Culture,ineffectaffectsthewaysinwhichthemindworks.

4.1.1TheculturalconnotationofChinesenumericalidiomsinpsychology

Chinaisoneofthefouranci