英汉红色词义对比研究论文范文.docx
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英汉红色词义对比研究论文范文
本科毕业论文(设计)
题目(中文):
英汉红色词义对比研究
(英文):
AComparativeStudyontheSenseofRedinEnglishandChinese
AComparativeStudyontheSenseofRedinEnglishandChinese
Writtenby
ZhangDongye
Supervisedby
ProfessorWangHuimin
AThesisSubmittedto
ShanghaiNormalUniversity
inPartialFulfillmentoftheRequirementsfor
theDegreeofBachelorofArts
inEnglishEducation
ForeignLanguagesCollege,ShanghaiNormalUniversity
April2008
Acknowledgements
Thisthesisisdedicatedtoalltheteacherswhohavetaughtmealot,especiallytomysupervisor,whohashelpedtoworkouttheoutline,givingmeenlighteningadvicethroughoutthewholeprocessofthepresentthesis.Toher,Ioweaprofounddebtofgratitude.
Theworkwouldnothavebeenpossiblewithoutthehelpofmyroommatesandfriends,whogavemealotofencouragementwhenIwasataloss.Wediscussedalotandmovedforward.
Iamparticularlyindebtedtomyfatherandmother,whoencouragedmetopersistandgavemethebesttheycouldoffer.
Withoutallthesupport,Icouldnothavecompletedthistoughwork.
Abstract
ColourtermsareabundantinbothEnglishandChinese,suchasred,yellow,andblue.Inthisthesis,IhaveattemptedtomakeacomparisonbetweenthesenseofredinEnglishandthatinChinesebystudyingtheexamplescollectedfromallthematerialsavailable.
Thethesisisdividedintothreeparts.InChapterOne,IrelatecolourtermswithcognitionandcultureinEnglishandChinese.InChapterTwo,IlistalotofexamplesrelatedtoredinEnglishandChineseandanalysethemfromthreeaspectsintermsoftheirsense:
exactequivalence,partialequivalence,noequivalence.InChapterThree,Ifindoutthefactorsthatcausethesesemanticsimilaritiesanddifferencesofredfromtheperspectiveofcognitionandculture.
ThroughacomparativestudyofthesenseofredinEnglishandChinese,IshedlightonthethreekindsofequivalentrelationshipofredtermsinEnglishandChinese.ThethreekindsofequivalentrelationshipindicatethatthereexistsimilarityanddifferenceinredtermsbetweenEnglishandChinese.Bothsimilarityanddifferenceareattributedtocognitivebasisandculturalinfluence.Ifpeopleknowthemwell,theycanachievebettercross-culturecommunication.
Keywords:
thesenseofred;semanticequivalence;similarity;difference;cognition;culture
摘要
在英语和汉语中,存在着丰富的颜色词,如红色,黄色,蓝色。
在这篇文章中,通过研究所获材料中的例子,我尝试着对英汉红色词义进行了对比分析。
本文分为三个部分。
在第一章中,我谈到了颜色词与认知和文化的关系。
在第二章中,我列举了中英文里有关红色词语的许多例子,并且结合三种语义对等关系对它们进行了分析:
英汉语义的完全对应,部分对应和不完全对应。
在第三章中,我从认知以及文化的角度,阐释了导致这些红色词语在中英文里语义相似和不同的原因。
通过对中英文中红色词义的对比研究,我揭示出红色词语在中英文里的三种对应关系。
这三种对应关系表明在英汉两种语言里,红色词语的语义确实存在着相似性和差异性,而这些相似性和差异性都源于认知的基础和文化的影响。
关键词:
红色语义;语义对应;相似;差异;认知;文化
Contents
Acknowledgements…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….….
i
Abstract…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….………….…
ii
摘要……………………………………………………………………………….
iii
1.Introduction………………………………………………………..
1
2.ThegeneralviewofcolourtermsinEnglishandChinese……...
2
2.1ColourtermswithcognitioninEnglishandChinese……………………..
2
2.2ColourtermswithcultureinEnglishandChinese…………………………
3
3.SemanticequivalenceofredinEnglishandChinese…………….
5
3.1Exactequivalence………………………………………………………….
5
3.2Partialequivalence………………………………………………………...
6
3.3Noequivalence…………………………………………………………….
8
4.ReasonsforthesemanticsimilaritiesanddifferencesofredinEnglishandChinese………………………………………………….
11
4.1ReasonsforthesemanticsimilaritiesofredinEnglishandChinese……..
11
4.2ReasonsforthesemanticdifferencesofredinEnglishandChinese………
13
4.2.1Differenceinaesthetichabit……………………………….…………
14
4.2.2Differenceinhistoricalbackground….…………………….………...
15
5.Conclusion……………………………....................……………...
17
Bibliography…………………………………………………….……
18
1.Introduction
AccordingtoGeoffreyLeech(1981:
9),“Thereareseventypesofmeanings:
conceptualmeaning,connotativemeaning,socialmeaning,affectivemeaning,reflectedmeaning,collocativemeaning,andthematicmeaning.”Andhecombinedconnotativemeaning,socialmeaning,affectivemeaning,reflectedmeaning,collocativemeaninginto“associativemeaning”.Sobesidestheliteralmeaning,colourwordshaveaffluentassociativemeanings.Differentnationsendowthemwithdifferentculturalconnotations.ThecomparativestudyofthesenseofredinbothEnglishandChinesewillbeabridgeforbothEnglishandChineselearnerstounderstandthesimilaritiesanddisparities;otherwise,thesedisparitiescancauseambiguityandleadtomisunderstanding.
“Obviously,connotationsareapttovaryfromagetoageandfromsocietytosociety”(Ibid:
12).Comparedwithconceptualmeaning,associativemeaningisunstablebecauseassociationsvaryconsiderablyaccordingtoculture,historicalperiod,andtheexperienceofindividuals.SoitisquitenecessarytomakeacomparisonbetweenassociativemeaningofredinEnglishandthatinChinese.
Therehavebeenalotofstudiesaboutthemeaningsofdifferentcolours,thewaytotranslatesomephraseswithcolourterms,andtherelationshipbetweencolourandculture.Manyofthemfocusonseveralcolours,andsomefocusingononecolourtermonlylistlotsofexampleswithoutcomparingthemindifferentlanguages,soit’smeaningfultomakeacomparisonbetweenthesenseofredinEnglishandthatinChinese.Ifweknowthesimilaritiesanddifferencesinthesensebetweenthesetwolanguages,wecanlearnthesecondlanguagebetter,thusachievingthecross-culturecommunication.
ThethesisisabouttoanalyzesomeexamplesofredtermsinbothEnglishandChinese,trytofindthesimilaritiesanddissimilaritiesbetweenthemintermsofsemantics,andfindoutthefactorsthatcausethesesemanticsimilaritiesanddissimilaritiesfromtheperspectiveofcognitionandculture.
2.ThegeneralviewofcolourtermsinEnglishandChinese
Coloursarecloselyrelatedtopeople’slife.Colourisanimportantfieldfromwhichpeoplecanrecognizetheworld.Letusseethefollowingexample:
(1)菩萨蛮·大柏地
赤橙黄绿青蓝紫,谁持彩练当空舞?
雨后复斜阳,关山阵阵苍。
Red,orange,yellow,green,blue,indigo,violet.
Whoisdancing,wavingthiscolouredribbonagainstthesky?
Thesunreturnsslantingaftertherain.
Andhillandpassgrowadeeperblue.(包惠南2003:
128)
InExample
(1),ChairmanMaousessevencolourtermstodescribethecoloursofarainbowintheskyafterasummerstorm.TheyareidenticalwiththesevencoloursthatareusedtodescribetherainbowinEnglishEncyclopedia.
Withoutcolours,therewillbenocolourfullife.Natureprovidesuswithmanybeauties,suchastherisingsun,thewhitemoonlight,thebluesea,andthegreenwheatwave.Theyareallthatweshouldcherish.
2.1ColourtermswithcognitioninEnglishandChinese
Languagehastwomeanings.Oneisitsconceptualmeaningwhiletheotherisitsassociativemeaning.Whenweusecolourtermstodescribethecolourofacertainsubject,theirconceptualmeaningisapplied.Whenweassociatecolourtermswithabstractconcepts,theirassociativemeaningisapplied.“TheoryofSemanticFeature-cancellation”(王寅2001:
308)makesitpossibleforustousewordswhicharesupposedtodescribeconcretethingstoexpressabstractconcepts.
Cognitivesemanticsviewsmeaningsasamentalphenomenonwhichisbasedonbodyexperience.Theyaretheresultofinteractionbetweenhumanbeingandtherealworld.Theprocessoftheformingofmeaningsistheprocessofconceptualization.Andtheprocessofconceptualizationisacognitiveonewhichisbasedonbodyexperience.(Ibid:
181)Thecognitiveprocessisaverycomplexone.Thecognitionofcoloursisavisualcognitiveprocess.Allthevisualinformationiscarriedtothecortexoverthemajorvisualpathway.Thediscussionofcolourtermswilltakeoneonajourneyfromtheeyetothecortex.One’sbrainservesasacolourprocessor.
Thecognitionofcoloursalsoinvolvesone’ssubjectivity.Thus,onecolourreflectsnotonlyobjectivefeaturebutsubjectivefeatureaswell.Thesubjectivefeatureisusuallyformedthroughsynesthesia,whichmeanswhetherthecolourmakesyoufeelwarmorfeelcold.
AsGeoffreyLeech(1981:
235-26)putit,“Therelativeuniformityofcoloursemanticsindifferentlanguageshasmuchtodowiththeuniformityofthehumanapparatusofvisualperception.”Whateverlanguageapersonspeaks,heisapttoregard“certainfocalcolourstimuli”asmoreimportantthanothers.Amongmanycolours,redistheeasiesttoperceive.
2.2ColourtermswithcultureinEnglishandChinese
“Cultureisanintegralwholewhichembracesknowledge,beliefs,moralities,laws,customsandotherabilitiesandhabitsamanhasacquiredasamemberofsociety.”(quotedin丽2006:
17)
Languageisapartofculture.Languageisamirror,infrontofwhichcultureisreflected.Thedifferenceofthe“innercontentofthenation”(解海江and章黎平2004:
263)isafundamentalfactorcausingdifferentunderstandingofculturalconnotationsofcolours.Peopleindifferentculturesmayhavetotallydifferentunderstandingoftheassociativemeaningwhichthesamecolourconveys.
Culturalassociativemeaningisdeterminedbyonenation’scustom,geography,andreligion.Thesamecolourmaygiverisetodifferentassociationinone’smind.Thisiscausedbyculturaldifference.Thesimilarityistheresultofculturalcommensurabilityandmutualpenetrationofculture.Inmostcultures,redisrelatedtoenthusiasmandunrestraint.Butthereexistgreatdifferencesincustom,geography,andreligionbetweendifferentnations.First,colourtermsinChineseembodyfeudalhierarchicalculture.Inmanydynasties,certaincolourswereusedbycertainpeople.Theyrepresentdifferent