英汉红色词义对比研究英语.docx

1、英汉红色词义对比研究英语河北师范大学 本 科 毕 业 论 文（设 计）题目（中文）： 英汉红色词义对比研究 （英文）：A Comparative Study on the Sense of Red in English and Chinese 学 院 外国语 年级专业 10级英语 学生姓名 学 号 指导教师 完 成 日 期2012 年4 月A Comparative Study on the Sense of Red in English and ChineseWritten byYang JingSupervised byProfessor HaoHuizhenA Thesis Submit

2、ted to Shanghai Normal Universityin Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Artsin English EducationForeign Languages College, Shanghai Normal UniversityApril 2008AcknowledgementsThis thesis is dedicated to all the teachers who have taught me a lot, especially to my sup

3、ervisor, who has helped to work out the outline, giving me enlightening advice throughout the whole process of the present thesis. To her, I owe a profound debt of gratitude. The work would not have been possible without the help of my roommates and friends, who gave me a lot of encouragement when I

4、 was at a loss. We discussed a lot and moved forward.I am particularly indebted to my father and mother, who encouraged me to persist and gave me the best they could offer. Without all the support, I could not have completed this tough work.AbstractColour terms are abundant in both English and Chine

5、se，such as red, yellow, and blue. In this thesis, I have attempted to make a comparison between the sense of red in English and that in Chinese by studying the examples collected from all the materials available. The thesis is divided into three parts. In Chapter One, I relate colour terms with cogn

6、ition and culture in English and Chinese. In Chapter Two, I list a lot of examples related to red in English and Chinese and analyse them from three aspects in terms of their sense: exact equivalence, partial equivalence, no equivalence. In Chapter Three, I find out the factors that cause these sema

7、ntic similarities and differences of red from the perspective of cognition and culture. Through a comparative study of the sense of red in English and Chinese, I shed light on the three kinds of equivalent relationship of red terms in English and Chinese. The three kinds of equivalent relationship i

8、ndicate that there exist similarity and difference in red terms between English and Chinese. Both similarity and difference are attributed to cognitive basis and cultural influence. If people know them well, they can achieve better cross-culture communication. Key words: the sense of red; semantic e

9、quivalence; 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

10、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ContentsAcknowledgements .iAbstract . ii摘要.iii1. Introduction.12. The general view of colour terms in English and Chinese .22.1 Colour terms with cognition in English and Chinese.22.2 Colour terms wit

11、h culture in English and Chinese33. Semantic equivalence of red in English and Chinese.53.1 Exact equivalence.53.2 Partial equivalence.63.3 No equivalence.84. Reasons for the semantic similarities and differences of red in English and Chinese.114.1 Reasons for the semantic similarities of red in Eng

12、lish and Chinese.114.2 Reasons for the semantic differences of red in English and Chinese134.2.1 Difference in aesthetic habit.144.2.2 Difference in historical background.155. Conclusion .17Bibliography .181. IntroductionAccording to Geoffrey Leech (1981: 9), “There are seven types of meanings: conc

13、eptual meaning, connotative meaning, social meaning, affective meaning, reflected meaning, collocative meaning, and thematic meaning.” And he combined connotative meaning, social meaning, affective meaning, reflected meaning, collocative meaning into “associative meaning”. So besides the literal mea

14、ning, colour words have affluent associative meanings. Different nations endow them with different cultural connotations. The comparative study of the sense of red in both English and Chinese will be a bridge for both English and Chinese learners to understand the similarities and disparities; other

15、wise, these disparities can cause ambiguity and lead to misunderstanding. “Obviously, connotations are apt to vary from age to age and from society to society” (Ibid: 12). Compared with conceptual meaning, associative meaning is unstable because associations vary considerably according to culture, h

16、istorical period, and the experience of individuals. So it is quite necessary to make a comparison between associative meaning of red in English and that in Chinese. There have been a lot of studies about the meanings of different colours, the way to translate some phrases with colour terms, and the

17、 relationship between colour and culture. Many of them focus on several colours, and some focusing on one colour term only list lots of examples without comparing them in different languages, so its meaningful to make a comparison between the sense of red in English and that in Chinese. If we know t

18、he similarities and differences in the sense between these two languages, we can learn the second language better, thus achieving the cross-culture communication. The thesis is about to analyze some examples of red terms in both English and Chinese, try to find the similarities and dissimilarities b

19、etween them in terms of semantics, and find out the factors that cause these semantic similarities and dissimilarities from the perspective of cognition and culture.2. The general view of colour terms in English and ChineseColours are closely related to peoples life. Colour is an important field fro

20、m which people can recognize the world. Let us see the following example: (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.Who is dancing, waving this coloured ribbon against the sky?The sun returns slanting after the rain.And hill and pass grow a deeper blue.

21、(包惠南 2003: 128)In Example(1), Chairman Mao uses seven colour terms to describe the colours of a rainbow in the sky after a summer storm. They are identical with the seven colours that are used to describe the rainbow in English Encyclopedia. Without colours, there will be no colourful life. Nature p

22、rovides us with many beauties, such as the rising sun, the white moonlight, the blue sea, and the green wheat wave. They are all that we should cherish. 2.1 Colour terms with cognition in English and ChineseLanguage has two meanings. One is its conceptual meaning while the other is its associative m

23、eaning. When we use colour terms to describe the colour of a certain subject, their conceptual meaning is applied. When we associate colour terms with abstract concepts, their associative meaning is applied. “Theory of Semantic Feature-cancellation” (王寅 2001: 308) makes it possible for us to use wor

24、ds which are supposed to describe concrete things to express abstract concepts. Cognitive semantics views meanings as a mental phenomenon which is based on body experience. They are the result of interaction between human being and the real world. The process of the forming of meanings is the proces

25、s of conceptualization. And the process of conceptualization is a cognitive one which is based on body experience. (Ibid: 181) The cognitive process is a very complex one. The cognition of colours is a visual cognitive process. All the visual information is carried to the cortex over the major visua

26、l pathway. The discussion of colour terms will take one on a journey from the eye to the cortex. Ones brain serves as a colour processor. The cognition of colours also involves ones subjectivity. Thus, one colour reflects not only objective feature but subjective feature as well. The subjective feat

27、ure is usually formed through synesthesia, which means whether the colour makes you feel warm or feel cold. As Geoffrey Leech (1981: 235-26) put it, “The relative uniformity of colour semantics in different languages has much to do with the uniformity of the human apparatus of visual perception.” Wh

28、atever language a person speaks, he is apt to regard “certain focal colour stimuli” as more important than others. Among many colours, red is the easiest to perceive. 2.2 Colour terms with culture in English and Chinese“Culture is an integral whole which embraces knowledge, beliefs, moralities, laws

29、, customs and other abilities and habits a man has acquired as a member of society.” (quoted in陶丽 2006: 17)Language is a part of culture. Language is a mirror, in front of which culture is reflected. The difference of the “inner content of the nation” (解海江and 章黎平 2004: 263) is a fundamental factor c

30、ausing different understanding of cultural connotations of colours. People in different cultures may have totally different understanding of the associative meaning which the same colour conveys. Cultural associative meaning is determined by one nations custom, geography, and religion. The same colo

31、ur may give rise to different association in ones mind. This is caused by cultural difference. The similarity is the result of cultural commensurability and mutual penetration of culture. In most cultures, red is related to enthusiasm and unrestraint. But there exist great differences in custom, geography, and religion between different nations. First, colour terms in Chinese embody feudal hierarchical culture. In many dynasties