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1、ABSTRACTColor word is not only the color of objects, but also contains a lot of culture. It loads rich meanings of culture, which other types of words cannot match. In real life, people often use these words to express their preferences for color, choices, their thoughts and feelings. Meanwhile, it
2、indicates the values of the community. With the rapid development of China, there are more and more cross-cultural communications between China and the western countries. Basic color words are the ones that often cause peoples misunderstandings owing to the diversities of different connotations. So,
3、 its very important to make a contrastive study on the cultural connotations of basic color words in both English and Chinese.This paper compares the color words in English and Chinese from different angles. Firstly, this paper will have a brief review of previous studies on color words, and then th
4、e discussion on the cultural connotations as well as their differences and similarities of this kind of word will be carried out. Besides, the causes of the similarities and dissimilarities will be probed. In the end, this paper puts forward some implication.With the aid from the above attempt, this
5、 paper aims at reducing the cultural barriers and shock and helping readers to have a deep understanding on the usage and translation of color words. As a result, the goal of successful communication can be achieved and people around the world can be closer.KEY WORDSBasic color words; Chinese; Engli
6、sh; Comparison 摘要颜色词不仅仅简单表示物体的颜色，它还包含着丰富的文化内涵，颜色所负载的文化内涵相当丰富，是其它各类词汇难以比拟的。在现实生活中，人们不仅用颜色表达对色彩的偏好，选择，想法和感受。颜色词也蕴含了一个集体的价值观。随着中国日益发展昌盛，和西方国家的跨文化交际也日益频繁，基本颜色词因具诸多的文化内涵常会在跨文化交际中常引起误读。因此英汉颜色词的对比研究具有重要的意义。本文从不同角度，对汉颜色词进行了比较。首先是文献回顾，介绍了英汉语种的基本颜色词汇、国内外对颜色词汇的概念及国内外的相关研究成果。接着根据基本颜色词理论列出基本颜色词，继而详细描述了其文化内涵并对比其异
7、同。此外还探究了基本颜色词文化内涵异同的原因。最后论述了中英基本颜色词对比的启示。在以上研究的帮助下，本文旨在减少文化障碍和文化威慑，帮助读者加深对彼此的理解，从而实现成功交际的目标。世界各地的人们会联系的更加紧密。关键词基本颜色词；汉语；英语；比较AKNOWLEDGEMENTS At the point of finishing this paper, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all my teachers who have given me sparks of thoughts in their courses and
8、 very helpful suggestions on my initial presentation of my idea in writing the paper. My special thanks go to Professor who has spent her invaluable time guiding me through the writing and made it all possible. Her keen and vigorous academic observation inspires me not only in this paper but also in
9、 my future and life. Thanks also should go to all the authors of the references. Without them, I could not have any achievements. I would also like to express my great appreciation to my classmates. Their helpful ideas and kind encouragement helped me greatly.Finally, I want to express my sincere gr
10、atitude to my parents who have been there all the time. It is because of them that I could accomplish the paper. I think I will not fail their expectation.CONTENTSIntroduction1Chapter 1 Literature Review31.1 English and Chinese Color Words31.2 Previous Studies on Color Words4Chapter 2 Comparative St
11、udy on Cultural Connotations of English and Chinese Basic Color Words62.1 Red and 红62.2 white and白82.3 Black and 黑102.4 Blue and蓝112.5 yellow and黄112.6 The others color words12Chapter 3 Reasons for Similarities and Dissimilarities of Cultural Connotations of English and Chinese Color Words143.1 Reas
12、ons for Differences143.1.1 Natural Environments143.1.2 Traditions and Customs143.1.3 Religions153.1.4 National Psychology153.2Reasons for Similarities153.2.1 Perceptions of Color153.2.2The Cultural Experience16Chapter 4 Implication for Language Learning and Intercultural Communication184.1 Implicati
13、on for Language Learning184.2 Implication for Intercultural Communication19Conclusion21References221Comparative Study on English and Chinese Basic Color WordsIntroductionThere are sentences describing a man: “Mr. Brown is a very white man, but he was looking rather green the other day. He was in a b
14、rown mood when I saw him. I hope hell soon be in a pink mood again.” When some people read this sentence, they must be at a loss. The structure is simple and the vocabulary is easy, however its not easy to understand them. The reason is that because they dont know what these color words imply. Engli
15、sh and Chinese have their own respective cultural backgrounds, which leads to different cultural connotations of the same basic words. Therefore, though there are a lot of color words corresponding with each other in English and Chinese, the equivalent may indicate a different meaning in difference
16、contexts. And as our world is a “colorful planet”, the words describing “color” are used frequently in daily communication. However, the cultural connotations of color words have not been made systematic research. What is more, contacts between the peoples of different countries are becoming increas
17、ingly frequent, which make the study of color words more important and urgent. Therefore, a systematic study of color words in cross-cultural communication is very necessary and urgent. And it will be very helpful in many aspects.Having a good understanding of the color words of target language is e
18、specially very significant and necessary; otherwise the successful communication will be hampered. Learning the differences between Chinese and English color words is very helpful. Firstly, as for the language learners, it helps them gain more knowledge and get better grades in the academic study. S
19、econdly, a general understanding of differences on color words can help people have a satisfactory performance in communication, because color words are closely related to nationality, culture, and history.What will be discussed in this paper are the basic color words because of its wide and frequen
20、t usages in daily life. And the focus is the contrast of the cultural connotations of basic color words in English and Chinese. This thesis consists of four chapters. Chapter one is literature review which contains the introduction and the category of basic color words, the study on them at home and
21、 abroad. In chapter two, the author lists the basic color words in English and Chinese, and then discusses their cultural connotations in detail and compares the similarities and dissimilarities of them. Chapter three studies the causes of the similarities and dissimilarities. It contains two parts:
22、 the factors that lead to the similarities of cultural connotations which include perceptions of colors and cultural experience; the factors that cause the dissimilarities, including natural environment, traditions and customs, religions and philosophy. Chapter Four puts forward some implications wi
23、th important value in daily life usage. With the above research, the paper will help people to better understand the cultural meanings of color words in different countries. Meanwhile, it can also do good to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the translation on color words.Chapter 1 Literature R
24、eview This chapter firstly introduces English and Chinese basic color words and the categories of them, and reviews the studies on English and Chinese basic color words at home and abroad. This part of paper aims at implanting readers with a roughly linguistic and historical view of color words.1.1E
25、nglish and Chinese Color WordsIn language system, color words are a group of special words used to convey the concepts of colors. According to scientific researches, there are over 3,000 color words in English and 2,300 in Chinese, and from the conceptual angle, human eyes can distinguish 7,000,000
26、different colors, so there are not enough linguistic expressions available to so many kinds of color at all. Whats more, because of the continuous nature of spectrum, its difficult to categorize the color words into clear-cut types, so the categories of color words are very vague. Though its difficu
27、lt to make a clear category of color words, the color words in English and Chinese can be divided into two big categories: basic color words and object color words. And in this paper, basic color words will be studied. As for the types of basic color words, there are generally different ideas. Berli
28、n and Kay hold that in English, there are eleven basic color categories including “white, black, blue, orange, purple, pink, green, red, brown, yellow and gray” (Berlin and Kay, 1991(1969):145). Chinese professor Yao Xiaoping and Liu Danqing have also done a deep research on Chinese color words, the
29、y draw a conclusion that there are eleven basic color words including 黑，白，红，黄，绿，青，紫，粉红，灰，褐，橙. During the process, they also studied the cultural elements because they found cultural elements can influence the existence and development of the basic color characters, which Berlin and Kay didnt do. How
30、ever, Professor Wang Fengxi has a different opinion, he holds that there are nine basic color words in Chinese, the reason lies in that “pink” is contained by the category of red color and orange, is just a mixture of yellow and red. “Orange” is just the mixture of the color red and yellow. As to Be
31、rlin and Kays criteria of judging basic colors we can draw a definite conclusion that there are nine basic color words in Chinese and they are 黑(black)，白(white)，红(red)，黄(yellow)，绿(green)，蓝(blue)，紫(purple), 棕(orange) and 灰(green).1.2 Previous Studies on Color WordsThe study on the relations between c
32、olor perception and the outside world can be traced back to the ancient Greece. It is Plato who firstly made the researches on colors and formed his perceptions of colors, which is regarded as the classic theories of colors. The entire Western linguistic world started to study color words from the l
33、ate 19th century. In the late 1960s, Berlin and Kay bear an idea that linguistic universality and semantic evolution reflected the characteristics that the color word system generally had. Before that, many scholars maintained that the color word study offered a typical cross-cultural example to sup
34、port the linguistic relative theory, because the meanings of color words in a certain language made us know the characteristics of the society and so it was culture-determined to some extent. So Berlin and Kay do a great progress in linguistic universality. Colors are closely related to humans thoug
35、hts and social culture, like, ideology, lifestyle, social and cultural history and all.Compared with the studies abroad, the studies on Chinese basic color characters at home are much later and limited. Linguistic culturology started by the linguistic Professor Wang Dechun in Shanghai International
36、Studies University in the mid-80s. During the period from 1980s to 1990s, many articles about color words were published, which mainly dealt with the connotations, functions, translations of color words and the relationships between color words and culture. Among these achievements, the book The Bea
37、uty of Language written by Liu Yunquan got more attention, because it summarized the categories and functions of Chinese color characters, which symbolized the independent study on color characters in China. The 1990s witnessed a great progress in comparison between Chinese and foreign languages, es
38、pecially English. Compared with some scholars who studied color words only in one aspect, Professor Yang Yonglin did a systematic and scientific research in this field. He took the college students as the subjects to find the color code ability at the university level. Based on his research, he publ
39、ished two books: A Social-Cognitive Study of Chinese Students Color Code-ability in English and Chinese Color Code-ability Research on Cognitive Model, which have made great procession in the study on color characters in China. In this chapter, according to Berlin and Kays theory, the basic color wo
40、rds of English and Chinese have been determined respectively.From the studies on English and Chinese basic color words at home and aboard, it can be found that in western countries, the studies on color words have been done since ancient times and then developed and divided into several classificati
41、ons. Compared with the western countries, studies on Chinese color words began late and are insufficient, thus researches in this field is in great need. In the next chapter, the pragmatic usage of color words in different cultures will be studied. Chapter 2 Comparative Study on Cultural Connotation
42、s of English and Chinese Basic Color WordsIn the last chapter, the history of studies on color words has been discussed. Based on the studies and theories, contrastive study on cultural connotations of English and Chinese basic color words will be done in detail in this chapter. In English there are
43、 eleven basic color categories. They are white, black, blue, orange, purple, pink, green, red, yellow and green. In Chinese, they are白，黑，蓝，红，黄，绿，紫，灰, 棕. Therefore nine same color words can be found in these two languages，they are white/白, black/黑, red/红, yellow/黄, green/绿, blue/蓝, purple/紫, brown/棕
44、and gray/灰. As“棕(brown)” carries very few cultural connotations, his chapter will only discuss the other eight colors.2.1 Red and 红In the Englishspeaking countries, red is always used in negative way. It related cultural meanings are cruelty, disaster, anger, potential danger, war, death and so on.
45、In English, red color plays an important role with many colorful meanings. (1) A slightly insulting word. It refers to the person who has communist or very left-wing ideas or opinions. Such as, “Theyre all so terrified of Reds. (Collier, George.1973:25)(2) Causes that may inspire persons or animals
46、to some particular feelings. The particular feelings include anger and shame, and it can lead to attack others react in a particular way. In the phrases Red Indian and the word redneck, red both has this kind of meaning.(3) It refers to unnecessary and excessive elaboration. Red tape refers to offic
47、ial rules that seem unnecessary and prevent things from being done quickly and easily. Now it is used to refer to bureaucratism. (4) Bloody, cruel and violent are its references. In the phrases red battle, red vengeance, red in tooth and claw, red carries this kind of meaning(5) Danger. It can get a
48、ttention from people easily. In the red means in debt, lack of money, that is, the money one has is less than needed. Red light in traffic lights means to stop. In Chinese, red take the meaning too.However, Chinese have a special love for red and have been fascinated by it since the very ancient tim
49、es. This kind of feeling may come from Chinese peoples worship of fire and the sun.(1) To Chinese, red makes them think of warmth, prosperity, happiness, celebration and other positive things. This can be seen in Chinese daily life. In the traditional wedding ceremonies, red Chinese character 囍, red head covers, red dresses of the brides, the bridegroom
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