英語論文英漢紅色詞義對比研究

1、<p>　　英 語 畢 業(yè) 論 文 </p><p>　　題目（中文）： 英漢紅色詞義對比研究 </p><p>　?。ㄓ⑽模篈 Comparative Study on the Sense of Red in English and Chinese </p><p>　　學(xué) 院 &l

2、t;/p><p>　　年級專業(yè) </p><p>　　學(xué)生姓名 </p><p>　　學(xué) 號 </p><p>　　指導(dǎo)教師 </p><p>　　完 成 日 期 年 月</p><p>　　A Com

3、parative Study on the Sense of Red in English and Chinese</p><p>　　A Thesis Submitted to </p><p>　　Shanghai Normal University</p><p>　　in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

4、 </p><p>　　the Degree of Bachelor of Arts</p><p>　　in English Education</p><p>　　Foreign Languages College, Shanghai Normal University</p><p>　　April 2008</p>&l

5、t;p>　　Acknowledgements</p><p>　　This thesis is dedicated to all the teachers who have taught me a lot, especially to my supervisor, who has helped to work out the outline, giving me enlightening advice th

6、roughout the whole process of the present thesis. To her, I owe a profound debt of gratitude. </p><p>　　The work would not have been possible without the help of my roommates and friends, who gave me a lot o

7、f encouragement when I was at a loss. We discussed a lot and moved forward.</p><p>　　I am particularly indebted to my father and mother, who encouraged me to persist and gave me the best they could offer. &l

8、t;/p><p>　　Without all the support, I could not have completed this tough work.</p><p><b>　　Abstract</b></p><p>　　Colour terms are abundant in both English and Chinese，such

9、 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. </p>&l

10、t;p>　　The thesis is divided into three parts. In Chapter One, I relate colour terms with cognition and culture in English and Chinese. In Chapter Two, I list a lot of examples related to red in English and Chinese and

11、 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 semantic similarities and differences of red fro

12、m the perspective of cognition and culture. </p><p>　　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 Englis

13、h and Chinese. The three kinds of equivalent relationship indicate that there exist similarity and difference in red terms between English and Chinese. Both similarity and difference are attributed to cognitive basis and

14、 cultural influence. If people know them well, they can achieve better cross-culture communication. </p><p>　　Key words: the sense of red; semantic equivalence; similarity; difference; cognition; culture<

15、/p><p><b>　　摘要</b></p><p>　　在英語和漢語中, 存在著豐富的顏色詞, 如紅色，黃色，藍(lán)色。在這篇文章中，通過研究所獲材料中的例子，我嘗試著對英漢紅色詞義進(jìn)行了對比分析。</p><p>　　本文分為三個部分。在第一章中，我談到了顏色詞與認(rèn)知和文化的關(guān)系。在第二章中，我列舉了中英文里有關(guān)紅色詞語的許多例子， 并且結(jié)合三種

16、語義對等關(guān)系對它們進(jìn)行了分析：英漢語義的完全對應(yīng)，部分對應(yīng)和不完全對應(yīng)。在第三章中，我從認(rèn)知以及文化的角度，闡釋了導(dǎo)致這些紅色詞語在中英文里語義相似和不同的原因。</p><p>　　通過對中英文中紅色詞義的對比研究，我揭示出紅色詞語在中英文里的三種對應(yīng)關(guān)系。這三種對應(yīng)關(guān)系表明在英漢兩種語言里，紅色詞語的語義確實(shí)存在著相似性和差異性，而這些相似性和差異性都源于認(rèn)知的基礎(chǔ)和文化的影響。</p><

17、;p>　　關(guān)鍵詞： 紅色語義；語義對應(yīng)；相似；差異；認(rèn)知；文化</p><p><b>　　Contents</b></p><p>　　1. Introduction</p><p>　　According to Geoffrey Leech (1981: 9), “There are seven types of meanings:

18、conceptual meaning, connotative meaning, social meaning, affective meaning, reflected meaning, collocative meaning, and thematic meaning.” And he combined connotative meaning, social meaning, affective meaning, reflected

19、 meaning, collocative meaning into “associative meaning”. So besides the literal meaning, colour words have affluent associative meanings. Different nations endow them with different cultural connotations.</p><

20、;p>　　“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

21、 to culture, historical 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. </p><p>　　There have been a

22、 lot of studies about the meanings of different colours, the way to translate some phrases with colour terms, and the relationship between colour and culture. Many of them focus on several colours, and some focusing on o

23、ne colour term only list lots of examples without comparing them in different languages, so it’s meaningful to make a comparison between the sense of red in English and that in Chinese. If we know the similarities and di

24、fferences in the sense between these two la</p><p>　　The thesis is about to analyze some examples of red terms in both English and Chinese, try to find the similarities and dissimilarities between them in te

25、rms of semantics, and find out the factors that cause these semantic similarities and dissimilarities from the perspective of cognition and culture.</p><p>　　2. The general view of colour terms in English an

26、d Chinese</p><p>　　Colours are closely related to people’s life. Colour is an important field from which people can recognize the world. Let us see the following example:</p><p>　　(1)菩薩蠻·大柏

27、地 </p><p>　　赤橙黃綠青藍(lán)紫，誰持彩練當(dāng)空舞？ </p><p>　　雨后復(fù)斜陽，關(guān)山陣陣蒼。</p><p>　　Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.</p><p>　　Who is dancing, waving this

28、 coloured ribbon against the sky?</p><p>　　The sun returns slanting after the rain.</p><p>　　And hill and pass grow a deeper blue. (包惠南 2003: 128)</p><p>　　In Example(1), Chairman M

29、ao 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. </p><p&

30、gt;　　Without colours, there will be no colourful life. Nature provides 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. <

31、/p><p>　　2.1 Colour terms with cognition in English and Chinese</p><p>　　Language has two meanings. One is its conceptual meaning while the other is its associative meaning. When we use colour term

32、s 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” (

33、王寅 2001: 308) makes it possible for us to use words which are supposed to describe concrete things to express abstract concepts. </p><p>　　Cognitive semantics views meanings as a mental phenomenon which is b

34、ased 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 process of conceptualization. And the process of conceptualization is a co

35、gnitive 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 </p&g

36、t;<p>　　The cognition of colours also involves one’s subjectivity. Thus, one colour reflects not only objective feature but subjective feature as well. The subjective feature is usually formed through synesthesia,

37、 which means whether the colour makes you feel warm or feel cold. </p><p>　　As Geoffrey Leech (1981: 235-26) put it, “The relative uniformity of colour semantics in different languages has much to do with th

38、e uniformity of the human apparatus of visual perception.” Whatever 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 pe

39、rceive. </p><p>　　2.2 Colour terms with culture in English and Chinese</p><p>　　“Culture is an integral whole which embraces knowledge, beliefs, moralities, laws, customs and other abilities and

40、 habits a man has acquired as a member of society.” (quoted in陶麗 2006: 17)</p><p>　　Language is a part of culture. Language is a mirror, in front of which culture is reflected. The difference of the “inner c

41、ontent of the nation” (解海江and 章黎平 2004: 263) is a fundamental factor causing different understanding of cultural connotations of colours. People in different cultures may have totally different understanding of the assoc

42、iative meaning which the same colour conveys. </p><p>　　Cultural associative meaning is determined by one nation’s custom, geography, and religion. The same colour may give rise to different association in o

43、ne’s 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 exi

44、st great differences in custom, geography, and religion between different nations. First, colour terms in Chinese embody feudal h</p><p>　　3. Semantic equivalence of red in English and Chinese</p><

45、;p>　　3.1 Exact equivalence</p><p>　　The view of the world is “a culture’s orientation toward God, humanity, nature, the universe, life, death, sickness, and other philosophical issues concerning existence

46、” (quoted in陶麗 2006: 47). How one views the world will affect his perception toward the world---the process by which he attaches meanings to social events he encounters in his environment. It helps people interpret and e

47、valuate what is right and wrong, what is good and bad, what to do and not to do, and so on. </p><p>　　That’s the same in colour perception. </p><p>　　Both in China and English-speaking countries

48、, red is usually associated with celebrations and joyful occasions. In China, people usually use red things to create happy atmosphere to a wedding, a birthday and important festivals. Red is prevalent on a traditional C

49、hinese wedding. People stick red 喜喜 on windows and doors, use red linens. The bride is dressed in red from head to feet: red dresses and red shoes. That not only brings happy ambience to the wedding, but also makes peopl

50、e recall their h</p><p>　　In English, red is also used for celebrating events. It has the cultural associative meaning of happiness, such as in red letter day. Important days are printed in red on calendars

51、rather than in black for ordinary days. For western people, a red letter day means a day when a good event happens. </p><p>　　In China, we have the custom to roll out a red carpet to extend our warmth to som

52、e important guests, that is, to “roll out the red carpet to honor a visiting head of state”, or “to give someone the red carpet treatment”. For example,</p><p>　　(2) A mother said, ‘It was a real red letter

53、day for me when my son came home from three years in the navy. We rolled out the red carpet to welcome him home.’ (我兒子在海軍服役三年了。他回家的那天，對我來說真是一個大喜的日子。我們把他當(dāng)貴賓一樣來歡迎。) (宋偉華 2006: 109) </p><p>　　From the case, we

54、can find that “to roll out the red carpet” can also be applied to an ordinary person. Besides, “to paint the town red” means “to celebrate wildly, to enjoy oneself to one’s heart’s content”. </p><p>　　Likewi

55、se, in the west, on Christmas Day, Santa Claus comes to dispatch presents to innocent children. He is in red, making the day full of mystery and happiness. </p><p>　　What’s more, there exists basic similarit

56、y in conceptual meaning of red in English and Chinese such as blood-red (血紅色), orange-red (橘紅色), red wine (紅葡萄酒). </p><p>　　3.2 Partial equivalence </p><p>　　But in the process of translating on

57、e source language into another target language, the meaning may change, especially when colour terms are involved, although the translator tries his or her best to be faithful. There exists a close relationship between c

58、olour and emotion. This can be well illustrated by the following example: Mr. Brown has been feeling blue lately. </p><p>　　The actual information this sentence conveys is that Mr. Brown has been very depres

59、sed lately. Only when we know its connotations can we understand a colour term correctly; otherwise, we will feel very confused. </p><p>　　Like white, red is also associated with certain emotions, anger and

60、embarrassment included. These two kinds of emotion exist both in English and Chinese. Let’s see an example. Her face turned red when bombarded with such an embarrassing question. We can easily guess the meaning of red an

61、d the meaning of this sentence, for there is an Chinese equivalence for it——臉紅. There her face turned red because she felt embarrassed and she felt so because of the embarrassing question. In English, we can use </p&g

62、t;<p>　　(3) “我有什么心事呢？”盛淑君滿臉飛紅地抵賴。（周立波：《山鄉(xiāng)巨變》）</p><p>　　“What cares have I got?” she blushed as she denied them.</p><p>　　(4) 他和甫兩個雖然已經(jīng)喝了半瓶黑葡萄酒，可是他們臉上一點(diǎn)也不紅……（茅盾：《子夜》）</p><p>

63、　　He and Wang Ho-fu had got through half a bottle of port between them, but their faces were not flushed in the least.</p><p>　　(5) 周仲偉的臉上立刻通紅了，真像一根“紅頭火柴”。（茅盾：《子夜》）</p><p>　　Chou Chung-wei’s fac

64、e reddened like one of his own red-tipped matches.</p><p>　　(quoted in宋偉華 2006: 109-10) </p><p>　　In Example (3), we can know that to blush is used when someone feels embarrassed, to flush in Ex

65、ample(4) is used in the exciting, happy, or inebriated situation. To redden and to color up in Example (5) are commonly used in most cases. So when we translate these phrases from Chinese to English, we must consider car

66、efully which word to use.</p><p>　　Those are all about embarrassment. Then what about anger? In Chinese, we say 氣得臉紅脖子粗. In English, we can use the expression to see red, or to wave a red flag. They are part

67、ly equivalent to each other. Also, we can’t directly translate the to see red into 見紅，which may cause misunderstanding, because in China, it implies a woman’s bleeding when she is giving birth to a baby.

68、 </p><p>　　Neither can to wave a red flag be directly translated into 揮動一面紅旗. If it is thus translated, we will have difficulty in understanding the whole meaning of a text in which it is used. Let us

69、 see the following examples: </p><p>　　(6) He clenched his fist and went very red. </p><p>　　(7) I found he was red with anger. </p><p>　　(8) When he criticized my work, I really sa

70、w red.</p><p>　　(9) The mere mention of his enemy’s name is like waving a red flag to him. </p><p>　　If we are not familiar with the phrase—to be red, we can guess its meaning to some extent bec

71、ause the contexts have already been set here. We can know red in both Example (6) and Example (7) implies anger. But what on earth is the meaning of saw red in Example (8) and waving a red flag in Example (9)? Both of th

72、em suggest anger. The former means to become very angry while the latter means to cause quick anger in somebody by doing something offensive.</p><p>　　3.3 No equivalence </p><p>　　Besides these

73、two kinds of relationship I have mentioned above in terms of red, there also exists no equivalence between English and Chinese. Let us see some examples.</p><p>　　We Chinese say 紅糖，but in English it equals b

74、rown sugar. We Chinese say 紅茶，but in English it equals black tea. 紅榜 is translated into honor roll; 紅豆 is translated into love pea; 紅運(yùn), good luck; 紅利, dividend. Red ruin in English refers to 火災(zāi) in Chinese；a red battle, 血

75、戰(zhàn)；red tape, 官僚作風(fēng). A blue sky refers to a sky whose colour is blue, but a red sky is not related to a sky whose colour is red, but refers to colourful clouds in the sky. Let us see Example (13):</p><p>　　(10)

76、Red sky at night, shepherd’s delight,</p><p>　　Red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning.</p><p>　　早霞不出門，晚霞行千里。(quoted in蔣林 2002: 26)</p><p>　　Red sky can’t be directly translated

77、into 紅天. If it is translated in such a way, we Chinese can’t understand it clearly because we do not have such an equivalence in Chinese. To understand it better, we have to translate it liberally. In this way, the liber

78、al translation approach is required when such semantic vacancy appears. </p><p>　　In Chinese, we use 紅眼病 to express the feeling of being jealous. But in English, we use green eye to express this meaning. If

79、it only refers to a kind of disease, then it should be translated into pink eyes. The colours are so flexibly used here. If we want to understand them correctly, we must have a good command of colour terms. The different

80、 semantic meanings of colour terms thus can be seen. It is because of these disparities that translators are very careful when dealing with colour terms. T</p><p>　　In Chinese, we have an idiom 紅白喜事. Red is

81、the principal colour of Chinese traditional weddings and white is the principal colour of funerals. But in western weddings, brides always wear white dresses, giving others a feeling of elegance and holiness; while at fu

82、nerals, people wear black suits. So here care should be taken in translating the phrase 紅白喜事. To avoid misunderstanding, we can put it simply as weddings and funerals. When we talk about red and white, there is an intere

83、sting coincidence </p><p>　　In addition, in ancient times of China, 紅顏 or 紅粉 was used to call beautiful girls. It stems from the tradition that women in old times commonly rouged their cheeks. But in English

84、, red does not have the connotative meaning of girls, so when translated, the red amid has to be avoided. Then 紅顏 can be translated into a beautiful girl or a pretty face. 紅粉 can be translated into a gaily dressed girl.

85、紅樓 is a lady’s room. These are all Chinese elements. </p><p>　　In Chinese, red is also the symbol of socialism and revolution used in a positive sense. The typical words are the red army, red flag, red star

86、and so on. In the revolutionary times, 紅 symbolizes revolution as in 紅軍, 紅色政權(quán) or 紅色根據(jù)地 while 白 implies decadence and reaction as in 白區(qū)， 白色政權(quán)，白軍，白匪 or 白色恐怖. The People’s Liberation Army was called 紅色長城. What’s more, we ha

87、ve 紅代會, 紅衛(wèi)兵. The phrase 又紅又專 is often adopted to describe a person who is not only loyal to the revolutionary cause but also to his prof</p><p>　　4. Reasons for the semantic similarities and differences of r

88、ed in English and Chinese</p><p>　　4.1 Reasons for the semantic similarities of red in English and Chinese</p><p>　　Language has two meanings. One is within the language; while the other is beyo

89、nd the language. The first level of meaning is what the language possesses itself. The second one is endowed by people. “Concepts in humans’ mind determine how they perceive the world, what they perceive, and how they re

90、late to others” (常宗林 2005: 255-6). So when one perceives the outside world, his knowledge, his experience, etc. will affect his perception. </p><p>　　Meaning originates from the interaction between human bei

91、ng and the real world. How people view the world will affect the use of language, thus affecting the meaning of language. During the process of the form of meanings, the external stimuli are conceptualized. This kind of

92、conceptualization is based on body experience.</p><p>　　The cognitive process is very complicated. “It’s well known that colour vision is an important tool of human cognition” (趙艷芳 2001: 41). What’s more, th

93、e researches on color and the physiology of human color vision show that the physiology of human color vision is constant across all races. It is generally the case that regardless of the number of color terms in a langu

94、age, the focal hue is remarkably consistent across languages. (quoted in李麗雪 2003: 24) </p><p>　　With this view in mind, let us return to red. </p><p>　　Red is to the human eye the most salient o

95、f color experiences. At normal light levels, red stands out in relation to all other hues by virtue of a reciprocal, heightening effect between saturation and brightness…(Forley 2001: 163)</p><p>　　So red br

96、ings people strong visual shock. The role of red as a warning sign is related to the colour’s high visibility. People think of the colour of fire as red. For example, Birren notes that “The Jewish historian Josephus in t

97、he first century AD associated … red with fire”. In Chinese culture, “We shall set down … red for fire”. (quoted in陶麗 2006: 34) Fire brings people warmth, so people think of red as a warm colour. Fire is also dangerous,

98、so red is used as a symbol of danger. Flashing red </p><p>　　“Metaphors are sometimes used without users’ being conscious of their metaphorical character” (常宗林 2005: 255). The same phenomenon will appear whe

99、n we use colour terms. Many associations are grounded so deeply in common human experience that we seldom pay special attention to them when we use the associative meaning of colour terms. </p><p>　　In addit