An Analysis on Cultural Differences of Basic Color Words between English and Chinese_英语论文

摘要

颜色与人类的生活密切相关，出现在人类生活的方方面面。它不仅仅是物理定义上的词。人们很少会思考色彩中蕴含的文化含义和象征意义。世界上的语言包括汉语和英语都有很多表示颜色的词。颜色词的意义有许多相同的部分，也有许多存在差异的部分。随着当今全球化的发展，中西方文化接触日益频繁，具有深刻文化内涵的颜色词成为文化交流中的一个障碍。

本文的研究以两个理论作为基础，第一个是萨皮尔—沃尔夫假设,又名文化决定论，从该理论得出文化差异可以在不同语言的颜色词中得到体现。对于中英共有的基本颜色词，则可以从柏林与凯伊的基本色彩词理论中得出。本文选取了其中最常见的六种基本颜色词作为研究对象，它们分别是：黑色，白色，红色，蓝色，绿色，黄色。本文通过从汉英最基本的颜色词入手，对文化内涵差异在这些汉英基本颜色词的体现进行研究，同时分析造成这些文化差异的主要原因。从而得出颜色词在汉英翻译以及语言学习交流的启示。

关键词：颜色词  文化差异  对比分析

Abstract

Color is closely related to every aspect of human life. Color is not just a physical definition. Rich cultural connotations and extended meanings are available in the color words. But people seldom think about it. There are many words for color in all languages including English and Chinese. They sharing the common part, but also have many differences. With the development of globalization, cultural contacts between Chinese and English are becoming more and more frequent. Basic color words with profound cultural connotations have become an obstacle to cultural communication. 

This thesis is based on two theories. The first is the Sapir-Wolff Hypothesis, that is, cultural determinism, which suggests that the cultural differences can be reflected in color words. The second one is the basic color word theory of Berlin and Kay, from which the basic color words are identified. In this thesis, the six most common basic color words are selected as study targets. They are black, white, red, blue, green, yellow. This paper aims to analyze and contrast the different cultural connotations of these basic color words, and find out main reasons for the differences. So as to put forward some valuable suggestion for the color words in Chinese-English translation, which conduce to the communication and learning between languages.

Key words: color words  cultural differences  comparative analysis

Contents

Chapter One  Introduction 1

Chapter Two  Literature Review 4

Chapter There  Theoretical Foundation of Study 8

3.1  Sapir-Wolff Hypothesis 8

3.2  Berlin and Kay`s Theory of Basic Color Words 9

3.3  Summary 10

Chapter Four  Analysis on Cultural Differences of Basic Color Words. 12

4.1  Comparison of the Cultural Connotations of Basic Color Words 12

4.2  Three Causes of Diffrent Cultural Connotations 19

4.3  Translation of Color Words 24

Chapter Five  Conclusion 27

5.1  Major Fingdings 28

5.2  Limitations and Suggestions for Further Study 28

Bibliography

Acknowledgements