颜色词的文化内涵在汉英语言中的对比研究

论文总字数：28214字

摘 要

世界上存在各种不同的颜色，颜色与人们的生活密切相关。颜色词是每个国家语言系统中一个重要组成部分。在人类语言中,颜色词是经常使用的,具有丰富的情感和文化内涵。在中文和英文两种语言中，颜色词意思的不同是源于不同民族的文化内涵,传统习俗和宗教信仰的不同。我们不仅要注意它们的基本意义，更要关注他们的深层象征意义。因为各自处于不同的文化背景和传统,人们对颜色的感觉和表达是不一样的,所以颜色的象征意义造成了中西方文化的巨大差异。因此我们很有必要去理解颜色词的字面意义和联想意义的区别。本文主要通过对比中英两国语言中的六种基本颜色白,黑,红,绿,黄和蓝的区别探讨了颜色词的文化内涵，进一步理解不同的文化背景下的颜色词可以帮助我们与他人成功交流与沟通。

关键词：颜色词；文化内涵；对比研究

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 1

3. Differences between English and Chinese in Color Words 2

3.1 White 3

3.2 Black 3

3.3 Red 3

3.4 Green 4

3.5 Yellow 5

3.6 Blue 6

4. Reasons for Different Culture Connotation in Color Words 6

4.1 Traditional customs 6

4.2 Religious beliefs 8

5. Conclusion 9

Works Cited 11

1. Introduction

Famous linguist Leech holds the opinion that the conceptual meaning of a word is the most basic sense expressed in the language of communication. The connotative meaning attached to the concept of the meaning, is not a fundamental part of the language, but only incidental. That is to say, the connotations of the word are demonstrating the national culture which are based on the conceptual meaning of words. It can vary due to different persons, different ages and can also be due to different societies, nations or eras.

The world we live in and the color are inseparable. As a group of special words of the language, color words can be used to describe the specific color of object, to express emotions, attitudes, viewpoints and ideological connotations. Six basic colors, white, black, red, green, yellow and blue, have the same concept of meaning between the Chinese and English language. However, because of the different historical background, different religious beliefs and tradition and customs, the conceptual meanings of relative color words is a far cry from its connotation meaning.

In daily life, all sorts of colors can be seen everywhere and human cognition to sense the color is obviously in common. Some of the basic color symbolism in Chinese and English language should be the same. As westerners in extensive contacts and exchanges, we found that color words’ cultural connotation of the same color in Chinese and English language often have obvious differences. In this paper, I’ll mainly discusses the cultural connotation of color words including six basic colors, white, black, red, green, yellow and blue in Chinese and English language by means of comparison. To further understand the color words in different cultural background can help us communicate with others successfully.

2. Literature Review

The study on the differences between Chinese and English color words has a long history. Many experts have carried on the thorough study of color words and form their own theory has been widely accepted in translation field. These studies include the basic color words, color words and concepts, the pragmatic meaning of color words translation, social and cultural connotation of color words, and so on. These books or articles have a detailed explanation on color words.

To a large extent，the culture of a nation affected the people"s understanding of color. There are a lot of researches at home and abroad. They study color words in different ways and from different aspects. In western countries, the color is very popular in philosophy, physics, psychology, art and so on. Color terms in the history of the oldest theory is Aristotle"s theory of black and white, color by hue, brightness and saturation. At that period, all colors were considered as different degrees of mix of white and black. Black and White Theory was ended by Newton who saw seven colors of the sunlight through prism. Other theories appeared at the same time, such as Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis and Cognitive Linguistics. Although there are different between these theories, but they all admit color"s role in English.

People have shown keen interest in color long ago. Color vision of the early activities and color perception can be traced back to ancient times. A obviously evidence for this claim is exist in Plato’s classic reasoning for perceiving colors, which has been “repeated with only slight variation for 2,500 years and carried into the physical sciences as a basic assumption about the nature of color” (Sloane 1991:168). From then on, the color has attracted a lot of attention in many fields, such as science, philosophy, anthropology, ethnology, sociology and linguistics.

In my paper, I mainly lay stress on some color words in Chinese and English. We all know that there are many striking contrast of color words between Chinese and English languages. For hundreds of years scholars have been working on that. I"m very interested in this topic too. Based on these great men, I wrote this article. It mainly studies and explores the gap of culture and language between two related language. In addition, this thesis also discusses why these color words can reflect different cultural connotation.

3. Differences between English and Chinese in Color Words

3.1 White

In China, “白” is often linked to omen and funeral together. If one’s relative died, his family want to set up a white mourning hall to express sadness. “白” was alluded to as civilian color; ancient people dressed in “白” color were called “白衣平民”. Sometimes, people use “白” to represent “in vain, priceless or without rewarding”, such as “百搭” , “白费” , “白吃” , “白干” and so on. “白” also represents purity. For example, “白衣天使” is a beautiful word for the doctor and is used to praise their purity, kindness and care.

In the western culture, white is a symbol of elegance, noble, purity, lucky and happiness etc. In English traditional weddings, the bride is always in the white dress, which is called “white wedding” to express purity. “Snow white” is the embodiment of intelligent, kindness and beauty .Therefore, this figure wins the children’s sympathy and love around the world.

3.2 Black

In ancient China, “黑” is the symbol of respect, solemn, honest and straightforward. In the opera masks, people usually use black masks to express a figure’s characters of upright, pitiless or honest. In addition, due to the color itself without light, it makes people feel sinister, horrible and diabolic. For example, the ugly things which are not to be divulged is called “黑幕”, the members in the reactionary clique are called “黑帮”,the contraband goods are called “黑货”, the trading places of contraband goods are called “黑市”, the money gotten by the illegal means are called “黑钱”.

“Black” is also the symbol of evilness in the western culture. “Black deeds” and “black lies” refer to the deeds or lies with some evil purposes. “The black economy” means business work which is done without power of the officials and government so that the citizens can avert paying money they earned by themselves. “Black Friday” is a famous day in American, which refers to an unlucky day on which Christian suffered Crucifixion, until today ,it means a type of computer virus which flares up to destroy data in computers on Friday. Besides, we also use “red letter day” to express an unlucky day.

3.3 Red

In the west, red symbolizes violence and bleeding, for instance, the red rules of tooth and claw; red hands; red battle; red revolution; red activities. In red alert and red adventure story, it means danger and tension. The expression red-ruin means the bleeding scene after the war. Sometimes red is associated with female. Red lady means prostitute. We can infer from those words that even though red expresses Tess’s youth and beauty, it implies the danger and tragedy to come into being sooner or later. Red is also related to economy on behalf of liabilities and losses such as red figure, red balance and red moon”.

However, the Chinese have a special affection and deep love for “red”. They think it stands for happiness, warmness, brightness, success and wealth. In Chinese, “开门红” means to begin well or to make a good start; “红光满面” means one`s face is glowing with health; “红颜知己” means a bosom friend with a pretty face or a beautiful intimate woman friend; “红极一时” means to be well known for a time or to enjoy popularity for a time; “红颜薄命” means the beautiful women who suffer unhappy fates; “红双喜” means the double happiness written in red which is put up onto the wall of the new couple`s house before getting married; “红火” means flouring which is used to describe business; “红歌星” means the singer who is extremely popular at that time; “红娘” means go between or matchmaker; “红运” means good luck; “红榜” means the honor roll; “红包” means a red paper envelope containing money as a gift, tip or bonus. “红蛋” refers to the eggs dyed red on the happy occasion of the birth of a child and given as gifts to friends and relatives. Almost all the connotations of red in Chinese is approving.

3.4 Green

In China, green is a favorable color. It is the life color of plants. As is associated with spring, grass lands, forests and lakes, the ancient people used to consider it as youth, peace, hope, security, good luck and freshness. Green reminds people of environment protection as our earth is seriously polluted. Chinese government is paying more and more attention to the protection of ecological environment as more and more forests are disappearing. Green Olympic is one of the themes of Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. Its cultural connotation is to take the project construction, market development, procurement, logistics, accommodation, dining and other large activities with the idea of sustainable development caring for environmental protection, resource protection and ecological protection. The term “绿色食品” means the kind of food without chemical pollution. Moreover, green is also associated with women in Chinese culture. “绿云扰扰” is used in ancient literature to describe the beautiful and long hairs of concubines in the imperial palace.

But in English, green is the metaphor of envy. Phrases like green-eyed, green with envy and get green means someone is jealous. This sort of meaning is based on the western conception that green is the symbol of health and activeness. Green also refers to having no experience and being lack of training. “Green hands” means someone who is a newbie. Moreover, green stands for money, wealth and capitalism in America. The term “green power” means the power of money. Under most circumstances, its meaning is negative because people may become greedy in order to make more and more money driven by endless desires. In American Stock Market, green stands for price rising, which is opposite to that in China. As green is sort of weird in westerners’ eyes, the phrase “little green men” means aliens in English culture.

3.5 Yellow

Yellow is the color of Han Nationality respected by all the Chinese people. We call our mother river the “Yellow River”. And we belong to the “yellow race”. In ancient China, yellow has been put onto a high position, standing for dignity, because yellow has been the proprietary color of the Emperor. The King’s throne, clothes and the Palace roof tile are all yellow. “ Imperial robe” belonging to the Emperor only, has been regarded as the symbol of the imperial authority. Moreover, “yellow” also stands for wealth as we hear of “黄金时间”, “黄金地段”. And the term “黄熟” means good crop. So it comes to a traditional idiom named “黄粱美梦”, which means Golden Millet Dream from the story of a poor scholar who dreamt he had become an official but awoke to find the pot of millet still cooking on the fire. “黄道吉日” means a lucky day. So the Chinese have a special love for “yellow”.

But “yellow” usually represents danger, degradation, sickness and death in English culture and there is no good meanings for it. Yellow journalism, in American English, refers to the newspaper style to attract the readers by means of vulgar utterances and deliberately exaggerate reports. “Yellow dog” means beggary man; “yellow livered” means timid; “yellow looks” means suspicious expressions; “To wear yellow horse” means to be jealous. In 1602, Middleton described the female with disposition to jealousy as “yellow lady”. Shakespeare used the word “yellow jealousy” the first time in his The Winter’s Tale in 1611. In addition, a person who is yellow means that he has no courage in English culture. The terms “yellow blight” and “yellow fever” mean certain kind of diseases in English.

3.6 Blue

The English color term “blue” is much complicated in terms of connotations. Blue is the color of the sky and seawater, symbolizing calmness, reflection, modesty and the intellect. If somebody is “in a blue mood”, he or she may feel sad, gloomy and depressed. Similar in meaning is “a blue Monday”, indicating the first day of work or school after a pleasant, happy weekend. “Blues” is the specific name for a slow sad style of music that came from southern American. “Have the blues” and “in a blue funk” also have the meaning of “unhappy” and “sad”. “Blue” is also associated with “noble”. “Blue blood” refers to a kind of person of aristocrat origins. A “blue ribbon” is a small piece of blue material given to the first-prize winner of a competition. The noble are always powerful, with high social positions. Therefore the meaning of “blue” is extended to “power”, which is used more politically. ”Blue book” refers to an official report, usually drafted by a committee and printed by the British Government.

In Chinese, “蓝” is also the color of the sky and the sea. However, when compared with “blue”, “蓝” has much less connotations. To Chinese people, blue is the color of the dress worn by Confucian scholars in ancient times, and “蓝衫” was once used to refer to “秀才”, who had passed the Imperial Examination at the county level in the Ming and Qing dynasties. The color term “蓝” can be replaced by “青”, thus “青天” and “青云” both refer to the blue sky. For the blue sky in a fine day is always cloudless, making people feel bright and clear, “青天” in Chinese often refers to a just judge or an upright magistrate; meanwhile, blue sky is always high and extensive, far beyond the reach of ordinary people, thus “青云” is extended to mean a high official position as in “平步青云”. We also have an idiom “青出于蓝而胜于蓝” , implying the pupil surpasses the master.

4. Reasons for Different Culture Connotation in Color Words

4.1 Traditional customs

Different connotations originated from different traditions and customs. Consequently, the same color in different countries or areas may have different cultural connotations and contain a certain expression of one’s emotion.

Traditions and customs of a country have been formed through long history, along with the developing social environments. They consist of many aspects of society, such as food, festival, marriage, funeral and so on. Therefore, each nation or area has a special emotion of its own traditions and customs. There’s a typical example explaining the different cultural connotations of color in China and western countries. In wedding ceremonies, a Chinese bride usually dresses in red while a western one in white, because in Chinese custom, the color red symbolizes happiness and cheerfulness, just like what white means in western countries.

Colors have many cultural connotations and imply something or some feelings, because colors can create a descriptive image in people’s minds and make people feel what the image is and know its implied connotations. For traditions and customs will influence and reflect culture and furthermore cause a certain color word to have different meanings, the same color therefore may represent different feelings and indicate different connotations in different languages. For instance, in English, “blue” usually means depression or ribaldry. While in Chinese, “蓝” represents purity, and people use “黄” to indicate ribaldry. In English, people usually regard the color red as a bad omen. The reason for that is the tradition of bullfight. Bullfighters usually make bulls mad at him with a red flag and then they start a fight. Therefore the red flag represents “something annoying”. Another reason is that red is the color of blood and therefore it indicates bloodiness, terror and cruelty. Consequently, the idiom “red in tooth and claw” means involving opposition or violent competition without pity. Similarly, the phrase “a red rag to a ball” refers to something that tends to make people very angry.

In Chinese, as the color of sun and fire, the color red is often associated with happiness, warmth and good luck. Chinese people are fond of the red color and use it to indicate something successful and popular. For example, if we want to describe somebody who is very successful in his career, we use the phrase “红得发紫”，when we describe somebody who is in luck or have a good fortune, we usually use the phrase “走红”. If we say something is a great success, we will use “红火”.

In addition, in Chinese, “红” also indicates beautiful young ladies. This connotation originates in one custom in ancient China that ladies usually use red powder to make up. “红” also indicates love in Chinese, like in the phrase “红娘”. It is originally the name of a maid in the West Chamber, a classical play written by Wang Shifu. In this play, the maid “红娘” tried her best to help two lovers—her mistress and a scholar to unite. From then on, “红娘” has been used to indicate the warmhearted matchmaker. Because there’s no same customs and traditions in western countries, counterpart of red cannot be found in English.

As the linguist Palmer said, (Palmer 49) “Virtually all metaphors and imageries are structured by culture and personal history”, so different cultural connotations of basic color words are determined by the different cultures and all of them are reflected in languages. Languages then create different meanings in respective cultural backgrounds. As we know, people in different nations live in different environments, so they have different history, thinking mode and so forth. Therefore, they have their own customs and traditions, which have greatly affected their languages. This is one of the main causes for dissimilarities of connotations of English and Chinese basic word.

4.2 Religious beliefs

Our world view stemmed from our culture, it is transmitted through a multitude of channels, and can take a variety of forms. But what predominant element of culture gives us our world view? Religion. Religion and culture are closely entwined. Most experts hold the opinion that religion has endeavored to explain those motions about life that otherwise could not be understood or resolved. Religion deals with the nature of life and death, the creation of the universe, the origin of society and groups within the society, the relationship of individuals and groups to one another, and relation of humankind to nature. The study of religion not only offers insight into the spiritual and psychological needs of people, but also provides us clues to the social aspects of a culture.

At the center of all the world’s main religions lies a body of sacred writings, revered by the believers. Each of these writings enables a culture to pass on the wisdom of that culture from generation to generation. The usage of color in religions and their sacred writings exert great influence on the connotations of the color terms. Taoism is a native Chinese religion. As the emblem of Taoism, the Taiji symbol plays an important role in Chinese culture. But exactly speaking, in ancient China purple was the noble color for the ministers, while yellow is the specific color for the royal family. In Christian culture, purple is the symbol for royalty while scarlet is for the nobility. (In ancient Rome, the cardinal wore scarlet robe. With the Roman invasion, this tradition was absorbed by the British.) The positive meaning of “黄” has also some relation with religion. In Taoism and Buddhism the yellow color is a holy color. Most monks and Taoist priests wore yellow dress. Yellow paper with magic incantations is regarded by superstitious people as a means to expel evil spirits. “黄道吉日” is a day suitable for doing some important things, such as holding wedding and opening ceremonies.

For the people in Britain and America, Christianity is the dominant world view. Therefore, Christianity and its sacred writings—Bible, have had enormous influence on both culture and language. For instance yellow is a holy color in Christianity. The Father wears golden crucifix, and the holy cup used by Jesus in his last supper is also yellow. But on the other hand, yellow also carries such negative meanings as “mean”, “coward”, “contemptible” and “jealous”. Because Judas, the betrayer, is usually dressed in yellow.

In Bible, black is the symbol of wickedness and evil spirit. The hell in Christianity is dark without any light and it is said to be home for all the wicked people to return to after they die. Judas, the betrayer, has a black aperture above his head; Jesus appears in black when tempted by demons. “Black Friday” refers to an unlucky day because to Christians this is the day of Crucifixion.

In contrast to black, white represents Jesus, truth and virtue. White is the holiest color in Christianity, which is manifested in the belief that Jesus and his angels wear white dress. On the other hand, “white” is associated with “death”. When people in ancient Greece and Rome made offerings to the celestial gods, or when Israel burnt offerings to the Lord, the victims that they dedicated were always white. Christians believe bloodsuckers, evil spirits, and ghosts of the dead are in white.

To western people, especially Christians, the color red is related to blood rather than fire and sun. The Bible says when Adam and Eve committed the original sin, God said to Eve: “I will greatly increase your pangs in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children.” The great pain that a woman suffers in giving birth to a child is bleeding freely, and that may be the reason why blood became a symbol of misery and “red” became associated with dangers. In China,”红豆” is a love token, but in English, a red bean is the symbol for stupidity. This connotation comes from the Bible, in which Essau sold his right as the firstborn son to his younger brother Jacob just for red bean stew.

5. Conclusion

This paper makes a cultural connotation analysis of Chinese and English from the aspect of color words, which is the typical element in both languages. Through comparing, we learn that due to different cultural background, various features in both languages reflect their cultural connotations respectively. There exist similarities and differences in the connotations of the same color words in English and Chinese culture. And there are many reasons that affects the cultural connotations of color words, among which, history background, religious beliefs and traditions and customs is the most important. The study of cultural connotations of color words in both languages makes learners to learn the target language more efficiently and is helpful to cross-cultural communication.

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