论文总字数：23003字

摘 要

颜色在日常生活中处处可见，在人类语言中，颜色词语表现出独特的魅力，令人刮目相看。颜色词在我们的生活中起着不可或缺的作用。几乎每种语言都有颜色词，除了指代颜色，它们还能够激发想象，表达丰富的社会内涵。颜色词的联想意义是由特定的民族文化所铸造的一种附加的或隐含的意义。语言具有承载文化的功能，由于不同的生活习惯，宗教信仰，地理位置，文化心理以及思维方式，相同的颜色词在中西两种语言中却代表着不同的社会文化内涵。因此，在促进跨文化交流时，了解中西两种语言和文化的相同和不同之处是十分有必要的。

本篇论文主要通过大量的例子，比较颜色词在中西方文化中的差异并分析差异产生的原因，以增加对不同文化的了解，促进跨文化交流。

关键词：颜色词；文化差异；象征意义；原因

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 1

3. Contrast of Color Terms in Chinese and Western Cultures 2

3.1 Definition of the Color Terms 2

3.2 The Same Color with the Same Meaning 2

3.3 The Same Color with Different Meanings 3

3.4 Different Colors with the Same Meaning 4

4. Differences in Symbolism of Color Terms 5

4.1 Black 5

4.2 Yellow 5

4.3 Red 6

4.4 White 6

5. Reasons for Differences in Color Terms 7

5.1 Religious Beliefs 7

5.2 Living Environment 7

5.3 History and Culture 8

6. Conclusion 8

Works Cited 10

1. Introduction

1. Human beings have created different color terms to describe our lives. Color terms exist everywhere in our lives. But even the symbolic meanings expressed by the same color are differentiated from one another in various languages due to differences in geographical environment, economic development, religious beliefs, historical culture and living customs. All languages have words to identify particular colors, but there is usually a special subset of these words known as basic color terms. According to Kay and McDaniel (1978), the “primary colors”, i.e. “black, white, red, yellow, green and blue” are barely excluded from any investigator’s work. The six major color terms are people"s perception of colors in the world. They are more significance than other colors.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the differences in symbolic meanings as well as the cause for differences of color terms between Chinese and Western culture. Through the analysis of cultural connotation, it is easier for people to increase the understanding of Western culture and promote the exchange between Chinese and Western culture so that the conditions for cross-cultural communication can be more favorable.

2. Literature Review

At present, there are lots of studies about the color words, which involve various aspects. The beginning to explain the emergence of color words in Chinese is “yin-yang and the five elements”.With the progress of society, Chinese color words become more and more plentiful. So far, the number of color words in China is considerable. Zhang Qingchang published Chinese color words(outline) in 1991. In 2001 Ye Jun published The study of color words in modern Chinese, which analyzed the color words from its definition、categories、and process of formation. Li Hongyin published Modern Chinese color words analysis in 2007, carrying out a detailed study of the color words on the physical、cognitive psychology and linguistics theory. However, different from their studies on color terms, this paper makes an attempt to analyze cultural differences between Chinese and Western color terms.

3. Contrast of Color Terms in Chinese and Western Cultures

3.1 Definition of the Color Terms

Color is under the impression of the objective world，whether in the nature or social life. There exist a variety of colors. Color is a kind of visual effect of light that human beings generated through eyes, brain and our experience of life. It"s the only subjective sensation of the external things of human beings. People identified the name of each kind of subjective feeling and these nouns were recorded. We called them color terms. Color terms are an organic component of a language. A large number of color terms enrich the language and the culture. At the same time, color terms have been endowed with more and more new meanings. As a symbol system, color terms are equipped with different values between Chinese and English.

3.2 The Same Color with the Same Meaning

Black is one of the most common colors used by people over the world. Both “black” and “黑” can mean “dirty”, “bad”, “evil”, “illegal” and “secret”. For example, “black water” and “黑水” indicate dirty or polluted water; “black-hearted” and “黑心肠的” mean that treating other people very badly; “黑社会” and “criminal syndicate” refer to the unlawful gangs doing some illegal activities as their jobs; “黑店” and “tourist trap” mean an inn run by brigands; “黑车” and “unlicensed cab” refer to the taxi without driving license and taxes paid; “smuggled goods” and “黑货” mean the unlawful carrying or selling goods; “black money” and “黑钱” imply that income is earned illegally; “black market” and “黑市” refer to the illicit buying and selling of goods. Besides, this color can be used to express “death”, “sadness” and “misfortune”. In both Western countries and China, people are accustomed to wear black to mourn the dead. “Black humor” and “黑色幽默” indicate a funny story, but show the unpleasant side of life; “black mood” and “黑色心情” refer to low spirit. There are also words like "黑户口" means the family without residence registration; "黑道" as “dark road or outlaws”.

Another popular color is red which is related to “warmth”, “happiness”, “lucky”. For example, Chinese people like to wear in red and decorate everything with red for wedding ceremonies; In the Spring Festival, particularly people give money wrapped in red paper envelopes as gifts to children for the best wishes. “开门红” represents good luck or a good beginning. In Western countries，the color red is also favorably accepted by everyone. “Red-letter day” means happy days; “paint the town red” implies holding a carnival. However, “red” and “红” are often used to stand for loss. They also represent “violence”, “danger” or “eroticism”, such as “red battle”, “red rules”, “杀红了眼”，”白刀子进红刀子出” . “Red alert” and “红色警报” symbolize dangerous situation; “red-light district” and “红杏出墙” imply pornography. What’s worse, red can be associated with certain emotions. “red-faced” is equal to the Chinese expression “脸红”, showing embarrassment or shyness; “to see red” and “面红耳赤” mean being angry; “红灯区” red light distinct. “In the red" does not represent red, but relating with red. Accounting in red ink shows losing, while black ink represents "in the black" is profit-making. Besides these two colors, there are more examples to show that the same color can express the same meaning even in different languages.

3.3 The Same Color with Different Meanings

The expression of "red guard" exists both in Chinese and English, but their meanings are different from each other. The “red guard" in Chinese is related to the Communism or Communist Party with a certainty of a derogatory sense. While in English it means the British royal guard instead of derogatory sense. The red in Chinese is not always corresponding with the red in English, such as, in China, “红糖" is called “brown sugar” in English; “红榜” should be translated into “honor roll “; “红豆” as “love pea”; "红运" as “good luck”; “红利” means “dividend”; “red ruin” as “火灾" in English. There is a saying in English: Red sky at night, shepherd’s delight, red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning (朝霞不出门，晚霞行千里). We use the "yellow page" in our daily life. Although “yellow” is used in this term, it has nothing to do with "sex". The whole book printed with yellow paper is classified as the tool book for telephone numbers by Shops, enterprises, undertakings around the world. "The yellow press" which is reported by the way of sensational or even distorted facts also has nothing to do with "sex". In China, ”黄色笑话” is translated into “blue jokes” in English, which concerned with sex, such as “blue films or movies” (pornographic films). This may be linked with a phrase “blue-gown prostitute”, which has its history: long ago, in America and Britain, prostitutes are often sent to wear blue gowns as a sign of disgrace.

In English, “Blue” is related to high social position or being aristocratic. “He is a real blue blood” means “He is from an aristocratic family”. Meanwhile, in American English, “a blue book” is a book with the names of well-known person, especially government officials. However, in China “青衣" represents “someone was born in a poor family in lowly class”.

The main colors of English and Chinese are same or similar, but some color terms in one language can refer to more than one color in other languages. So the English and Chinese color terms are not always corresponding words. Chinese ”碧” can correspond with blue and green. “碧空” is the blue sky, and “碧玉” is green jade.

3.4 Different Colors with the Same Meaning

In the Chinese tradition, "red" and "white" refer to the "weddings" and "funerals" respectively. While in Western culture, black is on behalf of the funeral, for example, "be dressed in black". In Chinese, "green with envy" or "green-eyed" represent "envy"; "a fair-haired girl" in English represents a popular girl rather than" a red-haired girl". David Hawkes in the translation of "a dream of Red Mansions" is using "green" to express joy, lucky and blissful love, such as "green delights "and "green boy". Although it is very authentic, he ignored Chinese national cultural personality, the rich historical and cultural connotations about the "red". Chinese use "yellow" to represent "salacious" while Western use "blue" instead, such as "blue joke", "blue film", "blue revolution" and so on.

English and Chinese reflect different cultures. Both of them indicate their own color concepts in their own ways according to their conventional habits. Sometimes the color term is different from the color of the thing they describe. Such as, brown bread is a kind of bread baked in black, but not in brown. In China ”红茶" is called “black tea” in English. We should pay more attention to these unique expressions while using.

4. Differences in Symbolism of Color Terms

4.1 Black

Black has a profound sense of mystery in the Chinese culture. It is a solemn and serious tone. Its symbolic significance seems more complex due to the influence of Western culture. On the one hand, it is a symbol of seriousness and justice; on the other hand, color like black conveys a sense of sinisterness and acrimony, which symbolizes evil and reactionary. Black is the basic taboo color in the western culture, embodying the abandonment and disgust in western spirit. In China, black has extended meanings that don’t exist in English. In Chinese, people have been using black to symbolize selflessness, righteousness and fortitude from ancient times to the present. For example, black is often used to symbolize noble characters and morals of historical characters like selflessness and fortitude in the art of opera masks. Whereas, black in Western cultures has extended meanings that don’t exist in Chinese.

Black has the extended meaning of melancholy as well. In English there exist lots of phrases, such as black deed (extremely bad behavior); black memory (sad things of one’s past); black future (dim expectations); black sheep (a man of bad report); be black in the face (be mad); black letter day (an unlucky day); a black spot (a place where traffic accidents and crimes happen frequently); black tidings (bad news), a black voice (a deep voice), a black dog (a disheartened person; black Friday refers to great mystery day, this is the characteristic of English culture, only exists in English. In Chinese, black has the meaning of sudden and violence. For example, “黑浪” (violent billow or storm wave), “黑风” (hurricane or storm wind). Owing to its unique attribute of substance, black reminds people of evil and horror. In China, from ancient times to the present, unfavorable situation and cruel ruling have been compared to “乌云, 黑暗, 黑夜". “颠倒黑白” is used to indicate the situation that people don’t tell right from wrong.

4.2 Yellow

Yellow is the color of the Yellow River, representing the color of the Chinese nation. In ancient times, yellow symbolizes the supreme imperial power. It is also symbolic of dignity, money and land, thus becoming the imperial color, only for aristocrats to use. The Chinese are belonging to the yellow race. We call the day which is suitable for the grand ceremony a lucky day. After the 1911 Revolution, with the destruction of feudal monarchy, the symbolic meaning of yellow gradually faded in the Chinese mind, finally only as a common color, and in modern Chinese it appeared a derogatory sense. People in modern China is accustomed to use yellow to represent vulgar content. In the western culture, yellow also has a derogatory sense. Judas is reviled in the Bible as the disciple who betrayed Jesus to his death.Judas is wearing a yellow dress. So yellow has the meaning of betray and depravity.

4.3 Red

Red is an auspicious color in Chinese culture. Red originates from the sun because the sun looks like fire. In the process of sacrifice, our ancestors had an instinctive attachment and worship to the sun. The meaning of happiness and auspiciousness about red was naturally produced. In Western culture, red is associated with fire and blood , which symbolizes being brutish and bloody. An American scholar Arnheim in his "theory of color" says that "color can effectively convey a feeling". Red often was seen as something exciting. According to the textual researches, the commendatory senses of red are routed from Persia.

The color red represents the revolution in China, “红色革命” means resisting despotic rule. In Chinese red can also represent the dangerous signal, so the alarm light and the fire truck in China are red. In Chinese, red also represents the event of eroticism, such as, “红杏出墙” means wife who had cheated on her husband; the meaning of “依红偎翠” is that man enjoys a beautiful spring scene.

4.4 White

In traditional Chinese culture, white is a derogatory term, because our ancestors were too weak to resist the attack of the beast. During the day, beasts might be pounced on them, and then they got a feeling of dread in the pit of their stomach for the white color. So white as opposed to red means sadness. It becomes the taboo color in traditional Chinese culture, demonstrating the people"s disgust and abandonment. However, white is the Western favorite color. In the Bible, the angel is always with white wings, white halo on their head, so white has the meaning of purity, beauty and love. In western weddings, it is a tradition that brides wear in long white dresses and a white veil, holding white flowers since white symbolizes the bride"s virginity, purity and newlyweds" faith for the love.

5. Reasons for Differences in Color Terms

5.1 Religious Beliefs

Chinese traditional religion and western ancient religion are completely different systems. In ancient China, Taoism and foreign Buddhism are interdependent and blend well with each other. Buddhism hopes that the world can find a piece of pure land. Yellow stands for soil, so Buddhism use yellow to be the predominant color. Taoism believes that yellow is in the center of the five elements, among them, yellow is the most important color. So in Taoism, yellow"s status is supreme. Therefore, in the ancient China, the emperor would have a preference to yellow. Yellow is a powerful color and on behalf of honor and dignity. But in the West it is not the same. In people"s religious thought, God and angels are often associated with white, so white is the most respectable and supreme color in their mind.

Fundamentally, in Chinese culture, the formation of the color symbolic meaning is based on the China"s feudal ruling, feudalistic superstition and poor education. So the symbolic meaning of the color holds a fairly strong tendency to politics and mystery. But in the symbolic meaning of the color terms of Western culture, thanks to the degree of popularity of modem educational technology, its symbolic meaning is provided with less mystery but more rationality, making the semantics easier to understand.

5.2 Living Environment

In the west, people admire the purple. In ancient Greece, ancient Roman emperor, the archon and the general all dressed in purple. Hence one can see that purple is the symbol of nobility, dignity, throne and caliphate. But in ancient China, important people wear yellow, so yellow is the emblem of the emperor. Culture is affected by geographical situation as well. Specific geographical culture created the specific culture and the specific culture created the special expressions. The same is found in the expression of color terms. For Britain, it is an island country. Owing to its maritime climate, this nation creates a language with the geographical features; extended meanings of color blue are far more than those in China. From the anthropological perspective, west is often white, so in color westerners advocate white, but in China, people are yellow and it"s always been land based. So yellow is extremely important for China.

5.3 History and Culture

Color terms are an indispensable part of each nation"s culture and language. Culture is always changing in succession. It has its own heritage. Color terms are a vital part of the culture and language. Culture always develops in inheritance. And it has its own heredity. Undeniably, because color terms have generality, different nations will often give some colors with the same symbolic significance. From this point, color has strong native features. But the nations are related to the individual colors, therefore the same color can express different cultural psychology, causing different associations. China was a traditional agricultural country since ancient times and ruled by the ruling class for thousands of years. Therefore, Chinese traditional culture is sought for a state of peace and a middle course. Chinese people hold friendly attitude to everything. However, in Western society, the earliest is the nomadic state, which formed a more open culture. At the same time, Western civilization paid more attention to the rationality from the beginning. They adopt a realistic scientific attitude toward the objective world.

6. Conclusion

In order to understand a language well, we must understand the social life of its reflection, although color terms only a drop in the ocean in vocabularies as a linguistic unit. In addition to expressing the original meaning of color, it also reflects the specific culture. Cultural connotations of the color terms in Chinese and Western are closely related to the geographical environment and nationality religious culture. The symbolic significance of the color terms in a specific culture is also established by the development of the society and history. It is a permanent cultural phenomenon. Therefore, to fully understand the differences of color terms between Chinese and Western culture has great significance to learn and utilize the expressions of these color terms. If people in Chinese and Western culture want a good communication and interaction, it is necessary to understand the impact of culture on language. Only in this way, can we solve the difficulties caused by cultural differences. We should try to avoid communication barriers of color terms existed in intercultural communication.

Works Cited

[1] Baugh, A.C. amp; Thomas Cable. A History of the English Language. Peking: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2001.

[2] Hofstede, G. H. Culture’s Consequences. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2001.

[3] Kay, P. and C. K. McDaniel. The Linguistic Significance of the Meaning of Basic Color Terms. Language, 1978(4): 610-46.

[4] Knowles, G. A Cultural History of the English Language. U.S.A.: A Hodder Arnold Publication, 1997.

[5] Lusting, M. W. and J. Koester. Intercultural Competence: Intercultural Communication across Cultures. New York: HarperCollins College Publishers, 1996.

[6] Wu Weizen. History and Anthology of English Literature. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2001.

[7] 陈荔.《浅析颜色词在中西方文化中的差异》.吉林广播电视大学学报，2010(06):102-03.

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