浅析英汉颜色词的异同.docx

浅析英汉颜色词的异同.docx

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浅析英汉颜色词的异同

Abstract

Owingtothedifferencesincognitionandculturalbackgrounds,theassociative,symbolicandimpliedmeaningoftheEnglishandtheChinesecolortermsaredifferent.ThisarticlemakesacomparisonofthesimilaritiesanddifferencesbetweentheEnglishcolortermsandtheChineseones,withthepurposetoraisetheawarenessofthecolortermsandprovideabetterunderstandingoftheChineseanddifferentcognitivewaysandculturalbackground,whichwillplayanimportantroleinthecross-culturecommunication.

Keyword:

colorterms;cognition;culture;similaritiesanddifferences

中文摘要

颜色与人们的生活息息相关，对颜色的认知也是人类的基本认知之一，人类的色彩感知用自然语言表达和固定下来就是自然语言中的各类颜色词语。

颜色词作为词汇中的重要组成部分，在人们的生活和交际中起着重要的作用。

受语言共同属性的影响，汉英颜色词在产生发展及功能用法上都表现出了强大的共性。

但是汉英两种语言毕竟孕育于不同的文化，在发展的过程中又受到各种背景的影响，其差异也是不言而喻的。

本文将分析和归纳汉英颜色词的相通性和差异性，以及造成这种相通性与差异性的原因，从而让人更好地理解汉英颜色词背后所蕴含的汉英两民族不同的观察视角和文化历史背景，对汉英跨文化交流起着巨大的帮助作用。

关键词：

颜色词;认知;文化;相通性和差异性

ChapterOneIntroduction

Accordingtocognitivelinguistics,thedevelopmentofhumancognitionandlanguageiscloselyrelatedwiththeperceptionandexperienceofthethingsintheoutsideworldwithourorgans.Asoneofthemostbasiccognitionoftheobjectiveworld,colorperceptioniscloselylinkedwithhumanlifeandexperience.TheresearchoftheChineseandEnglishcolortermscaneffectivelyhelpimprovetheunderstandingofdifferentcognitivehabitsandcultures.Therefore,thepurposeofthepresentstudyistoanalyzethesimilaritiesanddifferencesbetweentheChineseandEnglishcolortermsastoeffectivelyunderstandandbridgethegapandbringaboutsmoothcommunication.

Thisarticleisdividedintofourparts.

PartI（ChapterTwo）introducesthefindingsofthedomesticandforeignresearchesconcerningtheoriginanddevelopmentofcolorterms,thegapandorientationofthestudy.

PartII（ChapterThree）comparestheEnglishcolortermswiththeChineseones.

PartIII（ChapterFour）ExploresthedifferencesbetweenChineseandEnglishcolorterms.

PartIV（ChapterFive）concludestheresultofthestudy.

ChapterTwoLiteratureReview

2.1StudiesbyWesternscholars

Thestudyofhumanperceptionofcolorstartedalongtimeago.InWesterncountries,thestudyofthelinkwiththeoutsideworldandcolorperceptionstartedintheancientGreece.Inthebeginningofthe20thcentury,Westernscholarsbegantostudythedifferenceandparticularitiesinnamingcolortermsindifferentlanguages.（YaoXiaoping，1988）

TheBritishscholarW.Gladstonemadethefirstdiscussionofcolorwords.HecomparedthecolortermsintwoancientGreekepicworks“TheIliad”and“Odyssey”andfoundthatintheHomericAge,therewerejustaminimumofcolorterms,nevertheless,theirmeaningwereoftenunclearnonsense.HethoughthiswasbecausetheabilityofancientGreeks’organdefectivecolorvisionwereweakerthanthemodernists’.HisideawasprovedbytheGermanophthalmologistH.Mangusbytheresearchofthecross-culturalcolorperception.Sincethenmanyanthropologistsandlinguistsbeguntoinvestigatethecolorwordsindifferentlanguages.Theycametotheconclusionsuchatheory:

Objectivematerialandhumanperceptionofcolorspectrumisacontinuousentity,forallnationalitiesarethesame,butdifferentcountries,differentculturalbackgrounds,anddifferentlanguages,leadtothedifferencesinthedivisionofcolorspectrumandnamed.（YaoXiaoping，1988）

IntheMid-20thcentury,theAmericanAnthropologistsB.BerlinandlinguistsP.Kaycooperatedtostudythehumancolorperceptionandcolorwordexpression.Theymadeafar-reachingwork.Theyworkthoughtheinvestigationandtestreviewsoftheliteratureoftheworld’s98kindsofbasiccolortermsoflanguagesystems.In1969,theyworkedouttheBasicColorTerms:

TheirUniversalityandEvolutionwhichcanbeconcludedintofollowingtwobasicpoint:

Thereare11basiccolortermsinalllanguagesconstituteasystemofuniversalbasiccolorwords.

These11colortermshaveastrictorderintheevolutionofdifferentlanguage.Thesequencecanbesummarizedasthefollowingsevenstages:

Themeaningofthefigureis,ifthereisacolortermontherightsideofthesymbol“→”inonelanguage,theremustbeacolortermontheleftofthesymbol“→”,forexample,ifalanguagehasacolorterm“red”,itmustalsohasthecolorterms“white”and“black”.（B.Berlin&P.Kay,1969）

Thediscoverymadebytwoscholarshasmadeagoodsupporttothelinguisticuniversal.

In1978,P.KayworkedtogetherwithMcDanieltomakesomeadditionsandadjustmentsformtheviewpointofhuman’sphysiologicalstructureandthefuzzytheory.Theypointedoutthatcolortermssysteminafuzzyset,whichtieupwiththehuman’spsychologicalperceptionandphysiologicalstructure.Andthenervousphysiologyofhumanbody’sdeterminedthattherearesixbasiccolorcategories.Theyarered,yellow,green,blue,black,andwhite.Othersarebasedonthecompositesoutofthese.

ButthereisonemajoritylackinginB.Berlin,P.KayandMcDaniel’sresearch.Theydidnotpointoutwhatisthemeaningofthecolortermsandwhatdeterminethemeaningofthecolorterms.Theyjustsimplyequatedthemeaningstothephysiologicalstructuresbutignoredthelanguagefeaturesofthecolortermsandtheeffectbythesocialandculturalfactors.

In1990,thePolishlinguistAnnaWierzbickarelocatestheorderofthebasiccolortermsfromthecognitivelinguist.ShedisagreeswithP.KayandMcDanielin“thenervousphysiologyofhumanbody’sdeterminingthecolorcategories”.Shebelievesthatcolorperceptionisallthesameforthemankind,buttheconceptsofcoloraredifferentforthedifferencesofculture,however,thisdifferencecannotbeoverweight.Wierzbiekapointedout:

“Inordertoobtaintheknowledgeandconceptsofcolors,humanbeingshadtoputtheirattentiontotheouterworldwhichtheyhadshared.Theyfixedthecolorconceptsintosomekindof‘universalityofhumanexperience,liketheday,thenightthefire,thesun,theskyandtheearth’.Shereorganizedthesemanticstructurefromtheviewpointofthecognitivelinguists,anddividedthestructureintofollowingfourkinds:

1.anostensivecomponent;2.a“color”component;3.anegativecomponent;4.aprototypicalcomponentorcomponents.（A.Wierzbicka,1990:

99-150）

TheresearchmadebyA.Wierzbickaletusnoticethatthecolortermssystemaredifferentindifferentlanguage.Onlycanbeprobedthoughtheresearchinginthesingleterm’ssemanticstructure.

2.2StudiesbyChineseScholars

ColortermsresearchalsoattractedtheattentionofChinesescholars.Asearlyas40sinthe20thcentury,theChinesescholarHuPu-Anhadonceanalyzedthedevelopmentofthefiveancientcolor“白，赤，黄，黑，青”.Accordingtohisresearch,hemadetheconclusionthatthatthedevelopmentwasbasedonacertainorder,firstbeganfromthecognitivesubject.Thecreationoftheancientcolortermswerecloselylinkedwithhumanbeings’capacityfordifferentiatingcolorsandlifeexperience.Andobeyingtheruleof“近取诸身，远取诸物”.Hisresearchshowsusthegenerationanddevelopmentoftheancientcolorterms.（HuPu-an,1941）

AndtheChinesescholarshadspentagreateffortincomparingtheChineseandEnglishcolorterms.MostresearchhadlistedseveraldifferencesoftheChinese-Englishcolorterms.

ThroughthestudyofthecolortermsbyChineseandWesternscholarswecanfind,thereisahugesimilarityintheoriginanddevelopmentoftheChineseandtheEnglishcolorterms.Thisisduetotheinfluenceoftheuniverseoflinguistic.ButlittlestudyismadeontheChinese-Englishcolorterms,whiletheChinesescholarsfocusmoreonthedifferenceofcolors.Therefore,thisarticleintendstosummarizethesimilaritiesanddifferencesbetweentheChineseandEnglishcolortermsandtheirreasons.

ChapterThreeaComparisonoftheEnglishColorTermswiththeChineseOnes

3.1Similaritiesofthecognitiveobjects-thesamephysicalbasis

InWesterncountries,thestudyofthelinkoftheoutsideworldwithcolorperceptionwasstartedistheancientGreece,bytheWesternscholars.Inordertoobtaintheknowledgeandconceptsofcolors,humanbeingshadtoputtheirattentiontotheouterworldwhichtheyhadshared.（YaoXiaoping，1988）Theyfixedthecolorconceptsintosomekindofuniversalityofhumanexperience,liketheday,thenightthefire,thesun,theskyandtheearth.（A.Wierzbicka,1990:

99-150）Meanwhile,inChina,colorswerelinkedwiththenatureelementsintheancienttime.Thereare“fiveancientcolor”intheancientChinese,theyare“白、赤、黄、黑、青”.AccordingtotheChinesePhilologistHuPu-an,thecreationoftheancientcolortermswerecloselylinkedwithhumanbeings’capacityfordifferentiatingcolorsandlifeexperience.Colorisakindofnatureobjectivephenomenon.Theobjectivethingsandtheirsimilaritiesincolorsarethefundamentalscolorsystem.Basedonthis,wecanfindeachcolortermanditscorrespondingobjectivethinginthedictionary,suchas:

白：

像霜或雪的颜色

White：

Thecolorofsnow

黑：

像煤或墨的颜色

Black：

Havingthecolorofcoal;dark

红：

像鲜血的颜色。

Red：

Thecolorofbloodorfire

黄：

像水仙，蛋黄或熟柠檬外皮的颜色

Yellow：

Thecolorofthedaffodil,eggyolkandtherindofripenedlemons

蓝：

像晴天天空或深海的颜色

Blue：

Thecoloroftheclearskyorofthedeepseaonafineday

Throughthedefinitionlistedabove,wecanseebothinChineseandEnglish,eachcolortermislinkedwithaspecificthing.Nevertheless,bothlanguagesdisplayhighuniformity.Obviously,humanbeings’cognitionofcolorsisalwayslinkedwiththeobjectiveworld.Andthecommonmaterialworldleadstothecommoncognitionofcolors,resultingintheoriginalmeaningandsomeimpliedmeaningofeach