花卉的象征意义.docx

花卉的象征意义.docx

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花卉的象征意义

1.Introduction

Thelanguageandtheculturearecreatedbypeoplestepbystephavecloserelationshipwithvariousflowersonearth.Moreover,humans’linguisticabilitiesarebasedontheknowledgethattheyhave.Flowernameshavebeenintegratedintothevocabularythroughdescription.

Likeotherwords,flowernamesnotonlyhavetheirdenotationmeanings,butalsohavetheirconnotationmeaningsaswell.Theflowerwords,forinstance,canbeunderstoodbyanyonewhoisengagedinanyspokenEnglish.Thedenotationmeaningisthemeaningyoucanfindinthedictionary.Professionally,denotationmeaningisthesamemeaningforallspeakersofagivenlanguage.However,connotativemeaningisassociativemeaningwhichawordsuggestsorimplies.Justtakethephrase“theflowerofthefilm”asanexample,itdoesnotmeansomethingliterallythatitisaflowerinthefilm,butreferstothebestpartofthefilm.Connotativemeaningsarecommonespeciallyinidiomswithflowernames.Theconnotativemeaningsarerootedfromfables,legends,andfairystories,havingbeenpasseddownfromgenerationtogeneration.Sothethesisdiscussestheissuefromtheangleofsemanticfeaturesandcultureconnotations.

Assemanticsisawidebranchoflinguistics,itcannotworkwithoutmakingcertainrelevancetopronunciationofwordsandtheirspellings,andthenumberofflowersintheworldissohuge.Mythesisstartsfromtheflower-relatedwordsandtrytofindoutthedifferenceoftheirsymbolicmeanings.Thestudyoftheflowernamesinsuchawaycomefromthesparkleofinspirationwhenoneofmyroommatessentflowerstohisgirlfriendoneday.Ihaveforgottenhoemanyflowershesent,butthesymbolicmeaningtheflowerspresentis“Iloveyouforever”.Soknowingthesymbolicmeaningsofflowersisusefulinourdailylife.

2.LiteratureReview

2.1RelationshipbetweenLanguageandCulture

Languageplaysavitalroleinhumanlife.Weuselanguageeveryday.Languageisatoolforpeopletocommunicatewithothers.Withoutlanguage,theworldwillbebeyondimagination.

Whatislanguage?

Thisisanintricatequestiontoanswer.Inlinguistics,languageisasystemofarbitraryvocalsymbolusedforhumancommunication.

Whatisculture?

Cultureinvolvesatleastthreecomponents:

whatpeoplethink,whattheydo,andthematerialproductstheyproduce.

Formanyyears,researchershavebeenshowingmuchconcernontherelationshipbetweenlanguageandculture.'Theyhavecontributedmanytheoreticalcommentsandinnumerablefacts.Kramsch（2000:

3）remarks,"Languageistheprinciplemeanswherebyweconductoursociallives.Whenitisusedincontextsofcommunication,itisboundupwithcultureinmultipleandcomplexways."Nidabelievesthat"theinteractionsbetweenlanguageandculturecanthenbedescribedintermsofreciprocalmodifications,theratesofchange,therepresentationofculturebylanguage,andtheissuesofdoublecausation"（2001:

139）.Althoughthescholars'opinionsarevarious,theyalladmitthatlanguageandcultureareintricatelyinterwoven.Iftherewasnolanguage,therewouldbenoculture.

Ontheonehand,languageisthecarrierofcultureandinturncultureisthecontentoflanguage.Thehistoryofhumancivilizationandsocialprogressarerecordedbylanguage.Languageisthemainmeansforhumanbeingstostudyculture.Inanotherwords,allthecomponentsofculture,suchasbeliefs,customs,religions,science,artsaredescribed,analyzedandevaluatedbylanguage.Languageistheobvioustooltocarryculturalinformationandcontributestotheevolutionofculture.Nolanguagecanoperateinisolationfromculture.Cultureissourceoflanguage.Everylanguage,tosomedegree,isparticulartoacommunitywhichusesthelanguage.Forexamples,Peopleliveinthecoldclimatehaveasmanyasdifferentwordsforsnowtodistinguishamongdifferenttypesofsnow:

fallingsnow,snowontheground,fluffysnow,wetsnow,etc.Theyliveintheworldofsnow.Itisimportantforthemtobeabletodistinguishamongandrefertodifferenttypesofsnow.Incontrast,certainhotclimatecultureshavenowordatallforsnow.ItissaidthattherearemorethanfourhundredwordsforcamelinArabicwhilethereisonlyonewordforitinEnglishorChinese.Thereare“kuaizi”，“mantou”，“jiaozi”inChinese.However,inEnglish-speakingcountries,therearealmostnoequivalentexpressionstoexpressthem.Soanyiteminaparticularlanguageisaproductofparticularcultureinwhichthelanguageisspoken.

Ontheotherhand,languageisshapedbycultureanditreflectsculture.Inawidesense,languageisthesymbolicrepresentationofapeople.Peopleidentifythemselvesandothersthroughtheirusageoflanguageandtheyconsidertheirlanguageasasymboloftheirsocialidentity.Theformationanddevelopmentoflanguagecannothappenwithoutculture,andthedevelopmentoflanguageoftenembodiesthechangeofculture.Peoplegivemeaningtolanguagethroughthemediumtheycancommunicatewitheachother.Thewayinwhichpeopleusethespoken,written,orvisualmediumitselfcreatesmeaningsthatareunderstandabletotheculturetheybelongto.Inthiscase,languagereferstoastoreofthewholeinformationofculture.Meanwhile,italsoreflectsspeakers'attitude,belief,pointofview,andsoon.

Therelationshipbetweenlanguageandcultureisacommonconcerninhumanities.Cultureandlanguagehaveacloserelationshipthroughthewholehistoryofman.Languageisacomponentofcultureandplaysaveryimportantroleinculture.Withoutlanguage,culturalcontinuitywouldbeimpossible.Everylanguagecanbeconsideredassymbolicsystemtoreflectaspecificcultureandanexpressionofsubjectiveworldoftheworld.So,languageisthecornerstoneofentireculturewhichcanbewellpresentedandtransmittedfromgenerationtogenerationintheenvironmentoflanguage.

Inaddition,withouttheknowledgeofculturewecannothaveacommandoflanguagebecauseculturestronglyinfluencesandshapeslanguage.Thedevelopmentofculturemusthaveenrichedlanguage.Withthedevelopmentofsocietyandtheprogressofscienceandtechnology,thecontentofculturebecomemoreandmorecomplicatedvaried,andricher.Theyrelyoneachotherandinfluenceeachother.Therefore,ifwelackenoughknowledgeaboutthecultureofthetargetlanguage,wecannotusethelanguageappropriately,orwehavemisunderstandinginthecommunication.TheChinesecultureandEnglishculturearedifferentculture.Thus,emphasisshouldbelaidonthecomparativestudyofdifferentculture.

2.2CulturalConnotationsofWords

Asmentionedabove,languagecoexistswithculture.Languagereflectsthecultureofanationontheonehandandisinfluencedgreatlybythatparticularculture.Asaresult,words,thebasiccomponentoflanguage,areinfluencedandshapedbyculture.Becauseofthedifferenthistoricalbackgrounds,geographicalpositions,religiousbeliefs,customs,lifestylesandvaluesystems,peoplespeakingdifferentlanguagehavetheirownspecialinterpretationofthesameworld.Ineachlanguage,thereareparticularlabelsornamesforobjects,events,experiencesandfeelingsasthespeechcommunityhasarbitrarilydecidedtonameso.

Meaning,theonlymediumthroughwhichwordsandlanguageareconnectedwiththerealworld,hasalwaysbeenacentraltopicinhumanscholarship.IntheviewpointofNida,lexemeshavetwokindsofmeanings--denotativemeaningsandconnotativemeaning,andthelatteronesareoftenfarmoreimportant.Denotativemeaningisassumedtobethecentralfactorinlinguisticcommunication.Thedenotativemeaningcoversthosebasic,essentialcomponentsofmeaningthatareconveyedbytheliteraluseofword.Itisrelativelystableandformsthebasisofcommunication.Withoutconceptualmeaning,itisdifficulttoconstructmeaningwork.Itisthenucleusofthemeaningnetworkandthemainfoundationofculturalconnotation.

3.ContrastiveAnalysisoftheCulturalConnotationsofFlower-relatedWordsinEnglishandChinese

Wordsarethewindowofculture,inthesensethatpeoplecaninsightaculturethroughitsconnotation.Thevisiblepartisthedenotativemeaningofwords;thegreatpart,lyinghiddenbeneaththesurface,isitsinvisibleaspect,connotation.BothChineseandEnglishpossessalonghistoryandrichculture,sodotheflowers.Thischapterwilldealwithacontrastiveanalysisoftheculturalconnotationsofflower-relatedwordsinEnglishandChinese.

3.1TheCulturalConnotationsofSomeChineseFlowerTerms

Eachlanguagerepresentsasystemofmeaninginitsparticularways.Thedistinctionsofacertaincultureareshowninthelexicalsystem.TheculturalconnotationofsomeChineseflower-relatedwordswillbeillustratedasfollows.

3.1.1PlumBlossom

Theplumbloomsinearlyspringandattheendofwinter.Theflowersarefragrantandattractiveforitscolor,white,purple,redandpinkwithusuallyfivepiecesofpetals.PlumblossomsareadmiredbyChinesepeople,sotheyhavethefollowingconnotations.

Firmandunyielding

Theplumblossomsaretheonlyflowerwhichblossomsinthepeakofwinterseason.Thoughthesurroundingiscoldandcoveredwiththicksnow;theplumblossomskeeponblooming.Nootherflowercansustaininthisseason.Sotheflowerhasgraduallybecomethesymbolofsurvival.

Arroganceandpurity

InancientChineseliterature,plumblossombecomesthefocusofwritingsofscholars.Asoneofpopularsayinggoes,“Truescholarswillturntoplantplumsfirst,andthemorethebetter”.Intheeyesofmanyscholars,thenoblecharacterofplumblossomisavividportrayoftheirown.Inreality,theyhavecharacterso