浅析英汉颜色词的异同.docx

浅析英汉颜色词的异同.docx

《浅析英汉颜色词的异同.docx》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《浅析英汉颜色词的异同.docx（11页珍藏版）》请在冰豆网上搜索。

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.Th