1、专 业 名 称：年 级 班 别：姓名：指 导 教 师：2012 年 5 月The Cultural Differences of Color Words inChinese and EnglishA Thesis Submittedto Department of Foreign Language Jiangsu Institute of Educationfor the Degree of Bachelor of ArtsBySupervisor：May 5, 2012江苏教育学院外语系本科生毕业论文摘要本文旨在探求与分析中英颜色词不同的原因。首先，文章给出颜色词的定义以及分析中英 颜色词中
2、文化差异的原因；其次，对中英语言中基本颜色词的意义做了一个简单的对比；接着， 就自然环境与历史背景，文学与艺术，政治背景与宗教信仰三个方面分析了中英颜色词不同文 化内涵的原因；最后指出中颜色不仅有其物理本质更赋有丰富的文化内涵，与人类的生活有着 密切的联系。关键词：颜色词，汉语，英语，文化差异iAbstractThis article aims to probe into and analyze the cultural factors for the differences between Chinese and English color words. First, it gives th
3、e definition of color words and shows the importance of the analysis in the exchange between Chinese and English culture in color words; second, it makes a brief comparison of some typical cultural lorded color words expressions between English and Chinese; third, it makes an analysis of the reasons
4、 for different culture connotation between English-Chinese color words in three aspects: natural environments and historical backgrounds, literatures and arts, political backgrounds and religious beliefs；Finally, it ends up with a conclusion that the colors are closely connected to human life and ha
5、ve not only physical natures but also rich cultural connotations.Key words: color words, Chinese, English, cultural differencesiiContentsChapter 1 Introduction1 Chapter 2 Literature Review 2 Chapter 3 The Differences between English-Chinese Color Words4 Chapter 4 The Reasons for Different Culture Co
6、nnotation between English andChinese Color Words . 74.1 Natural Environments7 4.2 Historical Backgrounds 8 4.3 Literatures and Arts.8 4.4 Political Backgrounds10 4.5 Religious Beliefs 11 Chapter 5 Conclusion.12 References.14iii3Chapter 1. IntroductionCulture, in a broad sense, means integrated patte
7、rn of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that is both a result of and integral to the human capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations. Culture thus consists of language, ideas, beliefs, customs, symbols, etc. Culture reflects a total way of life of a people in a c
8、ommunity. Every human society has its own particular culture, or socio-cultural system, and culture is so inclusive that it permeates virtually every aspect of human life and influences predominantly peoples belief and behavior, including linguistic behavior. In this sense, language symbolizes cultu
9、ral reality. Each language has its own metaphors that provide semantic cohesion within its boundaries. Motivated by the need and the desire to influence others, act upon them or even only to make sense of the world around them, people choose to use words which may invite subtle denotative meaning, c
10、onnotative meaning or ironic meaning, or all of them, during the process the cultural meanings of the words are created and gradually stereotyped.Color words are one of the illustrations of the cultural differences in language use, which we may come across in our daily life. From the scientific defi
11、nition, color is a visual phenomenon launched, reflected or caused through certain light wave by the object; it is one kind of visual essential features of human eye . While on the basic color words, there is not so much difference in English and in Chinese, in Chinese, there are 赤（chi）、橙（cheng）、黄（h
12、uang）、绿（lv）、青（qing）、蓝（lan）、紫（zi），and in English there are red, yellow, green, blue and purple, black and white, color words in each nations language differ from one anther in the world.The history of color words has gone through a long-term change; now the color words not only express the color, but
13、 also imply the cultural factors of each country, different cultures can reflect one countrys history, aesthetic taste and national psychology. It is the bright and colorful nature which provides the place for life and the foundation for developing. Therefore, it is of great importance to study colo
14、r words to find out how they reflect cultural differences in both the original and target language and why they can influence our daily life.1This paper mainly attempts to make a brief study of some typical cultural lorded color words expressions in both English and Chinese, and analyze the reason f
15、or different culture connotation between English-Chinese color words.Chapter 2. Literature ReviewThe study on the differences between Chinese and English color words has a long history. Many scholars have made deep research on the color words and generally form their own theories which have been accepted by the translati
