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致谢 Acknowledgements
本论文的完成得力于众多老师给予我的帮助和教导，他们教会了我很多，特别是我的导师，他帮助我制定了论文的提纲和结构，给予我许多启发性的建议，在此，我对她表示诚挚的感谢。此外，此篇论文的顺利完成还要感谢我的室友和朋友，在论文的过程中，他们给予我很多的鼓励和支持，讨论了很多想法，提出了很多建设性的建议。我还要感谢我的父母，他们的鼓励给我坚持的力量，没有他们的支持，我就没有坚持下去的勇气。
This thesis is dedicated to all the teachers who have taught me a lot, especially to my supervisor, who has helped to work out the outline, giving me enlightening advice throughout the whole process of the present thesis. To her, I owe a profound debt of gratitude.The work would not have been possible without the help of my roommates and friends, who gave me a lot of encouragement when I was at a loss. We discussed a lot and moved forward.I am particularly indebted to my father and mother, who encouraged me to persist and gave me the best they could offer.Without all the support, I could not have completed this tough work.
摘要 Abstract
在中英文，有丰富的颜色术语，如红、黄、蓝。本文拟通过大量的例子提取相关的有用素材，对中英文中的红色这个颜色词进行对比。论文分为三个部分，第一章,简单介绍中英文文化中的颜色认知。第二章,举出具体例子，分析中英文中的红色这个颜色词这三个方面的意义：完全等价,部分等价,不等价。第三章,从认知和文化角度探索红色这个颜色词的语义异同的成因。
Colour terms are abundant in both English and Chinese，such as red, yellow, and blue. In this thesis, I have attempted to make a comparison between the sense of red in English and that in Chinese by studying the examples collected from all the materials available.The thesis is divided into three parts. In Chapter One, I relate colour terms with cognition and culture in English and Chinese. In Chapter Two, I list a lot of examples related to red in English and Chinese and analyse them from three aspects in terms of their sense: exact equivalence, partial equivalence, no equivalence. In Chapter Three, I find out the factors that cause these semantic similarities and differences of red from the perspective of cognition and culture.
Through a comparative study of the sense of red in English and Chinese, I shed light on the three kinds of equivalent relationship of red terms in English and Chinese. The three kinds of equivalent relationship indicate that there exist similarity and difference in red terms between English and Chinese. Both similarity and difference are attributed to cognitive basis and cultural influence. If people know them well, they can achieve better cross-culture communication.
Key words: the sense of red; semantic equivalence; similarity; difference; cognition; culture
摘要
在英语和汉语中, 存在着丰富的颜色词, 如红色，黄色，蓝色。在这篇文章中，通过研究所获材料中的例子，我尝试着对英汉红色词义进行了对比分析。
本文分为三个部分。在第一章中，我谈到了颜色词与认知和文化的关系。在第二章中，我列举了中英文里有关红色词语的许多例子， 并且结合三种语义对等关系对它们进行了分析：英汉语义的完全对应，部分对应和不完全对应。在第三章中，我从认知以及文化的角度，阐释了导致这些红色词语在中英文里语义相似和不同的原因。
通过对中英文中红色词义的对比研究，我揭示出红色词语在中英文里的三种对应关系。这三种对应关系表明在英汉两种语言里，红色词语的语义确实存在着相似性和差异性，而这些相似性和差异性都源于认知的基础和文化的影响。
关键词： 红色语义;语义对应;相似;差异;认知;文化
Contents
Acknowledgements …….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….….i
Abstract …….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…………. …ii
摘要……………………………………………………………………………….iii
1. Introduction………………………………………………………..1
2. The general view of colour terms in English and Chinese ……...2
2.1 Colour terms with cognition in English and Chinese……………………..2
2.2 Colour terms with culture in English and Chinese…………………………3
3. Semantic equivalence of red in English and Chinese…………….5
3.1 Exact equivalence………………………………………………………….5
3.2 Partial equivalence………………………………………………………...6
3.3 No equivalence…………………………………………………………….8
4. Reasons for the semantic similarities and differences of red in English and Chinese………………………………………………….11
4.1 Reasons for the semantic similarities of red in English and Chinese……..11
4.2 Reasons for the semantic differences of red in English and Chinese………13
4.2.1 Difference in aesthetic habit……………………………….…………14
4.2.2 Difference in historical background….…………………….………...15
5. Conclusion ……………………………....................……………...17
Bibliography …………………………………………………….……18
1. Introduction
According to Geoffrey Leech (1981: 9), “There are seven types of meanings: conceptual meaning, connotative meaning, social meaning, affective meaning, reflected meaning, collocative meaning, and thematic meaning.” And he combined connotative meaning, social meaning, affective meaning, reflected meaning, collocative meaning into “associative meaning”. So besides the literal meaning, colour words have affluent associative meanings. Different nations endow them with different cultural connotations. The comparative study of the sense of red in both English and Chinese will be a bridge for both English and Chinese learners to understand the similarities and disparities; otherwise, these disparities can cause ambiguity and lead to misunderstanding.
“Obviously, connotations are apt to vary from age to age and from society to society” (Ibid: 12). Compared with conceptual meaning, associative meaning is unstable because associations vary considerably according to culture, historical period, and the experience of individuals. So it is quite necessary to make a comparison between associative meaning of red in English and that in Chinese.
There have been a lot of studies about the meanings of different colours, the way to translate some phrases with colour terms, and the relationship between colour and culture. Many of them focus on several colours, and some focusing on one colour term only list lots of examples without comparing them in different languages, so it’s meaningful to make a comparison between the sense of red in English and that in Chinese. If we know the similarities and differences in the sense between these two languages, we can learn the second language better, thus achieving the cross-culture communication.
The thesis is about to analyze some examples of red terms in both English and Chinese, try to find the similarities and dissimilarities between them in terms of semantics, and find out the factors that cause these semantic similarities and dissimilarities from the perspective of cognition and culture.
2. The general view of colour terms in English and Chinese
Colours are closely related to people’s life. Colour is an important field from which people can recognize the world. Let us see the following example:
(1)菩萨蛮·大柏地
赤橙黄绿青蓝紫，谁持彩练当空舞?
雨后复斜阳，关山阵阵苍。
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.
Who is dancing, waving this coloured ribbon against the sky?
The sun returns slanting after the rain.
And hill and pass grow a deeper blue. (包惠南 2003: 128)#p#分页标题#e#
In Example(1), Chairman Mao uses seven colour terms to describe the colours of a rainbow in the sky after a summer storm. They are identical with the seven colours that are used to describe the rainbow in English Encyclopedia.
Without colours, there will be no colourful life. Nature provides us with many beauties, such as the rising sun, the white moonlight, the blue sea, and the green wheat wave. They are all that we should cherish.
2.1 Colour terms with cognition in English and Chinese
Language has two meanings. One is its conceptual meaning while the other is its associative meaning. When we use colour terms to describe the colour of a certain subject, their conceptual meaning is applied. When we associate colour terms with abstract concepts, their associative meaning is applied. “Theory of Semantic Feature-cancellation” (王寅 2001: 308) makes it possible for us to use words which are supposed to describe concrete things to express abstract concepts.
Cognitive semantics views meanings as a mental phenomenon which is based on body experience. They are the result of interaction between human being and the real world. The process of the forming of meanings is the process of conceptualization. And the process of conceptualization is a cognitive one which is based on body experience. (Ibid: 181) The cognitive process is a very complex one. The cognition of colours is a visual cognitive process. All the visual information is carried to the cortex over the major visual pathway. The discussion of colour terms will take one on a journey from the eye to the cortex. One’s brain serves as a colour processor.
The cognition of colours also involves one’s subjectivity. Thus, one colour reflects not only objective feature but subjective feature as well. The subjective feature is usually formed through synesthesia, which means whether the colour makes you feel warm or feel cold.
As Geoffrey Leech (1981: 235-26) put it, “The relative uniformity of colour semantics in different languages has much to do with the uniformity of the human apparatus of visual perception.” Whatever language a person speaks, he is apt to regard “certain focal colour stimuli” as more important than others. Among many colours, red is the easiest to perceive.
2.2 Colour terms with culture in English and Chinese
“Culture is an integral whole which embraces knowledge, beliefs, moralities, laws, customs and other abilities and habits a man has acquired as a member of society.” (quoted in陶丽 2006: 17)
Language is a part of culture. Language is a mirror, in front of which culture is reflected. The difference of the “inner content of the nation” (解海江and 章黎平 2004: 263) is a fundamental factor causing different understanding of cultural connotations of colours. People in different cultures may have totally different understanding of the associative meaning which the same colour conveys.
Cultural associative meaning is determined by one nation’s custom, geography, and religion. The same colour may give rise to different association in one’s mind. This is caused by cultural difference. The similarity is the result of cultural commensurability and mutual penetration of culture. In most cultures, red is related to enthusiasm and unrestraint. But there exist great differences in custom, geography, and religion between different nations. First, colour terms in Chinese embody feudal hierarchical culture. In many dynasties, certain colours were used by certain people. They represent different social status. Second, colour terms embody western religious culture. As the symbol of purity, white reveals the religious complex of the western people. So a bride in western countries wears a white dress instead of a red one. Third, a nation has a preference for certain colours. We Chinese people consider red as a beautiful colour. A good case in point is that we use 红颜 to describe a pretty girl. While red is not so popular among the English people, its positive meaning is used less than that in Chinese.
3. Semantic equivalence of red in English and Chinese
3.1 Exact equivalence
The view of the world is “a culture’s orientation toward God, humanity, nature, the universe, life, death, sickness, and other philosophical issues concerning existence” (quoted in陶丽 2006: 47). How one views the world will affect his perception toward the world---the process by which he attaches meanings to social events he encounters in his environment. It helps people interpret and evaluate what is right and wrong, what is good and bad, what to do and not to do, and so on.
That’s the same in colour perception.
Both in China and English-speaking countries, red is usually associated with celebrations and joyful occasions. In China, people usually use red things to create happy atmosphere to a wedding, a birthday and important festivals. Red is prevalent on a traditional Chinese wedding. People stick red 喜喜 on windows and doors, use red linens. The bride is dressed in red from head to feet: red dresses and red shoes. That not only brings happy ambience to the wedding, but also makes people recall their happy days after their marriage. When their baby is one-month old, the host family will send red eggs to the relatives, friends and neighbours to celebrate the coming of the new life. Under festive circumstances, the elder send to the young red packets with money enclosed to pray for happiness and health. Similarly, bosses send to their employees red packets with money enclosed to pray for prosperity. Besides, We have a very famous trademark for a cigarette, that is, 红双喜 which is a symbol of good fortune. On calendars, we can find that holidays, such as the Spring Festival, are printed in red, while ordinary days are in black.
In English, red is also used for celebrating events. It has the cultural associative meaning of happiness, such as in red letter day. Important days are printed in red on calendars rather than in black for ordinary days. For western people, a red letter day means a day when a good event happens.
In China, we have the custom to roll out a red carpet to extend our warmth to some important guests, that is, to “roll out the red carpet to honor a visiting head of state”, or “to give someone the red carpet treatment”. For example,
(2) A mother said, ‘It was a real red letter day for me when my son came home from three years in the navy. We rolled out the red carpet to welcome him home.’ (我儿子在海军服役三年了。他回家的那天，对我来说真是一个大喜的日子。我们把他当贵宾一样来欢迎。) (宋伟华 2006: 109)
From the case, we can find that “to roll out the red carpet” can also be applied to an ordinary person. Besides, “to paint the town red” means “to celebrate wildly, to enjoy oneself to one’s heart’s content”.
Likewise, in the west, on Christmas Day, Santa Claus comes to dispatch presents to innocent children. He is in red, making the day full of mystery and happiness.
What’s more, there exists basic similarity in conceptual meaning of red in English and Chinese such as blood-red (血红色), orange-red (橘红色), red wine (红葡萄酒).
3.2 Partial equivalence
But in the process of translating one source language into another target language, the meaning may change, especially when colour terms are involved, although the translator tries his or her best to be faithful. There exists a close relationship between colour and emotion. This can be well illustrated by the following example: Mr. Brown has been feeling blue lately.
The actual information this sentence conveys is that Mr. Brown has been very depressed lately. Only when we know its connotations can we understand a colour term correctly; otherwise, we will feel very confused.
Like white, red is also associated with certain emotions, anger and embarrassment included. These two kinds of emotion exist both in English and Chinese. Let’s see an example. Her face turned red when bombarded with such an embarrassing question. We can easily guess the meaning of red and the meaning of this sentence, for there is an Chinese equivalence for it——脸红. There her face turned red because she felt embarrassed and she felt so because of the embarrassing question. In English, we can use either turn red or become red-faced to show one’s embarrassment. But we must know that in English there are many expressions to describe a person’s face turning red: to blush, to flush, to redden, to colour up, etc. “Many objects that would be labelled by the ‘red’ term in one language would not be labelled by the ‘red’ term in another: accordingly the ‘red’ term in one language would not be infallibly translated by the ‘red’ term in another” (Geoffrey Leech 1981: 235). Some things and objects have only one or two ways of expression in one language, while in another language, they can be expressed in several ways. That is to say, they have more subtle differences in another language. Let us see where these differences are from the examples below.
(3) “我有什么心事呢?”盛淑君满脸飞红地抵赖。(周立波：《山乡巨变》)
“What cares have I got?” she blushed as she denied them.
(4) 他和甫两个虽然已经喝了半瓶黑葡萄酒，可是他们脸上一点也不红……(茅盾：《子夜》)
He and Wang Ho-fu had got through half a bottle of port between them, but their faces were not flushed in the least.
(5) 周仲伟的脸上立刻通红了，真像一根“红头火柴”。(茅盾：《子夜》)
Chou Chung-wei’s face reddened like one of his own red-tipped matches.#p#分页标题#e#
(quoted in宋伟华 2006: 109-10)
In Example (3), we can know that to blush is used when someone feels embarrassed, to flush in Example(4) is used in the exciting, happy, or inebriated situation. To redden and to color up in Example (5) are commonly used in most cases. So when we translate these phrases from Chinese to English, we must consider carefully which word to use.
Those are all about embarrassment. Then what about anger? In Chinese, we say 气得脸红脖子粗. In English, we can use the expression to see red, or to wave a red flag. They are partly equivalent to each other. Also, we can’t directly translate the to see red into 见红，which may cause misunderstanding, because in China, it implies a woman’s bleeding when she is giving birth to a baby.
Neither can to wave a red flag be directly translated into 挥动一面红旗. If it is thus translated, we will have difficulty in understanding the whole meaning of a text in which it is used. Let us see the following examples:
(6) He clenched his fist and went very red.
(7) I found he was red with anger.
(8) When he criticized my work, I really saw red.
(9) The mere mention of his enemy’s name is like waving a red flag to him.
If we are not familiar with the phrase—to be red, we can guess its meaning to some extent because the contexts have already been set here. We can know red in both Example (6) and Example (7) implies anger. But what on earth is the meaning of saw red in Example (8) and waving a red flag in Example (9)? Both of them suggest anger. The former means to become very angry while the latter means to cause quick anger in somebody by doing something offensive.
3.3 No equivalence
Besides these two kinds of relationship I have mentioned above in terms of red, there also exists no equivalence between English and Chinese. Let us see some examples.
We Chinese say 红糖，but in English it equals brown sugar. We Chinese say 红茶，but in English it equals black tea. 红榜 is translated into honor roll; 红豆 is translated into love pea; 红运, good luck; 红利, dividend. Red ruin in English refers to 火灾 in Chinese;a red battle, 血战;red tape, 官僚作风. A blue sky refers to a sky whose colour is blue, but a red sky is not related to a sky whose colour is red, but refers to colourful clouds in the sky. Let us see Example (13):
(10)Red sky at night, shepherd’s delight,
Red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning.
早霞不出门，晚霞行千里。(quoted in蒋林 2002: 26)
Red sky can’t be directly translated into 红天. If it is translated in such a way, we Chinese can’t understand it clearly because we do not have such an equivalence in Chinese. To understand it better, we have to translate it liberally. In this way, the liberal translation approach is required when such semantic vacancy appears.
In Chinese, we use 红眼病 to express the feeling of being jealous. But in English, we use green eye to express this meaning. If it only refers to a kind of disease, then it should be translated into pink eyes. The colours are so flexibly used here. If we want to understand them correctly, we must have a good command of colour terms. The different semantic meanings of colour terms thus can be seen. It is because of these disparities that translators are very careful when dealing with colour terms. Take David Hawker’s translating version of《红楼梦》as an example, to avoid the negative associative meaning of red, he translated the name of this classical novel into The Story of the Stone. And 怡红院 was translated into the House of Green Delights, and 怡红公子, Green Boy. Jia Baoyu loves the red, but red here symbolizes girls. He sympathized with the girls for their miseries. Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu’s tragedy was the result of the feudal society in which they lived and what they were looking forward to couldn’t come true. So such a name translated in this way is so ordinary and can’t be satisfactory, unable to convey the author’s intended meaning. And it is very inappropriate to translate the red into the green. (Ibid: 26-7)
In Chinese, we have an idiom 红白喜事. Red is the principal colour of Chinese traditional weddings and white is the principal colour of funerals. But in western weddings, brides always wear white dresses, giving others a feeling of elegance and holiness; while at funerals, people wear black suits. So here care should be taken in translating the phrase 红白喜事. To avoid misunderstanding, we can put it simply as weddings and funerals. When we talk about red and white, there is an interesting coincidence in Chinese and English. In Chinese, those who are popular and find favour with their bosses are called 红人. But Irish people call them the white-headed boy. Obviously, we two nations have different cultures.
In addition, in ancient times of China, 红颜 or 红粉 was used to call beautiful girls. It stems from the tradition that women in old times commonly rouged their cheeks. But in English, red does not have the connotative meaning of girls, so when translated, the red amid has to be avoided. Then 红颜 can be translated into a beautiful girl or a pretty face. 红粉 can be translated into a gaily dressed girl. 红楼 is a lady’s room. These are all Chinese elements.
In Chinese, red is also the symbol of socialism and revolution used in a positive sense. The typical words are the red army, red flag, red star and so on. In the revolutionary times, 红 symbolizes revolution as in 红军, 红色政权 or 红色根据地 while 白 implies decadence and reaction as in 白区， 白色政权，白军，白匪 or 白色恐怖. The People’s Liberation Army was called 红色长城. What’s more, we have 红代会, 红卫兵. The phrase 又红又专 is often adopted to describe a person who is not only loyal to the revolutionary cause but also to his profession, that is, both socially-minded and professionally qualified. Whereas in English, red means extremeness, danger, indignation, and exigency, in such phrases as red light district, red alert and so on.
4. Reasons for the semantic similarities and differences of red in English and Chinese
4.1 Reasons for the semantic similarities of red in English and Chinese
Language has two meanings. One is within the language; while the other is beyond the language. The first level of meaning is what the language possesses itself. The second one is endowed by people. “Concepts in humans’ mind determine how they perceive the world, what they perceive, and how they relate to others” (常宗林 2005: 255-6). So when one perceives the outside world, his knowledge, his experience, etc. will affect his perception.
Meaning originates from the interaction between human being and the real world. How people view the world will affect the use of language, thus affecting the meaning of language. During the process of the form of meanings, the external stimuli are conceptualized. This kind of conceptualization is based on body experience.
The cognitive process is very complicated. “It’s well known that colour vision is an important tool of human cognition” (赵艳芳 2001: 41). What’s more, the researches on color and the physiology of human color vision show that the physiology of human color vision is constant across all races. It is generally the case that regardless of the number of color terms in a language, the focal hue is remarkably consistent across languages. (quoted in李丽雪 2003: 24)
With this view in mind, let us return to red.
Red is to the human eye the most salient of color experiences. At normal light levels, red stands out in relation to all other hues by virtue of a reciprocal, heightening effect between saturation and brightness…(Forley 2001: 163)
So red brings people strong visual shock. The role of red as a warning sign is related to the colour’s high visibility. People think of the colour of fire as red. For example, Birren notes that “The Jewish historian Josephus in the first century AD associated … red with fire”. In Chinese culture, “We shall set down … red for fire”. (quoted in陶丽 2006: 34) Fire brings people warmth, so people think of red as a warm colour. Fire is also dangerous, so red is used as a symbol of danger. Flashing red lights denote danger or emergency. Stop signs and stop lights are red to get the driver’s attention and alert them to the dangers of the intersection.
“Metaphors are sometimes used without users’ being conscious of their metaphorical character” (常宗林 2005: 255). The same phenomenon will appear when we use colour terms. Many associations are grounded so deeply in common human experience that we seldom pay special attention to them when we use the associative meaning of colour terms.
In addition to the perceptual basis, color terms are deeply rooted in their cultural basis. This is well summarized as follows:
In other words, what we call “direct physical experience” is never a matter of having a body of a certain sort; rather, every experience takes place within a vast background of cultural presuppositions… Cultural assumptions, values, and attitudes are not a conceptual overlay which we may or may not place upon experience as we choose. It would be more correct to say that all experience is cultural through and through, that we experience our “world” in such a way that our culture is already present in the very experience itself. (Lakoff and Johnson 1980: 57)
It is known that bullfighters in Spain use a piece of red rag to exasperate bulls to wage a war, for bullfighting is a tradition in western countries and bulls are apt to get angry when they see something red. So people use like a red rag to a bull to express one’s anger. It’s also a colour for danger. The western people relate red to blood. They associate red with violence and danger.#p#分页标题#e#
On calendars, we can find that holidays are printed in red, while ordinary days are in black. That’s the same in two countries.
Also according to Kovecses (2002: 165), one language could borrow something from another. Like 红灯区, 赤字, they are translations from their English equivalents red-light district, in the red . And the use of red in in the red comes from the color of the ink used in keeping accounts.
So due to the influence of cognitive accordance of people and the mutual penetration of culture, we have those similarities.
4.2 Reasons for the semantic differences of red in English and Chinese
On the other hand, people tend to have different views and understanding of the same object because of the diversity of political rules, religious beliefs, ethics and values of different nations. Every nation has its own ethnic psychology. Culture has been a very important source for constructing connotative meanings of colour terms in English and Chinese. Thus, it leads to cultural difference between source language and target language of colour terms, that is to say, the non-equivalence reflected in their connotative meaning, social meaning, affective meaning, reflected meaning, collocative meaning, and thematic meaning.
Chinese philosophy focuses on emptiness, while western culture pursues entity. Chinese culture pays attention to likeness in nature, while western culture is fastidious about science and preciseness. This kind of cultural characteristic is also reflected in the use of colour terms. For example, Chinese colour term 碧 can be explained as 绿 or 蓝. Sometimes, people of different nations use different colour terms to describe the colour of the same objects. For example, brown sugar is translated into 红糖 in Chinese. This exactly embodies the great importance of red in Chinese culture. In addition, brown sugar is good for one’s health, so it is commended as 红糖. In fact, the colour of this kind of sugar is closer to brown. Its being called brown sugar in English is more precise. Black tea is translated into 红茶. In fact, the colour of this kind of tea is closer to black. But we call it 红茶, matching it with green tea. These two tea names fully embody the language tradition in which Chinese culture is fastidious about symmetric beauty. Thus, we can see that for Chinese, the use of colour terms is apt to be vague, to be opaque;however, for English, the use of colour terms is apt to be precise, to be real. It is the result of cultural difference.
4.2.1 Difference in aesthetic habit
Chinese people prefer red, while English people prefer white. This kind of difference in aesthetic habit causes the difference in pragmatic meaning. Red is associated with happy occasions, harvest, etc. Because of this, in China, men of letters in ancient times and today prefer to use red to symbolize hospitality, warmth, energy and youth. It can be seen from the following examples:
(11)“霜叶红于二月花”——杜牧
(12)“红杏枝头春意闹”——宋祈
(13)“日出江花红胜火,春来江水绿如蓝。”——白居易
(14)“试问卷帘人——却道海棠依旧。知否，知否?应是绿肥红瘦!”
(15)“落红不是无情物，化作春泥更护花。”——龚自珍
In Example(11) and Example(12), two poets use 红 to describe the colour of leaves and apricots respectively. In Example(13), the poet uses 红 to symbolize the red flowers near the bank reflected by the first rays of the morning sun. He uses 绿 to symbolize a pool of green water blown by the breeze in spring. Such a vivid metaphor brings the spectacular scenery to us readers.绿肥红瘦in Example(14) means green leaves are fresh but the red flowers are fading. 落红in Example(15) refers to fallen flowers.
The importance the colour terms have in literary works can’t be underestimated. The appropriate usage of colour terms is for more efficient expression of contexts. In ancient Chinese literary works, 红男绿女 is often used to describe young and beautiful women and handsome men, so what we just need to do is to translate it into gaily dressed men and women.
Although red is also used for celebrating events in English, there are still many phrases related to red that are derogatory, such as red-handed (当场抓获), red-tape(官僚作风), red-blooded(狂热，固执), see red(怒不可遏), into the red(每况愈下的经营状况), in the red(负债累累). All these Chinese equivalents have nothing to do with the conceptual meaning of red at all. Red flag, in China, is a revolutionary and positive symbol, but in English, it refers to something that will make you angry. We can see it in to wave a red flag, which I have mentioned above.
The positive meaning of red is abundant in Chinese. 红 in Chinese has the meaning of happiness while in English people prefer to use white to express this meaning. White in English is associated with beauty, hope, bless and happiness. In the Bible angels always have a pair of white wings with a white halo suspending over their head. Christmas Day is the most important day in western countries. A white Christmas refers to “银装素裹的圣诞节”; white hands, “公正廉洁的”; a white day “ 吉日”. While the same colour in Chinese people’s eye is the symbol of death, sadness and poorness. Besides the white colour in funerals, there are many negative phrases which are related to white in Chinese, such as 白搭，白送，白眼，吃白食， 一穷二白.
4.2.2 Difference in historical background
“A language carries a lot of culture and history” (常宗林 2005: 174). The difference in the use of colour can be traced back to different historical backgrounds of different nations. Many colour terms are related to specific historical events and have their own allusions. In the eyes of Chinese people, red is the symbol of success, auspiciousness, loyalty and prosperity, etc. This derives from the adoration for the God of Sun. In ancient times, the house of the rich and officials are called 朱门. “朱门酒肉臭, 路有冻死骨” (杜甫《自京赴奉先县咏怀五百字》). The clothes they wear are called 朱衣 and their transportation tool is called 朱轩. In Chinese, 朱 equals red when it refers to a colour.
Take the well-known 红娘 for example. There is a background for the emergence of this expression. 红娘 is originally the name of a maid in the classical play The West Chamber (《西厢记》)，whose good demeanor helps bring about the union of two lovers. Gradually, 红娘 is used to denote the kind-hearted go-betweens.
In Qing Dynasty, the book that was authorized by the emperor was called red book. It is different from the red book in those English-speaking countries, which only means a book with a red cover. In China, during the cultural revolution, everyone should keep one book about Chairman Mao. At that time, it was called red treasured book. Similarly, in English-speaking countries, words related with history and geography also have their own special meanings, such as red lining, red coat and red brigade. The fact that the American financial institution enclosed the poor area with red line and refused to provide housing loans to this area made the area poorer. This was called red lining. During the American Civil War, the British soldiers wore scarlet service uniform. So they were called red coat. Red brigade is an Italian terror organization, specializing in kidnapping, murder, destruction, etc. The usage of red between these two languages is largely different.
5. Conclusion
This thesis focuses on a contrastive study of meanings of red in both English and Chinese. At the very beginning, I cite a poem to arouse readers’ interest in colour terms. Then I list a lot of examples related to red in English and Chinese and analyse their sense relationship from three aspects: exact equivalence, partial equivalence, no equivalence. Through so many examples, readers may have a good understanding of meanings of red. Some readers may have read some of the examples somewhere, but they do not know how to exactly express those phrases related to red. Some readers may have misunderstood some phrases, while after reading the thesis, they will have a better understanding. If someone has never touched this field, he or she will find how interesting it is. Next I try to explain the factors that cause semantic similarities and differences of red in English and Chinese from the perspective of cognition and culture.
In the reason part, I also list many examples, and sometimes compare red with another colour term, such as white. This helps to make clear the culture between different nations. From so many examples, I have found the association of red with happiness, success, fortune, prosperity, as well as danger, anger, etc. The examples are more convincing in that they cover many fields, including politics, aesthetics, and history. I can say that there do exist many semantic similarities and differences of red in both Chinese and English. Only when we understand them correctly can we have a good command of colour terms. And only when we have a good command of colour terms, can we achieve better cross-culture communication.
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