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A Comparative Study on the Connotations of Words in English and Chinese
Abstract: English and Chinese are both rich in words
which are given various meanings. According to Geoffrey Leech, there are seven types of meanings, among which connotative meanings make up the central part. Connotations play a significant role in cross-culture communication, so it is very important to know different connotations of words in English and Chinese.
Keyword: connotative meaning, word, English and Chinese
单词扮演重要的角色在几乎所有的人类语言都有。词在不同的语言反映不同的文化。英语和汉语,作为两种语言历史悠久,都是丰富的文字有各种意义。
I. Introduction
Words play an important role in almost all human languages. Words in different languages reflect different cultures. English and Chinese, as two languages with a long history, are both abundant in words which are given a variety of meanings.
意义一直是中央主题在人类的奖学金。古希腊哲学家柏拉图的作品早在公元前5世纪就对此有所讨论,在中国,老子曾讨论类似的问题甚至更早。多年来许多字典已经生产为了解释词语的意思。然而,一直有一个困难的研究意义,“意义”这个词本身具有不同的含义。
Meaning has always been a central topic in human scholarship. There were discussions of meaning in the works of the Greek philosopher Plato as early as in the fifth century before Christ, and in China, Lao Zi had discussed similar questions even earlier. Over the years numerous dictionaries have been produced with a view to explaining the meaning of words. However, there has always been one difficulty in the study of meaning that the word “meaning” itself has different meanings.
1，In 1974, the English linguist Geoffrey Leech published his Semantics, in which he in a moderate tone recognized 7 types of meaning, namely conceptual meaning, connotative meaning, social meaning, affective meaning, reflected meaning, collocative meaning and thematic meaning.2
II. Conceptual Meaning and Connotative Meaning
The first two types of meaning make up the central part of a language.
i. Definition
Conceptual meaning is denotative for it is concerned with the relationship between a word and the thing it denotes, or refers to. People can not communicate without it. And in Leech’s system, connotative meaning refers to some additional, especially emotive meaning that a word or phrase has beyond its conceptual meaning. The difference between “politician” and “statesman”, for example, is connotative. They have the same denotative meaning that is a person who is professionally involved in politics; however, the former is derogatory referring to a person who acts in a manipulative and devious way to gain advancement within an organization while the latter is commendatory meaning a skilled, experienced and respected political leader or figure. This type of meaning shows people's attitudes or feelings toward what the word or phrase refers to.
ii. Features of Connotative Meaninghttp://www.ukassignment.org/uklunwen/
Connotations vary from age to age, from society to society, and even from individual to individual within the same speech community. Connotations are relatively unstable with old ones disappearing and new ones born. They may vary according to culture, historical period or individual experiences. 3
People from different countries or different cultural backgrounds may have different connotative reactions to the same word, and so it is with people from China and English-speaking countries. So it is necessary to pay special attention to different connotative meanings of words in English and Chinese.
III. A Comparison between English and Chinese Connotations
i. Same denotation and same connotation
There are relatively few words belonging to this category. For example, the word “fox” is used in both English and Chinese to describe somebody who is sly and cunning. Another one is “donkey” which has two connotative meanings in both languages: first, stupid or foolish; second, obstinate.
ii. Same denotation but different connotation
Words in this category are mostly color words and animal words.
color word
In the history of China, each dynasty has its own unique color. For example, green
is typical of the Xia Dynasty, white is representative of the Shang Dynasty and black of the Qin Dynasty. However, red was favored by the most numerous dynasties for the longest time from the Zhou, Han, Sui and Tang Dynasties to the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. People in China regard red as a symbol of happiness, joy, good luck and prosperity. During the Chinese Spring Festival, almost everything is red, including red clothes, red lanterns and red couplets (written on a pair of scrolls). Besides, red can also be used in words about revolution or revolutionary wars, like “红旗” (red flag) and “红军” (red army). However, in English words red does not have those commendatory meanings. “Red flag” is a kind of signal to warn people of danger, and “in the red” stands for deficit.
animal word
There are many animal words that have different connotative meanings in English
and Chinese.
1. Dragon
In Chinese ancient myths, a dragon is usually described to be a kind of animal that
has supernatural power. And in the feudal age, dragon is a symbol of the Emperor. In Chinese, the word “dragon” is mostly used in commendatory phrases, such as “龙凤呈祥” (prosperity or good fortune brought by the dragon and the phoenix), “龙马精神” (full of vigor and vitality) and so on. That is why Chinese people call themselves “the descendents of the dragon” and feel very proud of that. On the contrary, dragon is usually used in English to describe somebody or something very horrible, evil or sinful. It is because in western myths, dragon is described as a very big lizard with wings, scales and a long snake tail. So in the past dragon was often seen on the flags during a war. And there is also an English expression that by saying somebody is like a dragon is meant that he is arrogant and disgusting.
2. Phoenix
In China, a phoenix also exists only in myths. Its front part of the body looks like a bird and the rest part looks like a unicorn with a neck of snakes, a tail of fishes, scales of dragons and a body of tortoises. People regard the phoenix as the king of birds, hence the saying of “百鸟朝凤” which means a hundred birds pay homage to the phoenix. In ancient times, people believed that the appearance of a phoenix was a sign of peace. In western culture, a phoenix is also a kind of bird. Legend has it that after living in the desert for five hundred years, the phoenix will make a fire by beating its wings to burn itself into ashes, and then from the ashes comes out another phoenix. Therefore, the phoenix in English stands for “reborn” and “revival”.
3. Owl
In China, an owl is usually related to superstitions. As is known, an owl is active at night and its cries sound sad and shrill, so people tend to relate its cries with death. It is said that if one hears an owl’s cries in the forest, somebody will die in his family. So an owl is considered as an ominous animal in Chinese. However, an owl is thought of as a wit bird in English, so saying someone is an owl means he is smart.
4. Peacock
In Chinese culture, a peacock is an auspicious symbol. When it opens its feathers, something good is going to happen. In English, the word “peacock” has many derogatory meanings such as arrogant and showing off, hence the expression of “as proud as a peacock”.
5. Dog
In western countries, people keep dogs as pets and dogs are considered as man’s best friends. In a few English words, “dog” is used with derogatory meanings, like “treat someone like a dog” which means mistreating him. But it is mostly used as a commendatory word, such as “You lucky dog”, “Love me, love my dog”, “Every dog has its day” and “He works like a dog” which means he is hardworking. In contrast, the word “dog” is usually used negatively in Chinese, like “狗急跳墙” (desperation drives a dog to jump over the wall), “狗仗人势” (to be a bully under the protection of a powerful person), “狗咬吕洞宾” (wrong a kind-hearted person or mistake a good man for a bad one), and so on.
iii. One has connotative meanings but the other has not
In this category, a word in one of the two languages has connotative meanings, but its equivalent in the other has not.
For example, there are many words in Chinese related to living a long life, such as “松” (pine), “柏” (cypress) and “桃” (peach). But the equivalents of these words in English have no such meanings at all.
Here comes another example. “梅” (plum blossom), “兰” (orchid), “竹” (bamboo) and “菊” (chrysanthemum) are honored as the four symbols of Chinese culture among all the plants. Plum blossoms bloom in cold seasons, so they symbolize purity; orchids grow in the valleys or on the rocks, so they represent grace; bamboos strike people as being erect and firm, so they symbolize integrity and faith; chrysanthemums are characterized by being able to endure coldness, so they are used to describe the quality of perseverance. However, in English these words mean nothing but four names of plants.#p#分页标题#e#
Besides, there are also some numbers that belong to this category. Take “thirteen” as an example. It is regarded as an ominous number in western countries, for it is related to Jesus Christ’s suffering. So people usually avoid the 13th in each month when they choose the date to travel or to get married. And there is no 13th floor in a building. In Chinese culture, “thirteen” does not have this meaning. The Chinese people believe that the number “nine” is the highest number and use it to symbolize “forever”, for it sounds like another Chinese word “久” which means a long time.
IV. Reasons for Different Connotations in English and Chinese
i. Geographical Influence
People in western countries have more chances to be exposed to snow than the Chinese. That is why the word “white” is more commonly used and there are expressions like “white day” and “white Christmas”. However, Chinese people like using the color “yellow” to describe things for they consider it as the color of their land and their mother river. Here comes another example. As is known, Britain is an island surrounded by sea. Therefore, it is rich in fishery and has a lot of idioms about fishery. Besides, the British people’s mood is easily affected by the sea, so in English, the color “blue” is used with negative meanings, referring to “depression” or “sadness”.
ii. Religious Influence
As the main part of human culture, religion has always been an important factor that influences the meaning of words, especially color words. Chinese culture is, to a large degree, influenced by three religions: Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism. So in Chinese, the color “white” is often related with death or funerals; and according to Buddhism, the color “yellow” is a symbol of worship, so monks usually wear in yellow. And yet people in western countries believe in Christianity. In English, the color “black”, according to the Bible, is the sign of Satan, so it is used to describe something evil or bad. For example, black box refers to an electronic device to record flight data which is used to analyze the causes after an accident happens. Another color is green which symbolizes peace in western countries. Because in the Bible, Noah flies a pigeon to get information about the disaster and the pigeon carries back an olive branch, indicating that it is safe now. From then on, green becomes the symbol of peace.
iii. Historical Influence
There are many meanings of words related to historical events. Take the color “blue” as an example. There is a story of the “Blue Ribbon” in England in the 14th century. It is said that in a ball, when Countess of Salisbury was dancing with Edward III , her blue garter dropped. At once, Edward picked it up and tied it to his knee to help her avoid losing face in public. Later Edward awarded the Medal of Garter with a blue ribbon to those who made contributions to the country. So “Blue Ribbon” symbolizes the highest honor. But there is no such a connotative meaning of “blue” in Chinese.
V. Conclusion
As has been shown above, different languages have different connotative meanings of words. So it is very important for foreigners, especially language learners to know as many as possible the connotative meanings of words in the target language.
According to the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis concerning language, thought and culture, languages help mould people’s way of thinking and, consequently, different languages may express speakers’ unique ways of understanding the world. Although there are many researchers claiming to have enough reliable evidence that show the controversy of this theory, the hypothesis proves to be a very influential study of the relationship between language and culture. Therefore, there is no doubt that each language bears a close relation to its culture. A certain culture functions as a carrier of the language and, in turn, the language can reflect, express, record and transmit its culture. So as a tool for people to understand a certain culture, language plays a significant role in cross-culture communication. Chen Yuan once said that words often reflect the changes that a culture has undergone in social life and social thoughts.5 It is because words are the most basic and active element of the linguistic system. So as the central part of words’ seven types of meanings, connotative meanings are extremely important in cross-cultural communication and require more attention.
More often than not, people use a word’s connotative meanings to express their attitudes and values toward other things or people. If a person from a different cultural background does not know those meanings, he will have some difficulty in understanding what others are talking about or what they are inferring, hence the arising of cultural clashes. Therefore, it matters a lot to have a good knowledge of different connotative meanings of words in different languages or cultures.
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