Difference of Cultural Connotation of Animal Words in English and Chinese英語畢業(yè)論文.

1、Difference of Cultural Connotation of Animal Words in English and ChineseCONTENTSAbstract1Introduction.3Chapter 1 Animal Words and Its Connotation.41.1 Different Word Meanings from Different Perspectives.4 1.2 Examples of Different Animal Words.5Chapter 2 Factors Influencing Different of Cultural Co

2、nnotation.62.1 History.6 2.2 Religion and Belief.7Chapter 3 the Comparative Study of Animal Words Cultural Connotation between English and Chinese.9 Same Animal Words with Similar Cultural Connotations.93.2 Different Animal Words with Similar Cultural Connotations.103.3 The Rich Connotations of Anim

3、al Words in Chinese but Vacant in English.11Chapter 4 Conclusion.13Notes14Bibliography.15 Abstract: Language and culture are closely related to each other. Animal word is an important part of almost all the human languages, and many of them reflect particular connotations in English and Chinese. Wit

4、h the development of the society, animal words which have cultural differences play important roles in the communication between China and Western world and the implication of difference can not be neglected in the language learning. Animals have the close relationship with human beings. Many animal

5、s were tamed to become domestic animals and serve people and become friends or part of peoples life. People associate animals with natural phenomena, personalities and emotions. They play very important role in the life of human beings, so do animal words in language. Many animals have become a kind

6、 of symbolism in peoples thinking which is reflected in languages. However, due to the influence of different factors, such as history and religion, animal words have different connotations which often result in misunderstanding in communication. In this thesis, the author attempts to make a compara

7、tive analysis to the cultural connotations of animal words between English and Chinese.Key words: animal words; cultural difference; cultural connotation 摘要：語言和文化密不可分。動物詞匯幾乎是所有人類語言一個重要組成局部。英語和漢語中許多動物詞匯都放映了各自的文化內(nèi)涵。隨著社會的開展，有著不同意義的動物詞匯在中西交流中起著很重要的作用，在語言學(xué)習(xí)中也是不可無視的方面。動物和人類有著密切的聯(lián)系。許多動物被馴化成家養(yǎng)動物為人們效勞并且成為人類的

8、朋友甚至成為人們?nèi)粘Ｉ畹囊痪植?。人們把動物和自然現(xiàn)象，性格，情感聯(lián)系起來。動物在人類生活中扮演著重要的角色，動物詞匯在語言中夜有著同樣的作用。許多動物在人們的思維中形成某種象征，并且反映在語言中。然而，由于不同的歷史或宗教原因的影響，具有不同內(nèi)涵的動物詞匯導(dǎo)致了許多交流方面的誤解。在這篇論文中，作者試圖對英漢動物詞匯的文化內(nèi)涵進(jìn)行比照研究。關(guān)鍵詞：動物詞匯；文化差異；文化內(nèi)涵 Introduction Fairy tales in which animals are personified. In all this process animal words gradually got the

9、ir established connotations in all languages, and they have rich cultural connotations and play important roles in the communication between China and western world. Because of the different connotation of animal words, they are likely to result in misunderstanding in communication. With the rapid d

10、evelopment of the society, people from different counties find it easy to contact with each other and get into intercultural communication. In order to avoid misunderstanding of different nations, it is necessary to know the differences.This thesis aims at exploring the cultural connotations of anim

11、al words between English and Chinese. The thesis is composed of four chapters. Chapter one introduces different word meanings from different perspectives and gives some examples. Chapter two focuses on the reasons causing different of cultural connotations: history, religion and beliefs. Chapter thr

12、ee makes the comparative study of cultural connotations of animal words between English and Chinese. Chapter four makes a conclusion about the thesis. Chapter 1 Animal Words and Its ConnotationIn our daily life, we use words to associate with objects, action, feelings and thoughts. In other words, a

13、 word matches a specific object of the outside world. Some animal words refer to animals existing in nature, and others are imaginary in the literary works. Animals play an important role in the life of human, so do animal words in language.1.1 Different Word Meanings from Different PerspectivesMean

14、ing is the only medium through which words and language are connected with the real world. There different categorizations of word meanings from different perspectives. In 1974, British linguist Leech divides the meaning of words into seven types: conceptual meaning, connotative meaning, stylistic m

15、eaning, affective meaning, reflective meaning, collective meaning and the thematic meaning (1974:9)1 .Among the seven types of meaning, conceptual meaning and associative meaning are the essential aspects of word meaning. Leech puts the study of meaning under the social and cultural background and r

16、ecognizes the importance of the communicative function of word meanings. The conceptual meaning of a word is its definition given in a dictionary. It functions to describe something. To study the connotation of words, we must know its definition. The definition in oxford advanced learners English- C

17、hinese Dictionary is“idea which a word makes one think of in addition to the main meaning (1997:295) 2. Associate meaning involves the elements of cultural backgrounds and is liable to the influence of history, customs and religion, thus the same things may acquire different associative meanings to

18、people of different cultures.1.2 Examples of Different Animal WordsSayings like “as cunning as the fox appear in many languages. Such connotation in Chinese and English are scattered in many books. To find out animals stand for different symbols, the author of this thesis referred to many books. Ana

19、lysis based on the information about animal words in these books, a conclusion can be made that the connotations of animals in English and Chinese cultures are very similar while others may vary greatly. For example, both cultures think the fox stands for cunning. To Chinese (94%) and the English sp

20、eaking people (100%) the swan stands for gracefulness and nobility. Both Chinese54%and the English speaking people72%consider the snake to be a dangerous animal, but some English speaking people32%suggest it also stands for usefulness. To many English speaking people40%the peacock symbolizes conceit

21、, but to many Chinese (38%)it stands for beautifulness. Chapter 2Factors Influencing Differences of Cultural Connotations Language is a mirror of culture, which reflects its specific cultural feature. Every nation has its special background which has close relationship with the words which are relat

22、ed to the history, religion and belief.2.1 HistoryDifferent history cultures have different influence on the nation and reflect the rich nationality of words. Britain is one of the western counties with a long history. It gradually developed from feudal period to capital period for a long time. Thus

23、, many expressions derive from the historical event in English. Take “John bull as an example, this phrase is originally used as a derogatory term to describe the typical character of British in the book “the history of john bull, written in 1775 by English writer. Because “bull in English often ref

24、ers to a strong and careless man, the expression about “bull often has the ridiculous meaning. For example: “a bull in chinas shop(笨拙粗魯?shù)娜?. Now its original meaning has disappeared instead of its symbolic figure of average Englishman, such as “John Bullish (典型英國的), “John Bullish (英國迷). It is known t

25、hat England is governed by the pope and the king for many years. There are many words to show the resentful and disdainful feeling during this period, such as “the king the pope, the lion and wolf(國王教皇)， “kings and bears often worry their keepers(伴君如伴虎). China is a country with ancient civilization

26、of five thousand years. The emperor of ancient China is regarded as a dragon, the chair of the emperor as called “龍椅, the emperors dress is called “龍袍. In Chinese, dragon is the symbol of dignity, power and prosperity and the “phoenix is also a favorable animal word. It is usually considered as the

27、chief of all birds and is regarded as the queen.2.2 Religion and BeliefReligion is a cultural phenomenon, which takes great influence on the peoples life. In the western counties, Christianity is the dominant religion, which influences peoples life and thinking for several hundred years. The Bible i

28、s already deeply rooted peoples mind. “a lion in the road (道上有猛獅), “beard the lion in the Bible (入獅穴擄獅須), lions are mentioned in the Bible for their strength, boldness and ferocity. In China, Buddhism has always been popular for over one thousand years. The Chinese believe Buddha can control all the

29、 things in the world. In Buddhism, “dragon is the symbol of power and success, while in Christianity the lamb is the symbol of the Gods people and tameness. From these examples, it can be seen that religion and belief are the important factors affecting cultural differences.Chapter 3Comparative Stud

30、y of Animal Words Cultural Connotations between English and ChineseJust because the cultural difference may result in the misunderstanding, the thesis makes a comparative study of cultural connotations between English and Chinese.3.1 Same Animal Words with Similar Cultural ConnotationsDue to the sim

31、ilar experience of English people and Chinese people, they share the similar cultural connotations of animal words. For example: “fox and “狐貍, “pig and “豬 share the same cultural connotations. “Fox is the symbolism of “cunning and fraud in both English and Chinese. When English people say he is as c

32、unning as a fox, Chinese people can understand the true meaning. In Chinese, there are some expressions about “fox, such as: “老狐貍(old hand at tricky), “狐疑不決foxy and undetermined. When we talk about “pig, we get the impression of stupidity and dirtiness. So English have some expressions: make a pig o

33、f oneself(大吃大喝), to teach a pig to play on a flute(做不可能的的事). In Chinese, we also have similar connotations, such as: “蠢豬, “豬頭豬腦. These identical animal words with similar cultural connotations show that in different cultures there exists something in common.3.2 Different Animal Words with Similar Cu

34、ltural Connotations In English and Chinese, there are many different animal words which possess similar cultural connotations. Because of the different cultural backgrounds, people use different animal words to express similar meanings. It is known that China is an agricultural country. Chinese have

35、 been using “cow in the farming for thousands of years while the British people used the “house to do farm work. In Chinese, cow is the symbol of diligence. So we often use “老黃牛 to refer to the person who is working hard without any complaint, while in English the similar saying is “a willing house(

36、埋頭苦干的人). “Tiger in Chinese and “l(fā)ion in English also have the similar connotations. Because the Chinese consider the “tiger as the king among forests, and it is the symbol of power and courage, while in English, “l(fā)ion means courage. In Chinese we have “虎口拔牙, while the English use “beard the lion in

37、his den. Another example is “老虎屁股摸不得, but the English say “One should not twist the lions tail. There are still many other different animal words with similar cultural connotations but completely different in ways of expressing between English and Chinese, such as: 落湯雞(a drowned rat), 膽小如鼠(as timid

38、as a rabbit or chicken hearted), 害群之馬(black sheep), 牛飲(drink like a fish), 過著牛馬般的生活(lead a dogs life). 3.3 Animal Words with the Rich Connotations in Chinese, but Vacant in English There are a group of cultural connotations of animal words only exists in Chinese, which is easily understood by Chines

39、e people, such as: dragon (龍), crane (鶴) and mandarin duck (鴛鴦).To Chinese, dragon (龍) is something sacred and has been regarded as the ancestor of the Chinese nation. Thats why the Chinese call themselves 龍的傳人(descendant of the dragon). According to the Oxford Intermediate Learners English Chinese

40、Dictionary, the definition of dragon is “an imaginary animal with wings which can breathe out fire 3. But in the mind of English speaking people, the dragon is related to the evil monster. In Chinese “鶴(crane) is the symbol of longevity. For this reason, in some paintings, the crane and pine tree ar

41、e often appeared together with the motto “松鶴延年, which means sturdiness and long life. For instance, “鶴發(fā) (cranes hair) means gray hair of the old. “鶴發(fā)童顏 refers to the elderly but keeps healthy, and “閑云野鶴 means to live a free life. In the ancient Chinese poetry “?詩?曰，鶴鳴九天，聲聞蓋于天 . Here crane is the ima

42、ge of freedom and pureness. Mandarin ducks(鴛鴦) in Chinese is the love birds. People believed that a devoted couple could turn into a pair of mandarin ducks or butterflies after death, and the belief gave rise to a custom: people decorate a mandarin duck painting in the meticulous style for their weddings, and a girl may give her lover a cloth bag with a pair of embroidered mandarin ducks on it. But it has no symbolic meaning at all to a Westerner.Chapter 4ConclusionThis thesis makes a comparative study of cultural connotations between English and Chinese animal words. Through com