Cultural Differences of Chinese and English Color Words
ABSTRACT
Language is a kind of social phenomenon and is the carrier of culture. Almost every language has color words, including Chinese and English. However, the words to describe colors differ from one language to another because of different customs, polities, religious beliefs etc. Different colors bring different symbolic meanings which have unique characteristics in each nation. As a result, it may lead to misunderstanding and even violate the taboos. The main purpose of this paper is to compare the differences between Chinese and English color words in terms of word building, history, politics, economy and daily usage to help people to have a better understanding of different cultures and to bridge the gap between different cultures in communication and to facilitate cultural exchange.
Keywords: color word culture differences politics history daily usage
1Introduction ……………………………………………………………………1
1.1 Purpose of writing this paper …………………………………………1
1.2 Definition of color, culture and their relationship …………………1
1.3 The importance of understanding color words ……………………2
2 The similarities between Chinese and English color words …4
2.1 word-building …………………………………………………………………4
2.1.1 Degree adjective +color word ………………………………………4
2.1.2 Color word + suffix ……………………………………………………5
2.1.3 Color word + color word ……………………………………………5
2.1.4 Something + color word ………………………………………………5
2.2 Color and Career …………………………………………………………5
2.2.1 Color words and career in western countries …………………5
2.2.2 Color words and career in China …………………………………6
3. Differences between English and Chinese color words …………7
3.1 Color words and history ………………………………………………7
3.2 Color words and politics …………………………………………………9
3.3 Color words and economy ………………………………………………9
3.4 Color words and daily usage ……………………………………………11
4. The common misunderstanding of color words ……………17
5. Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………19
References …………………………………………………………………………20
Acknowledgements …………………………………………………………21
