Culture and language are inseparably interwoven. Language is a vehicle that helps record and interpret culture; it’s through language that pieces of abstract impressions and conceptions in man’s mind can be reconstructed in concrete words. Only when words and phrases in a certain language are combined with some cultural elements could they cease to be dead symbols of meaning as what they are in the dictionary. Culture becomes alive by means of language. On the other hand, culture is more than the interrelationships and behavior patterns of mankind, in other words, culture is not only unique to human, but also something concerning animals. Humankind is not separate beings, for animals came before us, now surround us and will help us along into the future. They facilitate and add spice to human life. Animal terms, as one group of the most frequently used lexicons, carry some extended meanings more than what they denote on the surface, since with the elapse of time, human beings have tied these words with their habits, customs and society. This article will analyze several animal terms and the relevant expressions in terms of the Chinese and English cultures, histories, thinking models etc., and explore the possible reasons which can account for these differences.
Keywords：animal terms comparative analysis extended meaning culture
Abstract…………………………………………………………I
摘要……………………………………………………………II
1 Introduction………………………………………………… 1
2 The Comparative Analysis of Some Animal Terms ………. 2
2.1 Dragon….…………………………………………………..2
2.2 Cat ………….………………………………………………2
2.3 Goat (Sheep) ………………………….…………………….3
2.4 Rat (Mouse) ………………….……………………………5
2.5 Elephant…………..…………………………………………6
2.6 Raven (Crow) ……….………………………………………7
3 The Causes of Cultural Differences……..……………………9
3.1 Language Determinism………………………………………9
3.2 Lexical Gap and Cultural Gap………………………………..9
3.3Different Histories,Geographic Features and Mode of Production
……….…………………………………….... ………………. 10
3.4 Mythology, Religions and Customs………………………….11
3.5 Different Thinking Models and Aesthetic Judgements……….12
3.6 Associative Meaning and Semantic Change………………….13
4 The Significance of the Study……………………….. …….15
