Cognitive Comparison and Study on English and Chinese Numerical Words
Abstract: This paper first explores the definition of culture, relationship of language and culture, and numbers and cultural connotations. It then makes a cognitive comparison and study on English and Chinese numerical words in the aspect of metaphor, expression method, expressive meaning and lexical gap in the process of translation and describes the relative cultural connotations and the national cultural psychologies. Due to these comparisons, this paper holds the opinion that English and Chinese have two similarities and two differences in the use of numerical words. In addition, because of the importance of translation in cross-cultural communications, we put forward three specific translation strategies for the usage of numerical words.
Key words: numerical words; cultural connotations; national cultural psychologies
Abstract iv
摘要 iv
Outline v
提纲 vi
1. Introduction 1
2. Language and Culture 1
2.1 Relationship of language and culture 1
2.2 Chinese and English languages with their Respective Cultures 2
3. Numbers and Cultural Connotations 2
3.1 Basic Elements of Numbers 2
3.2 Cultural Connotations of Numbers Related to Custom 2
3.3 Cultural Connotations of Numbers Related to Mythology 3
3.4 Cultural Connotations of Numbers Related to Religions 4
4. Comparison on Chinese and English Numerical Words 5
4.1 Comparison on national cultural psychologies in the usage of Chinese and English Numerical Words 5
4.2 Comparison on Metaphor of Chinese and English Numerical Words 6
4.2.1 Metaphor Similarity of Chinese and English Numerical Words 7
4.2.2 Metaphor Difference of Chinese and English Numerical Words 8
4.3 Comparison on Expressive Meaning of Chinese and English Numerical Words 9
4.3.1 Explicit meaning of Chinese and English Numerical Words 9
4.3.2 Implicit meaning of Chinese and English Numerical Words 9
4.4 Comparison on Lexical Gap in the Process of Translation 10
4.4.1 Lexical Gap in the English Culture in the process of translating Chinese into English 12
4.4.2 Lexical Gap in the Chinese Culture in the process of translating English into Chinese 13
5. Conclusion 13
Works Cited 15
