A Contrast Study on Cultural Connotation of Chinese and English Colorful Words 英语论文.docVIP

A Contrast Study on Cultural Connotation of Chinese and English Colorful Words ? 1. Introduction Colorful field is an important field for human to recognize the world. Besides their physical intrinsic qualities, various colors contain different cultural connotations. ? 2. Nations in the world have some common points on natural colors For the effect of generality and permeation between cultures, nations in the world often endow a certain color with a same symbolized meaning. Generally speaking, red is an ardent color, meaning joy and happiness; green is called “the color of life ”, showing the vitality of youth and vigorous life; white is clean and elegant, with the meaning of being pure ,simple, and natural; blue, however, is peaceful and quiet, containing a profound implication and often make people carefree and pleasant. Another example is the flag of international Olympics. There are six different colors on the flag. The bottom color is white, symbolizing the pure friendship and straightforward competition between nations. Five colorful rings link with each other in the center: the blue one stand for Europe, yellow for Asia, black, Africa, green, Oceania, and red for America（张安德，2002:86）#. Linking with each other symbolizes the unity of five continents. This flag has been used for more than 90 years; its profound implication has been understood and widely accepted by people of different countries. ? 3. A contrast study on cultural connotation between Chinese and English colorful words with examples However, even though Chinese and English nations have a nearly same understanding to natural colors, their distinguished cultural backgrounds cause them to have different feeling about the associative meaning, implication, and allusion of colors. There are so many factors: custom, geographical condition, way of thinking, religious belief, and national psychology, as well as the difference of language expression（金惠康,2002:34）. People have different emotion to color, i