内容提要：文化限制了动物词的意义演变，而动物词的文化意义又反射出了丰富的文化内容。由于不同的文化内容、文化传统和文化心理，英汉文化动物词意义上存在着较大差异，容易导致理解和表达上的错误。本文试图就“中英文中动物词的文化内涵”进行对比分析，并探索造成汉英文化动物词不同数量与比例的原因，并从下述三个方面进行并给出具体对比范例： 英语有文化意义汉语却空缺的动物词，汉语有文化意义英语却空缺的动物词，英汉都有文化意义的动物词。在此基础上，本文还试图通过揭示文化内涵差异，探索其对文化教学的指导意义。 关键词：动物词汇；文化内涵；对比研究；范例；英语文化教学
Abstract: Culture constrains the evolution of the connotation of animal words, while the cultural connotations of animal words reflect a country’s rich culture. Because of the distinct cultural content, cultural traditions and cultural psychology, the cultural connotations of many animal words in Chinese differ greatly from those in English, which is likely to cause misunderstandings and wrong means of expression. This thesis intends to compare and analyze the cultural connotations of animal words between Chinese and English, and explore the causes contributing to the two countries’ different total number and their percentage of animal words. Then, the author gives some specific examples from the following three aspects: no culture-loaded equivalents in the English language, no culture-loaded equivalents in the Chinese language, culture-loaded equivalents in the Chinese Language and the English language, but with distinct cultural connotations. On this basis, this paper aims at exploring its significance to cultural teaching by revealing cultural differences. Key words: animal words; cultural connotations; contrastive study; examples; cultural teaching
Language and culture are inextricably linked with each other. On the one hand, language is often considered as the carrier of culture because it reflects culture. On the other hand, culture also influences and shapes language. If we don’t have enough cultural knowledge, we can’t understand and use language correctly. Word is the most active and sensitive factor of a language. Animal word is a very significant part of it. All animals are human beings’ intimate friends and neighbors. Our forefathers named them in their own languages and made them lexically colorful and semantically vivid. As two of the mostly used languages across the world, both Chinese and English are abundant with animal words. According to Dai Weidong (2013), each animal word as a linguistic sign may simultaneously have a denotative, connotative, or iconic meanings. All these types of meanings are associated with cultural encoding or associations. In addition, almost all the denotations of the same animal words in these two languages make the same sense. However, their cultural connotations may differ immensely. So, it’s necessary to make a contrastive analysis on the semantic differences between the culture-loaded animal words of the two cultures, which helps us speak and act well in cross-cultural communication. So far, there has not been a systematic and detailed work on the connotations of animal words between English and Chinese, especially from the research perspective of the contrastive study of cultural connotations. And suggestions from the perspective of culture are not adequate or sufficient, though some short articles and thesis can be seen in some journals or on the Internet. The thesis intends to make a contrastive analysis on the cultural connotations of animal words between English and Chinese. It also mentions some suggestions on cultural teaching exemplified by some animal words, idioms, and fables in both English and Chinese. |
