英语基本颜色词的隐喻研究.doc

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1、 ）题目：英语基本颜色词的隐喻研究A Metaphorical Study on the English Basic Color Terms摘要【摘要】 隐喻是词义的主要来源。颜色词中蕴含了很多隐喻含义。本文主要研究英语基本颜色词的隐喻。本文在隐喻投射理论的框架下，借助“黑”，“白”，“红”三个英语基本颜色词作为研究对象就颜色词隐喻根据以及隐喻机制之间的关系等两个方面展开研究。研究发现英语基本颜色词的隐喻机制主要有三种，分别是从具体源域投射到抽象目的域，从具体源域投射到具体目的域以及从抽象源域投射到抽象目的域。同时，本文还发现构词结构相似的颜色词具有相似的隐喻机制，构词结构相似而颜色词词义相反

2、的词，隐喻含义相反。【关键词】基本颜色词；隐喻； 隐喻机制A Metaphorical Study on the English Basic Color TermsAbstract【ABSTRACT】Metaphor is the main way to develop new meanings of words. English basic color terms embody various metaphorical meaning. So this thesis studies metaphors of English basic color terms. Based on the th

3、eory of metaphorical mappings, this thesis cites black, white and red as examples to analyze the groundings of metaphors and metaphorical mechanisms of basic color terms. In terms of physical and emotional experiences, metaphorical mechanisms of English basic color terms are classified into three ty

4、pes: 1) mappings between concrete source domains and abstract target domains; 2) mappings between concrete source domains and concrete target domains; 3) mappings between abstract source domains and abstract target domains. Besides, this thesis also finds color terms in similar structures share simi

5、lar metaphorical mechanisms and phrases with opposite color terms have opposite metaphorical meanings.【KEYWORDS】English basic color terms; metaphor; metaphorical mechanismsContents诚 信 承 诺I摘要IIA Metaphorical Study on the English Basic Color TermsIIIAbstractIIIContentsIV1Introduction11.1Background & S

6、ignificance11.2Theoretic Framework11.3Subject & Data Collection22Literature Review32.1Previous Studies on Color Terms in Foreign Countries32.2Previous Studies on Color Terms in China33Metaphors of English Color Terms53.1Metaphors Based on Physical Experiences53.2Metaphors based on Emotional Experien

7、ces94Implication and Conclusion134.1Implication134.2Conclusion14References15Acknowledgements161 Introduction1.1 Background & SignificanceThe subject of color terms has attracted many researches in many fields. On the one hand, it directly reflects different cognitions and cultures with different lan

8、guages; on the other hand, it has a practical meaning for understanding and translation of cultures (Xie Haipin & Zhang Lipin, 2004). The research areas of color terms include philosophy, linguistics, anthology, cognitive, psychology, biology, ethnology and so on. Based on linguistics, there are two

9、 research lines: one is about cognitive psychology which is color codabiltity and development of color terms; the other is on the perspective of applied linguistics covering translation, cross-cultural communication, linguistic education and dictionary compilation. Yet, this thesis focuses on metaph

10、or of color terms. According to CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure), from 1979 to 2008, there are 52 items with the key words of “basic color terms”. There are 28 essays discussing comparisons between Chinese and English color terms in terms of translation, culture, semantics and so on. 1

11、6 essays study the basic color terms of other languages, like Chinese, Japanese, Vietnam and so on. One is about the color terms learning of deaf mute children. The rest of the essays focus on English basic color terms from the respect of trade English, translation and development. By the above mate

12、rials, we can find that few people investigate the metaphor of basic color terms. So this thesis will study on this aspect how metaphorical mechanisms work on English color terms. It will enrich linguistic research and benefit linguistic studies that make people better understand metaphors of color

13、terms. On the one hand, they can analogize unknown meaning of other words by applying the rules; on the other hand, people can predict the meaning of some color terms because the different color terms also have inner connection. 1.2 Theoretic Framework Among theories of metaphor, metaphorical mechan

14、ism is the most attractive subject for the reason that it is an essence of metaphor. By looking into metaphorical mechanism, people will better understand metaphor, like its essence, functions, ect (Shu Dingfang 2000: 152). Metaphorical mechanism, for short, is to study how to create metaphorical me

15、aning. According to Lakoff and Johnsons book Metaphors We Live By (1980:5), the essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another. Therefore, there is a set of systematic correspondences between the source and the target in the sense that constituent concept

16、ual elements of concept B correspond to constituent elements of concept A. Technically, these conceptual correspondences are often referred to as mappings (Zoltn Kveces, 2002). The two concepts (A and B) may be a concrete entity and an abstract concept. There are four types of mappings. Firstly, a c

17、oncrete entity project to an abstract concept. Secondly, a concrete entity projects to another concrete entity. Thirdly, an abstract concept projects to another abstract concept. Fourthly, an abstract concept projects to a concept entity (Lin Bo & Wang Wenbin 2003).1.3 Subject & Data Collection As a

18、 matter of fact, color terms can be divided into two types: one is basic color terms which are frequently used, like black, blue; another is specific color terms which origins from concrete or natural phenomenon, like raven, violet (Bai Zhimin & Zhu Chengpeng, 1992). As for English basic color terms

19、, they have already reached a common view, they are white, black, red, green, yellow, blue, brown, purple, pink, orange, and grey (Berlin & Kay 1969). This thesis would cite the first three color terms as examples and try to find their common metaphorical mechanisms. They are black, white and red. T

20、his thesis will divide metaphorical mechanisms in terms of experiences. The data of English basic color terms have collected from internet and Oxford Advanced Learners English Chinese Dictionary.2 Literature ReviewColor can be seen everywhere. It is a natural phenomenon that every nation acknowledge

21、s them and gives different meaning to color with its cultural features. It is said that there are 4000 kinds of color in the world. But as a matter of fact, it is a continuity of color which is difficult to distinguish the line for red or orange, etc. Though color is an abstract concept, it is named

22、 it is language, so color becomes concerted and dependent from each other (Yan Xinxia, 2003). 2.1 Previous Studies on Color Terms in Foreign CountriesWith the development of human civilization, color research also expands step by step. In the 17th century, the improvement of natural science promoted

23、 the color research in the aspect of physics and optics; in the 18th century, the boom of philosophy initiated aesthetic studies of color; in the 19th century, the rise of cultural anthropology laid foundation for cross-cultural of color studies. By the 20th century, linguists joined in and made a l

24、ot of contributions (Yang Youlin, 2003). So now the areas of color terms touch upon philosophy, linguistics, anthropology, cognitive psychology, biology, ethnology and so on.The color study of science is begun by Newton. He proved the existence of the miscellaneous colors with the help of the prism.

25、 It helps to further development of the cognitive linguistic interpretation of color terms (Xu Yanli 2006). Later people were interested in the numbers of color terms in different cultures. Most people consider the more advanced civilization would have more color terms than backward one. As a result

26、 of linguistic studies on color terms, Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis advanced that the natural linguistic system can affect peoples world view. This Hypothesis also proved that the number of color terms was influenced by culture which determined their different semantic. It was not challenged until at the

27、end of the 1960s. In 1969, an ethnographer, Brent Berlin and a linguistic Paul Kay published an influential book Basic Color Terms: Their Universality and Evolution which concluded eleven basic color terms in the world.2.2 Previous Studies on Color Terms in ChinaIn China, studies on color terms are

28、not as fast as western countries. But Chinese scholars have been working hard on this issue and have achieved many conspicuous results. Most essays study basic color terms on the perspective of contrastive research between English and Chinese. Some discuss the comparisons of different color terms in

29、 terms of cultural impact. Such as Cultural Information of Color Lexicon in Chinese and English was proposed by Zhang Yan (2004). She found that in different cultural backgrounds, the basic color terms matching other phrases may be different in associative meaning. Some would prefer to study transla

30、tion of basic color terms. The number of English-Chinese color terms is approximately the same, but they belong to different language system with different culture system, so they have different connotations. Like Na Chengcang (2005) had Tentative Study on Causes of Cultural Inequality in English an

31、d Chinese Color words and Their Translation Techniques, and he found ways for translation: adding color terms, abandoning color terms, and substituting color terms. Some study on the cognitive approach. The metaphor is an important tool for human beings to understand the world. Many scholars would i

32、nvestigate into metaphorical theory. For example, Yu Yupings (2007) A Cognitive Approach to Studying English Chinese Basic Color Terms explains the cognitive prototypes of colors from the perception of people s vision, the living environment and the social culture. Moreover, it does some detailed re

33、search into metaphor which color terms may produce in Chinese and English. However, few people focus on the English basic color terms. In CNKI, only three papers research on this respect. One is interpreted the basic color terms development written by B. Berlin & P. Kay: Basic Color Terms: Their Uni

34、versality and Evolution. Another is On the Morphological Structure and Semantic Features of the Basic Color Words by Niu Xiaoling (2000). This article gives an introduction of color terms and analysis of their morphological structure and semantic features in detail. She concludes that color terms ca

35、n be used to symbolize the abstract things, express people s emotions and sentiments and stand for the characteristics of people and things. The third thesis is Study on Basic Color Terms by Yuan Mingzhong (2002). This paper begins with the fundamental research on color terms such as color categoriz

36、ation, relations between color meanings and scientific knowledge; then focuses on the detailed analysis of semantic content of basic color terms; and discusses the semantic change of color terms in “colorful” expression; finally finds out sex-related difference in color vocabulary. Some of theses st

37、udy on one specific color term. Most researchers will focus on one or two color terms in detail by comparing the similarities and differences between English and Chinese. For instance, Analyzing Semantics of the Basic Color “White” in Chinese and English from the Perspective of Cognitive Linguistics

38、 studied by Zhu Zhimin and Zhang Zhe (2008). They investigate “white” from the perspective of cognitive linguistics and applying prototype theory, the theory of metaphor and metonymy. Based on the previous researches, this thesis would analyze the metaphorical mechanisms of basic color terms in deta

39、il, and try to find rules beneath various meaning of color terms.3 Metaphors of English Color Terms According to the lecture by Paul Kay, professor Lakoff finds out that color use we can see is not an objective property, but an interactive property which is based on human physiology. In general, col

40、or is not just a matter of wavelengths that are reflected. Color has to do with the way that the wavelengths hitting our color cones and the neural circuity in our eyes give rise to an experience that we internally have. For example, it is not true that grass is green in itself. The greenness has to

41、 do with the relation between us and the world. Namely, color is the result of interaction between human beings and the objective world. On the other hand, Eleaner Rosch has concluded that basic level categories are defined by our bodily interactions with the world. That is the ability to have gesta

42、lt perception, from a mental image and interact physically with our body. They are interactive categories and as such, the basic level which is cognitively real and part of our mental structure, is not real in the world. And it means that semantics has to be embodied, just as we see in the case of c

43、olor (Lakoff, 2007). In other words, color semantics are closely related to human physiology and human physical and mental experiences. Through human cognitive means (such as metaphor, or metonymy), word meanings would develop from its primary meaning to many other meanings. Generally speaking, boun

44、dless meanings of words are the outcome of metaphor (Zhao Yanfang 2000). And experiences with physical and emotional concepts provide the basis for metaphor and metonymy. In other words, the developments of color semantics largely depend on metaphor in terms of human physical and emotional experienc

45、es. As a matter of fact, by looking into color meanings which are listed in the dictionary, metaphors can be found everywhere. The ways of metaphorical mechanisms can be divided into three kinds in terms of physical and emotional experiences. Besides, a metaphor is composed of a set of mappings betw

46、een the source and the target domain. And only a part of concept B is mapped onto target A and only a part of target A is involved in the mappings from B (Zoltn Kveces, 2002: 79). 3.1 Metaphors Based on Physical ExperiencesThe classification of the first type of metaphor is based on target domain wh

47、ich is projected to physical entities or physiological appearance. Generally speaking, these three color terms black, white and red can be classified into two kinds in terms of different grounds of color metaphors in application.Table 1: Mapping from concrete source domain to abstract target domainC

48、olor Target domains ExamplesBlackThe surface of entities is in black1. My whole body was black and blue after I fell down. 2. The company has managed to stay in the black for the year ending December 31. WhiteThe surface of entities is in white3. He is very white-livered.4. He is a white feature. RedThe surface of entities is in red5. We took the red-eye to Boston.6. The company has plunged $37 Million into the red. Table 1 show