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Abstract:The present papers in this field attempts to, through examples, make a comparative study of similarity and difference of words about animals. The essay is under the guidance of G.Leech’s types of meaning:conceptual meaning, connative meaning, social meaning, affective meaning, reflected meaning, collocative meaning, and thematic meaning. From the second to the sixth meaning, it is known for associative meaning. This paper concludes two kinds of meaning about animal words both in Chinese and English. This essay will try to discuss the cultural connotations of words about animals both in English and Chinese from the following aspects: the same words about animals with the same cultural meanings; the different words about animals with same cultural meanings; the same words about animals with different cultural meanings.
Key words:types of meaning;words about animals;conceptual meaning; associative meaning
中图分类号:H31文献标识码:A文章编号:1812-2485(2009)03-0043-009
Chapter 1 Introduction
As two of the most widely used languages, both Chinese and English are full of words about animals. According to Guo(郭著章), words about animals consist of names of animals and phrases or idioms involving animal names. It is estimated that there are as many as about 649 words about animals in these two languages. The tendency to use words about animals widely has affected all aspects of human society.As far as words about animals are concerned, it is well known that cultural universals do exist between different nations. However, different nations do not treat
all the words about animals in the same way. Some animals, such as lambs, foxes,pigs, etc, have exactly similar associative meanings in both cultures. Some animals like petrel, hat, dragon, owl, so on and so forth, stand for absolutely different images. Owing to different natural surroundings, there is exclusiveness of animals existing in either the Orient or the Occident, such as silkworm, tortoise, crane, and phoenix and so on. With the deepening of intercultural communication between China and the western world, it has been realized that words about animals are likely to form an area in which misunderstanding in intercultural communication seems inevitable because of the diversities of their cultural connotation and that the instruction of their connotative meaning cannot be neglected.
This thesis will try to analysis systematically their similarity and differences meanings in both languages. Through careful illustrations, we can understand each other better.
Chapter 2 Comparison Between Words About Animals
Many animals become a kind of symbolism in people’s thinking and this symbolism is unavoidably reflected in the language. However, because of different geographic environments, traditional habits and ways of perception, the conceptual and associative meaning of words about animals are similarly or different.
2.1 Same Conceptual Meaning, Same Associative Meaning
People of different race live in the same world. So it is possible for them to share similar experiences. Some words about animals gradually get the same associative meaning both in Chinese and English. For example, a parrot, we get the impression of “verbosity and mockery”. Wolf ,the word is regarded as a symbol of “cruelty and ferocity”. “Grace” is the most obvious feature of a swan. The symbolism of pig is “dirtiness and gluttony”. Now let’s take fox and pig for example to see why and how they have the same associative in both languages.
In English, a pig is often used to refer to a person who eats too much, or who is dirty or ugly in manner, or refuses to consider others. The following examples can best explain the meaning.
make a pig of oneself
teach a pig to play on a flute
He is a pig about money
The word “pig” has the same connotation in Chinese. “肥猪”(a fat pig) is equal to greedy. “猪头猪脑”(pig porcine brain)is figuratively used to stand for stupid. “猪狗不如”( less than a pig or a dog)indicated some one is rude.
Comparing semantic idea of pig, we can come to the conclusion that the word “pig” has the same connotative meaning in Chinese and English. It is safe to take this animal as someone who is dirty, stupid greedy.
The word fox has the following denotations as a wild mammal which has a pointed face and ears, a wide furry tail and often reddish-brown fur. Foxes are traditionally thought to be clever and good at deceiving people. We can see how cunning this animal is from the following proverbs.
1. Don’t trust that man; he’s a sly old fox
2. When the fox preaches, and then you take care of your geese.
3. When the fox says he’s vegetarian, it’s time for the hen to look out.
The word “fox” has the same connotation in China. Fox is suspicious. When it swims across the Bing River, it stops now and then and listens to make sure it is safe. So a suspicious person can be called foxy. Consequently “狐疑不决”(foxy and undetermined) means being indecisive in one’s mind like a fox. So “狐狸”(fox) in Chinese refers to a cunning and suspicious person.
It is safe to draw the conclusion that the animal fox has the same cultural connotation both in Chinese and in English. It has the symbolism of “cunning and artifice”. Though people of different races may have different customs and ways of perception, it does not follow that they will never share the same understanding about the same entity. In addition, the following are some other animals, which share the same symbolic meaning in Chinese and English:
cock: vigilance and arrant insolence
lamb: innocence and self-sacrifice
ox: patience and strength
2.2 Different Conceptual Meaning, Same Associative Meaning
On the other hand, because people come from different races, they may have the same impression of different words about animals. That is to say, one animal in one language has the same or similar symbolism as a different animal does in another language. Let’s take the word “ox” and “horse” and the word “tiger” and “lion” for examples.
The word “ox” in Chinese figuratively refers to a person who is industry, and has nearly the same meaning as the word “horse” in English. We may take the following into account so as to having a better understanding of these words.
牛头不对马嘴-horses’ jaws don’t match cows’ heads
老黄牛-a willing horse
健壮如牛-as strong as a horse
像老黄牛那样干活-work like a horse
For many centuries “tiger” has been a symbol of nobleness and courage in Chinese which the lion in English has the same meaning. The following are examples.
家有母老虎-a lioness at home.
深入虎穴-beard the lion in his den
狐假虎威-donkey in the lion’s hide
老虎屁股摸不得-one should not twist the lion’s tail
On the basis of the above detailed semantic comparison of the words in both languages, we can see that there is similar meaning between two different words about animal. Moreover, several animals have the symbolism of “stupidity” and “folly’, such as ass, goose, ostrich, sheep, toad, cuckoo, etc. Animal having the meaning of ”timidity“ are chicken, pigeons, rabbits, mouse, turtle. The following animals have similar associative meanings.
2.3 Same Conceptual Meaning, Different Associative Meaning
Owing to different social cultures, historical background and geographic condition, human beings have different views towards words about animals.One animal in one language may have a kind of very positive symbol, while in another language very negative. So it is quiet common that the same words about animals refer to different even contrasting symbolism. Here are typical words about animals which may help us to understand.
2.3.1 Commendatory Meanings
Dragon is the symbol of China. Chinese often consider themselves as ”the descendants of the dragon“. To Chinese, the dragon is a sacred animal and worshipped everywhere. It represents power, strength an good fortune. There are so man phrases about dragon in Chinese, which reflect the characteristics. ”望子成龙“(long to see one’s son become a dragon), that is, be successful.” “人中之龙” (dragon among men) means a famous man.
On the contrary,in Western people’s minds, the dragon is some evil monster that can spit fire and sometimes possesses three to nine heads. It represents fierce, mysterious, sacristy and ferocious. So, the Bible depicts Satan as the great dragon who is called devil. If a lady is a regarded as a dragon, it means the lady is fierce, tough and ugly.
In Chinese, a bat is the symbol of health, luckiness and happiness, just because 蝠(bat)and 福(happiness) have similar pronunciation. Especially, red bat is the premonition of good luck. But in western countries, bat has connection with bad evil and darkness. It is a blind, ugly and ferocious creature. Many idioms can explain its position in western people’s eyes, such as, ‘as blind as a bat’, ‘vampire bat’, ‘have bats in the belfry’, ‘crazy as a bat’, etc. We must bear in mind that every culture has its individuality. Therefore, different symbol and cultural connotation of the same animal word in different cultures seem to be inevitable.
2.3.2 Derogatory Meanings
The English and Chinese people have different attitudes towards the same animals, because the two nations have their particular cultures. Thus, it is common that identical words about animal possess remarkable cultural difference in English and Chinese. Let us take “dog” and “owl” for example. Both the Chinese people and the English people share the custom of keeping pets, although different peoples do not often treat their pets in the same way. Traditionally, in lots of Chinese families, dogs play the role of guarding the door for their masters. The English people, however, tend to treat their pets as contributing members of emotional companionship to their families, reliable friends and faithful soldiers of theirs, even one of their kids. Those dog-keepers cherish a deep love for their pet dogs. Generally speaking, the Chinese look down upon this humble animal. They prefer to use the word “dog’ to describe something bad and compare bad persons to dogs. Such as ”狗屁不通“(unreadable rubbish ) ”狗血喷人“(let loose a stream of abuse against sb.)”狗嘴里吐不出象牙( a filthy mouth can’t sputter decent language).
The British people have developed a good or neutral attitude toward the animal. They take dogs as man’s loyal friends and they love dog very much. Firstly, dog is popular in English life. From the following examples quoted from Gao, we can see how popular dog has been in English life.
love me, love my dog
Every dog has its day
as faithful as a dog
Moreover, the word “dog” is neutral in its associative in the English language. When a people cannot have or enjoy something, and will not let anybody else do so, we say he is “acting like the dog in the manger”. “Leading a dog’s life” means having an unhappy life with many troubles. “Dog’s life” means a people is poor. We often use the phrase to “be dog-tired” to describe people who are exhausted or run down. However, with further inter-cultural communication, some popular English expression concluding dog no longer arouses ill feeling among Chinese.
The owl in Chinese refers to evil omen and darkness.It has connection with death, because its voice is chilly, grieved and this animal often activities in night. So in Chinese, an expression about “owl” like “夜猫子进宅,无事不来”(an owl visiting a home portends misfortune in that house)“ can explain the symbol. Chinese people are afraid of seeing it and are not willing to hear its voice. But in English, this animal represents wisdom. If one was regarded as owlish, it may refer this people is wise, earnest and serious. ”As wise as an owl“ is a best phrase to illustrate the bird as a symbol of wisdom.
From what has been mentioned, we can see that there are considerable difference associative meanings in the same words about animal.
Since language is a part of culture, it reflects the cultural feature of a nation. It is clear that cultural connotations of words about animals are different between English and Chinese due to the different ways of understanding and observation of the world. Only if we pay more attention to the differences of associative meanings can we avoid the misunderstanding in the communication. From comparing those words, we can come to the conclusion that the same words about animals have peculiar meaning either in Chinese or in English.
Chapter 3 Conclusion
Words about animals are an important component part of almost all the human languages. They are the embellishment of national features and colors. The paper summarize their similarities and differences and their impact on intercultural communication, for the aim of making more people learn about the associative meaning of words about animal, and decreasing people’s confusion when communicating with each other.
References:
[1]Leech, G. Semantics [M].上海:上海外语教育出社.1985
[2]Nida, Eugene A. Language Culture and Translating [M].上海:上海外语教育出社,1993
[3]陈德彰.英语翻译入门[M].北京:外语教学与研究,2005
[4]高克毅.最新通俗美语词典[M].北京:北京大学出版社,2006
Key words:types of meaning;words about animals;conceptual meaning; associative meaning
中图分类号:H31文献标识码:A文章编号:1812-2485(2009)03-0043-009
Chapter 1 Introduction
As two of the most widely used languages, both Chinese and English are full of words about animals. According to Guo(郭著章), words about animals consist of names of animals and phrases or idioms involving animal names. It is estimated that there are as many as about 649 words about animals in these two languages. The tendency to use words about animals widely has affected all aspects of human society.As far as words about animals are concerned, it is well known that cultural universals do exist between different nations. However, different nations do not treat
all the words about animals in the same way. Some animals, such as lambs, foxes,pigs, etc, have exactly similar associative meanings in both cultures. Some animals like petrel, hat, dragon, owl, so on and so forth, stand for absolutely different images. Owing to different natural surroundings, there is exclusiveness of animals existing in either the Orient or the Occident, such as silkworm, tortoise, crane, and phoenix and so on. With the deepening of intercultural communication between China and the western world, it has been realized that words about animals are likely to form an area in which misunderstanding in intercultural communication seems inevitable because of the diversities of their cultural connotation and that the instruction of their connotative meaning cannot be neglected.
This thesis will try to analysis systematically their similarity and differences meanings in both languages. Through careful illustrations, we can understand each other better.
Chapter 2 Comparison Between Words About Animals
Many animals become a kind of symbolism in people’s thinking and this symbolism is unavoidably reflected in the language. However, because of different geographic environments, traditional habits and ways of perception, the conceptual and associative meaning of words about animals are similarly or different.
2.1 Same Conceptual Meaning, Same Associative Meaning
People of different race live in the same world. So it is possible for them to share similar experiences. Some words about animals gradually get the same associative meaning both in Chinese and English. For example, a parrot, we get the impression of “verbosity and mockery”. Wolf ,the word is regarded as a symbol of “cruelty and ferocity”. “Grace” is the most obvious feature of a swan. The symbolism of pig is “dirtiness and gluttony”. Now let’s take fox and pig for example to see why and how they have the same associative in both languages.
In English, a pig is often used to refer to a person who eats too much, or who is dirty or ugly in manner, or refuses to consider others. The following examples can best explain the meaning.
make a pig of oneself
teach a pig to play on a flute
He is a pig about money
The word “pig” has the same connotation in Chinese. “肥猪”(a fat pig) is equal to greedy. “猪头猪脑”(pig porcine brain)is figuratively used to stand for stupid. “猪狗不如”( less than a pig or a dog)indicated some one is rude.
Comparing semantic idea of pig, we can come to the conclusion that the word “pig” has the same connotative meaning in Chinese and English. It is safe to take this animal as someone who is dirty, stupid greedy.
The word fox has the following denotations as a wild mammal which has a pointed face and ears, a wide furry tail and often reddish-brown fur. Foxes are traditionally thought to be clever and good at deceiving people. We can see how cunning this animal is from the following proverbs.
1. Don’t trust that man; he’s a sly old fox
2. When the fox preaches, and then you take care of your geese.
3. When the fox says he’s vegetarian, it’s time for the hen to look out.
The word “fox” has the same connotation in China. Fox is suspicious. When it swims across the Bing River, it stops now and then and listens to make sure it is safe. So a suspicious person can be called foxy. Consequently “狐疑不决”(foxy and undetermined) means being indecisive in one’s mind like a fox. So “狐狸”(fox) in Chinese refers to a cunning and suspicious person.
It is safe to draw the conclusion that the animal fox has the same cultural connotation both in Chinese and in English. It has the symbolism of “cunning and artifice”. Though people of different races may have different customs and ways of perception, it does not follow that they will never share the same understanding about the same entity. In addition, the following are some other animals, which share the same symbolic meaning in Chinese and English:
cock: vigilance and arrant insolence
lamb: innocence and self-sacrifice
ox: patience and strength
2.2 Different Conceptual Meaning, Same Associative Meaning
On the other hand, because people come from different races, they may have the same impression of different words about animals. That is to say, one animal in one language has the same or similar symbolism as a different animal does in another language. Let’s take the word “ox” and “horse” and the word “tiger” and “lion” for examples.
The word “ox” in Chinese figuratively refers to a person who is industry, and has nearly the same meaning as the word “horse” in English. We may take the following into account so as to having a better understanding of these words.
牛头不对马嘴-horses’ jaws don’t match cows’ heads
老黄牛-a willing horse
健壮如牛-as strong as a horse
像老黄牛那样干活-work like a horse
For many centuries “tiger” has been a symbol of nobleness and courage in Chinese which the lion in English has the same meaning. The following are examples.
家有母老虎-a lioness at home.
深入虎穴-beard the lion in his den
狐假虎威-donkey in the lion’s hide
老虎屁股摸不得-one should not twist the lion’s tail
On the basis of the above detailed semantic comparison of the words in both languages, we can see that there is similar meaning between two different words about animal. Moreover, several animals have the symbolism of “stupidity” and “folly’, such as ass, goose, ostrich, sheep, toad, cuckoo, etc. Animal having the meaning of ”timidity“ are chicken, pigeons, rabbits, mouse, turtle. The following animals have similar associative meanings.
2.3 Same Conceptual Meaning, Different Associative Meaning
Owing to different social cultures, historical background and geographic condition, human beings have different views towards words about animals.One animal in one language may have a kind of very positive symbol, while in another language very negative. So it is quiet common that the same words about animals refer to different even contrasting symbolism. Here are typical words about animals which may help us to understand.
2.3.1 Commendatory Meanings
Dragon is the symbol of China. Chinese often consider themselves as ”the descendants of the dragon“. To Chinese, the dragon is a sacred animal and worshipped everywhere. It represents power, strength an good fortune. There are so man phrases about dragon in Chinese, which reflect the characteristics. ”望子成龙“(long to see one’s son become a dragon), that is, be successful.” “人中之龙” (dragon among men) means a famous man.
On the contrary,in Western people’s minds, the dragon is some evil monster that can spit fire and sometimes possesses three to nine heads. It represents fierce, mysterious, sacristy and ferocious. So, the Bible depicts Satan as the great dragon who is called devil. If a lady is a regarded as a dragon, it means the lady is fierce, tough and ugly.
In Chinese, a bat is the symbol of health, luckiness and happiness, just because 蝠(bat)and 福(happiness) have similar pronunciation. Especially, red bat is the premonition of good luck. But in western countries, bat has connection with bad evil and darkness. It is a blind, ugly and ferocious creature. Many idioms can explain its position in western people’s eyes, such as, ‘as blind as a bat’, ‘vampire bat’, ‘have bats in the belfry’, ‘crazy as a bat’, etc. We must bear in mind that every culture has its individuality. Therefore, different symbol and cultural connotation of the same animal word in different cultures seem to be inevitable.
2.3.2 Derogatory Meanings
The English and Chinese people have different attitudes towards the same animals, because the two nations have their particular cultures. Thus, it is common that identical words about animal possess remarkable cultural difference in English and Chinese. Let us take “dog” and “owl” for example. Both the Chinese people and the English people share the custom of keeping pets, although different peoples do not often treat their pets in the same way. Traditionally, in lots of Chinese families, dogs play the role of guarding the door for their masters. The English people, however, tend to treat their pets as contributing members of emotional companionship to their families, reliable friends and faithful soldiers of theirs, even one of their kids. Those dog-keepers cherish a deep love for their pet dogs. Generally speaking, the Chinese look down upon this humble animal. They prefer to use the word “dog’ to describe something bad and compare bad persons to dogs. Such as ”狗屁不通“(unreadable rubbish ) ”狗血喷人“(let loose a stream of abuse against sb.)”狗嘴里吐不出象牙( a filthy mouth can’t sputter decent language).
The British people have developed a good or neutral attitude toward the animal. They take dogs as man’s loyal friends and they love dog very much. Firstly, dog is popular in English life. From the following examples quoted from Gao, we can see how popular dog has been in English life.
love me, love my dog
Every dog has its day
as faithful as a dog
Moreover, the word “dog” is neutral in its associative in the English language. When a people cannot have or enjoy something, and will not let anybody else do so, we say he is “acting like the dog in the manger”. “Leading a dog’s life” means having an unhappy life with many troubles. “Dog’s life” means a people is poor. We often use the phrase to “be dog-tired” to describe people who are exhausted or run down. However, with further inter-cultural communication, some popular English expression concluding dog no longer arouses ill feeling among Chinese.
The owl in Chinese refers to evil omen and darkness.It has connection with death, because its voice is chilly, grieved and this animal often activities in night. So in Chinese, an expression about “owl” like “夜猫子进宅,无事不来”(an owl visiting a home portends misfortune in that house)“ can explain the symbol. Chinese people are afraid of seeing it and are not willing to hear its voice. But in English, this animal represents wisdom. If one was regarded as owlish, it may refer this people is wise, earnest and serious. ”As wise as an owl“ is a best phrase to illustrate the bird as a symbol of wisdom.
From what has been mentioned, we can see that there are considerable difference associative meanings in the same words about animal.
Since language is a part of culture, it reflects the cultural feature of a nation. It is clear that cultural connotations of words about animals are different between English and Chinese due to the different ways of understanding and observation of the world. Only if we pay more attention to the differences of associative meanings can we avoid the misunderstanding in the communication. From comparing those words, we can come to the conclusion that the same words about animals have peculiar meaning either in Chinese or in English.
Chapter 3 Conclusion
Words about animals are an important component part of almost all the human languages. They are the embellishment of national features and colors. The paper summarize their similarities and differences and their impact on intercultural communication, for the aim of making more people learn about the associative meaning of words about animal, and decreasing people’s confusion when communicating with each other.
References:
[1]Leech, G. Semantics [M].上海:上海外语教育出社.1985
[2]Nida, Eugene A. Language Culture and Translating [M].上海:上海外语教育出社,1993
[3]陈德彰.英语翻译入门[M].北京:外语教学与研究,2005
[4]高克毅.最新通俗美语词典[M].北京:北京大学出版社,2006