论中英文中动物词汇的文化差异

英语词汇学期末论文

论中英文中动物词汇的文化差异The Cultural Differences of Animal Words in English and Chinese

ABSTRACT

Language is the crystallization of human cultural development contains a nation's social consciousness, history, culture, customs and other social characteristics. Different cultural backgrounds and cultural traditions, making the different way of thinking, values, codes of conduct, and lifestyle between Chinese and English. There is much more obvious in animal words. Due to the differences in culture, the two languages, English and Chinese, the cultural connotation and significance given the same kind of animal is generally different. From a linguistic point of view, by contrast of Animal Words in English and Chinese to reveal the cultural differences.

KEY WORDS: cultural differences, language

中文摘要

语言是人类文化发展的结晶，蕴含着一个民族的社会意识、历史文化、风俗习惯等各方面的社会特征。不同的文化背景和文化传统，使中西方的思维方式、价值观念、行为准则和生活方式等方面也存有一定的文化差异，在中西方的动物词汇中体现得尤为明显。由于中西方文化的差异，英汉两种语言赋予同一种动物的文化内涵和意义一般是不同的。本文从语言学的角度，对比英汉语言中的动物词汇，以揭示文化差异。

关键词：文化差异、语言

Contents

I Introduction (5)

II The Cultural Meaning of Animal Words in Chinese and English (5)

2.1 The Same Animal Words with Commendatory Meaning in Chinese

but Derogatory in English (6)

2.2 The Same Animal Words with Meaning in Chinese but

Commendatory Meaning in English (6)

III Reasons for These Differences (6)

3.1 Religious Influences (7)

3.2 Fables (7)

3.3 Customs and Living Habits (8)

IV Conclusion (8)

I Introduction

Animals play a very important role in the lives of human beings. Every kind of animal has their own characteristics, which endow them with many cultural meanings. Language is an essential element of one concrete culture of a people, and it influences culture deeply. Animal words ,as an essential aspect of language also influence culture. At the same time , culture also influences language and animal words. Along with the development of human society , animals in different peoples own different cultural meanings by different prospect of views according to their characteristics, their stories, and their relation with human beings, etc. This phenomenon can be found in Chinese and English easily. China, which has a long history of 5000 years, possesses rich culture which influences Chinese language and the animal words. In Chinese , many animal words have their own cultural meanings and these meanings are used frequently in the lives of Chinese people. What will reflect in people’s mind as soon as mentioning one concrete animal is not only the image of that animal, but also its cultural meaning. English, which is most widely spoken in the world, is also influenced by the culture of English-speaking countries. So animal words also load as