Ôèëîëîãè÷åñêèå íàóêè/9. Ýòíî-, ñîöèî- è ïñèõîëèãâèñòèêà
Ethnocultural associations of
red and white colours
in
English and Chinese idioms
The investigation of colour
terms treated as constituents of the ethnocultural
environment appears to be of paramount importance as it contributes to the
further development of the theory of intercultural communication.
Lexicographical material presented in different
types of dictionaries shows that colour terms can be
used as nouns and can also belong to the category of qualitative adjectives and
characterize a substance for colour.
In optics colour is
treated as a sensation arising from the operation of the sense of sight, using
the eye as an optical instrument [2, 479]. The interpretation of the sensation
by the mind results in our awareness of colour. The colour of objects arises because certain wavelengths of
white colour are reflected from the surface of the
object while other wavelengths are absorbed. In
general speech most objects are either white, black, or coloured. When white light is passed through a prism or a diffraction
grating a continuous spectrum is formed, in which the colours
change continuously from red, through orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo to
violet in the visible range [2, 480].
The semantic field of colour
terms incorporates a microsystem of the
above-mentioned basic colour terms which in their
turn serve as dominants for synonymic series displaying tints and shades
of basic colours.
The analysis of the relevant vocabulary entries,
i.e. colour terms, in English thesauruses [5] makes
it possible to distinguish two subsystems of the synonymic series depending on
the word-structure of a colour term. The first
subsystem is represented by monomorphic or root-words
while the second subsystem is represented by derivatives and compound words.
Thus for red the first subsystem is
illustrated by such examples as scarlet,
carmine, crimson, cerise, ruby, claret,
pink, damask, rose, etc.; among examples for the second subsystem one
should mention brick-red, red-gold,
coral-red, terra cotta, Chinese red, Morocco red, Tyrian
purple, old rose, etc.
The
results of investigations conducted by researchers working with different
languages have often indicated the presence of the connotational
component in the lexical meaning of colour terms [1; 4].
At the same time it has been overlooked that colour terms tend to acquire cultural connotations,
which involve different ethnocultural associations
manifested in enlarging the original scope of meaning, mainly in case they are used as integral parts of idioms, i.e. phraseological units [7, 100-104]. This fact is confirmed
even by the cursory analysis of idiomatic items with colour
element presented in phraseological dictionaries [3;
8; 7].
The frequency counts of English and Chinese
idioms with colour terms recorded in dictionaries
under analysis [3; 6; 8; 7] have yielded the following results: (1) mainly
basic colours are used as parts of idioms, (2) in
English a high percentage of occurrences with a wide range of cultural
connotations is typical both for red and white colours,
(3) in Chinese culture red colour also appears to be
the most representative and recurrent, moreover its connotations which are made
explicit in idioms suggest that it is a basic well-beloved colour,
while white colour is traditionally treated as its
opposite.
Accentuating the attention on English and
Chinese idioms with red and white colours, as the
object of the present investigation, has made it possible to distinguish two
types of the connotational component of the lexical
meaning of colour terms used in these idioms, namely:
common-core cultural connotations, which describe the same objects or phenomena
in the compared cultures in a more or less similar way, and language-specific
cultural connotations, which are inherent either in English or Chinese.
Common-core cultural connotations indicate the
presence of similarities of ethnocultural
associations of red and white in English and Chinese idioms and
can be traced to similar thinking and life-experience.
Red may signify ‘importance’. The English idiom a red-letter day means a day of special
importance, e.g. a celebration of a victory or receiving of a great honour. The phrase has originated from the custom of
recording saint’s days and holidays on calendars in red ink. The English idiom the red carpet and its extension to put out the red carpet denote a
specially good or respected treatment that is given to an important guest. The
Chinese idiom a red titled document
is a very important document, which should be paid more attention to.
Red may signify ‘excitement and joy, revelry’. The
English idiom to paint the town red
means to celebrate by running wild, drinking and making a commotion. The
Chinese idiom red packet is a red
envelope containing money as a gift. It is very popular tradition in China
which is observed during the celebration of holidays.
White may signify ‘chastity, purity or elegance’.
There are many English idioms with the word white
which are used to express chastity, e.g. whiter
than white means very pure, law-abiding; lily white means great purity and delicacy. In Chinese culture
people usually use as pure as a white
paper, as white as snow to express
the above-mentioned ideas.
White may also signify ‘trepidation’ both in English
and Chinese cultures which is supported by the following lexicographical data.
The English idiom as white as a sheet
implies that a person is in the state of very great fear, which is also
manifested in such idioms as white lipped,
a face white with fear, while to show a white feather means to act in
a cowardly way. A white flag symbolises surrender. Chinese people use the idiom as white as a paper to show the face colour as a result of scare and as a result of losing too
much blood.
The
cross-cultural comparative analysis of language-specific cultural connotations
of colour terms shows that in accordance with the
principle of their interpretation these connotations can be conventionally subdivided
into two groups which are described below.
The first group covers all the numerous cases
when in different languages one and the same colour
term functions with different cultural connotations. It is also necessary to
mention that within the structure of the lexical meaning of a colour term its cultural connotations appear to form an
elaborated matrix, elements of which constitute a special system of
subordination hierarchy depending on the degree of semantic relatedness to the denotational meaning of the colour
term, the latter being treated as the stylistic dominant.
For Chinese people red signifies ‘success, luck, loyalty and prosperity’. Red fire means prosperous; a movie star
or a singer is referred to as being red when
he or she is becoming popular. A red
person means a person who is trusted unduly by his/her superiors. Besides,
the red candle stands for dedication.
Red also means beautiful and pretty.
A lady’s splendid dress is called red cloth,
a beautiful young woman is red sleeve
or red appearance.
In Chinese culture red is the most pronounced political colour
and it is frequently used to stand for revolution and progress and therefore
has acquired a range of commendatory meanings. The first regime of the
Communist Party is Red power, and the
first armed force is Red army.
In English red
is basically associated with danger, violence and terror which is
manifested in such expressions as red
hands, red revenge, a red battle, to catch red-handed, like a
red rag to a bull, to see red. This derogatory meaning is particularly
explicit in English idioms which are related to the political sphere and which
at the same time function as value judgments suggestive of the conflict with
socialist and communist ideology. Thus, red
is used in reference to people supporting socialism or communism or sharing
their ideas (e.g. fighting Red guerillas).
The area controlled by communists and the former Soviet Union has traditionally
been referred to as a red belt.
In English culture red may also signify ‘corruption and bureaucracy’, with the best
example being red tape, which denotes
excessive attention to official regulations and papers, especially in
government departments, often resulting in injustice to the ordinary citizen. In the sphere of trade and accounting the paper work usage
of red
in English means debt in such idioms as in /into/out of the red, which comes from the old habit of writing
down the money of the debit side in red at a meeting.
White
colour is a basic taboo colour
in Chinese traditional culture. It signifies ‘being reduced to poverty and
having no status’. In the Chinese feudal society the common people were forbidden to dress in
any other colours except white, so they were called white clothes. Those people who had no
position were called white body, so
their houses were called white house.
A
striking contrast is created by the English realia White House which is used to refer to
the executive mansion of the President
of the United States.
Besides,
in English culture white can stand
for harmless, good. For example, white
magic means a gentle natural magic which is believed to harness the power
of good and which is used to help those in need. Accordingly, a white witch is a wise woman, someone who
performs spell for healing and uses her knowledge of herbal and natural
medicine to help people. A white lie
means a harmless or well-intentioned lie, which is generally not considered
morally wrong because the motive is to spare the feelings of the person for
whom the lie is intended.
In
Chinese white is reserved with a
contrasting meaning which appeared in old days when white tiger was considered to be a symbol of catastrophe. In modern
Chinese the idiom white tiger star is
used in reference to women who bring doom to men.
The second group includes a relatively smaller
number of cases when similar and overlapping cultural connotations are
expressed in different languages by a different colour
term and can be illustrated by the following examples. In English culture a white wedding means a wedding in church,
it is called so because the bride is dressed in white, which is the symbol of
chastity and purity. At a traditional Chinese wedding a bride usually wears red
clothes and a bridegroom has a red cloth flower on his chest.
In Chinese culture white denotes being exhausted, non-blooded, non-life and therefore
it stands for illness and death and consequently at a traditional Chinese
funeral, which is called a white funeral,
mourners are dressed in white in contrast to English mourners wearing black
clothes.
In the English idiom usage a white soul stands for a pure soul, a
white man means a noble-minded and cultured person, a white spirit means a pure-hearted spirit. In Chinese culture people
use a red heart to describe a person
who is passionate and pure-hearted.
The
results obtained indicate the necessity of conducting further cross-cultural
research of the other elements of the colour scheme. At
the same time it appears expedient to supplement such an investigation with the
analysis of the background material related to the etymology of idioms with colour elements which will make the cross-cultural
comparison more accurate.
Literature:
1. Defu Zhang. A cultural
comparison of color terms and their translation // US-China Foreign Language,
2006. – Vol. 4. - ¹ 5. – P. 29-32.
2. Godman A., Payne Emf. Longman dictionary of scientific usage. –
3. Gulland D.M.,
Hinds-Howell D. The penguin dictionary of English idioms. –
4. Kay P.,
McDaniel C.K. The linguistic
significance of the meanings of basic color terms // Language, 1978. –
Vol. 3. – P. 610-646.
5. Laird C.G. Webster’s new world thesaurus. – N.Y.
(N.Y.): The New American Library, Inc., 1975. – 678 p.
6. Ren Chaoqi.
Chinese idiom dictionary. -
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