汉英颜色词“红”之国俗语义探析

A Comparative Study of the Cultural Connotations of the Color Word "Red" between Chinese and English

汉英颜色词及其构成的词语都具有丰富的国俗语义,这是汉英民族长期以来经过千百代人民生活实践而形成的。在语义上既相似又相异;在修辞上有褒有贬。研究和发掘颜色词语中所承载的文化信息和蕴涵的国俗语义,在跨文化交际中有很大的实用价值。本文以汉语中的“红”和英语中的“red”这两个对应词为例,探讨汉英民族颜色词的国俗语义同异现象,以期对跨文化交际有所裨益。

The color word ＂red＂ in both Chinese and English has extended cultural connotations which have been widely used by both Chinese and English people. ＂Red＂ can be either commendatory or derogatory in meaning. Studying the cultural connotations can be of great value in cross-cultural communication. This paper illustrates the similarities and differences between Chinese word ＂红＂ and word ＂red＂ English in the hope of bettering cross-cultural communication.