毕业论文-英汉习语的特点及其文化差异.doc

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本科毕业论文（设计）

题目
Characteristics and Cultural Differences
of English and Chinese Idioms
英汉习语的特点及其文化差异
作者

学院
外国语学院
专业
英语
学号

指导教师

二〇 一二 年 四 月 十五 日

毕业论文（设计）任务书
学生姓名： __ 学号： _ 专业班级：
毕业论文（设计）题目： 英语习语的特点及其文化差异
题目类型： 理论研究 ___
毕业论文（设计）时间: 自 2011 年 9 月 15 日开始至 2012 年 4 月 15 日止
1. 毕业论文（设计）内容要求：
习语是语言中文化内涵积淀最深厚的部分，集中了语言和语言使用者的历史和文化，是语言的核心和精华。英汉习语好比镜子，能清楚地反映出英汉民族文化的特色。如果不了解英汉习语的真正文化内涵、背景及其文化差异，就很难理解和正确使用这些习语。因此，对英汉习语的特点及其文化差异进行研究，有一定的实际意义和价值。

本科毕业论文撰写的目的在于：培养学生综合运用本学科的基础知识和基本技能，分析、解决实际问题；培养学生科学研究，掌握学术研究基本方法，学会查询资料、文献综述，了解学术论文写作步骤与思路，提高其素质。因此，要求认真查阅、收集与 “英汉习语的特点及其文化差异”这一论题相关的中英文文献参考资料；归纳总结本课题所涉及的相关研究状况及成果，形成课题研究方案，撰写论文开题报告与提纲；运用所学专业知识阐述问题，对查阅的资料进行整理和运用，对其科学论点进行论证。

建议：可先介绍语言、文化、习语及其之间的关系，接着界定英汉习语；在阐述英汉习语的民族性、民间性、比喻性、整体性、和谐性等特点后，可分别从历史文化、地理环境、宗教信仰、社会习俗等角度对英汉习语的文化差异进行分析研究。

具体而言，可采用以下方法：（1）文献搜索法：通过搜索相关文献，从而全面正确地了解掌握所要研究的问题；（2）对比分析法：对比英语习语和汉语习语特点并分析其文化差异；（3）归纳总结法：阐述英汉习语的特点及其文化差异对英语语言学习者和研究者的影响。

主要措施可为：网上查询，去图书馆搜集相关资料，请指导老师及其他老师提出意见和建议，和同学朋友讨论等。

[1]题目类型：(1)理论研究(2)实验研究(3)工程设计(4)工程技术研究(5)软件开发
2.主要参考资料

[1] Fernando, C. Idioms and Idiomaticism [M]. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2000.
[2] Freeman, W. A Concise Dictionary of English Idioms [Z]. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1980.
[3 Kramsch, C. Language and Culture [M]. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2000.
[4] Nida, E. A. Language, Culture & Translating [M]. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 1993.
[5] Wardhaugh, R. Introduction to Linguistics [M]. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1977.
[6] 包惠南. 文化语境与语言翻译[M]. 北京: 中国对外翻译出版公司，2001.
[7] 陈柏松. 英汉习语概要[M]. 武汉: 湖北教育出版社, 1986.
[8] 陈文伯. 英语成语与汉语成语[M]. 北京: 外语教学与研究出版社，1982.
[9] 邓炎昌，刘润清. 语言与文化[M]. 北京: 外语教学与研究出版社，1989.
[10] 彭庆华. 英语习语研究[M]. 北京: 社会科学文献出版社，2007.
[11] 平洪，张国扬. 英语习语与英美文化[M]. 北京：外语教学与研究出版社,2000.
[12] 王德春，杨素英，黄月圆. 汉英谚语与文化[M].上海:上海外语教育出版社，2003.
[13] 郁福敏，郭珊琏. 英汉习语对比[M].上海：上海交通大学出版社, 1999.
3.毕业论文（设计）进度安排
阶段
阶 段 内 容
起止时间
1
查找并研读资料，拟定提纲
2011年9-11月
2
完成开题报告
2011年11月中旬
3
完成第一稿
2011年12月底
4
完成第二稿
2012年2月
5
定稿
2012年4月上旬
指导教师（签章）：____________ 日期：__________________
系(教研室)主任(签章) ：____________ 日期：__________________
二级学院院长(签章) ：____________ 日期：__________________

注：任务书由指导教师本人填写，经教研室主任（学术小组组长）审核后下发给学生。

毕业论文（设计）指导教师评语

建议成绩： 指导教师： （签章）

年 月 日

毕业论文（设计）评阅教师评语

建议成绩： 评阅教师： （签章）

年 月 日

毕业论文（设计）答辩记录
日期：
学生姓名： 学号： 专业班级：
题目：
毕业论文（设计）答辩委员会（小组）意见：

答辩成绩：

评定等级： 答辩委员会(小组)负责人： （签章）
委员（小组成员）： （签章）
（签章）
（签章）
（签章）

二级学院审查意见：

论文（设计）最终评定等级：_____________ 负责人： _（签章）

______年___月___日

ABSTRACT
As is known to all, language is the most direct way for mankind to communicate information and exchange ideas, and it serves as a bridge between different peoples and different cultures. Idiom, as a crystallization of human wisdom, is regarded as the essence of a national language. Besides, idiom, as a special form of language, carries a large amount of cultural information and thus is closely related to culture. It is the heritage of history and product of cultural evolvement. Both English and Chinese are abundant in idiom, which mirrors the well-established, broad and profound culture of the East and the West respectively. The present paper, adopting a contrastive approach, expounds the distinctive characteristics of both English and Chinese idioms, which are nationality, folkishness, figurativeness, integrity, and harmony, and then it makes an analysis of cultural differences between English and Chinese idioms in terms of historical culture, geographical condition, social custom and religious belief in the hope that people can know more about English and Chinese cultures by studying English and Chinese idioms and get a better understanding of the idioms by learning the cultural backgrounds behind them and their cultural characteristics.

Keywords: idiom; English and Chinese; characteristic; cultural difference

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摘 要
众所周知，语言是人类传达信息和交流思想的最直接方式并且在不同民族和文化中起着桥梁的作用。习语是人类智慧的结晶，是一个民族语言中的精华。此外，习语作为一种特殊的语言形式承载着大量的文化信息，因此它们与文化密不可分。它们是历史遗产和文化演变的产物。英汉两种语言中都存在着大量的习语，它们犹如镜子，折射出博大精深源远流长的中西文化底蕴。本文利用对比的方法, 阐述了英汉习语的独有特征，也就是习语的民族性，习语的民间性，习语的比喻性，习语的整体性和习语的和谐性；然后进一步分析了英汉习语在历史文化背景、地理环境、风俗习惯和宗教信仰等方面存在的差异，以期通过学习英汉习语能多地了解中国以及英语国家的文化，通过学习其文化背景知识能更好地理解其习语。

关键词：习语；英语和汉语；特点；文化差异

Ⅱ
湖南涉外经济学院本科生毕业论文（设计）
Contents
ABSTRACT Ⅰ
摘 要 Ⅱ
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 A Brief Introduction to Language, Culture and Idiom 3
1.2 Definition of Culture 4
1.3 Relationship between Language and Culture 5
1.4 Relationship between Idiom and Culture 7
Chapter 2 Definitions of English and Chinese Idioms 8
2.1 Definition of English Idiom 8
2.2 Definition of Chinese Idiom 9
Chapter 3 Characteristics of English and Chinese Idioms 11
3.1 Characteristic of Nationality 11
3.2 Characteristic of Folkishness 12
3.3 Characteristic of Figurativeness 12
3.4 Characteristic of Integrity 13
Chapter 4 Cultural Differences between English and Chinese Idioms 16
4.1 Difference in Historical Culture 16
4.2 Difference in Geographical Conditions 17
4.3 Difference in Religious Belief 18
4.4 Difference in Social Customs 19
Ⅲ
Conclusion 22
Bibliography 24
Acknowledgements 26
Appendix A: Informative Chinese Abstract 27

Ⅳ
Introduction
Idioms are a type of linguistic expressions which are characterized by their metaphoric or symbolic meanings. Any language which has a long history is abundant in idioms. As a special kind of language material, idioms enjoy great popularity among people because of their conciseness, vividness, distinctiveness and comprehensiveness (Bao 2001:148). Idioms possess such a vigorous life that they have held their place throughout centuries. Reflected from idioms are the environment, life, history and culture of native speakers as well as their innermost spirit and feeling. Therefore, idioms are regarded as the core and essence of language and culture. Thus, probing the sources of idioms and studying the relations between idioms and important cultural aspects such as historical backgrounds, geographical conditions, social customs, religious beliefs and cultural heritages, etc. will help us to comprehend the cultural elements in idioms.
So far many linguists have been carrying out researches for the purpose of more fully understanding idioms. It is interesting and inspiring to notice that recent idiom researchers have conducted researches not only in the linguistic area, but also in other fields. Some study their semantic and syntactic features and others, like Fernando(2000), elaborate on the functions of idioms in texts and discourses. Those who study the formal and semantic features carry out their researches from the pure linguistic perspective, while those who propose the different processing models of idioms are more psychology-oriented. Since 1990s, scholars have paid more attention to the cultural elements in English and Chinese idioms. Culture studies on idioms have aroused interests of many scholars, such as Ping Hong and Zhang Guoyang (2000), Jiang Lei (2000), etc., who have made great contributions to culture studies on idioms.
It is widely recognized that language and culture are interactive and cannot be separated. Idiom, as the essence of language, inevitably interacts with national culture. However, divergences which exist between different languages and cultures often result in obstacles in mutual understanding between participants who belong to different cultures. In other words, with the awareness of cultural differences between English and Chinese idioms, people may
1
avoid much misunderstanding in cross-cultural communication by trying to realize the real intention of other participants. Therefore, this thesis intends to make a contrastive study on cultural aspects of English and Chinese idioms.
This tentative research is a practical study based on the established theories. It consists of four chapters. Chapter 1 presents a general survey of language, culture and idioms. Chapter 2 offers definitions of English and Chinese idioms. Chapter 3 discusses the characteristics of English and Chinese idioms. Chapter 4 deals with cultural differences between English and Chinese idioms. Finally, the author draws a conclusion from the study, pointing out the limitations of the research and offering a few suggestions for future study.

2
Chapter 1 A Brief Introduction to Language, Culture and Idiom
English and Chinese are abundant in idioms, which are peculiar to the languages in question and loaded with the native cultures and ideas. They have been described as a crystallization of human wit and wisdom and gems of language. Therefore, idioms are colorful, forcible and thought-provoking. However, divergences of language and culture exist between English and Chinese idioms, which often result in obstacles in mutual understanding between English and Chinese people. So it is necessary to make a contrastive study between idioms in the two languages and cultures, for it can help us to find their similarities and differences which may shed light on the appropriate strategies to be employed in their understanding. This chapter briefly introduces language, culture and idiom, and their relationship between each other.
1.1 Definition of Language
What is language? Many linguists have been trying for centuries to define the term. But so far no completely satisfactory definition seems to have been given. Some often quoted definitions are as follows. According to Sapir (2002:7), "Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced arbitrary, vocal symbols which permit all people in a given culture or other people who have learned the system of that culture, to communicate or to interact." Wardhaugh (1977:3) thinks that the commonly accepted definition of language is "a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication." Based on the above definitions, we can see two points. Firstly, language is a system of symbols (signs). And at the same time, language is not an isolated phenomenon but a social activity closely related to social culture and the existence of language is mainly for the purpose of human communication.
As a whole, language is a system of conventional spoken or written symbols by means of which human beings, as members of a social group and participants in its culture,
3
communicate. It is often culture-loaded and acts as a transmitter of history and culture. It grows and develops with the growth and development of society.
1.2 Definition of Culture
Culture is a large and extremely complex concept. Although hundreds of definitions have been suggested for culture and definitions of culture range from its broad sense to its narrow sense, it is virtually difficult to define the very term since there is really very little agreement on what people mean by the idea of culture in the first place. Some scholars abroad estimate that no less than 200 definitions for "culture" have already been cited in the academic field, some of which are concerned with the material products of the people, others of which deal with those spiritual aspects shared by people living in certain communications, still others of which focus on both beliefs and practices of a society. Among these definitions, what has been said to be the first important anthropological definition of culture is provided by Edward Burnett Tylor, the father of cultural anthropology in his Primitive Culture. He defines, "Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morality, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society" (qtd. in Liu 2005:27). So far, this definition has been one of the classical ones.
Besides, there are some other definitions by scholars at home and abroad. Nida (2001:139) defines culture as "the the totality of the beliefs and practices of a society."According to Newmark (2001:94) culture refers to the way of life and its manifestations that are peculiar to a community that uses a particular language as its means of expression. Ke Ping (2000), a Chinese scholar, states in his paper “Cultural Presuppositions and Misreading” that most anthropologists agree on the following features of culture:1) Culture is socially acquired instead of biologically transmitted. 2) Culture is shared among the members of a community instead of being unique to an individual. 3) Culture is symbolic. Symbolizing means assigning to events meanings which are external to them and not able to be grasped by them alone. Language is the most typical symbolic system within culture. 4) Culture is integrated. Each aspect of culture is tied in with the other aspects (Jiang 2000:142-143).
In its broad sense, culture consists of all the shared products of human society, which
4
means not only such material things as cities, organizations and schools, but also non-material things such as ideas customs，family patterns，languages. In a word，"Culture is everything and everywhere. Culture plays a dominant role in our lives" (Samovar et al. 2000:10).
1.3 Relationship between Language and Culture
Researchers have been dwelling on the relationship between language and culture for many years. They have contributed many theoretical comments and innumerable facts. Among their arguments, there is an undeniable fact that language study cannot be separated from culture study and vice versa.
As Kramsch (2000:3) remarks, “Language is the principal means whereby we conduct our social lives. When it is used in contexts of communication, it is bound up with culture in multiple and complex ways.” He elaborates the relationship of language and culture as follows:
To begin with, the words people utter refer to common experience. They express facts, ideas or events that are communicable because they refer to a stock of knowledge about the world that other people share. Words also reflect their authors' attitudes and beliefs，their points of view, which are also those of others. In both cases，language expresses cultural reality.
But members of a community or social group do not merely express exp