The Influences of Color Term“white”on English Teaching

【Abstract】： Colors， as a kind of perception for the objective world， are visual experiences caused by light waves on eyes， and gradually become basic color concepts hence create basic color terms because of different influences from external environment. Color words， corresponding to color perception， is special in the system of language， and people can study the relationship between language and cognition in terms of studying color terms and their cognition. This paper will discuss how color terms affect English teaching in terms of semantic distributions of color “white”.

【Key words】： color terms white English teaching

【摘要】：作為對客觀世界的一種感知，顏色是由光波作用于人眼而引起的視覺經驗，因為受不同的外界環境的影響，而逐漸形成基本的顏色概念，并產生基本顏色詞。顏色詞與顏色知覺相對應，在語言系統中具有特殊性，通過對顏色詞與顏色認知的研究可以探討語言與認知的關系。本文將從顏色詞“白”的語義分布情況看探討顏色詞對英語教學的啟示。

【關鍵詞】：顏色詞；白；英語教學

1.Introduction

In Metaphors We Live By， Lakoff and Johnson propose “Conceptual Metaphor Theory” （CMT）. They put forward that “metaphor is not just a matter of language， that is， of mere words. We shall argue that， on the contrary， human thought processes are largely metaphorical” （Lakoff Johnson， 1980：6）. Moreover， they take metaphor as a process of cross-mapping from one mental domain to another， and every abstract concept as metaphorical. Lakoff’s cognitive view on metaphor is regarded as a breakthrough in metaphor study， which challenges the traditional metaphorical study that mainly focuses on the linguistic internal study. With the increasing progress of neurology， genetics， and cognition， the color metaphor has been the focus of study， apart from the spatial metaphor and the time metaphor. The universality of the color metaphor across cultures has become a priority.

Nowadays， with the development of technology， corpus-based study is becoming a new area， and corpus-based study has been used in multiple academic fields. And there are many advantages of using corpus， for example， it can avoid subjectivity and provide convincing proofs and results， what’s more， corpus could be used to help researchers save time and energy. It is well-known that interdisciplinary study is always a top choice， especially to put technology into a certain research field. Therefore， it is a development tendency to combine corpus and color metaphor study.

2. Semantic distribution

In order to get a general idea of the frequency of “white” term， the author searches “white” in the corpora and get 500 data respectively in English and in Chinese. The types and the frequency of “white” metaphorical uses in English is shown in the article “A Corpus-based Contrastive Study on the Metaphor of the Color Term ‘white’”.

2.1 A comparison between “white” and “白” metaphorical uses

From table 1 and table 2 in “A Corpus-based Contrastive Study on the Metaphor of the Color Term ‘white’”， people can see that “white” metaphor in English and in Chinese is used pervasively. The author will classify these metaphors under different domains. According to each domain， the similarities and dissimilarities of “white” and “白” are to be understood by the certain samples from corpora in detail.

（1）The love domain

WHITE /白IS PURENESS AND HONESTNESS

I met and fell in love with William Shakespeare. He was my first white love.

很難設想白衣天使們對細胳膊嫩肉屢屢下針時是什么樣的心情.

WHITE IS LOVE

How then， she thought as Daisy pinned white roses in her hair the following morning， had it come to this？

In Chinese， “白” is not symbol of love， but “紅” is a symbol of love， such as “紅玫瑰”.

（2）The politics domain

WHITE/白IS GIVING UP

They’ve already waived the white flag of defeat.

對方敵人舉了白旗，我們勝利了.

WHITE/白 IS DOCUMENT

In 2011， a United States Food Drug Administration （FDA）'white paper' analyzed 34 of the 60 cases reported worldwide.

洲共同體委員會發表名為《歐洲社會政策之路：選擇聯合》白皮書.

WHITE IS POWER

The White House appears to want to have its cake and eat it too， bragging about its \" year of action \" while pointing to numbers that play down Obama's use of executive authority.

In Chinese， there is no sample in CCL， so “白” is not symbol of power， but “紅” is symbol of power， such as “紅色政權”. “白色政權” in Chinese means counter-revolution political power， so it is a negative word， which is different from “white” in English.

白IS COUNTER-REVOLUTION POWER

正如毛澤東所說的：“一國之內，在周圍白色政權的包圍中，……”

（3）The emotion domain

WHITE IS COWARDICE

In the way of destruction， I do not turn tail or show the white feather at calamity's first notice.

WHITE/白 IS FEAR AND TERROR

Horthy imposed a brutal' white terror' on socialists and communists.

面對白色恐怖，愛國學生不顧個人安危，為迎接上海的解放，為新中國的誕生而積極投身于革命事業.

白IS DESPISE

There is no sample to express this meaning.

當年宋查理在林樂知那里受到的歧視和白眼.

（4）The social morality domain

白IS NOTHING

“念書之外”，同學和我常作白日夢.

五十歲可以在家鄉白吃白喝.

白IS POOR

和中國一窮二白的基礎相比，這些成績實實在在，國內外有目共睹.

白IS UNDERSTANDABLE

在明代白話小說中，“X之外”、“除了X之外”.

WHITE/白IS CLEAR

I’m proud of my white history and my white blood.

直到有一天他被某公司保安人員抓獲，才真相大白.

白 IS JUST

收入的來源也多種多樣：灰色收入、白色收入、黑色收入.

WHITE IS GOOD

Maravich was pegged as the white hope of the ball club.

白 IS BAD THING

總的有一個唱白臉的.

白IS INTENSELY

要正視和處理爭論的焦點，避免爭論白熱化，個個面紅耳赤.

WHITE IS REDUNDANCE

\" There were white elephant projects everywhere - dozens， hundreds， \" he says.

WHITE IS GOOD INTENTION

It was a lie， but a white lie， a lie intended to spare her a world of worry.

In the above samples， the meanings of “white/白” are all mapped from sources domains to other abstract domain， and hence get exchanged. The following two tree diagrams are about partly the cognitive semantic structures of “white/白”， maybe they are not comprehensive.

3. Enlightenment in English teaching

No matter in Chinese or in English， color terms and their metaphorical usages are ubiquitous， so in order to make English learners better understand English and its culture， English teachers should focus on fostering their metaphorical usage of basic color terms in English teaching， which can not only help them improve the language level， but also enhance their metaphorical skills in other domains.

3.1 Taking Full Advantages of Metaphorical Skills of Chinese Color Terms

During the process of second language acquisition， if the metaphorical mapping process and cognitive background of color words in mother language are same as that of the target language， and English learners in China can easily get accurate usages of words， which is called positive transfer. On the contrary， if the metaphorical mapping process and cognitive background of color words in mother language are different from that of the target language， and then the cognitive structure of the mother language can impede the cognitive structure of the target language， which is called negative transfer.

3.2 English culture teaching

The science of cross-culture communication， as an interdisciplinary subject， springs up under the circumstance of globalization. With English language popularizing in the world， it is important for Chinese learners to compare Chinese culture and western culture to master a foreign language. Culture can be reflected at many aspects， and the author chooses color terms to elaborate importance of cross-culture understanding.

Color terms contain abundant cultural information， and teachers can impart the culture behind color terms to make students know more about western traditions and improve their levels of knowledge hence stimulate the interests of them for English.

In English， the frequency of metaphorical utilization in colors is very high. It’s known that “red” can also modify something ceremonious， such as “red-letter day”， “red carpet”. But “red” in most of occasions contains negative meanings in western culture， such as “red battle”，“red man”，“catch sb. Red-handed” and “red with anger”.

Some usages can be easily misunderstood. When Chinese learners see “Red Army” and “Red Brigades”， they may naturally associate them with “革命紅軍”， however in English， these two represent one ultra-left organization of terrorist gangs. The expression of “white elephant” can also make learners confused at first sight. At the same time， in Chinese， when people translate some sentences with color terms， they can easily make mistakes if they don’t understand English culture， for example， to translate “青一塊紫一塊” into a wrong sentence “green and purple”， but actually the correct translation is “black and blue”.

3.3 Rhetoric teaching

Rhetoric in one language is art， and it makes the language more vivid and infective as well as gives people the beauty of the language. Meanwhile， correct understanding of rhetorical device makes for learners’ English writing skills and reading comprehensive abilities. Proper usages of rhetoric are good for making learners’ English expressions more vivid.

In reality， color can not only stimulate optic nerve of human beings， but also trigger people’ varied of emotions which produce different feelings. In a language， colors contain lots of features， such as strong expressive force and vividness， etc. So western people are inclined to combine rhetoric usages with color terms， hence create abundant idioms and interesting expressions. These idioms and expressions take up main parts in English rhetoric because of their multiple meanings and vague semantic features， and they can play a role as simile， metaphor and exaggeration. In English， the expressions， “as white as a sheet”， “as green as grass”， and “her face is as red as an apple” ……， are all simile. Meanwhile， the metaphorical usages of colors are countless， for instance， “black mark” （illegal transaction）， “black sheep” （evil person） ……

The above examples indicate the importance of rhetoric in English teaching， so teachers should effectively combine color terms teaching and rhetoric teaching， which can impart fundamental knowledge of rhetoric to students， at the same time， can enhance learners’ expressive abilities and writing skills.

3.4 Translation teaching

At the aspect of categories of color terms， there are many differences in Chinese and English. In Chinese， it is 赤、橙、黃、綠、青、藍、紫， but in English， it is red、white、black、green、yellow、blue、grey、purple、brown. Between these basic colors， there are some similarities and dissimilarities. Because of influences of living environments， manners and customs， thinking methods， national psychology， religions and so on， for different nations， people can create different associations and symbolic meanings in optic point and in psychology when they see one same color. And this cultural feature increases difficulties in color translation. When people translate color words， they have to know their concrete contexts， at the same time， pay attention to the different usages of color terms in Chinese and in English. Translators can not only literally translate color words， but focus on internal meanings in culture and extended meanings.

To be specific， when translating color terms， people should consider the following issues：

（1）To choose semantic meaning of one color depending on its cultural

connotation and semantic deviation.

（2）To choose the semantic meaning according to its context.

（3）To choose the semantic meaning based on whether there is an article or not

before and behind the color term.

In teaching and learning of college English， teachers can take color terms as typical examples to wonderfully give students some translation skills， which is to improve their translation levels and practical abilities.

3.5 Vocabulary teaching

Vocabulary is one of the most important parts in English teaching， and it is directly related to one person’s abilities of reading， writing， and translation. Therefore the vocabulary teaching is still the main segment of English teaching in colleges. In English， there are not only rich color terms， but also countless derivatives and compound words from these colors， so during imparting basic color words， teachers can also properly add some derivatives and compound words to enlarge students’ vocabularies. For instance， the following sentences are all from COCA：

“blackmail” （extort）： Putin uses energy as his tool of economic blackmail.

“blackout” （power cut）： in the blackout of’03， they tried tied flashlights to Rom’s stroller……

……

Besides derivatives and compound words of color terms， teachers can also pass on basic knowledge of vocabulary and grammar by analyzing the construction of color phrases in order to broaden students’ vocabularies hence make them improve analyzed abilities of grammar and syntax in practice. Such as some phrases consisted of color terms and prepositions exist in English：

“in the red” （in debt）： …which means most weeks he’s in the red. To make ends meet， he relies on sponsorships from friends， family…

“in the pink” （radiance）： the American musical is currently in the pink of health.

……

The phrases consisted of color terms and articles：

“a red herring” （to use other things to distract attention）： Perhaps it will live up to its title and this is a red herring.

“a yellow dog” （a vile person）： I dislike Jack for he is a yellow dog.

“a white elephant” （one redundant thing）： The foreign aid to the country was believed to be nothing but a white elephant.

……

The phrases consisted of color terms and verbs：

“put down in black and white” （write down）： The Bakes should put down in black and white how the family pie gets divided.

“beat…black and blue” （beat somebody badly）： Mama will beat me black and blue.

……

During the process of English teaching， if teachers combine color terms and morphology， and they will get good effects. More cultures contained in colors should be given for students， which makes them distinguish the cultural differences of Chinese and English by themselves. At the same time， the combination between color terms and rhetoric， translation as well as vocabulary teaching will avail enlarging learners’ scope of knowledge and make them deeply understand English.

4. Conclusion

In this paper， the author puts “white” as an example， combing with another color terms， to have a profounder understanding of color metaphors at the aspect of English teaching. The author tells readers the importance of studying color metaphors in English teaching from four minor aspects： English culture teaching， rhetoric teaching， English-Chinese and Chinese-English translation teaching and vocabulary teaching. The author skillfully combines color metaphors and English teaching， which makes English learners deep understand English by gasping color metaphors in the language， hence also makes this study is meaningful.

注釋

[1]本文為西南科技大學研究生創新基金資助（Supported by Postgraduate Innovation Fund Project by Southwest University of Science and Technology），項目名稱為“基于語料庫的‘白’與‘white’的認知隱喻對比研究”（項目編號：17ycx115，立項時間：2017年5月）

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