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1、The Cultural Connotations of Animal Words in EnglishAbstract: The cultural meaning of animal words reflects the culture of a nation. Due to different cultural backgrounds, people of different cultural groups have different understanding to the same animal vocabulary and add different cultural connot
2、ation to it. The exploration of the sources of the cultural connotations of animal words in English is helpful for the understanding of the English culture. This paper aims to make a comparative analysis of the eastern and western cultural differences between the connotative meanings of some common
3、animals. Key Words: Animal words; Cultural connotations; Cultural differencesI. IntroductionAnimal is the best friend of human beings which plays an important role in a language. With the development of our society, human and animals co-exist and contact frequently. Therefore, there is a great quant
4、ity of animal words and phrases in human languages. They play very important role in the life of human beings, so do animal word in language. Many animals have become a kind of symbolism in peoples thinking which is reflected in languages. And this thesis aims at exploring the culture connotations o
5、f animal words between English and Chinese. II. Animal Words and Its Connotation in English and Chinese 2.1 The same animal word with the different similar connotation There are many words which contain certain meanings of animal words. It is very easy to understand their forms. In English and Chine
6、se languages, people have the same connotation pig. In peoples mind, they think pig is ugly, dirty, lazy, greedy and rough. There are similar phrase about pig in the two languages such as “as fat as a pig” “肥的像头猪” and “as lazy as pig” “懒得像头猪” and so on. The Pilgrimage to the West is one of the four
7、famous books in china. It is a myth. In this novel, Zhubajie is an ugly, lazy, greedy and lust person. Fox has the almost same connotation in both English and Chinesesly. In Chinese, when we call a group of rogues “他是只老狐狸”，we mean “He is very sly ”. The same case happens to the word wolf in English
8、and Chinese. Its associated with violent, cunning and greedy. In Chinese we can find “如狼似虎” “ferocious”, “狼心狗肺” “ungrateful” etc. In English, we meet “wolf down” “狼吞虎咽”， “have a wolf by ears” “进退两难” and so on. Moreover, when a wolf represents a person, it means a man who is always ready to make sexu
9、al advances to a woman. Besides, we have “as stupid as donkey” in English and “他笨得像一头驴” in Chinese.There are also many other animal words which have the same or very similar meanings in English and Chinese. Such as bee symbolize diligence and the quality of hardworking both in English and Chinese. S
10、o we often use the phrase “as busy as a a bee” to describe a person who is busy and hardworking. 2.2 The same animal words with different cultural connotations In most case, the cultural connotation of an animal obviously different conflicted even opposite in two cultures. And this reflects the diff
11、erences between English and Chinese cultures and embodies the individuality of nation cultures. Dragon is the most representative example of the differences. In China, dragon is something sacred and has been referred to as the ancestor of the Chinese nation. That is why the Chinese call themselves “
12、龙的传人” “descendants of the dragon” and Chinese feudal emperors were often referred to as “真龙天子” wearing “龙袍”，living in palaces decorated with the dragon. Many Chinese “望子成龙” and so on. These all reflect the associative meanings of dragon in Chinese culture. While in western culture, dragon is the rep
13、resentative of evil. Like dragon and magpie, which is considered as “gossip person” in western culture, is viewed by Chinese people as a bird of propitious sign. 1 Its the devil, in English, dragon also means a fierce bad-tempered old woman, because the same animal words have associative meanings, p
14、eople in western countries want to express the concept of dragon in Chinese, they will say Chinese dragon. An animal image, when put into language, is most likely to have its conceptual meaning behind its denotation. In the western world, as intelligence and wisdom has embedded in the connotations o
15、f owls, they always appear in cartoons and tales with the image of teachers, sophists or judges 2. The composition of bat is a symbol of “good fortune”, “health” and “happiness”, for the bat “蝠” and “福” are homophones. In English culture, bat, however, is an ugly and brutal animal, which is associat
16、ed with dark and evil things. From the idiom “as blind as bat” “有眼无珠”, and “crazy as a bat” “精神失常”，we can see bat always have negative association in western culture 3.2.3Different animal words with same cultural connotationsBecause of different cultural backgrounds, different animal words have simi
17、lar associative meaning in English and Chinese cultures. That is two different animal words from the two cultures respectively take on the same connotation. Bull and horse are two totally different animals, but bull in Chinese culture has similar meaning with horse in English culture. In English hor
18、se is also used often to refer to a person, such as a “willing horse”. Plain good sense is referred to as “horse sense”. In the Chinese language, there is no such allusion, but “bull” is often used to refer to a person. A hardworking person is called a “老黄牛”. And moreover, the English phrase “to spu
19、r a willing horse” can also find its counterpart in our Chinese idiom 4. Besides, tiger is always considered to be the king of the animals in china, because it is very strong, powerful and fearful. For instance, “如虎添翼”, “虎虎生威” and “生龙活虎” and so on. But in western world, lion is always considered to
20、be the king of all animals. Because lion is brave, fearful and majestic. For example, “a literary lion”, “like a key in a lions hide” and so on.III. ConclusionAnimal words have the same and similar conceptual meaning which bear nearly or totally different connotative meaning would be paid more atten
21、tion, while different animals words in different languages having the same or similar connotative meanings in English and Chinese. At the same time, animal words in Chinese and English reflect the culture background in china and in western countries. The meanings of animal words, accompanied with th
22、e development of society and the evolution of culture, become diversified. The implications of animal words rely on peoples understanding on background knowledge, culture and so on.In the above chapters a contrastive study has been done on English and Chinese animal words. It can help readers unders
23、tand English and Chinese animal idioms better, use English and Chinese animal words correctly in different circumstances and contexts and help to promote the exchange of idiomatic expressions between the two languages, and reduce the misuse of animal words in the multi-cultural communication.Referen
24、ces1李青. 动物类谚语和习语的翻译J. 昌潍师专学报，2001(3)2Pan Hong, Culturally Loaded Words in English and Chinese: A Contrastive Study M. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2005.3陈国新. 动物名词及其文化喻义J.英语辅导，1997(1).4Wei Dongya. A Chinese-English Dictionary (Revised Edition)M.Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press,1997