Cultural Semantic Comparison between Chinese and English on Color Word “Yellow”

Abstract

This paper mak es a comparative analysis of Chinese and English color words from the perspective of cultural semantics, and mainly discusses the similarities and diff erences of the cultural semantics of “red” and “yellow” in Chinese and English. Language, as a symbol system to record culture, is an integral part of culture. As an important part of language, vocabulary can always show cultural characteristics, such as animal vocabulary. Infl uenced by diff erent times, regions, nations and cultures, colors have diff erent meanings and associations in people’s minds, which endows colors with inner social and cultural meanings. This paper also discusses the reasons why color words are not used in Chinese and English culture.