Words and cultural-specific connotations.ppt

Words and cultural-specific connotations Denotation: dictionary definition Connotation (Cultural connotation): “the implication of a word, apart from its primary meaning” (Longman Modern English Dictionary) “the suggesting of a meaning by a word apart from the thing it explicitly names or describes” (Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary) eg. 松，竹，梅 vs. pine, bamboo, plum Words and cultural-specific connotations a. a term in one language that does not have a counterpart in anther language b. Words and terms that appear to refer to the same object or concept on the surface ,but actually refer to quite different things . c. Things or concepts that are represented by one or perhaps two terms in one language ,but by many more terms in another language ,that is ,finer distinctions exists in other language . d. Terms that have more or less the same primary meaning ,but which have considerably different secondary or additional meanings a. A term in one language that does not have a counterpart in anther language Language reflects culture, and cultural diversity leads to the lack of vocabulary equivalence, concept equivalence and experience equivalence. Therefore, there are a lot of words that we fail to find the counterparts in another language. For example, the English word “hippies”, “motel”, we cannot find exact counterpart in Chinese. American Hippies in the 1960s American Motel More examples… In the Amazon area snow is not a part of the environment; therefore, people in that region do not have a word for snow. Most Americans use terms such as snow, powder snow, sleet, slush, blizzard, and ice. Time does not play a role in Navajo life. As a result, the Navajo do not have the differentiated vocabulary connected with time and clocks. For Americans “tomorrow” means midnight to midnight, a very precise time period. To Mexicans, in contrast, ma?ana means in the future, soon. b. Words and terms that appear to refer to the same object or concept on the surface ,b