语言和文化(英文毕业论文范文).doc

Cultural Comparison of Animal Idioms in Chinese and English Culture Abstract: Language and culture are like two wheels of our human beings. Language is a vehicle that helps record and interpret culture. And culture becomes alive by means of language. However, culture is not only unique to human, but also something concerning animals. As an essential part of the language and culture of a society, idioms are characterized by their concise expressions, rich and vivid. English and Chinese idioms carry the different national cultural characteristics and cultural information. In order to improve our intercultural communication competence, this paper will mainly analyze some idioms on dogs in terms of the Chinese and English religious influence, historical influence, geographical environment influence etc, and explore the possible reasons which can account for these differences. Key words: Animal idioms; dog; Chinese and English culture; difference; similarity 1. Introduction Language is an indispensable carrier of culture. Culture finds a better representation through language use. Vocabulary, as one of the most important parts of a language, will surely reflect the multi-dimensional image of a society. Countries of different cultures attach various associative meanings to their vocabulary, which is especially obvious in animal terms. Because animals play a significant part in daily life, animal terms are closely related to their own culture, convey different cultural features and messages of their own nation, reflecting their own culture. In the long course of human history, animals, especially dogs, have been keeping a close relationship with human beings and also influencing their living and growth deeply. This relationship brings people all kinds of complex emotions such as fondness, sympathy, disgust and horror. Moreover, many animals have become a kind of symbolism in people’s thinking, and this symbolism is reflected in the language. Languages of all natio