英語語言學(xué)論文

1、 英 語語 言 學(xué) 論 文 題目：Idiom and Anglo-American Culture 班級：英語081班 學(xué)號：21號 姓名：聶玲鳳 Abstract: As the most active component part of the English vocabulary, idioms are widely used in daily life for its conciseness, humor, wit and philosophy. Idioms, tools of inheriting, recording and showcasing language and cul

2、ture, play an important part in Anglo-American language communication. On one hand, idioms origins and existence are affected by cultural background .On the other hand; idioms reflect the ethnic conventions and customs of particular points of time and register. Thus, with the passage of time, idioms

3、 gradually bear the connotation of culture. Not positioned in cultural context, idioms would be extremely obscure and meaningless. There are some close correlations between idioms and culture. This paper explores the idioms relation with Anglo-American culture from the perspectives of etymology, ori

4、ginal meaning and extended meaning. Key Words: Idiom culture connotationPart 1 IntroductionIdioms are the essence of a language, which are always philosophical and eternal. According to Oxford Advantaged Learners English-Chinese Dictionary, an idiom is “a phrase or sentence whose meaning is not clea

5、r from the meaning of its individual words and which must be learnt as a whole unit”. “In the broad sense, idioms may include : set phrases; proverbs; sayings; epigrams; slang expressions; colloquialisms; quotations; two-part allegorical sayings, of which the first part ,always stated, is descriptiv

6、e, while the second part , sometimes unstated, carries the message(chiefly in Chinese). Most of idioms are of vivid images which are appropriately used to compare to other things, consequently, they often contain distinctive national and local colors. Some idioms have quite clear meanings; some are

7、implicit and profound, which could cause a great deal of association, while others may include several meanings, which depend on the context to define its real indication. Having left their deep and unique stamps on the language, idioms can best express the historical process, cultural tradition and

8、 customs of the people. The present article attempts to put forward the relations between idioms and Anglo-American culture. Idioms are a mirror of a people. They comprise the historical and cultural background as well as the approach to life and the ways of the people. No translator, language learn

9、er or language teacher can afford to ignore idioms if a natural use of the target language is an aim. Therefore, with the more frequent communication between the English people and the Chinese people, there is a great demand for more research in English idioms. Part II BodyI. Idiom 1.1 The Definitio

10、n of Idiom It is difficult to give a clear definition to idioms. First, people are often confused with their scope, content and form. Second, experts have different opinions about how to divide idioms from narrow sense and general sense. What kind of language expression really belongs to idioms? Dif

11、ferent experts have different opinions and definitions to idioms. Some people consider idioms as quintessence of a language. Others regard them as treasury of a language. These statements in certain degree reflect the idioms characteristics, but cant be regarded as idioms definition. All of these ca

12、uses bring difficulty to define a idiom .Maybe owing to those causes, the word “idiom” even hasnt been collected in such authorities reference books as Modern Chinese Dictionary and ChainLongman Active English-Chinese Dictionary (1990) defines an idiom as “a phrase which means something different fr

13、om the meanings of the separate words”. The concise Oxford Dictionary (2000) gives such a definition as “a group of words established by usage and having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words”. Longman Dictionary of contemporary English (1998) gives the definitive “a phrase whic

14、h means something different from them meanings of the separate words from which it is formed”. An idiom is a term or phrase whose meaning cannot be deduced from the literal definitions and the arrangement of its parts, but refers instead to a figurative meaning that is known only through common use.

15、 In linguistics, idioms are widely assumed to be figures of speech that contradict the principle of compositionality; however, this has shown to be a subject of debate. It may be better to refer to idioms as John Seed does: words collocated together happen to become fossilized, becoming fixed over t

16、ime.1 This collocation - words commonly used in a group - changes the definition of each of the words that exist. As an expression, the word-group becomes a team, so to speak. That is, the collocated words develop a specialized meaning as a whole and an idiom is born e.g. He really threw me a curve

17、when on our first date he asked if I could pay for the dinner. In the English expression to kick the bucket, for example, a listener knowing only the meaning of kick and bucket would be unable to deduce the expressions actual meaning, which is to die. Although it can refer literally to the act of st

18、riking a specific bucket with a foot, native speakers rarely use it that way. It cannot be directly translated to other languages for example, the same expression in Polish is kop w calendars (to kick the calendar), with the calendar being as detached from its usual meaning as the bucket in the Engl

19、ish phrase is. The same expression in Dutch is hat lode legend (to lay the piece of lead), which is entirely different from the English expression, too. Other expressions include break a leg and fit as a fiddle. It is estimated that William Shakespeare coined over 9,000 idioms still in use todayAcco

20、rding to the entire above mentioned idiom” is a phrase or a group of words approved by people and has unique form. Its meaning is different from the literal. In general sense, the scope of English and Chinese idioms includes, sayings, proverbs, idiomatic phrases, slang, a two-part allegorical and al

21、lusion, and so on.II. Culture What is culture? It can be approached from different perspectives and consequently defined in quite different ways. If we look for the word in dictionary, we will know that culture refers to the customs and beliefs, art, way of life and social organization of a particul

22、ar country or group. As a matter of fact, there is no satisfactory definition that enjoys a general acceptance by scholars of all sciences. However we still can give it a general notion. In a broad way, culture means the total way of life of a person, including the patter of belief, customs, objects

23、, institutions, techniques, and language that characterizes the life of human community. In a narrow sense, culture may refer to local or specific practice, beliefs or customs, which can be mostly found in folk culture, enterprise culture or food culture and so on. Culture is an inclusive complicate

24、d system, and can be broadly divided into material culture and spiritual culture. Material culture refers to all the concrete and substantial cultural aspects of human society. Spiritual culture, on the contrary, refers to abstract and implicit cultural aspects of human society, including ideology,

25、patterns of thought, values, beliefs, conventions, traditions, social norms and customs, assumptions, interpersonal relationships, etc. III .the Origin of Idiom3.1 from Bible、Aesops Fables、Greek and Roman myths.English idioms mostly stem from Bible、Aesops Fables、Greek and Roman myths. Here are some

26、allusions which western readers can know well, but it is difficult for Chinese reader to understand. Gordian knot :the touch of Midas ,Trojan horse, Achilles heel, Penelopes web, A Pandoras Box, Cats paw and so on. 3.2 From allegories.Some idioms originate from allegories. An allegory is a style of

27、a story in which the characters and events are used as symbols of truth. For example, “Bell the cat” refers to a person who takes a risk or does something that is dangerous, especially for the good of others. The idiom is originated from a story of some mice that agreed to put a bell round a cats ne

28、ck so that they would know when the cat was near. But none of the mice had the courage to do it. The other examples are: cry wolf, sour grapes, the lions share, sweet lemon, and so on. 3.3From literary worksSome idioms have their origin in well known literary works. It is very difficult for us to un

29、derstand, and the amount of such idioms is small in English language. Here are such idioms: Paint the lily, By the skin of ones teeth, A deed duck, It is no use crying over spilt milk, The early bird catches the worm, etc.3.4 From military affairsChaos of war broke out in English history, so there a

30、re many idioms related to military affairs in English: Mark time, Mask ones batteries, Stick to ones guns, Have been in the wars, A horse for a kingdom, etc. Some idioms deriving from military affairs are difficult to understand and translate; it would be helpful to know about the origin of them. He

31、re are such idioms: To turn hostility into friendship/bury the hatchet, to know the enemy and know yourself and you can fight a hundred battles with no danger of defeat, all is fair in war, and Speed is what counts in war, Resort to arms, and so on.IV. Idioms Connotation in Culture4.1 Religion Belie

32、fWe can clearly see most idioms have their metaphorical images, which are cultivated by realistic environment and social status. There are large amount of idioms related to religion beliefs existing in English language. They are different in beliefs, politics and human history. Its stories and allus

33、ions bring out innumerable idioms for culture and language. Many Americans and British believe in Christianity. They read “Bible”; they regard many idioms deriving from Bible as their guide and rules of behavior. For example, Do as you would be done by; Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall di

34、e; A soft answer turned away wrath etc. Bible has affected profoundly in west. They uphold Christian culture. Here are some idioms related to their religion beliefs:To bow down in the house of Ramon ,A covenant of salt ,Give up ones lions, As poor as a church mouse, Bear ones cross ,No coming to hea

35、ven with dry eyes, etc.4.2 history and social backgroundHistory culture is formed by a specific history development and historical legacy. Because they have different history backgrounds, History culture is composed of tradition, decrees, regulation, poems, ancient books and records etc. Here are so

36、me examples: To burn ones boats, to cross the Rubicon, to pretend to advance along one path while secretly going along another, to do one thing under cover of another, to meet ones waterloo. In addition, Different history produces different allusions. In 49 BC, Kaisa, the General of old ancient Roma

37、n, commanded the countrys armed forces to attack the Roman city, crossing Rubicon implied that Kaisa declared war to Roman Senior Congress and Pompeii, the most powerful man at that time. After they crossed the Rubicon, Kaisa had proclaimed “We have crossed the Rubicon. We must go forward but never

38、fall back.” Using the idiom to metaphor, expressed the meaning that once a man made a decision or an action, he cannot change later. The idiom “to meet ones Waterloo” derives from a western allusion. In 1815, Napoleon had all but suffered a devastating defeat in waterloo. With this idiom, people des

39、cribe a man who suffered a complete defeat or an attack. Astonishing parallels can often be found in history. 4.3Regional or Geographical CharacteristicsRegion culture refers to the culture formed by the different region， living environment，and living conditionTherefore，regional differences have eff

40、ect on the expression ways of English idioms. The Great Britain is an island nation with an advanced fishery As a result，these are many English idioms about boats，water or navigationSuch as” all at sea”，“sail before the wind”，“keep ones head above water” a drop in the oceanIf we want to describe som

41、eone spend money profusely，In English we should say he spend money like water .in Chinese we say he spent money like soil. This kind of different regional culture also shows especially in the direction and its corresponding things. 4.4 Living-surroundings and customs Idioms, the carrier of culture a

42、nd information, are the important part of a language. Generality and particularity coexist in different cultures. Cultural generality reflects cultural similarity and cultural particularity reflects cultural Varity. It is the cultural particularity tat causes English and Chinese idioms having strong

43、 national and cultural characteristics. Some idioms are apparently in harmony but actually at variance. Idioms, deriving from different living-surroundings, have striking national and cultural color. Since ancient times, Chinese have lived off the land. The agricultural population in China holds the

44、 most part of whole population. Peasants accumulate a wealth of experience from farm work which far too many idioms full of agricultural culture rise there from, such as gua tian li xia(in a melon path or under a plum tree); gua shou di luo (when a melon is ripe, it falls off its stem-things are set

45、tled once conditions are ripe), and so on. While England is a island country which fishery and navigation historically has a booming development. As a result, many idioms derive from sailing and fishing, such as “struggle not against the stream”; “pull not against the wind”; “a cold fish”, and so on Part III ConclusionTo sum up, the study of