Cultural Code Of Color Terms In Chinese And Russian Languages

Direct and metaphorical nomination of yellow and red colors

Red and yellow colors chosen for the contrasting description belong to the group of primary colors along with white, black, blue, green and brown. B. Berlin and P. Kay ( Berlin & Kay, 1969) proved the universal nature of the division of color vocabulary into primary and minor colors, and the presence of lexemes nominating them in most known languages.

Metaphorical nomination on the basis of color terms is an integral feature of each language, thus, Amosova ( 2015) says that “colors play a big role in the formation of linguistic picture of the world, since with each color in different linguistic and cultural communities there are certain associations and color preferences”.

Red color in Chinese language is represented by a set of 47 hieroglyphic characters. Let us represent in more detail some meanings of red:

1. 赤 scarlet, red color – цвет огня. The hieroglyph belongs to the hieroglyphs of the ideographic category and consists of two parts – 人 a man and 火 fire.

2. 丹 red, red paint, red iron. Hieroglyph refers to the iconic hieroglyphs and consists of two parts. – 井 a well and 一 the horizontal line in the hieroglyphic sign denotes red paint in ancient China.

3. 彤 bright red, crimson. The hieroglyph belongs to the hieroglyphs of the ideographic category and consists of two parts – 丹 red paint and 彡 woolen decoration, i.e. denotes a red woolen decoration.

4. 蜜红色 red, the color of honey, the first hieroglyph means honey, the second - red, the third - the color.

5．酒糟红 red as the color of the sediment in wine, the first two hieroglyphs indicate the wine sediment, the third - red.

6. 宝石红 ruby-red, the first two hieroglyphs designate a precious gem, the third - red.

7. 茶红色 red is the color of red tea, the first hieroglyph is tea, the second is red, and the third is color.

8. 玛瑙色 the color of agate, the first two hieroglyphs denote agate, and the third - color.

9. 鸡血红 the color of chicken blood, the first two hieroglyphs indicate the blood of chicken, and the third - red.

10. 樱桃红 the color of cherry, the first two hieroglyphs denote cherry, and the third is red.

11. 洋红 carmine, the first hieroglyph denotes a country abroad; the second hieroglyph is red.

12．荷红 the first hieroglyph means lotus; the second is red;

13. 檀红色 the color of sandalwood, the first hieroglyph denotes sandalwood; the second is red, the third is color.

14. 桃红色 peach color, the first denotes a peach; the second is red, the third is color.

15. 水红 dark pink color, the first hieroglyph denotes water, the second - red.

16. 玫瑰红 the color of rose, the first two hieroglyphs denote roses, the second - red.

17．血红blood red, scarlet; crimson, purple, the first character means blood, the second - red

18. 杜鹃花红 azalea color, the first three characters mean azalea flowers, and the last means red

19. 椒红色 the color of red pepper, the first hieroglyph is pepper, the second is red, and the third is color

20. 红漆色 the color of red paint, the first character - red, the second - the paint, the third - the color

21. 红珊瑚色 the color of red coral, the first three hieroglyphs - red coral, the last - color

22. 枣红色 brown-red, dark red, date-red; the first character means Chinese date, the second - red, the third - color.

23．砖红色 brick color, color of brick, the first hieroglyph means red brick, the second - red, the third - color.

24． 酱油色 color of soy sauce; the first two hieroglyphs mean soy sauce, the third - color

25. 酱色 dark brown, the first hieroglyph means table soy sauce, the second - color

26. 猩红 the color is like a macaque, purple-red, the first hieroglyph means a macaque, and the second is red

27． 胭脂红 the color of blush, the first two characters mean blush; carmine, the third - red

Thus, out of 47 hieroglyphic signs denoting red and its shades, more than 30 hieroglyphic signs convey the meaning of red with the help of color schemes of objects that have certain shades of red, such as the color of fire or the color of chicken blood. The original meaning of red in Chinese language is the color of fire, i.e. the meaning of red in Chinese language has a subject correlation in contrast to Russian language. It is known that in Indo-European languages red, black and white colors are considered abstract by origin.

Note the perception of red in Chinese linguistic culture. For example, a light red color can be conveyed by a combination of the following characters:

淡红 light red color, the first hieroglyph designates weak, liquid; thin; easy, the second hieroglyph is red;

妃红 light red color, the first hieroglyph denotes the imperial concubine, the second hieroglyph - red;

浅红 light red color, the first hieroglyph denotes light, pale, light-, pale- (in front of the color name), and the second hieroglyph - red;

嫩红 light red color, the first hieroglyph designates gentle, light (about color), the second hieroglyph - red

娇红 light red color, the first hieroglyph denotes evanescent (fragile, painful); weak; delicate, subtle; the thin, second hieroglyph is red.

For Chinese language, the transmission of a visual image of a light shade of red is possible with the help of names denoting the physical condition of an object - evanescence, fragile, weak, liquid, thin, etc., which is not acceptable for Russian language. This meaning is expressed in Russian using models of gentle plus color and light plus color.

The peculiarity of color transmission using the objects of the world in Chinese language is a feature of the simulation system of the world of native Chinese speaker.

Concept of cultural code

The concept of cultural code was introduced by U. Eco, who described cultural code as a kind of algorithm that allows decoding texts in foreign languages. A cultural code is a way to decipher the cultural unconscious, which is hidden from understanding; it is a certain type of culture in which features and unique social information are encoded.

U. Eco identifies the following types of cultural codes: 1) etiquette; 2) world modeling systems, including myths, legends, theological systems that create a single picture that reflects the global vision of the world from the point of view of a community; 3) models of social organization of society (Eco, 2004).

Languages as a semiotic system that stores and transmits information and is closely interconnected with culture, cultural codes are revealed in various types of proverbs, in etiquette vocabulary, etc. A cultural code, according to Flier (2000) has the following characteristics:

1) self-sufficiency for the production, transmission and preservation of human culture;

2) openness to change;

3) versatility

Cultural codes are found in ideological, national, gender, class traditions and stereotypes that have been formed in a person since childhood.

In the article, the authors analyze the semantics of color terms in multi-structural languages, as well as individual Russian and Chinese cultural components, which are coded in nominations with units of color. It is known that the code is an algorithm for interpreting specific messages that can be read differently depending on the degree of decoding. Cultural codes are transformed, but they are always based on language structures in which knowledge is accumulated, based on perceptual experience gained as a result of sensory and visual perception, transmitted from generation to generation. B. Berlin and P. Kay discovered the universal evolutionary law for the development of color terms in languages. However, even in the languages of one Indo-European family, there are significant misalignments in the color meaning (Rakhilina, 2007). For example, the meanings of color terms in languages do not coincide, for example, in English language; “blue” is frightened; depressed, sad; in Russian language blue means drunkenness. That is why the researchers emphasize that “an analysis of culture can acquire new ideas from linguistics, in particular, from linguistic semantics” (Vezhbitskaya, 1999). Color designation, like every word, is imbued with “a multitude of fluid, changing ideological meanings” that condition reinforces various sociocultural ideas and a system of “value-semantic relation to reality” (Barthes, 2007).

B. Berlin and P. Kay identify several stages in the development of color terminology and emphasize the strict sequence of the appearance of each color designation. In the first stage (1), there are two basic color terms in the languages nominating white and black. At the next stage (2), a lexical unit denoting red is added to two colors, as noted by researchers, who consider the triad white-black-red to be universal and primary. Most of the terms of color have an objective origin, with the exception of black, white and red names: they were originally abstract (Shemyakin, 1960; Turner, 1983). In the following stages (2–5), one word out of three is added each time — blue, green, yellow. The seventh word (6) is always brown, and the highest stage (7) is characterized by the appearance of four at once - pink, orange, purple and gray. The following statement agrees with this result: “Many sources convincingly show the primacy of the binary opposition of white and black: human life was initially regulated by two factors - daylight and night darkness. Light was associated with active life and sun heat, and the darkness of night - with passivity, cold and mystery. Hence, a complex of positive meanings of white, whiteness, light and negative — black, darkness, dark — is stable for most cultures” (Vasilevich, 1987).

The study of the problem of cultural codes and color terms showed that the category of color is determined simultaneously by the objective material world, the characteristics of human physiology, its cognitive functions and cultural factors (Lakoff, 2005).

Color codes allow revealing the features of the functioning of the linguistic consciousness of representatives of different linguistic cultures, who are usually not understood by native speakers and are not detected by other methods of research. It is necessary to consider these aspects in more details.

Cultural code of color in the simulation of the world

The greater misalignments are found in languages belonging to different language families, in particular, in Chinese and Russian languages. The authors provide an example, so in modern Chinese there are 20 symbols of white color and its shades. It is important to note that in Chinese, the combination of hieroglyphs is structurally consistent with a single word.

White:

1. 涅白 milky white;

2. 莹白brilliant; light, white, transparent; glossy;

3. 雪花白snow color;

4. 皎皎 sparkling, brilliant, clear;

5. 刷白 pale (e.g. about face);

6. 精白clean; selective;

7. 洁白white, clean;

8. 粹白snow white;

9. 纯白snow white;

10. 白皑皑 pure, snow-white, dazzling white;

11. 珍珠白pearl color;

12. 银白silvery white [color];

13. 白金色 the color of white gold;

14. 皎洁 clean, clear, bright;

15. 白亮 dazzling white, bright, brilliant;

16. 盐白色 salt color;

17. 白玉色 the color of white jade;

18. 霜白 snow white; gray-haired

19. 乳白 milky white, milky;

20. 白茫茫 – unlimited white (about white spaces); whitish (about clouds, snow, fog, etc.)

(Perfilieva, Novospasskaya, & Arsenyeva, 2017).

Some of the listed shades of white also exist in Russian language, but these nominations are often not equal to the word and the meanings of white are transmitted descriptively, for example, a white + milky-white shade or a comparison with the subject with word combinations. In Russian there are lexemes that contain the seme of white color: snow-white, whitish, poor, etc.

Non-primary colors in Chinese language represent an even more extensive nominations paradigm.

Metaphorical understanding of color terms in Chinese and Russian languages

The greater misalignments are observed in metaphorical or metonymic translations.

In the emotive use of color terms, Chinese and Russian languages show similarities, which is explained, apparently, by the physiological nature of emotions, since basic emotions themselves are universal, for example:

The coincidence in the Russian and Chinese linguo-cultures: turn red with joy, turn red with anger, turn green with surprise;

In Chinese language: turn yellow with anger, turn white with sadness, and turn white with surprise, turn blue with joy.

Thus, the very transmission of emotions through color is a universal feature in the studied languages but the color distribution is often not the same.