A Corpus—based Contrastive Study on the Metaphor of the Color Term “White”

杨雪梅

【Abstract】： People are surrounded by color metaphors， and without color metaphors， many abstract and complex ideas could not be expressed clearly. Many corpus-based researches have been done on “red” “yellow”. This paper attempts to investigate the differences between metaphorical use of “white” in Chinese and English based on CCL and COCA corpus.

【Key Words】： CCL COCA metaphor white

【摘要】：人們周圍处处都有颜色词的隐喻使用，没有这些使用，人们是无法清楚地表达出一些抽象且复杂的思想。很多学者已经根据数据库的分析对“红”、“黄”等词做出了研究，而这篇文章主要是根据北京大学中国语言学研究中心（CCL）和美国当代英语语料库（COCA）对颜色词“白”在中文和英语中不同的隐喻使用进行研究。

【关键词】：CCL；COCA；隐喻；白

1.Introduction.

The process of this research includes three parts. First， the author tries to make a classification of “white” metaphor based on corpus research and dictionary definitions. Second， the frequency of “white” metaphorical use needs to be calculated based on corpora， and the frequency can demonstrate the differences between the “white” uses in English and Chinese. Third， the author makes a detailed comparison about “white” between in English and in Chinese， the results of comparison are investigated from many perspectives such as culture， geographical location， history and religious belief.

The significance of this research includes the following points. First it attempts to study the metaphor of “white” based on corpora. Most of the previous study of “white” focus on linguistic and culture level， database is seldom used. Second， “white” is an important color in west and east. People use “white” pervasively whether in daily life or in important occasions. Third， the results of this analysis could be used in teaching， psychology， dictionary-making， inter-culture communication and etc.

2. Methodology

2.1 Research Questions

There are three research questions. First， are “white” color metaphors pervasive in English and Chinese or not？ Second， what are the working mechanisms of “white” metaphor？ Third， what are the similarities and dissimilarities between English and Chinese in terms of “white” metaphor？

2.2 Research Tool

There are two corpora used in this paper， or CCL and COCA. For CCL （Center for Chinese Linguistics PKU）， its resources are from newspaper， TV， magazine articles， novels， academic writings and etc.， so the author can choose some data from respective resource in order to have relatively comprehensive analysis of “白”. For COCA （Corpus of Contemporary American English）， it is a useful tool for gathering language data of a color term. The reasons why I choose these two corpora are that they are available freely to all users， and the data are very new and representative. This paper will pick up 1000 language data respectively from CCL and COCA.

The data are collected from the online free search service in the following links：

http：//ccl.pku.edu.cn：8080/ccl_corpus/

http：//corpus.byu.edu/coca/

2.3 Research Procedures

Before using the corpus， the first step is to distinguish the metaphorical use and non-metaphorical use of “white”. The second step is to annotate white metaphor. The author picks out metaphorical use of “white” based on CCL and COCA. The third step is to classify white metaphor into different types based on annotation， and the frequency of each type could also be calculated. The last step is to compare the differences between the metaphorical use of “white” in English and Chinese.

2.4 Identification of Metaphors

During the research procedures， the most difficult part is the second step， and the problem of how to identify a metaphorical usage of the color term has to be solved. Lakoff （1987） introduced the procedures to identify the linguistic metaphor：

1）Trawl through the data looking for metaphor-like uses of language.

2）Use necessary conditions to identify a set of potential linguistic metaphors.

3）Remove as non-metaphors apparent incongruities that arise from error.

4）Remove as non-metaphors apparent incongruities that arise from shared understandings within the discourse context.

5）Impose boundary conditions to exclude certain types of potential metaphors from the set.

3.Findings and Analyses

3.1. Results of COCA corpus

following types： coward， pure， giving up， clear， redundant， documents， political oppression， terrifying， bloodless， great.

The “white” has 11 types of metaphorical meanings in English. Some are extended meanings of color “white”， like pure， clear， boodles， redundant， giving up， the “white” also gives human beings a feeling of empty， purity， blankness. So when adding “white” to describe something abstract， the metaphorical meaning arises. For example， “white feather” is used to describe someone who is a very timid. “White” is also associated with something pure， holy and sacred. In western countries， brides wear white dress， and in churches， angles are always painted in white. However， in military war， white flag is a symbol of surrender. When one side raises a white flag， it means they give up in this battle. When “white” is combined with a verb， its metaphorical meaning is clear， for example， the “whitewash” means to wash something very clearly. When “white” appears with some governmental or international organization reports， the “white” refers to the document， such as United States Food & Drug Administration （FDA）' white paper. “White” has the metaphorical meaning of good intention. “White lie” is a typical example. In daily life， human beings tell many white lies to deprive others of unnecessary worry. When “white” is used in political affairs， its metaphorical meaning is political surrender. “White terror” and “white regime” all belong to this metaphorical usage. Another metaphorical meaning is “terrifying”， for example， this is a long white night， “white night” here refers to sleepless terrifying night. When “white” is used to describe a war， its metaphorical meaning is “bloodless”. If two sides start a war， and in the end， they reach a peaceful agreement， therefore this war is called “white war”. The last metaphorical meaning of “white” is “great”. This is a very special type of white metaphor. “White hope” equals to “great hope”.

3.2. Results of CCL corpus

Based on the CCL corpus and the above chart， there are 13 types of “white” metaphorical meanings in Chinese： foolish， readable by common people， official， pure， wasteful， without pay， poverty， death， just， despise， clear， intensely， giving up， document， and bad. Some metaphorical meanings are unique in Chinese culture.

The metaphorical meaning in “白话” is originated from Qin dynasty. At that time， the government ordered people to write in “白话” in order to make people without advanced education understand. In “红白事”， “白” means death. In China， people wear white and black clothes to pay respect to their ancestors in funerals. So “白” is always associated with death. In “白眼”， “白white” means “disdain”， but “白眼” equals to “frowning” in English. When people roll at others， the white part of their eyes is larger than the black part， thus “白眼” metaphorically means that these people look down on somebody. For “白吃白喝”， “白拿”， “白用”， “白看”， in these examples， the “白” is used as a adverb to describe these verbs， which is also unique in Chinese， because in English， “white” is rarely used as a adv. And when “白”is used as a adv to describe verbs， the metaphorical meaning is “wastefully” or “uselessly”. The following are examples， “白生了眼睛”，“白吃了这碗饭”， 白长了这么大个”， in these examples， the metaphorical meanings of “白” become negative. In “白日夢”， “ 白痴”，the metaphorical meaning is “foolish”， this metaphorical meaning contrasts sharply with “pure” or “innocent”. If a person becomes too “白”，and he is foolish and stupid. In “白熱”，the metaphorical meaning becomes “tense”. “白热” was originally used to describe fire. When fire burns fiercely， its color turns “白热”， thus “白热” is now often used to describe an urgent case or a very serious situation. In “白脸”， “白” refers to a crafty side. In traditional Beijing Opera， “白脸” and “黑脸” are two typical characters， in one play， audiences judge whether players are evil or good by seeing the color of their faces. This usage becomes a metaphorical use and is inherited from generation to generation.

The following examples have the similar metaphorical meanings of “white” in English. For example， in the idiom “白璧无瑕”， the metaphorical meaning is “pure”. There is another example like “白衣天使”， its metaphorical meaning is also pure. In “黑白分明”， “白” refers to just， and in English， there are also black and white markets. The corresponding word of “白旗”， “白皮书” in Chinese is “white flag” and “white paper” in English， so the two examples have exactly the same metaphorical meanings.

3.3 The working mechanism of “white” and “白” metaphors

According the 2.1.1， the author has introduced Lakoffs points about metaphor.

Lakoff （1993：43） sets forth that metaphor is the mapping of source domain onto the target domain in order to construct or explain one cognitive domain in terms of another cognitive domain. This can be considered as the working mechanism of the color metaphor.

The semantic conflict and the psychological similarity are the two fundamental conditions for the color metaphor（Chen）. Here the psychological similarity means the conceptual similarity. For example， WHITE IS UPRIGHT. “UPRIGHT” is a colorless abstract concept. The similarity between the psychological image caused by WHITE and the psychological image caused by UPRIGHT is the psychological basis for this color metaphor. When seeing a dancer wearing white clothes， and this dancer can show a feeling of pureness for audiences. Therefore， this similar feeling of pure is the psychological basis for the metaphor WHITE IS UPRIGHT.

Color metaphor， like other categories of metaphor， comes from human beings experience of understanding the world， meanwhile this experience includes cultural experience of one nation. In China， people originally interpret “白” as the pale color of someones face， which provides people the fear. So， “白” has more negative feelings in Chinese， such as in the metaphor 白色是葬禮， or 白事. In this metaphor， color domain is the source domain， funeral domain is the target domain and the color domain is mapped onto the marriage domain. Because the semantic meaning of one word can extend， when using the color term “white”， and its meanings can deviate. This deviation and conceptual similarity of feeling pale and helpless by seeing the color “white” and peoples feeling of hopelessness and fear in a funeral consist of the two basis conditions of this metaphor. The diagram 1 in the following lines can demonstrate the point clearly：

Diagram1 An example of the working mechanism of “白” metaphor

Now the author takes an English example to illustrate “white” metaphor. In the metaphor WHITE IS MARRIAGE， the color domain is the source domain， the marriage domain is the target domain， and the color domain is mapped onto the marriage domain for getting better understandings of the abstract concept “marriage”. “White” as the color of light， which provides people pure things. Therefore， generally speaking， “white” has more favorable meanings in English. Such as WHITE IS MARRIAGE， as is known that “white” embodies clean and honest things in English religion， so when this semantic deviation is used in marriage， and it presents honesty and pureness for love. So here， the semantic deviation caused by using “white” to modify the colorless “love” in a wedding ceremony， as well as the psychological similarity of having a feeling of pureness by seeing the color “white” of light and human beings feeling of honesty in marriage， makes up of the two basis conditions of this metaphor. The working mechanism of “white” will be shown in the following diagram 2.

Diagram 2 An example of the working mechanism of “white” metaphor

In order to understand clearly the color metaphor， people have to interpret Lakoffs “cross-domain” in a broad sense. The above examples are typical， and in these examples， the color “white” is to explain the colorless abstract objects， or the shift of different domains.

3.4 Discussion about the similarities and dissimilarities of “white” metaphor

The winter of western countries is longer than that of China. In winter， snow covers most of areas， “white” is a color that western countries are familiar with. They celebrate many of their festivals in white winter， so “white” is a symbol of happiness and fun. Whats more， most of western countries are surrounded by the sea， in ancient time， they fed themselves by fishing in the sea， and the color of the sea is white and blue， and then “white” is the representative color of marine culture. While China is a mainland country. For thousands of years， people live by planting crops in land， so compared to white， yellow is a more meaningful color. Whats more， to many Chinese people， winter is a season of death， old and sick people cannot get through winter， therefore， “white” is the color of death.

In China， “white” is a special color. In one funeral， people have to dress in white， and this tradition has been kept till now. So except in some special occasions， people seldom wear white clothes. This metaphorical meaning of “white” deeply roots in Chinese mind. While in western countries， the tradition is totally different. In important and holy occasions， people dress and adorn themselves in white， because “white” is a symbol of purity and innocence. The churches are painted in white， and many things associated with religion are white， like the angels and the holy crosses. Differences of traditions and religions result in different usages of the color “white".

4. Conclusion

This paper is dedicated to a contrastive study of color metaphors between Chinese and English based on two corpora， with a focus on the color “white”. And this study involves four main researches questions： （1） What are the types of “white” in Chinese and English？ （2） What is the working mechanism of “white” metaphor？ （3） What are the similarities and dissimilarities between Chinese and English of “white” metaphors？

To conclude， this paper analyzes the differences between English and Chinese at the aspect of color term “white” by using two corpora， which gives people a new method to contrast two nations cultures and then further understand their different national psychology.

注釋：

[1]本文为西南科技大学研究生创新基金资助（Supported by Postgraduate Innovation Fund Project by Southwest University of Science and Technology），項目名称为“基于语料库的‘白与‘white的认知隐喻对比研究”（项目编号：17ycx115，立项时间：2017年5月）

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