A Study On The Comparison And Translation Of English And Chinese Color Metaphors From Perspective Of Palmer's Cultural Linguistics

Color is perception of people to the objective world. In human language there are great numbers of color terms recording color of the world; these color terms are often used in human language, gradually, they are endowed with rich emotional elements and cultural connotations. In cross-cultural communication, different nations with different cultural backgrounds or people of the same nations with the same backgrounds but belonging to different social groups or social classes have different perceptions of various colors. The different perceptions of colors result in a series of associative metaphors of color terms.Metaphor, for a long time, has been one popular subject in the history of linguistic study. Conceptual metaphor is not only a linguistic phenomenon but also a way of thinking and an important tool to help human beings to understand this world better and clearer. Therefore, metaphor, as a rhetorical device, is endowed with abundant cultural connotations. Then under the influence of culture, the translation of metaphors becomes the most important particular problem. The translation of color metaphors especially draw people's attention.Cultural linguistics, which is created by Palmer, is based on cognitive linguistic theory, adds cultural elements into study. His cultural linguistics investigates many aspects of human language from relationship between cognitive models and culture. Metaphor, the indispensable part of language, is also analyzed elaborately. Palmer's cultural linguistics thinks that culture, cognition and language are entity, language is a carrier of culture, metaphor has a national mark. So we must study color metaphors from perspective of Palmer's cultural linguistics.Color, as an important aspect of human experience, has been explored by many linguists, but most of them are just describing cultural factors rather than explaining the cognitive mechanisms.There are few linguists who use culture and cognition to explain color metaphors. Utilizing the metaphor theory of cultural linguistics and based on the relationship of culture, language, and metaphor, this thesis first makes a comparative analysis of the translation of color metaphors in Chinese and English, and then discusses its translation methods so as to offer a new perspective on metaphor translation research and practice.