A Quantitative Research On The Color Words In The Plum In The Golden Vase

The study on color words is an important part of Chinese vocabulary study. The Plum in theGolden Vase, which is known as a wonderful panorama novel, has used a large number of color wordsduring its description of ethics in families. The frequency and scope of using color words has become aunique feature of this novel. This thesis sorts out all the color words of The Plum in the Golden Vaseand gives a thoroughly synchronic research on them.There are189color words in The Plum in the Golden Vase, which can be divided into9colors: red,yellow, green, blue, purple, grey, brown, black and white. These color words are used2098timesthroughout the novel. This thesis has done a subtle research in the frequency, word formation, lexicalmeaning, syntax and coloring ranges. Quantitative statistics has been used throughout the thesis toreveal the color words system and all the features of each color word in The Plum in the Golden Vase.The thesis can be divided into8chapters. The first chapter is the introduction of the thesis, which hasillustrated the aim, meaning, history, current status, steps and methods of the research. From Chapter2to Chapter7, the thesis discusses the performance of all the9colors in the novel. Chapter8is theconclusion chapter, which sums up the basic conclusion of the research in the former six chapters. Thethesis points out that during the9colors, red, white and black are the most frequently used. Especiallythe red colors, which has taken up more than25%among all the color words in The Plum in the GoldenVase. It is not hard to understand this phenomenon, because the Han people loves red color, and duringthe middle and later periods of Ming Dynasty, red was so popular in female dress and house decoration.The construction of the history of Chinese vocabulary has been the dream of several generations inChinese vocabulary circles. Chinese color words are word classes with special mark, which can becomepacesetters of the construction of Chinese vocabulary history. Therefore, the description of Chinesecolor words history can step ahead of other studies to provide reference and basis of the whole historyof Chinese vocabulary. The systematic discussion of color words in The Plum in the Golden Vase is thebasis of synchronic description of color words in Ming Dynasty, which has contributed a lot to theconstruction of Chinese vocabulary history. This is the motivation and aim of my thesis and also thevalue of it.