English And Chinese Idioms With Numbers: A Comparative Study

Number is used to represent the quantity. It is a common phenomenon of different languages in the world. Every nationality has the need for numbers in the counting systems. With the development of human society, number becomes more and more important in the scientific experiments, social and economic lives of human kind. Numbers are correspondingly well developed in languages.Number, as an important part of language, is embodied with different cultural background. Idioms with numbers are the central core and cream of languages, reflecting the wisdom of human kind. They have strong ethnical, historical and regional colors, reflecting the cultural difference of different nationalities. Though there is much difference among different nationalities in regard to the natural environment, social systems, historical development, customs, religions, beliefs, moral concepts, cultural ideas, modes of thinking, and so on, there is much similarity in their logical judgement and reasoning. This leads to the similarities among different nationalities in their process of getting to know the nature, the society and human beings themselves. Among these similarities is the wide use of numbers, especially idioms with numbers.Idioms with numbers have strong cultural characteristics. They are usually terse and vivid. The proverbs , allusions, slang, especially the unique four ?character idioms, allegorical sayings and antithetical couplets in the Chinese language, which are all concise and comprehensive, humorous and witty, are good examples of idioms with numbers. To accurately understand and use these idioms in two different cultures, we have to know their cultural background, and analyze theirivstructures, grammars, syntactic functions, semantic functions and rhetoric characters. Through a comparison of Chinese and English idioms with numbers, we can get some basic laws, which will help us to understand and use the two languages more appropriately. This thesis tends to analyze and compare English and Chinese idioms with numbers in regard to their types, grammatical functions, semantic features, rhetoric, and forms and meanings in particular. This will help readers of this thesis better understand and master English and Chinese idioms with numbers.This thesis consists of four chapters. Chapter one is about the relationship between language and culture. Language is part of culture. It is the embodiment of culture and conveys cultural information. English and Chinese are two different languages reflecting the national characteristics of their own. A Chinese person, to master English , has to understand and comprehend the cultures of English ?speaking countries. Chapter two discusses cultural connotation of numbers. There are some basic numbers in both English and Chinese languages. These basic numbers play important roles in their respective cultures. Cultural connotations of numbers are closely connected with psychology, mythology, religion, and so forth. Chapter three is a comparative study of English and Chinese idioms with numbers in regards to their types, grammatical functions, semantic features and rhetoric. English and Chinese idioms with numbers include slang, proverbs and allusions. However, four梒haracter idioms with numbers, allegorical sayings with numbers, antithetical couplets with number, are unique ones in the Chinese language. This chapter also makes a comparative analysis of English and Chinese idioms with numbers with regard to their grammar, semantic features and rhetoric. For theseidioms, there are both similarities and differences in their grammatical functions, their semantic features and rhetorical features. Due to the cultural differences, their connotational meanings are different in most cases. Chapter four compares idioms with numbers in form and meaning. Due to the cultural similarities and differences in English speaking countries and China, idioms with number, the highly cultural expressions, are identical in form, in meaning, or both. Some other idioms with numbers, however, lack c...