The Comparison Of Basic Color Terms In English And Chinese

Vocabulary is the most active part of language .It can directly reflect the social changes and cultural developments .In a sense, vocabulary is the mirror of the society and culture , so is colour terms .Based on the results of many researches and the theory of the contrastive linguistics ,this paper mainly compares and analysizes the basic colour terms in Chinese and English in the following aspects :1. Both Chinese and English colour terms have their own features of word formation, they can form a large word system .To be a special part in the vocabulary, English basic colour terms can be used in various parts of speech and expressed in different ways ; The main characteristic of Chinese colour terms is to display colours by means of real things.2. Owing to the similarities of human body and living environment, Chinese and English people can sense colours similarly ,the basic colour terms in these twolanguages have similar pragmatic functions-to display the colours of the realthings and to express people's feelings .3.According to cultural linguistics .language and culture have mutual influences .Different cultures and societies vest basic colour terms with rich meanings ,which results in the similarities and differences between Chinese and English basic colour terms as follows : (1)The correspondence of meanings. (2)The overlap of meanings .(3)The conflict of meanings .(4)The gap of meanings .4. The significance of the comparative analysis of Chinese and English colour terms in cultural linguistics ,in lexicology ,in translation and in foreign language teaching.