The Comparative Study Of Ethno-specified Meanings Of Common Chinese And Korean Plant Words

Language and culture are depending on each and can not be divided. Language is the carrier of culture and culture is rooted in the soil of language. As the most sensitive and active part of language, vocabulary must reflect its own culture. Human and plants coexist for a long time so there is a great number of plant names and related phrases.These plants are no longer a mere biological existence but in the history of the development are given unique cultural connotations, reflecting cultural factors including national geographical environment, history, culture, religion, folk customs and so on. There are abundant plants words in Chinese and Korean. In the long-term use, plant words have additional cultural meaning, that is, we often say that ethno-specified meanings. As an important part of the vocabulary system, Chinese and Korean plant words, under the influence of their respective national cultural traditions, have accumulated rich cultural connotations and bear distinctive ethnic characteristics.This article is based on the ethno-specified meanings of Chinese and Korean common plants, through a comparative analysis of the similarities and differences between the two language to understand commonness and individuality of the two cultures. The article is divided into four chapters. The first chapter discussed the meaning and value of the subject and the basic definition of ethno-specified meanings in gereanal. The second chapter focuses on analysis of the ethno-specified meanings of common plant images in Chinese and Korean, summarizing the similarities and differences of cultural connations between two language and establishes the correlated system of Chinese and Korean plant words including the following aspects: having the same or similar cultural connations, the different cultural connations and the vacant meaning in each language. On this basis, the third chapter is to explore ways to get the ethno-specified meanings of Chinese and Korean plant words. Some connations come from poetry allusions and folk beliefs and from the meaning of the generated level, there are two ways of metaphors and homophonic. The difference or vacancies of both Chinese and Korean plant words will cause communication failure due to poor understanding of the two cultures. Therefore, the final chapter discusses the the role and significance for translation and cross-cultural communication by the comparative study of ethno-specified meanings of Chinese and Korean plant words.