The Differences of Cultural Connotation between English and Chinese Animal Words

摘要

Animals are friends of human beings.Both the Chinese and English language contains a lot of words denoting animals.Along with the development of society,animal words gradually got their connotations in both languages.However,because of different cultural backgrounds of English and Chinese,the implied meanings of the same animal are possibly different.The article starts with the discussion on four causes of special connotation of animal words.Afterwards,the paper makes comparison between the cultural connotation of English and Chinese animal words.It mainly dwells on four types to explore the differences:similarity,part similarity,distinction and vacancy in equivalence.A large amount of examples have been employed to show the differences of connotation between English and Chinese animal words.Hopefully,the barriers in intercultural communication can be removed and mutual-understanding between the cultures will be achieved accordingly.