摘 要

英汉词汇中存在着大量关于动物的谚语，它们彰显了民族风貌，蕴含着深刻道理。本文从语义角度出发，通过对动物谚语中概念意义和联想意义不同对等情况的分析，探讨了造成对等差异的原因。研究表明，英汉动物谚语既体现了文化普遍性原则下的语义对等，也体现了由于两种民族不同的宗教信仰、文化习俗、审美角度、地理环境、文学作品、生产活动等方面的差异所导致的语义不对等情况。了解和掌握这些差异对英汉动物谚语的学习和运用大有裨益。

关键词: 动物谚语；语义；概念意义；联想意义；对等性

Contents

1. Introduction----------------------------------------------------------------------------------1

2. Demonstration-------------------------------------------------------------------------------1

2.1 Literature review-----------------------------------------------------------------------------1

2.2 The analysis of semantic equivalences between English and Chinese animal proverbs -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2

2.2.1 Same in conceptual meaning, and same or similar in associative meaning-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------22.2.1.1 Animals’ basic attributes-----------------------------------------------------------------------32.2.1.2 Life experience and understanding of the objective world---------------------------------------32.2.2 Same in conceptual meaning, but different in associative meaning -------------------------------42.2.2.1 Religious belief--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------42.2.2.2 Cultural concepts-----------------------------------------------------------------------------52.2.2.3 Aesthetic viewpoint------ ----------------------------------------------------------------62.2.3 Same in conceptual meaning but without equivalent associative meaning-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------72.2.3.1 Geographic environment-------------------------------------------------------------------72.2.3.2 Literary works--------------------------------------------------------------------------------82.2.4 Different in conceptual meaning but same in associative meaning-----------82.2.4.1 Customs----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------82.2.4.2 Production activities------------------------------------------------------------------------93. Conclusion--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------9

Notes---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------10Works Cited ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------11

Bibliography------------------------------------------------------------------------------------12

An Analysis of the Semantic Equivalences between English and Chinese Animal Proverbs

1. Introduction

In Longman Modern English Dictionary, proverb is explained as “a brief familiar maxim of folk wisdom, usually compressed in form, often involving a bold image and frequently a jingle that catches the memory.” A proverb, which briefly sums up human experience and observation of the world, states a general truth and gives advice or warning to us. And during the long history of human development, people have created a lot of proverbs about animals. These proverbs play an extremely important role in our daily life. They are vivid expression of people's emotion, attitude, and viewpoints（Zhang，71）. It is widely acknowledged that there are a big number of animal proverbs in both English and Chinese, and some of them are identical in meaning, but others contain different or even opposite meanings because the west and east are located in different hemispheres and have different environments, cultures and living habits. The study of these differences, on the one hand, can let us feel the diversity of language, and on the other hand can also give us a better understanding of the unique ethnic customs and cultures so as to promote language learning, translation and intercultural communication. Based on extensive collection and collation, this paper will study the semantic equivalences of English and Chinese animal proverbs under different semantic conditions, and respectively compare and analyze four different cases to reveal the profound causes behind the semantic equivalences of animal proverbs.

Ⅱ. Demonstration