Cognitive metaphorical interpretation of English and Chinese non-basic color terms

This paper focuses on the non-basic color terms in English and Chinese. Through corpora studies, all the non-basic color terms were collected, and their way of formation were analyzed. The results show that most of the non-basic color terms in English and Chinese can be metaphorically interpreted. When the non-basic color terms formed by metaphor were analyzed semantically and cognitively, it was found that there are similarities and differences between the non-basic color terms in English and Chinese. The two groups of data show great similarities in the source domains like plants, animals and human bodies. In this situation, the universal human physiological features and the natural environment take the responsibility. And in the domains like human interaction and chemical and industrial materials, some remarkable differences were found between the two groups of data. The unique features of each language and its cultural background can fully explain the discovered phenomena. The research aims at providing a systematic study on the non-basic color terms in English and Chinese. Especially, the research on the metaphors functioning in the formation of non-basic color terms was achieved. It is hoped that this research could be useful in exploring the seemingly random non-basic color terms. Besides, it has great applicable values in the learning of English and Chinese, especially for the English learners in China. The contrastive studies on the metaphors in English and Chinese non-basic color terms can enhance their learning of color terms and cross-cultural understanding in particular. © 2018, SHPMedia Sdn Bhd. All rights reserved.