‘白’과 ‘紅’에 대한 한·중 색채어의 기호학적 연구

Abstract

Lotman tried to analyze all the cultural phenomena from the semiotic perspective. In the Course in General Linguistics(Cours de linguistique générale), Saussure said, “Language is a system of signs expressing concepts, and, thus, it can be compared with writing, sign language, symbolic rituals, etiquette forms, and military signs. But, language is only the most important system among those systems.” In his view, language is only signs. Sign can be divided into two elements: gipyo (記標) and gieui (記意), Gipyo is what the sign means, and gieui is what is meant by the sign. Gipyo is physical means or medium, and gieui can be said to be the concept related with gipyo, and it is formed in relations with other cultural elements in the cultural and historical processes. This study defined color terms ‘while, 白’ and ‘red, 紅’ as color signs, and arranged gipyo and gieui of ‘白’and ‘红’. Then, this study compared gieui of ‘白’and ‘红’, which are strongly influenced by the social and cultural aspects both in Korea and in China, and found out that there are some commonly used meanings in both countries, and there are different meanings in those countries. ‘白’ is considered in Korea as an auspicious, sacred, and precious color. So, it has a positive meaning. In contrast, ‘红’ is considered in China as a pleasant, auspicious color, and that of prosperity and success. So, ‘红’ has a positive meaning. What is interesting is that while both the Koreans and the Chinese have respected the sun, the former have seen it as being ‘white’ color, and the latter as being ‘red’. We can understand that the two peoples have seen the same object as being different colors depending on what colors they prefer. Such phenomena can occur not only in color, but in culture in general. Consequently, it is important for us to have attitudes to recognize and respect other cultures without any bias to them. It is expected that comparison of meanings of color signs ‘白’and ‘红’ in Korea and China can be a momentum to understand Korean and Chinese cultures.