中西語言與文化的比較──以中西灰姑娘為例

A study of the relationship between language and culture: a comparison between Chinese and Western ''Cinderella''

本研究旨在從中西灰姑娘故事元素之比較，探討語言與文化之間的相關性。灰姑娘（Cinderella）為家喻戶曉的童話故事，南瓜馬車、玻璃鞋隨著故事深入人心；翻開唐代段成式所著《酉陽雜俎》，孤女葉限飽受虐待，一場宴會中，悄悄出席，倉皇離開之際，遺落一隻鞋子，後陀汗國王因鞋尋獲葉限並娶其返國。何以中西出現了如此雷同的故事架構，彼此相同或相異的元素各是甚麼？又何以葉限的記載，早於西方千年，卻默默隱藏於書本間，鮮為人知？本研究採取文本分析法與資料彙整法，對《酉陽雜俎》中葉限的故事、以及格林兄弟（Grimms）和夏爾‧佩羅（Charles‧Perrault）灰姑娘的故事進行比較。研究結果得知，中西故事中的共同元素為母逝、繼母與繼母的女兒、協助動物、舞會、鞋子、覓鞋、與顯貴男子成婚；相異元素為協助動物之異、故事的顯、隱性之別、故事開端與結尾之異、父親健在與否。在華人文化中確有以鞋訂婚之俗，鞋與「諧」音同，是以在婚約中以「鞋」代「諧」，傳達「和諧」之意；而白、紅色彩之異，也呈現出中西文化之異隱含在語言之中；且此一語言與文化的關係，恰為華語教學中值得應用之教學素材。

"Cinderella is a well-known fairy tale with a story line of pumpkin carriage and glass shoes, deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Interestingly, there is a similar story“Ye Xian”in the Tang Dynasty in China. Ye Xian, an orphan girl whose parents died early, were abused by stepmothers. One day, a banquet was held in the town. Ye Xiansecretly participated in the banquet and dropped a shoe when she left in a hurry. Later, the king of Tuhan searched and found Ye Xianby the shoe and married her later. With such a similarity, several interesting questions can be raised. Why are there two such similar stories bothin the Chinese and Western worlds? What elements are the same and different between the two stories? And why did ''Ye Xian'' appear more than a thousand years earlier, but few people know this story? This study uses a text analysis method and a data aggregation method to compare the ''Ye Xian'' and Cinderella story versions. In our study, the same elements are orphans, stepmothers, sisters, supernatural forces, dances, shoes and so on. On the other hand, differences are in supernatural forces, story description methods, beginning and ending of the story, and whether the father is alive. Engagement in shoes is one of the traditional customs of China. Because ''鞋─Xie”have the same phonics as ''harmony─諧─Xie'' in Chinese, indicating ''harmony'' in marriage contract. Besides, colors also have different symbolic meanings in different cultures. In the West, white is a symbol of purity and nobleness, while in China, red is a more popular token for these traits.Finally, the research results are applied to teaching Chinese as second language."