A Pragmatic-Semantic Study of Colour Symbolism in English and Arabic Literary Texts

Abstract

Symbolism in general and colour symbolism in particular have not received the linguists' attention in the same way studied by literary critics. Thus, the present study is an attempt to limit this gap by studying colour symbolism linguistically to answer the following questions: (1) What is the most flouted maxim in colour symbolism in literary texts in English and Arabic? (2) Is colour symbolism context-dependent in literary texts? (3) What are the semantic aspects of colour symbolism in the literary texts selected? Thus, the present study aims at: (1) Pinpointing the most flouted maxim in colour symbolism in literary texts in English and Arabic. (2) Determining whether colour symbolism is context-dependent in literary texts. (3) Investigating he semantic aspects of colour symbolism in the literary texts selected. To achieve its aims, the present study hypothesizes that: (1) The maxim of manner is the most flouted  maxim in colour symbolism in English and Arabic literary texts. (2) Colours symbolize different things in different contexts. (3) There are certain semantic aspects for colour symbolism manipulated in the literary texts such as using metaphor and conveying the connotative meaning of colours. Then, in order to achieve the aims of the study and test its hypotheses, the following procedures are adopted: (1) Presenting a theoretical background about colour symbolism in general and colour symbolism from a linguistic  point of view. (2) Analyzing (six) extracts of literary texts according to an eclectic model based on Eco’s (1984) model Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language and some semantic aspects. The data of the present study is collected from Nathaniel Hawthorne and Wassini Al-A'erj novels "The Scarlet Letter" and "انثى السراب" Ontha Al Sarab" respectively. The study has come up with certain conclusions that prove the above set hypotheses.