Colour word in proverbs

The aim of this paper is to study the occurrence of colour words in proverbs, their cross-linguistic and cross-cultural convergences/divergences, and the difficulties in understanding them in intercultural communication. On the grounds of the literature and of the data resulting from questionnaires mainly filled by Chinese and Italian infomants, colour words in proverbs, though significantly culturally-bound, show (partial) correspondences, common tropi, and even the same pattern and propositional content, as in the following English saying and its equivalent in other languages (that is, French, German, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, etc.): Red sky at night, shepherd’s delight. Red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning. Furthermore, like idioms and formulas, proverbial sayings seem to perform significant functions on a cultural/social level, that is, transmitting beliefs within a given community, marking social identity, and, in Chinese culture, showing a significant function in argumentation; but further testings are necessary. In the interface between language and communication, our analysis will discuss the data taken from our ongoing research on colour words, compare the different uses by Italian and Chinese speakers, and, in general, touch upon the comprehension issue and the related, intercultural difficulties, only partially solved by local and global contextual parameters (Akman & Bazzanella, 2003).