Wong, Jock and Or, Marshal. (2021). “Is beauty only skin deep?”: The conceptualization of ‘beauty’ in Mandarin Chinese. International Journal of Language and Culture 8(1): 35–61
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/ijolc.00034.won
Abstract:
From a semantic and cultural perspective, one could ask a number of questions regarding the English word ‘beauty’ and the adjectival form ‘beautiful’ when they are used to refer to visual aspects of people. Given that scholars and professionals in the beauty industry frequently use the words to describe people from various cultures, should we assume that each of them embodies a semantic and cultural universal? Given that plastic surgeons and beauticians improve the physical appearance of people, especially women, why do they not use the word ‘pretty’ to promote their services instead? After all, the phrase ‘pretty woman’ is also the title of a popular song first recorded by Roy Orbison in 1964 and later the name of a hugely successful 1990 movie. Why are beauty salons so called? Why are they not called prettiness salons instead? This paper attempts to address such questions by studying the meanings of two Mandarin Chinese words: mĕi/měilì 美/美 丽 (roughly, ‘beautiful’) and piàoliàng 漂亮 (roughly, ‘pretty’). The words are polysemous and this paper focuses on the meanings that are relevant to the pur- poses of describing women. It tries to explain the conceptual difference between a woman who is mĕi/měilì and one who is piàoliàng. Hopefully, the findings will shed light on some of the semantic distinctions that are impor- tant to Mandarin Chinese speakers and thus the questions raised above.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
