英语专业论文A Comparative Study between English and Chinese Address Forms.docx

英语专业论文A Comparative Study between English and Chinese Address Forms.docx

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英语专业论文AComparativeStudybetweenEnglishandChineseAddressForms

Acknowledgements

Iwishtoexpressmythanksandappreciationtomytutor,MissZhouyehaowhosesuggestionshavebeeninvaluabletomethroughoutmythesiswriting.

MythanksshouldalsobegiventoalltheteacherswhohavetaughtmemyBAcourses.Withouttheirenthusiasmandsupport,thisworkwouldnothavebeenpossible.

Therearemanycolleaguesandfriendswhohavehelpedmeduringthecourseofconductingthispaper.Theyhavesharedtheirexperience,knowledgeandideaswithme.SomehavepointedmetowardsessentialreferencesandsuggestedpointsofinterestwhichIwasencouragedtopursue.Inparticular,IownaspecialdebtofthankstoShaZhixia&LanHuiliang,whohasgivenmemanysuggestionstorevisethepaper.

LastIwouldliketothankmyfamily.Theirlove,care,supportandencouragementhavehelpedmetoovercomemanydifficultiesthroughoutthethesiswriting.Thisthesisisthereforededicatedtoallwhohavehelpedmethroughthisenlighteningprocess.

Abstract

Languageisapartofculture.Peopleofdifferentnationsdifferinculture,history,customandconvention,andthesedifferencescanbeshownintheirlanguages.Thusdifferentnationalpeoplemayhavetheirownvocativeexpressions.Duringtheprocessofinterculturalcommunication,withoutknowingthepartner’swaytousetheaddresswillcausepragmaticfailureandevenbreakdownthecommunication.

TheculturedifferencebetweenEnglishandChinesekinshiptermsliesonthedivisionofpatriarchalandnon-patriarchalclans,detailsandomissionsofpaterchalandmaternalkinshipsterms,elder-youngerrelationsandseniorityorder,bloodrelationsbymarriage,constructionofderivatives,generalization.Innon-kinshipterms（socialaddressforms）,Chinesehasmorecomplexaddresswords.Thereasonsofsuchphenomenonarethedifferenthistories,conceptsofbearing,conceptsoffriendships,aswellasthedifferentbeliefs.

ThispapermainlyexpressesthesimilaritiesanddifferencesoftheEnglishandChineseaddressformsfromthetwoaspectsofthekinshipandsocialaddressform.What’smore,theauthoranalyzedtheaddressformsfromtheaspectsofhistoricalreasons,conceptsofbearingandconceptsoffriendshipsothatthereaderscanhaveabetterunderstandingofit.Itishopedthatthispapercanhelppeopletounderstandeachothereasilyandsetupgoodrelationship.

KeyWords:

kinshipsocialaddressformculturaldifference

摘要

语言是民族文化的一个组成部分。

不同民族有着不同的文化、历史、风俗习惯和风土人情等,各民族的文化和社会风俗又都在该民族的语言中表现出来。

不同的民族有其不同的称呼系统。

在跨文化交际的过程中，若不了解对方称呼语的使用习惯就会造成语用失误，这样就给双方的交流带来极大的不便。

英汉亲属称谓语在区分宗族与非宗族、父系与母系、长幼辈分、姻亲与血亲、派生词的使用、泛化方面有明显的区别；在社会称谓中，汉语表达的词汇相对比英语丰富多了。

造成这些区别的主要原因是英汉两民族自身的历史背景、生育观念、友谊观念和信仰观念的不同。

本文主要从亲属称谓和社会称谓这两大方面来阐述英汉称谓语的异同,并从两民族的历史、生育观念和信仰观念的新视角来深化人们对称谓语这一语言现象的认识,从而增进彼此之间的了解,提高人与人之间的交流水平,建立良好的人际关系.

关键词：

亲属称谓社会称谓文化差异

Contents

Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………i

Abstract（English）…………………………………………………………..…………ii

Abstract（Chinese）…………………………………………………………………….iii

1.Introduction…………………………………………………………………………1

2.Differencesinkinshipterms…………………………………………..……………1

2.1Divisionsofkinshipterms…………………………………………….………1

2.1.1Thedifferencebypatriarchalandnon-patriarchalclans………………2

2.1.2Divisionsofbloodrelationandrelationbymarriage…………………..4

2.1.3Differenceofpaternalandmaternalkinshipterms…………………….5

2.1.4Divisionsbyelder-youngerrelationandseniorityorderintheclan…...5

2.2Derivativesofkinshipterms……………………………..……………………7

2.3Generalizationofkinshipterms……………………………….………………7

3.Differenceinsocialaddressforms…………………………………….…………....9

3.1AddressformsinEnglish-speakingcountries……………..…………………9

3.2AddressformsinChinesesociety……….…………………………….……10

4.TheinfluenceofEast-westsocialandculturebackgroundontheaddressform….124.1Chinese“self-abasement”andwesterners’“self-confidence”…..…………12

4.2Chinesetraditionalconceptionandwesternviewof“everyoneisborntobeequal”……………………………………………….…………………………14

4.3Chinesecollectivismandwesternindividualism……...……………………15

4.4SomedifferentconceptsbetweenChineseandwesterners…………………15

5.Reasonsofthedifferenceinaddressforms………………..………………………16

5.1Historicalreasons………………………………………...…………………17

5.2Conceptsofbearing…………………………………………………………18

5.3Conceptsoffriendship……..………………………………………………18

5.4Differentbeliefs……………………………………………………………19

6.Conclusion……………………………..…………………………………………19

References……………………………………………………………………………21

AComparativeStudy

betweenEnglishandChineseAddressForms

英汉称谓语的对比研究

1.Introduction

Languageandculturehaveverycloserelationshipinsocietycontexts.Forthesameword,peoplefromdifferentculturebackgroundsmayhavedifferentimpressionsorunderstanding.Languageisthepresentationofculture.Withoutknowledgeofculture,itisdifficulttolearnlanguagewell.“Cultureisasymbolicsysteminthisnetwork.Oneshouldthinkoflanguageincultureandnotjustoflanguageandculture.”（Chang,2004）

Humanbeingsdonotliveintheworldalone.Peoplecanunderstandtheirpast,presentandfuturebylanguage.ThispaperaimsatillustratingtherelationshipbetweenlanguageandculturethroughtheaddressformscontrastbetweenEnglishandChinese,includingkinshipterms,socialaddressforms,selectionofrespectandhonorificwordsandfurtheranalysisofreasonsofsuchdifferencesinaddressforms.

2.Differencesinkinshipterms

Oneinterestingwayinwhichpeopleuselanguageindailylifeistorefertovariouskindsofkin.Thereisaconsiderableliteratureonkinshipterminology,describinghowpeopleinvariouspartsoftheworldrefertobrothers,sisters,uncles,aunts,cousinsandsoon.Kinshipsystemisauniversalfeatureoflanguagesasaresultoftheimportanceinsocialorganization.Inkinshipsystem,peoplemustmakeuseofsuchfactorsassex,age,generation,bloodandmarriageintheirsociety.Andpeoplecanusetheactualwordsfromthesefactorstodescribeaparticularkinrelationship.

2.1Divisionofkinshipterms

TherearetwocommonpointsbetweenEnglishandChinesekinshipaddressterms:

oneisthequantitiesofbothexperienceaprocessfrommoretoless;theotheristhatsomebasicaddresswordshaveequalmeaningsinbothlanguage,forinstance,father=父亲（fuqin）,mother=母亲（muqin）,son=儿子（erzi）,husband=丈夫（zhangfu）,wife=妻子（qizi）.Meanwhile,mostoftheaddresswordshavedifferentformsinthetwolanguagesbecauseofthedifferenceofcultureandlanguageforms,andsuchphenomenonreflectsthetwonations’difference.

2.1.1Thedifferencebypatriarchalandnon-patriarchalclans

Generallyspeaking,patriarchalclanisregardedasthebasicunitofChinesetraditionalsocialstructure.Grandpa,grandma,nephew,grandson,granddaughteraredefinedinpatriarchalgroup;therefore,grandpainmother’sside,grandmainmother’sside,sonofone’ssister,sonofone’sbrotherorcousin,daughterofone’ssisterandsoonareregulatedinnon-patriarchalgroup.OneofthemostdistinctfeaturesofChinesekinshipaddressformsisthatpatriarchalandnon-patriarchalclansarestrictlydistinguished,thatistosay,variousrelationshipsareclearlyreflectedandnotoccurredeachother.Forexample,inChinese“外”（wai）amorphemeexpressingnon-patriarchalclans,isusuallyusedtoaddressrelativesonmother’s,sister’sordaughter’sside.AccordingtoAnalyticalDictionaryofChineseCharacters（Chen,1989）,theoriginalmeaningof“外”（wai）inChineseis“farandaway”.Theaddresscustomsjustadoptedtheextendedmeaning.

InEnglish,kinshipterminologymaybedifficulttoexpressbecausepatriarchalandnon-patriarchalclansinaddressing,orderandpositioninthefamilyarenotclassifiedclearly.Askingaparticularpersonwhatheorshecallsotherswhohaveknownrelationshipstothatperson,forexample,thatperson’sfather,ormother’sbrother,orsister’husband,inanattempttoshowhowindividualsemployvariousterms,butwithouttryingtospecifyanythingconcerningthesemanticcompositionofthoseterms.OnewillfindinEnglishthatone’sbrother’swife’fathercannotberefertodirectly;brother’swife’fatherisaratherburdensomeexpressinginkinshipterminology.Providingsomeonewantstoemphasizehis/her“奶奶”（nainai）or”外婆”（waipo）,theonlythinghecandoismakinganexplanation“onmyfather’sside”or“inmymother’sside”.Grandfather=爷爷/外公（yeye/waigong）,Grandmother=奶奶/外婆（nainai/waipo）,Grandson=孙子/外孙（sunzi/waisun）,Granddaughter=孙女/外孙女（sunnv/waisunnv）,Niece=侄女/外甥女（zhinv/waishengnv）suchwordsarepolysemies.InOxfordAdvancedLearner’sEnglish-ChineseDictionary,2004）“祖母”（zumu）or“外祖母”（waizumu）istranslatedinto“（maternal）grandmother”,whichjustprocessthereisnopropervocabularyclassifying“奶奶”（nainai）or“外婆”（waipo）incommunicationinthewest.Thisillustratesthatthereisnodistinctionbetweenpatriarchalandnon-patriarchalclansinEnglish.InChinese,“堂”（tang）、“表”（biao）shouldbelongtodifferentclans,whileasingleword“cousin”inEnglishembracesseriesofChinesekinshipaddresswords,suchas堂兄（弟）,tangxiong（di）/堂姐（妹）,tangjie（mei）/表兄（弟）,biaoxiong（di）/表姐（妹）,biaojie（mei）=cousin.

2.1.2Divisionsofbloodrelationandrelationbymarriage

Bloodrelationreferstotherelativeswhoarerelatedbybirth.AccordingBloodRelationRulereflectsthekinshipclassificationsthatrequiredifferentaddressformstokinonmother’sside.MarriageRelationRulerequiresusingtwoaddresssystemstothemembersofthesameclanandrelationbymarriage.（Ma,2000）

InChinesekinshipterms,theaddresswordsinbloodrelationandrelationmarriagearewidelyaccepted.Forexample,伯父（bofu,melderbrotherofone’sfather）