跨文化交际kinshipterms#精选、

1、A Comparative Study on Chin ese and En glish Kin ship TermsLan guage is not only one of the factors of social culture, but also the carrier of culture. Culture can not pass on from gen eratio n to gen erati on without the storage and transmission of Ianguage. The use of Ianguage is limited by cultur

2、e and different Ian guage also reflects differe nt cultures.Nowadays, with the rapid developme nt of scie nee and com muni cati on tech no logy, more and more people live and work in differe nt social cultures. And people with differe nt cultural backgro unds also have a close associati on today .In

3、 the process of world ' s becoming to a global village, various kinds of cultuirafluenee and in filtrate into each other. Cultural absorb ing and fusi on lead to a great in flue nce on the In tercultural Commu ni catio n. Successfully con ducted in En glish, cross-cultural com muni cati on requi

4、res more tha n just Ian guage skills, but also n eedsto know the culture of En glish-speak ing coun tries. Otherwise, it causes to the cultural differe nces in the actual com muni cati on process, in appropriate or un beco ming Ian guage sce ne mistakes, misunderstanding. Recently, address terms bec

5、omes one of the hottest topics in cross-cultural com muni catio n. On the one hand, as a mirror, it reflects social cultures; on the other hand, culture also decides and affects the usage of address terms in practical situati ons.Kinship terms as a part of address terms take an important part in our

6、 daily life. Kin ship refers to the system of huma n relati on ship born of marriage, ties of blood and laws. 2 （Dai Qingxia 戴庆厦：2004, 139） One interesting way in which people use Ian guage in daily life contains various kinds of kin ships. There is a con siderable literature on kin ship term ino lo

7、gy, describ ing how people in differe nt parts of the world call un cles, aun ts, brothers, sisters, cous ins and so on. Because kin ship systems are so importa nt in social orga ni zati on, ki nship systems are a uni versal feature of Ianguages.Some systems are much richerthan others. But one can r

8、elate kinship systems with con siderable con fide nce to the actual words that people use to describe a particular kin relati on ship. And it is n ecessary for us to make a con trast betwee nChinese kinship terms and English kinship terms and do some study on it.I. Contrast of Kinship Terms1.1 Contr

9、ast of Kinship TermsOn the one hand, English and Chinese kinship addressing forms have two common points: one is that the quantities of both experience a process more or less; the other one is that some basic address words have the same meaning in both languages.On the other hand, most of their addr

10、esswords are different from each other, because they have different cultures and language forms.1.1.1 Contrast of Blood Relation and Relations by MarriageSomeone will be wandering what is blood relation. Blood relation means a person related by birth rather than by marriage. Blood Relation Rule refl

11、ects that the kinship classifications require different address forms to kin on mother 'side. Marriage Relation Rule requires using two address systems to the members of the same clan and relation by marriage. There are too many address words in blood relation and relation by marriage in Chinese

12、 kinship terms. For example, yi fu （姨夫） （husband of mother' sister ） belong to relation by marriage. While yi ma（姨 妈）（mother' sister ） belong to blood relation. From these examples, we can see Chinese complicated blood relation and relation by marriage. Chinese kinship is patriarchal, becaus

13、e China is a patriarchy society; but English is not.Chinese think that the differences between paternal and maternal relations are very important. The differences mean a lot to Chinese people and the real relationships, near or distant, inside or outside, between relatives. Ancient China was based o

14、n patriarchal descent, which refers to descent traced exclusively through the male line for purposes of group membership. So there are different terms for one' s paternal and maternal relations in China. For example, in China, in paternal grandfather is calledzu fu （祖父）,while maternal grandfathe

15、r is calledwai zu fu（外祖 父 ）. Wai （外） in China means“distant ” or “outside ”. The terms for grandchildren arethe same with them. Usually, paternal relations are more powerful than maternal relations in Chinese family structure.For English people, the difference between paternal and maternal is not cl

16、ear. Thus father 'fasther and mother 'fsather are both grandfathers. Uncle is for both father 'brsother and mother 'bsrother. In English, blood relation and relation by marriage arevery simple class. Therefore, it' s hard to understand the relation betweenvarious relatives and ad

17、dress in English countries.1.1.2 Contrast of Elder-younger Relations and Seniority Order in the ClanIn Chinese kinship system, age is very important. Specific terms can be used to show their different ages. A typical example is the kinship terms bo fu （伯父 ）and shu fu （叔父）.The former is used to addre

18、ss one' s father ' s elder brother, while the latter isfor one' fsather ' yosunger brother. Chinese could hardly contain the mistake of elder-younger relations and seniority order. For example, if one' s father has more thone elder and younger brothers, he should call them: first

19、 bo fu（大伯父）,second bo fu （二伯父），or first shu shu （大叔），second shu shu （二叔）and so on to exhibit their order.Unlike the Chinese language, age is not a criterion to distinguish personal relationships or kinship terms in English. In English, there are only two kinship terms for siblings: brother and siste

20、r. They usually saym“ySshiseteisr , ”whether she isyounger or elder than them. Only when they say“she is my younger or elder sisterthey want to emphasize the age.1.2 Contrast of Derivatives of Kinship TermsThe grammatical relation among Chinese words dependson the factor that the forms of words are

21、not changed. Add 儿”（an“affix used to express endearment） after the address word, “小” （indicatingyounger age） before the address word to show intimacy. It is important that“Xiayou”ngmereiannasge or smaller in body size,and there is no concrete meaning for“Er” . This kind of use is very special, but q

22、uiteconventional in China.However, in English-speaking countries, first names do not necessarily indicate intimacy, but merely a sign of equality and solidarity. They used -“y” and -ie“” or some phonemics to derive some new words showing affection in kinship terms, suchas mum-mummy, dad-daddy, nan-n

23、anny/ nanna, daughter-daughtie, aun t-a un ty/a un tie.II. Reasons for the Differenee in Kinship TermsAny assoeiation among people has diversities on Ianguage and cultural baekground. Because of the speakers in different Ianguages have differences in eountry, historical baekground, life style, socia

24、l culture, sense of value, morality and religio n, these differe nces result in differe nt modes of thi nking, com muni cati on habits and the regulati ons of using Ian guages which become a unique local culture betwee n certa in people.The reas ons for the differe nces betwee n En glish and Chin es

25、e kin ship terms are very complicated. The followi ng is a ten tative illustrati on of those reas ons: differe nt social structures, differe nt values and ethics.2.1 Differe nces in Social StructuresAncient China had been a feudal society for a long time in which agriculture was the domination. With

26、 the baekground of a Iong-term self-sufficient agricultural econo mic society, almost all the Chin ese mai nland reside nts live by farmi ng which result in a great need of labor force. Therefore, three or four generations live together and form a big family. Sometimes a family will be made up of do

27、ze ns or hun dreds of people because of blood relation and relation by marriage. Since ancient times, Chinese culture bases on ethics, etiquette and family which results in a society living on peck ing order. As the symbol of status, positi on and authority, kin ship terms use differe nt words to ex

28、press differe nces among people. But, as for wester n eoun tries, they are based on commercial bus in esswhich results in a small family on ly with parents and juveniles. There are several persons in this kind of family and the relati on ship will not so complicate in which just n eeds some simple k

29、i nship terms to daily use.And in English speaking eountries, Greek, the cradle of western culture, was an island which was the first to develop commercial economy and create a western bus in ess culture in the ocea n eoun tries. The Greeks who en gaged in the commercial economy began to break away

30、from blood ties and then formed a eontractual relationship which was the core of the social structure. This kind of commercial economy determ ined the basic family social structure. The western social con tractual social structure doesn ' t care much about blood relationship, but pays more atten

31、tion to in terpers onal con tract relati on ship, in dividual and emphasiz ing that everybody is equal. This kind of social structure is greatly different from China's social structure. Westerners don ' t have so strict hierarchy and tend to form an equal pattern.2.2 Differe nces in Values“

32、Everyculture has its own values and a set of specific value systems. ”1(SAMOVAR , PORTER, STEFANI: 2000,60) . Values are contained at the bottom of culture, but reflected by surface cultures such as Ian guage. The Chin ese people are deeply in flue need by the Con fucia nism and they emphasize on fa

33、mily, respect for the old and care for the young, strive for harm ony and obedie nee. And the kin ship terms shaped in this kind of circumsta nee clearly show the peck ing order betwee n people. While in the western cultures, people advocate freedom and equality, pursue for unique pers on ality and

34、not care much about family. So the kin ship terms tend to be simple.The differe nces in kin ship terms betwee n Chin ese and En glish reflect differe nt emphasis on culture value system, namely: collectivism and individualism. In the Chinese collectivism culture, people emphasize on social nature, t

35、he restraint of society and group on people, family values, the pursuit of harmony between in terpers onal relati on ships. These con cepts are reflected in family members and kin ship terms. However, i n wester n coun tries, people highly praise in dividualism in which people tend to be self-c once

36、n trated and advocate in depe ndent pers on ality. No matter in family or in society, the sense of in dividual rights and equality is greatly reflected. They prefer call others names directly to show equal, friendly and intimate relatio nships. And the En glish kin ship terms tend to be simple rathe

37、r tha n complicated.2.3 Differe nces in EthicsLan guage and speech have ethical close relati on ship. Ethics as the prin ciples and standards which people should follow in the processing of interpersonal relati on ship is the law and in structio ns of in terpers onal relati on ship. It must be refle

38、cted in Ianguage structure system which acts as the symbol of the world. 3（Xuman 徐曼，2008:20）Chin ese society is a society lin ked with blood relati on ship, so the relati on ships among people could not be equal. China' culture is deeply in flue need by the Con fucia ni sm. It stresses the harm

39、onious huma n relati on ship and emphasizes huma n social characteristics. The Con fucia nism advocates people to sacrifice themselves in dividual for the sake of group or society. One importa nt thought in Con fucia nism is ethics and morals, abid ing“ betwee n father anoh has close ness,ruler and

40、subjecthas righteous ness,husba nd and wife has differe nces, a relati on ship not only shows differences but also shows intimacy. Status within the family was codified in the famous five relati on ships betwee n ruler and subject, father and son, elder brother and youn ger brother, husba nd and wif

41、e, frie nd and frie nd. Kin ship terms have certa in forms to address others which with man datory obligati ons and rights.On the con trary, in western coun tries, peoples' ethics are in flue need by the valueconcepts of English cultures and Christian faith, so they advocate freedom, independence and individuality which form the Ianguage ethics different from Chin ese.III. SummaryEverybody is grow ing up in the social culture and culture shapes, con stra in t