The kinship terms in Chinese

王麗峰

Abstract：Kinship terms express intimate calls between relatives and friends， and are influenced by traditional culture. This paper analyzes kinship terms and cultural relations.

Key word：kinship terms；culture；forms of kinship terms

中圖分類號：G648 文獻標識碼：B文章編號：1672-1578（2017）09-0001-01

1.Introduction to kinship terms

Throughout human history people have found ways to identify themselves and others in social contexts. This identification comes partly through the act of naming. When we learn to identify and categorize the world around us， we also found our place within it. Our names make us apart from every other human being； just as our individual names connote our uniqueness within society， so do the kinship terms applied to us. Kinship terms， as one of the most important aspects of language， according to E. R. Leach （1958）， are "category words by means of which an individual is taught to recognize the significant groupings in the social structure into which he is born."2 In different societies and cultures， there must be different systems of kinship terms. For example， between English and Chinese languages， there are only a few basic relations such as "father，" "mother，" "son，" and "daughter，" display the same constants which can be expressed in similar kinship terms. Kinship is one of the most complex systems of culture. All human have its special kinship terminology. The purpose of this thesis is to make people know the meaning of each kinship terms in Chinese and in English， and then find out different cultures lead to these differences through making deep comparison between Chinese and English kinship terms. Thus people may know each other better and establish effective interpersonal relationship between different cultures. In fact， different nations have different history， culture， and ideology； Chinese kinship terms are much more complicated， whereas English kinship terms are simple and direct. Although there are some similarities between Chinese and English kinship terms， their differences take main position in interpersonal relationships. Having this information in minds， we can have a better understanding of Chinese and English kinship terms. In this thesis， it would describe the systems of kinship terms in Chinese and English.

2.Forms of kinship terms in Chinese

In contrast to English kinship terms， the Chinese kinship system is very complicated. This chapter mainly describes the system of Chinese and English kinship terms and each meaning of these kinship terms. Chinese has evolved a much complex system of address terms in kinship than English has. In China， kinship terms are not only used within one's own family， but also to other people. Yu Lanfung， a Chinese philosopher finds， In the Erh Ya， which is the oldest dictionary of the Chinese language， "dating from before the Christian era， there are more than one hundred terms for various family relationships， most of which have no equivalent in the English language."3 Then， some question will arise： Why the Chinese language has a large number of kinship terms？ How to classify these kinship terms？endprint

3. Kinship terms of paternal relationship

The age difference of the same generation and difference between paternal and maternal relationship are reflected in kinship address in Chinese but not in English. Chinese kinship terms often tell whether the relatives are from the mother's side or the father's side. For example， one's father's father is called ye ye （grandpa）， father's mother is called nai nai （grandma）； father's brother is called shu shu/bo bo（uncle）； and father's sister is called gu gu （aunt）. Inside this big family， members are labeled with specific kinship terms according to their age， generation， sex， and other factors such as marriage. When using these kinship terms they can never get confused with the other members. Furthermore， in Chinese， the kinship terms of the same generation are also divided. Father's brother's children are called tang ge （elder brother） tang di （younger brother） tang jie （elder sister） tang mei （younger sister）. Tang， which means "house" in China， is to say， they are living in the same family， and are from the same roots. This is clearly different from the maternal relationship.

4. Conclusion

The kinship is a part of Chinese culture， and it has been using over hundred years already. The Chinese culture and kinship have influenced each other. Even can recognize if different families have similar ancestor based on the kinship terms. So kinship terms would have been kept still， and become a part of Chinese culture too.

Reference：

[1] Lin Yutang. My Country and My People. Shanxi： Shanxi normal university press， 2002

[2] Leach E. R. The developmental cycle in domestic groups. Cambridge： Cambridge University Press，1958

[3] Ralph fasold. The sociolinguistics of language. Shanghai： foreign language teaching and research press， 2014

[4] Zhu Linglin. On Translation of kinship terms. Anhui： Anhui university ，2012endprint