Abstract
Language and culture have very close relationship in society contexts. For the same word, people of different culture backgrounds may have different impressions or understandings. Language is the presentation of culture. Without knowledge of culture, it is difficult to learn language well. Therefore, “Culture is a system of symbol, and language is only one element of the symbolic system in this network. And it is obviously that one should think of language in culture and not just of language and culture.” (Chang Zonglin，2004：90-91).
Kinship system，as part of language, fully reflects its culture. This article makes a comparison study between kinship terms in Chinese and English firstly. Different structures and different features of two kinship systems are displayed. Based on the analysis above, the author seeks different culture connotations of Chinese and English, on different family structures, different blood relationships, different patriarchy concepts, different social stratum concept, different cultural adoptions and different courtesy principle.
Actually, though the study on Chinese and English kinship terms is still new, this article attempts to display different cultural connotations between Chinese and English by the analysis on the two kinship terms.
Key words: Chinese/ English kinship terms comparison
cultural connotations
摘 要
在社会环境中， 语言与文化有着非常密切的联系。当面对同一个词，来自不同文化背景的人会有不同的理解和想象。语言是文化的化身。如果首先没有对文化进行了解，是很难学好一门语言的。
因此，“文化是一种符号系统， 而语言只是这个符号系统网络中的一个元素。” (常宗林，2004：90-91)。作为语言的其中一部分，亲属称谓充分反应了其中隐含的文化背景。 文章首先对汉英亲属称谓作了一个比较研究。其中体现了汉英亲属称谓系统的不同结构以及不同的特征。在此分析的基础上，作者探求了汉英亲属称谓反应出的中西方不同的文化内涵，包括不同的家庭结构、血缘关系方面、不同的宗法观念、社会等级观念、不同的文化取向以及不同的礼貌原则。
事实上，关于汉英亲属称谓方面的研究目前来说还是比较新的。但本文尝试了对汉英两种称谓系统的分析，并再现两种不同的文化内涵。
关键词： 汉英亲属称谓 比较 文化内涵
Contents
Acknowledgements………………………………..………………..……………i
Abstract(English)……………………………………..……..……………………ii
Abstract(Chinese)…………………………………………….… .……………..iii
Contents………………………………………..………………………..……….iv
- Introduction……………………………………………….…………….….….1
- A comparison between kinship terms in Chinese and English……… …..….1
2.1 Different structures of kinship terms in Chinese and English……..….…1
2.2 Different features of kinship terms in Chinese and English………….…..5
2.2.1 The description of Chinese kinship terms…………………………. 5
2.2.2 The recapitulation of English kinship terms………………………..6
2.2.3 The generalization of kinship terms in Chinese and English…..…..7
- Cultural connotation of kinship terms in Chinese and English……………..…9
3.1 Family structure………………………………………………..……….…9
3.2 Blood relationship…………………………………….…………..……..10
3.3 Patriarchy concept………………………………….……………..…..…10
3.4 Social stratum concept……………………………….…………..…..….12
3.5 Cultural adoption………………………………………………..……….12
3.6 Courtesy principle…………………………………………….……….…14
- Conclusion …………………………………………………….….…..….…..15
References………………………………..…………………….…………..…….17
