毕业论文-英语专业毕业论文：透过称谓语的异同分析中西方文18950.doc

毕 业 论 文透过称谓语的异同分析中西方文化差异comparative study of address terms in chinese and english culturesa thesis submitted asa partial fulfillment for the degree ofb.a. in english摘 要摘 要 称谓是言语交际的第一关, 是言语交际策略中最基本的内容。由于文化、历史、社会体制的不同, 中文和英语的称谓习惯也有所不同, 了解这些差异将有助于语言学习者更好地达到交际的目的。 本文将中英称谓语分为姓名称谓、亲属称谓、社交称谓和指代称谓,汉语称谓系统的划分比较复杂、详细,涵盖了几百种称谓语,而英语称谓系统却相对简单、笼统、模糊,具有高度的概括性。在宗法观念、思想观念、价值取向、经济意识形态等方面的差异都很大,导致了汉英称谓系统的差异。 通过对中英称谓语分类比较,探讨造成这些差异的文化因素,以便英语学习者能正确地使用称谓语。全面掌握中英称谓语的不同有助于了解中英文化的差异,使语言学习者克服由于文化差异而导致的语言交际障碍,以便更好地推动中西经济、政治的交流,促进各国的合作与发展,从而推动跨文化交际的顺利进行。关键词：称谓语；文化根源；跨文化交际 abstractaddress terms is the first level and the most basic content of verbal communication. due to the different cultures, histories and social systems, habits of chinese and english address terms are different. it is helpful for language learners to communicate with understanding these differences. in this paper, address terms are divided into the name address, kinship terms, social address and reference terms. chinese address terms system is complex and detailed, and includes hundreds of address terms. while english address terms system is relatively simple, general, fuzzy and with a high degree of generality. the differences in patriarchal concept, ideas, values, economic ideology result in the differences between chinese and english address terms system. english learners can use address terms properly by comparing and classifying chinese and english address terms and discussing cultural factors which lead to the differences. a comprehensive command of address terms can help to understand the differences between chinese and british culture, so that language learners can overcome communication difficulties resulting from the cultural differences. it can also better promote economic and political exchanges between chinese and western, and encourage the cooperation and development with other nations, and thereby promote the smooth progress of cross-cultural communication.keywords: address terms; cultural root; cross-cultural communication9abbreviationabbreviationetc. et cetera list of figurescontents摘 要iabstractiiabbreviationiiicontentsvintroduction1chapter one literature review31.1 address terms31.2 current domestic and international studies of address terms4 1.2.1 domestic research on address terms5 1.2.2 international research on address termschapter two comparison between chinese and english address terms72.1 comparison of name address72.2 comparison of kinship terms9 2.3 comparison of social address 2.3.1 general social address 2.3.2 professional titles 2.3.3 fictive kinship terms 2.4 comparison of reference terms 2.4.1 address pronouns 2.4.2 descriptive termschapter three comparison between chinese and english cultural root leading to the differences of address terms103.1 differences in family structure and lineages concept between china and western countries 3.1.1 chinese big families with several generations together 3.1.2 western dink families3.2 different chinese and western ethical thoughts 11 3.2.1 confucianism in china 3.2.2 christianity in western countries3.3 influence of individualism and collectivism on chinese and western address terms15 3.3.1 collectivism in china 3.3.2 individualism in western countriesconclusion25references26acknowledgements27chapter one introductionintroductionaddress terms reflect a persons role and status in particular relationships of the human society, and mirror the human relations in a certain socio-cultural or language-specific environment. people are social animals, everyone has corresponding relations with the people around them. address terms are the cultural symbols of interpersonal relationship, and the signals and bridges to communicate for the daily relationship. they are not only the simple phonetic symbols, but also the comprehensive embodiment of customs of a country and a nation, traditional culture and social, political and economic relations, and imply the history of a nation and the cultural accumulation. they can help people cognize their roles in social groups, and also build, define and confirm the relationship with others. address terms reflect both the social attributes and values of parties in communication. this is closely related with their social, cultural and ethical values. from the usage of address terms we can see role and identity, social status, close or distant relations, depth of emotion of two parts of communication. address terms are both a special part of the language and a cultural phenomenon, so to speak, each has a different level of cultural connotation and as well be dominated by human cultural practices and individual psychology. they are bound up with culture. english and chinese are different languages with different cultural origins. therefore, experienced over many years in the history of sedimentation and cultural development, both of them have formed their respective rules and customs, which, different or similar, are the refraction of the cultures and also the contact and interaction between different cultures and civilizations. chinese families are extend families which pay great attention to blood relationship. owing to large kinship networks, and by extension, social networks, coupled with the sense of hierarchy and the concept of traditional officialdom of confucianism, and also the ideology of collectivism, chinese address terms are relatively complex, detailed and highly creatable. however, there are almost dink families in western countries, relatively independent. influenced by equality ideology of christianity and individualism, english address terms are simpler and more direct.in this paper, address terms are divided into four major categories: name address, kinship terms, social address and reference terms. by the classification and comparison of chinese and western address terms, it analyses the differences between the underlying chinese and western cultures to promote our cross-cultural communication. chapter two literature reviewchapter one literature review1.1 address termsto study address terms, we should first know what address terms are. according to contemporary chinese dictionary(2007: 170), address terms are appellations used in the mutual relations between relatives and other people, as well as to show statues, occupations and so on. while in longman dictionary of contemporary english (2004: 16), it refers to the correct title or name that you use for someone when you are speaking to them. in china, the word address term was used in biography of xiao wu wen- empress dowager li in the book of the chin dynasty originally. although all people know it, but her title is just queen dowager. it is not enough to express the mind of his majesty and respectfully answer immortals. her name should be corrected venerably according to the past regulations (biography of xiao wu wen-empress dowager li). the title or name referred in the sentence means appellation. terms of address are linguistic forms that are used in addressing others to attract their attention or for referring to them in the course of a conversation (m.h. keshavarz, 2001: 157). moreover, zhao and song (1996: 71) thought that address terms are words used to address oneself or others. while chen (2010) assumed that the social address forms, which plays the role of maintaining and strengthening personal relationship, are the recognization about the others identity, status, role and the relationship between each other. furthermore, zhu defined the system of address terms in broad and narrow sense. the former is applied to all humans and materials; and the latter is applied to especially all humans and refers to all kinds of appellations in social communication. address terms system in narrow sense is interpersonal system of address terms, which falls roughly into kinship terms, social addresses, names and reference terms.terms of address, as linguistic means to denote the speakers position in relation to their addressees, have been accepted as an essential part of most interaction oriented utterances (kielkiewicz- janowiak 2000). beidelman (1963) pointed out that a change in relational roles should change the choice of address terms relational partners use. this suggests that address terms are meaningful and have functions in the building and maintaining of identity. li (2000) regarded address terms as an essential part of communication. they are directive for communicators and adsorbing for the relationship between communicators and utterances. ding (1995) added that address terms can also convey different meanings, emotions and tones through differentiating the relationship of people. however, fang considered the address terms as a start of communication and also a window of observing social ethic. confucius said, if the name is not correct, speech will not be heeded; if the speech is not heeded, nothing will come of it. (zi lu, the analects of confuciu 2009: 14) the discussed name refers to address term, incorrect use of which can hinder effective communication and cannot reach the anticipated purpose. address terms to some degree are reflection of different national culture, so they play an important role in developing intercultural communication (xu, 2003). xia (2004) concluded that as a special part of the language, address term, which is dominant formation, is closely related with the culture.1.2 current domestic and international studies of address termsthe chinese research of address terms has a long history. shi qin of erh ya is the earliest ancient book containing commentaries on classics, names, etc. with 3000-year history, it systematically recorded chinese ancient kinships and more than 200 kinship terms. for example, the sisters of father are aunt, while the brothers of mother are uncles. in modern times, domestic scholars researched address terms from various angles. for instance, from the perspective of social linguistics, chen (1984) studies the changes of non-relative terms between two generations in beijing, and pan and zhang (2001) made a social survey on extended usage of chinese kinship terms; from the angle of pragmatic function, zhu and ma (2003) analyzed the interpersonal function of address terms; from the cultural and ethical aspect, yang (1989) gave a discussion about address terms, and li (1990) talked about chinese traditional address terms and culture; from the side of interpretation and tcsl (teaching chinese as a second language), cui (1996) studied contemporary chinese system of address terms, and zhou (2001) touched upon teaching of chinese address terms.in western countries, the study on address terms was said originally by american anthropologist morgen, who analyzed the system of kinship and in-laws in nineteenth century. with the birth of social linguistics, linguists began to focus on address terms. brown discovered the referential usage of second person pronoun in indo-european language. lyons, fil-more and ingram tried to integrate address terms into grammatical category. leviso and zwicky tended to regard address terms as deixis.1.2.1 domestic research on address termsaccording to address forms schema: the cognitive pattern of address form by li (2000: 10), address term not only plays the directive and absorbing roles, but is also a cognitive pattern- afs (address form schema). it is made of the distinguished characters of the people types, and it expresses the expectations to the person who is addressed. afs comes out through three ways: character prompting, capacity prompting and semantic prompting. afs deeply controls the ways the social cognition on others and ourselves, so our conclusion is that, the time we address other people one title is just the time we socially recognize the others by the afs.through analysis of social cognition of address terms, wei (2010) considered that besides serving communication, address terms can also reflect the various social psychology and value orientations. xu (2009) explored that the system of self-depreciatory address terms by politeness principle, and recognized that the purpose of using address terms is to attract addressees and maintain, relax and improve the relationships between communicators. therefore, she believed that politeness principle is the basic principle of using address terms. xia (1997) discovered that when using address terms, there are two noticeable relations- power relation and solidarity relation. liang (2009) proposed that address terms are closely connected with not only grammar, pragmatics and semantics, but rhetoric as well. he showed that intensifying the knowledge of the rhetorical function of address terms will heighten the effect if language expression.1.2.2 international research on address termsthe main objective of the present study is to investigate the impact of social context as well as intimacy and distance on the choice of forms of address in persian (m. h. keshavarz, 2001). he assumed that as social distance and degree of formality of context increase, the frequency of familiar terms of address decreases. it was also found that in informal situations age is more significant than sex and social class in determining forms of address. in personal pronouns and forms of address in malay by karim (1995: 188), he put forward that basically there are two types of forms of address: titles and names. under the category titles are: (a) traditional titles for men and women; (b) kinship names; (c) class titles; (d) bestowed titles; (e) professional titles. under the category names are actual names of person, either in full forms or their abbreviated forms. a form of address is a socially acceptable way within the general british culture or business subculture for identifying someone who is being addressed by written or oral means (scott, 1998: 51). he stated that in british society, the possession of letters and qualifications, including military decorations, academic degrees, and memberships in professional bodies is noteworthy, and some british business persons may be offended if such designations are not placed after their names in written documents. for example, john smythe esq. vc mba mbim mp indicates that john smythe, who is held in high esteem as indicated by esq. for esquire, has been awarded the victoria cross, has earned an mba degree, is a member of the british institute of management, and is a member of parliament. kellas (2008) inquired the step family address terms, and in the study she examined the use and meaning of stepfamily address terms in an attempt to understand how stepchildren use them and make sense of relational identities as well as potentially difficult stepfamily transitions. results of 39 in-depth interviews suggested that the variety of address terms may be grouped according to formal, familiar, and familial terms and suggested stepchildren regularly engage in code-switching depending on their audience. stepchildren reported using address terms to signify solidarity, separateness, and/or to manage the balance of stepfamily life. nevela (2004) pointed out that the use of forms of address is one of the ways in which politeness is manifested in speech and writing. for example, when the speaker wishes to emphasize his/her close relationship with the hearer or the referent, positively polite formulae like first names are most often used. negative politeness is constructed as a means of avoiding face-threatening acts, and this can be done by using last names and titles. according to the strategic use of forms of address in political interviews by bull and fetzer (2006: 4), in media discourse as well as in ordinary discourse, a change of address forms, self-references, and other references by self or other is of great importance to the negotiation of identities and social roles and thus to discourse coherence.chapter two comparison between chinese and english address termschapter two comparison between chinese and english address terms2.1 comparison of name addressin the modern human society, everyone has his own name. as an important part of the address terms system, name address generally includes family name and given name, the former represents the family; the latter is one or a few words, which represent a person with the surname together in order to distinguish with other people. the two parts have cultural connotation, not only mutually related but also independent. in spoken english, the role of name is to call or refer to others. both are necessary to the communication. and it is able to distinguish individual from group, as well as another individual. for written words, name can also record individual situation. the chinese and western name address is similar in the above aspects.family name and given name is a unified and inseparable whole, but each has its characteristics. from a philosophical point of view, surname are not selectable, well given name is the opposite. that is, generally speaking, a persons surname is innate, his surname has already been doomed before he is born, and he has no choice. on the contrary, given name is acquired after birth when his parents consider giving him the name. if we make a careful study of the chinese and western name address, with the comparison, we can find more differences than similarities between the two.first, the different external forms are one of the major differences between chinese and western name address.on one hand, the structure of chinese and western name is di