1、A Comparative Study on Chinese and English Kinship TermsLanguage is not only one of the factors of social culture, but also the carrier of culture. Culture can not pass on from generation to generation without the storage and transmission of language. The use of language is limited by culture and di
2、fferent language also reflects different cultures.Nowadays, with the rapid development of science and communication technology, more and more people live and work in different social cultures. And people with different cultural backgrounds also have a close association today. In the process of world
3、s becoming to a global village, various kinds of cultures influence and infiltrate into each other. Cultural absorbing and fusion lead to a great influence on the Intercultural Communication. Successfully conducted in English, cross-cultural communication requires more than just language skills, but
4、 also needs to know the culture of English-speaking countries. Otherwise, it causes to the cultural differences in the actual communication process, inappropriate or unbecoming language scene mistakes, misunderstanding. Recently, address terms becomes one of the hottest topics in cross-cultural comm
5、unication. 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 situations.Kinship terms as a part of address terms take an important part in our daily life. Kinship refers to the system of human relati
6、onship born of marriage, ties of blood and laws. 2（Dai Qingxia 戴庆厦：2004，139）One interesting way in which people use language in daily life contains various kinds of kinships. There is a considerable literature on kinship terminology, describing how people in different parts of the world call uncles,
7、 aunts, brothers, sisters, cousins and so on. Because kinship systems are so important in social organization, kinship systems are a universal feature of languages. Some systems are much richer than others. But one can relate kinship systems with considerable confidence to the actual words that peop
8、le use to describe a particular kin relationship. And it is necessary for us to make a contrast between Chinese kinship terms and English kinship terms and do some study on it.I. Contrast of Kinship Terms1.1 Contrast of Kinship TermsOn the one hand, English and Chinese kinship addressing forms have
9、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 address words are different from each other, because they have different cultures and lang
10、uage 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 reflects that the kinship classifications require different address forms to kin on mothe
11、rs 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 kinship terms. For example, yi fu(姨夫) (husband of mothers sister ) belong to relation by
12、 marriage. While yi ma(姨妈)(mothers sister ) belong to blood relation. From these examples, we can see Chinese complicated blood relation and relation by marriage. Chinese kinship is patriarchal, because China is a patriarchy society; but English is not. Chinese think that the differences between pat
13、ernal 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 on patriarchal descent, which refers to descent traced exclusively through the male line for purpos
14、es of group membership. So there are different terms for ones paternal and maternal relations in China. For example, in China, in paternal grandfather is called zu fu (祖父) ，while maternal grandfather is called wai zu fu(外祖父). Wai (外) in China means “distant” or “outside”. The terms for grandchildren
15、 are the 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 clear. Thus fathers father and mothers father are both grandfathers. Uncle is for both fathers brother a
16、nd mothers brother. In English, blood relation and relation by marriage are very simple class. Therefore, its hard to understand the relation between various relatives and address in English countries.1.1.2 Contrast of Elder-younger Relations and Seniority Order in the ClanIn Chinese kinship system,
17、 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 address ones fathers elder brother, while the latter is for ones fathers younger brother. Chinese could hardly contain the mistake o
18、f elder-younger relations and seniority order. For example, if ones father has more than one elder and younger brothers, he should call them: first 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
19、criterion to distinguish personal relationships or kinship terms in English. In English, there are only two kinship terms for siblings: brother and sister. They usually say “She is my sister”, whether she is younger or elder than them. Only when they say “she is my younger or elder sister”, they wan
20、t to emphasize the age.1.2 Contrast of Derivatives of Kinship TermsThe grammatical relation among Chinese words depends on the factor that the forms of words are not changed. Add “儿”(an affix used to express endearment) after the address word, “小”(indicating younger age) before the address word to s
21、how intimacy. It is important that “Xiao” means younger in age or smaller in body size, and there is no concrete meaning for “Er”. This kind of use is very special, but quite conventional in China.However, in English-speaking countries, first names do not necessarily indicate intimacy, but merely a
22、sign of equality and solidarity. They used “-y” and “-ie” or some phonemics to derive some new words showing affection in kinship terms, such as mum-mummy, dad-daddy, nan-nanny/ nanna, daughter-daughtie, aunt-aunty/auntie.II. Reasons for the Difference in Kinship TermsAny association among people ha
23、s diversities on language and cultural background. Because of the speakers in different languages have differences in country, historical background, life style, social culture, sense of value, morality and religion, these differences result in different modes of thinking, communication habits and t
24、he regulations of using languages which become a unique local culture between certain people.The reasons for the differences between English and Chinese kinship terms are very complicated. The following is a tentative illustration of those reasons: different social structures, different values and e
25、thics.2.1 Differences in Social StructuresAncient China had been a feudal society for a long time in which agriculture was the domination. With the background of a long-term self-sufficient agricultural economic society, almost all the Chinese mainland residents live by farming which result in a gre
26、at need of labor force. Therefore, three or four generations live together and form a big family. Sometimes a family will be made up of dozens or hundreds of people because of blood relation and relation by marriage. Since ancient times, Chinese culture bases on ethics, etiquette and family which re
27、sults in a society living on pecking order. As the symbol of status, position and authority, kinship terms use different words to express differences among people. But, as for western countries, they are based on commercial business which results in a small family only with parents and juveniles. Th
28、ere are several persons in this kind of family and the relationship will not so complicate in which just needs some simple kinship terms to daily use.And in English speaking countries, Greek, the cradle of western culture, was an island which was the first to develop commercial economy and create a
29、western business culture in the ocean countries. The Greeks who engaged in the commercial economy began to break away from blood ties and then formed a contractual relationship which was the core of the social structure. This kind of commercial economy determined the basic family social structure. T
30、he western social contractual social structure doesnt care much about blood relationship, but pays more attention to interpersonal contract relationship, individual and emphasizing that everybody is equal. This kind of social structure is greatly different from Chinas social structure. Westerners do
31、nt have so strict hierarchy and tend to form an equal pattern.2.2 Differences in Values“Every culture 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 language. The Chi
32、nese people are deeply influenced by the Confucianism and they emphasize on family, respect for the old and care for the young, strive for harmony and obedience. And the kinship terms shaped in this kind of circumstance clearly show the pecking order between people. While in the western cultures, pe
33、ople advocate freedom and equality, pursue for unique personality and not care much about family. So the kinship terms tend to be simple. The differences in kinship terms between Chinese and English reflect different emphasis on culture value system, namely: collectivism and individualism. In the Ch
34、inese collectivism culture, people emphasize on social nature, the restraint of society and group on people, family values, the pursuit of harmony between interpersonal relationships. These concepts are reflected in family members and kinship terms. However, in western countries, people highly prais
35、e individualism in which people tend to be self-concentrated and advocate independent personality. No matter in family or in society, the sense of individual rights and equality is greatly reflected. They prefer call others names directly to show equal, friendly and intimate relationships. And the E
36、nglish kinship terms tend to be simple rather than complicated.2.3 Differences in Ethics“Language and speech have ethical close relationship. Ethics as the principles and standards which people should follow in the processing of interpersonal relationship is the law and instructions of interpersonal
37、 relationship. It must be reflected in language structure system which acts as the symbol of the world.” 3(Xuman 徐曼， 2008:20)Chinese society is a society linked with blood relationship, so the relationships among people could not be equal. Chinas culture is deeply influenced by the Confucianism. It
38、stresses the harmonious human relationship and emphasizes humans social characteristics. The Confucianism advocates people to sacrifice themselves individual for the sake of group or society. One important thought in Confucianism is ethics and morals, abiding “between father and son has closeness, r
39、uler and subject has righteousness, husband and wife has differences, a relationship not only shows differences but also shows intimacy. Status within the family was codified in the famous five relationships between ruler and subject, father and son, elder brother and younger brother, husband and wi
40、fe, friend and friend. Kinship terms have certain forms to address others which with mandatory obligations and rights.On the contrary, in western countries, peoples ethics are influenced by the value concepts of English cultures and Christian faith, so they advocate freedom, independence and individ
41、uality which form the language ethics different from Chinese.III. Summary Everybody is growing up in the social culture and culture shapes, constraints, and limits peoples behavior. From the analysis of social culture, we can get that both the two languages of kinship terms contain rich social and c
42、ultural connotations. The kinship terms in Chinese are complicated and they have distinctions between different genders, ages, pecking, paternal and maternal relationships. But the kinship terms in English are simple. There are just distinctions between genders but the distinctions between ages, pec
43、king, paternal and maternal relationships are obscure. The formations of the two kinship terms are influenced by their own cultures. So we can conclude that language doesnt exist independently, but the product of social culture. Therefore, we must pay more attention to the differences in different c
44、ountries, social structures, values and ethics in order to achieve a good communication and reduce or avoid cultural barriers in cross-cultural communication. But with the acceleration of globalization, two languages have signs of mixture in kinship terms and the kinship terms in Chinese also tend to be simple, it is a well-worth discussing topic.References 1SAMOVAR，PORTER，STEFANI. Communication between culturesM.Beijing：Foreign Language Teaching and Re-search Press，2000：602戴庆厦.社会语言学概论M.北京:商务印书馆，20043徐曼.西方伦理学在中国的船舶及影响M.天津：南开大学出版社，2008
