中西称谓语对比分析

The comparison of Chinese and English address forms AbstractAs we know, address forms are the words speakers use to designate the person who they are talking to while they are having a conversation. Different culture can make different address forms. Because of the great difference of language culture background in China and western countries, the address forms are quite different. The address forms just like the mirror, it can reflect the traditional culture, behavior, customs, regime and social psychology. This article shows the differences of kinship address forms and social address forms between China and western countries and it also analysis the reasons of these differences from culture, history and social regime. Key words: address forms culture history social regimeAddress forms are a kind of linguistic and social phenomenon that only human owns. It is closely related to power, solidarity and polite principle. When it comes to address forms, it can be approximately divided into two parts: the kinship terms and the social terms. Kinship terms refer to the address forms used among people who are related to one another by blood or marriage, which can reflect their genetic, marital, intimate or distant relationship. While social intercourse is a branch of speech action study of appellation or address forms and it is a conveying and succeeding symbolic system established by usage. The address in social intercourse can be called as the all in the society. It is the symbol of social structure and social relatives. After know about the category of the address forms, I would like to make a comparison of kinship terms between China and western countries. We all know that the system of kinship terms in Chinese is meticulous, complex and serious, while in English, it is general, simple and perfunctory. In China, we all know that almost every man have :“曾祖父母，祖父母，父亲，母亲，妻子，伯父，伯母，叔叔，婶婶，堂兄弟，堂姐妹，姑姑，姑父，舅舅，舅母，姨夫，姨母，表哥，表姐”and there are a lot of other appellations. Even in different area, we have different appellation .It is a very complex, varied and tedious address forms system. But in English, they only have great grand-parents, grand-parents, father, mother, wife, uncle, aunt, cousin and some others. It is very simple and concise. Besides, in Chinese big families which always contain a couple of families include the agents family, his or her wifes, uncles, aunts family, every member of this big family has a special appellation and this appellation can reflect his or her age and gender. But in English, the uncles contain the “叔叔”， “伯父”， “舅舅”， “姨夫” in China, aunts contain “婶婶”，“伯母”， “舅母”， “姨母” in China, cousins contain“表哥”, “表姐”, “堂哥”, “堂姐”in China. And the other appellations also contain many family members. This suggests that westerners think the other relatives are not so important except their parents. While in China, the relationship between every relative is serious. The appellations in China always can reflect the age and gender, and in English, some can and some cannot, for example father, mother, sister can reflect the gender, but cousin cannot reflect the gender. Besides, in China if you call someone “伯父” means he is older than your father and if you call a man “叔叔” means your father is younger than him. If you call your cousin “表哥(表姐，哥哥)” means you are younger than him or her. If you call “表弟（表妹，弟弟）” means you are older. In a word, if we someones appellation has the characters “弟，妹” means this person is younger. But there are some other appellation in China cannot reflect the age just like “姑姑，舅舅，姨夫”. But in order to avoid this happen, people usually make “大(二，小)姑，大(二，小)姨夫” to mean he or she is older or younger in age. So the different culture and history make the kinship terms in China quite different from western countries.After this, I would like to discuss the social appellations. Firstly, the social appellations can be sorted in rank and occupation appellations, name appellations, common appellations and zero appellations. 1. Rank and occupation appellation(职衔称谓)The rank and occupations appellations in China can be also sorted by the peoples vocation or career, like “刘老师”, “李主任”, “王教授”, “陈将军” and so on. But you cannot see these in English, because the teacher, chairman, professor and general just a vocation or a title and they cannot be an appellation. Thats why we never see teacher Zhang or professor Wang in English. But in China, the rank and occupation appellations play an important role, anyone who is not so intimate to a teacher or a professor whose first name is Liu, he can call him or her teacher Liu or professor Liu. It is polite and appropriate.2. Name appellations and the other appellations In China, the name appellation is usually used in the same generation or the superior to subordinate, like friends to friends, classmates and those people who are in a similar age and the seniorities to the junior and so on. It is not serious so much in modern China. The name appellation may be the most important part or we can say people use it most. It can be used in many situations such as in the family, office. In western countries, the wife can call his husbands father or mothers name, but in China, the wife must call his husbands father or mother “爸,妈” and if a wife call their name directly, the wife will be thought as rude, then divorce will come. In western countries, the first name must be widespread used so that almost every person can use it as an appellation. This because people think every people is equal. Besides the name appellation, people also use “sir” and “lady” to show the respect to the seniorities and ladies. And I think the “sir” just like “您” in China. When it comes to this, Id like to talk about something about Qian modest(谦词). We know Chinese polite and self-depreciatory expressions include words and phrases by which the speaker can achieve a better result in communication, for example, people always represent oneself to be “在下，鄙人，小弟” and call the other people “阁下” “尊驾” besides, there are “令尊” “尊驾” especially in ancient China. When compare with China, English has a little honorific appellation like “Your Majesty”( 陛下、国王、女王陛下) 、“Your Highness”、(亲王、殿下)、“Your Honor”(法官、先生或阁下).3. Zero appellationsIn a social conversation, people talk without address forms and get into the point directly is called as zero appellations. When we want to have a talk with someone who we dont know him or her, then we can call him or her “帅哥” or “美女”, if he is a student, you also can call him “同学”. And in English, they often use “lady” 、“sir”、“excuse me” and so on as zero appellation. Especially, in China, people used to call a stranger in kinship terms just like a little boy call a strange man who is in a similar age with his father “叔叔”. But in western countries, if a stranger calls him uncle, he will be confused and even unhappy then he may say “Please call me John, not uncle, Im not your uncle!”. So the way like this is impolite or even rude in western even though we think it is appropriate and polite in China. After knowing something about the difference of address forms between China and western countries, I want to do some research in the reasons. As we know, China is an ancient country that has a 5000-year history and has gone through the primitive society, feudal society, capitalist society and socialist society. Besides, there are 56 nations and more than 1.3 billion people so that the group culture is prominent in China. And China has gone through a much longer feudal society than western countries. When China was in feudal society, the ranked system was strict and people were ranked seriously. But this is quite different in most western countries. It took a short time for them to transmit feudal society into democratic society. So, the hierarchy in China is more salient than western countries. On the other hand, people in western countries think every person no matter who he or she is should be equal and no one is born with privilege. Whats more, in ancient China, people connected with each other in genetic connection. But in most western countries, people were connected in contractual relationship, so they are pay more attention to equality and freedom. When talk about this, I find that the war in ancient China, people fought for fields while in western, people fought for freedom 、equality and democracy. It is totally different.