从英汉称呼语的不同分析中西方文化的差异性

从英汉称呼语的不同分析中西方文化的差异性1．IntroductionIn Chinese the address forms are defined “Terms of address people use when they greet each other to reveal their relationship, such as tongzhi (comrade),gege(elder brother), etc.”[1]56According to Richards[2]34“An a ddress term refers to the word or words used to address somebody in speech or writing”. To sum up, address forms can be defined as the words that people use to address others in communication.Address formsare an important and necessary part of human languages; people use them a lot in daily conversations or interactions. They have the function of establishing, maintaining and strengthening the interpersonal relationship between participants. They are the first information presented by communicators, which indicates a person’s intention or emotion to the addressee. Moreover, they represent a part of language evolution in process and they are embodiment of a certain culture.This thesis tries to analyze address forms that are used in face-to-face addressing, with the application of linguistic theories, with the aim of thoroughly understanding the different usage of English and Chinese address forms and making some efforts to probe in the feasibility of their equivalent cultural differences, which may give us some suggestions in intercultural communication. The principal method used in this dissertation is comparative analysis, because comparison is one important and effective approach to get the essence of two similar matters.2.General review of address formsFrom very early in human history, address forms have caught scholars’ attention both home and abroad. Address form has attracted increasing attention from researchers in many fields, such as historical linguistics, social linguistics, etymology, ethnology, psychology. Lots of researches have been done since the early 1950s both abroad and home.2.1 Previous studies on address forms abroadWestern scholars’ research on address forms roughly began in the 1950’s. Since then, sociolinguists and psycholinguists have made some remarkable achievements in the study of address forms. In 1960 Brown and Gilman [3]55 published The Power and Solidarity of Pronoun. They found the T/V (Latin to and vos) usage is governed by power and solidarity after investigating the use of second person pronoun tu and vous in French, German, Italian, and Spanish. The mode T/V is similar to “ni” (你)and “nin”(您) in Chinese. It is a brilliant work and “Brown and Gilman are regarded as initiators of modern sociolinguistic investigatio ns on address forms”[4]13. One year later Brown and Ford investigate the use of address forms in American English and they found the principal choices in American English are between First Name (FN) and Title+Last Name (TLN). FN is roughly equal to T and TLN to V. In 1972Ervin-Tripp[5]225took a new approach to the study of the use of address form inAmerican English. She presents the address form system as a series of choices, using the computer to draw a flow chart format.Since 1980s, one of the famous researchers Friedrike Braun[6]270investigated the patterns and systems of address forms in various languages by collecting publications on forms and address forms and address behaviors by interviewing informants in their native languages. Braun discussed shortcomings of the theoretical approaches of others and suggested that not all address forms can be traced back to the seemingly universal notion like superiority, distance or formality. In his research, he thought “there appears to be few universals in address behavior”[7]46. As he believes that the factors governing address forms differ from culture to culture, it is proved earlier by Brown and Gilman’s study, that is, the power and solidarity as governing factors is universal in European languages.2.2 Previous studies on address forms at homeAddress form study has also received special attention in China. The ancients left a lot of records of address forms in different periods; however, the real address research starts with Chao Yuanren[8]217 in the 1950s. He gave a very detailed description of the address form system in modern Chinese and discussed pronouns, proper names, titles, and kinship terms. His study is chiefly concerned with the condition of actual use in various interpersonal relations, the grammatical status of the terms of address, and the formal conditions for their occurrence.While Ervin-Tripp[5] 233presented the American address system by using a computer flow chart format, in 1990 Zhu Wanjindrew a flow chart of Chinese address system which demonstrates that seniority plays the most significant role in the Chinese address system. In 1998 Tian Huigang gives a detailed account of Chinese and Western address forms and his work is a good summary of previous studies.In the new century, lots of researches have been done from linguistics perspective and cultural perspective, such as, Semantic Analysis of Chinese and English Kinship Terms[9] 109,Pragmatic Analysis on Address Forms[10] 64and The Reflection of Cultural Orientation on Address Forms[11] 189.Yet no matter what research has been done by Western and Chinese scholars, an obvious point in their study is that they either put their efforts on the study of address forms in one language or make a static comparative study of address forms in two or more languages.3.The comparative study of usages between Chinese and English address formsThough address forms are diversified and complicated, quite a few scholars still try to classify them into different groups according to various criteria. ZhuWanjin[12]58categorized Chinese address forms into six types: kinship terms, specialkinship terms, names, universal terms, titles and zero terms. Fasold[13]states that “In most languages, there are two kinds of address forms: names and second-pers on pronouns.” And Tian Huigang [14]28classified it into five sub-categories: kinship terms, social addressing terms, names, pronouns, and polite addressing terms. In short, different researchers have different opinions about the classification of address forms. In my opinion the address forms both in Chinese and English can be approximately divided into two parts, the kinship terms and the social terms.3.1Comparative study of kinship terms3.1.1Kinship termsKinship terms are used to address people who have kin relation with the addresser.It enjoys a long history almost at the same pace with the development of language and civilization of mankind. It evolves from the basic simplest and scattered kinship terms in the original into an orderly system. The system of kinship terms varies form nation to nation.The following table presents the spoken forms of the most familiar kinship termsand generality of the English kinship terms, the Chinese kinship term system is highly descriptive and complicated. It can be analyzed from two aspects.(1) Generation and SeniorityIn Chinese address, inferior generations should address superior generations with kinship terms instead of their names, such as “yeye(爷爷, father’s father)、baba(爸爸father)、jiujiu(舅舅,mother’s brother)”, mentioned above. While in English, the inferior ge nerations use names a lot, even in addressing one’s parents or grandparents. But superior generations won’t necessarily address inferior generations with kinshipterms, which is the same in English. Besides, there is a specification of relative age within the same generation in Chinese kinship terms, which is not characteristic of English kinship terms. The elder one should be addressed by his kinship term by the younger one except when they are almost the same age, whereas the younger one could be called simply by his name. For example, the younger should call the elder brother “gege”(哥哥) instead of his name, but the younger one could be called by his name, instead of “didi”(弟弟, younger brother), “meimei” (妹妹, younger sister), “biao di/mei”(表弟/妹, younger co usin)”. On the side of western people, they tend to use just the first names to address relatives and leave out the terms of relationship, regardless of their generation and seniority[15]91.(2) Affinal Relatives and Blood RelativesThere is a clearer distinction between affinal relatives and blood relatives in the system of Chinese kinship terms than in the English one. In the system of Chinese kinship terms, there is a sharp distinction between relatives on father’s side and mother’s side, husband’s side and wife’s side, and son’s side and daughter’s side. For example, in English “grandpa” has two relative Chinese addressing, “yeye(爷爷, father’s father)” and “waigong(外公, mother’s father)”. The label “wai(外)” which means “distant” is used with some relatives on mother’s side, sister’s side and daughter’s side. As to the children of mother’s brother and the children of mother’s sister all share the same label “biao(表)” means “out” or “outside”. For instance, son of mother’s brother or mother’s sister, who is e lder than the addresser, is called “biaoge(表哥, mother’s nephew)”. And the children of father’s brother or father’s sister are particularly labeled with “tang(堂)”, such as “tangge” (堂哥, father’s nephew), “tangjie”(堂姐, mother’s niece) . However, all these br others and sisters labeled with “tang(堂)” and “biao(表)” in Chinese are replaced with “cousin” in English, and people use names in face-to-face addressing.3.1.2 Fictive kinship termsThe fictive kinship terms refer to the kinship terms that are used in addressing non-relatives, and it can also be called the extension of kinship terms. It is a feature of Chinese addressing system.Chinese often use fictive kinship terms with a purpose of showing friendliness, warmth and kindness, such as “yeye”(爷爷, fat her’s father), “nainai”(奶奶, father’s mother), “ayi”(阿姨, mother’s younger sister), or “dajie”(大姐, older sister). In English, we can also heard “Uncle Andy” or “Aunt Mary” called by non-relatives, but it is not so widely used as in China. For example, we often use these terms addressing strangers. The Chinese fictive kinship terms are much more diversified and flexible. In some cases, these kinship terms are prefixed by surnames in reference to age, sex and generation like, “Zhang daye” (张大爷), “Li shushu” (李叔叔), “Wang dasao” (王大嫂). In addition to showing respect, this kind of kin terms reveals that there is no blood relation between interlocutors. As a result, in Chinese families, children are encouraged to address guests with fictive kinship terms, such as “shushu”(叔叔), “ayi”(阿姨). Thus, the distance between people is narrowed and intimate atmosphere is successfully achieved.3.2Comparative study of social termsAddress forms are a universal part of human communication. No one can avoid addressing or being addressed in communication.Social terms here refer to the terms used in addressing non-relatives in the society, the fictive kinship terms actually can be categorized into social terms. Names are the most common form used in the daily life; it identifies a specific unique and identifiable individual person. Here name is categorized into the social terms, considering its wide usage, called by others, not just relatives in the society. As to titles, originated in the social life, they indicate the official position, the profession, and the academic qualification and so on.3.2.1 NamesThe Chinese name is composed of two parts: surname and given name. Chinese put surname in the first place, and given name follows it. Names in China are used in various ways. A Chinese person may be addressed in the following ways: (1) full name, e.g. Wang Xiaoya(王小丫); (2) given name, e.g. Xiaoya(小丫); (3) modifiers, such as “xiao/ lao(小/老)”, + surname, e.g. xiao/lao Wang(小/老王). Besides, names are usually connected with titles, which I will mention in the following part.An English name is usually composed of two or three parts, given name + family name, or given name + middle name + family name. In the west, the order of the name is reversed compared with that of Chinese. Sometimes the English name is composed of four words, like Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton, in which the woman added her husband’s surname at the end.3.2.2 TitlesAccording to the pragmatic functions, the titles can be generally divided into three parts: social titles, professional titles and official titles.Social titlesThe social titles can be used to address young or old, familiar or stranger, like “xiaopengyou”(小朋友) or “shifu”(师傅) in China, and “Mr., Mrs. or Miss” in English, which do not require any authority.There are several titles are not used today such as陛下(Your Majesty),大人(Monsignor), and the main forms of social titles in China today are师傅(master),先生(Mr./ Gentleman),小姐(Miss/ Young lady) or. In recent years, the address forms “meinu” (美女, beautiful woman) and “shuaige” (帅哥, handsome man), instead of “guniang”(姑娘) , and “xiaohuozi”(小伙子), are widely used in informal situations, especially in ordinary shops and restaurants to address strangers. These terms may be used alone, or together with surname or full name, such as, “Wang xiaojie” (王小姐), “Wang xiaoya xiaojie”(王小丫小姐) or just “xiaoya xiaojie”(小丫小姐). In English the social titles are “Mr., Mrs. or Miss” followed by the surname of the person being addressed. However, the surname should be put behind some terms, such as “Sir William”, “Lady Katrina”, “Lord Harry”, etc. These social titles are used inaddressing members of the nobility or children of some members of nobility, or have received one of the highest honors. Some of these social titles are hereditary, and many are bestowed during a person’s lifetime.Professional titlesTitles indicating one’s profession is called professional titles, though not necessarily so, professional titles, especially those indicating high social status, are well acknowledged and accepted in China. Examples of Chinese names of professions are 医生(doctor),教授(professor),老师(teacher),律师(lawyer), and警察(policeman). “同学(classmate)” is also widely used in addressing students in China. Western people are not quite used to using the professional titles to address other persons. Examples of English professional titles are doctor, professor and things like that. Compared with those in China, they are quite small in number, and less frequently heard in daily interactions.Official titlesOfficial titles are titles indicating the social status. In China, nearly almost all administrative titles may be used as address forms, such as “Shengzhang”(省长, governor of a province), “Shizhang”(市长, mayor), “Juzhang”(局长, head of a bureau). As to those served in the army, people would address them by the name of the position they assume, like “Siling”(司令, commander), “Junzhang”(军长, army commander), “Shizhang” (师长, division commander). The equivalent official titles in western countries are like mayor, president and so on. However, people do not use the official titles to address so much frequently in Western countries, and they are normally used when the addressee is performing the duty[16]20.4.The differences between Chinese and Western culture reflected on address formsIt’s hard to tell weather the language determines culture or culture determines the language. According to Brown “culture is really an integral part of the interaction, customs and ways of life are expressed in language; culture specific world views are reflected in language”[6]254. That is to saylanguage is a carrier of culture; it expresses and symbolizes cultural reality. As rules of language are related to culture and differ from culture to culture, both Chinese and English speaking countries have particular rules or norms of using address forms in the same or similar situations. Thus by comparing the differences of address forms we can comprehend culture differences between Chinese and English culture in the following aspects.4.1Differences on social systems and family structures4.1.1Different social systemsThe extreme complexity and delicate division of the Chinese kinship term systemreflects the patriarchal clan rules and regulations of the history background.The Chinese feudal society lasts more than 2000 years. The patriarchal clan rules and regulations centre on patriarchal clans and define the relationship between people according to the distance of their blood lineageIt’s hard to tell weather the language de termines culture or culture determines the language. According to Brown “culture is really an integral part of the interaction, customs and ways of life are expressed in language; culture specific world views are reflected in language”[6]254. That is to saylanguage is a carrier of culture; it expresses and symbolizes cultural reality. As rules of language are related to culture and differ from culture to culture, both Chinese and English speaking countries have particular rules or norms of using address forms in the same or similar situations. Thus by comparing the differences of address forms we can comprehend culture differences between Chinese and English culture in the following aspects.4.1Differences on social systems and family structures4.1.1Different social systemsThe extreme complexity and delicate division of the Chinese kinship term system reflects the patriarchal clan rules and regulations of the history background.The Chinese feudal society lasts more than 2000 years. The patriarchal clan rules and regulations centre on patriarchal clans and define the relationship between people according to the distance of their blood lineage[11]221. These rules and regulations constitute not only the core of Chinese feudalism but also the backbone of the ancient Chinese political and ideological system, exerting great influence on Chinese political and ideological system and Chinese culture. In the 21st century, although there no longer any feudal patriarchal clan system, the rules and regulations have deeply influenced the Chinese kinship terms.On the contrary, the first feudal nation in England was not founded until the middle of the 11th century; feudalism lasted a much shorter period in Europe before it was replaced by capitalism. Early in 14th to 17th centuries, Europe witnessed an ideological emancipation movement, Renaissance, guided by the philosophy of humanism of the rising bourgeoisie. The renaissance dealt the feudal theocracy a fatal blow and shattered Medieval Church’s stifling control over m an, thus paving the way for capitalism[17]36. Thereafter, the Industrial Revolution in England laid the economic groundwork for the growth of capitalism. Then, in 1789 an even more violent political upheaval, the French Revolution sprang up on the European continent, which established bourgeois democracy. These series of movements and revolutions accelerated the growth of the capitalist economy and meanwhile consolidated the ideology of individualism and equality. The wide usage of names in addressing and the simplicity and rough division of the English kinship terms reflects freedom and equality have deeply-rooted on the mind of people.4.1.2Different family structuresOver 2000 years of feudalism, self- sufficient agriculture was typical of China’s economy then. People depended much on the land for their living. They had limited sphere of activities and seldom migrated. Production was based on collective farming with household as the primary production unit. Besides, due to the low productive force in the ancient times, production completely relied on manpower and animal power. Therefore, having a large family become one of the essential conditions for developing production and thus was of crucial importance to people at that time. People tended to have as many offspring as possible, and all the family members lived together in order to cooperate with each other in farm work. Extended families were then formed which “consisted of a number of nuclear families, or a group of closely related ones having a common or adjacent domicile and engaged in common endeavors”[18]97. The relationships between its enormous members in the extend families are so intricate that highly hierarchical rules should be made in order to prescribe their different status in it. Accordingly, a detailed division in kinship terms according to generation, age and sex are required for people to address and distinguish different family members. That is the reason why the Chinese kinship terms are highly descriptive both in and outside the nuclear family and carry the semantic feature of specificity.In contrast, in Western history, as capitalism developed, the productive functions performed by the extended families were gradually socialized and family had lost its core identity as a production unit based upon private property. Moreover, with the coming of the industrial period, collective production was gradually replaced by individual production, which urgently demanded that the labor force should be ready to move whenever necessary. Therefore, extended families decreased sharply until they were completely replaced by nuclear families, which were composed of only parents and their children. Meanwhile, people’s outlook on birth began to change. Most married couples practices some kind of birth control. Some of them were even unwilling to have any child, which resulted in the existence of some so-called double income no kid families. Furthermore, not only did the family size become much smaller, but also the family members tended to live far apart from one another. Most western young people lived independently after marriage. According to statistics, in the 1970s, only 1.5% of all married couples in America were not living in their own, and connections between family members become less frequent[19]222. People no longer had to face up a complicated network of kinship, which made a detailed division and a frequent use of kinship terms quite unnecessary. To sum up, in English the phenomenon that the focal kinship terms are descriptive while the non-focal kinship terms are highly general, expresses the primary feature of the nuclear family and the comparative weakness of other ties. And the overall generality of the English kinship terms reflects the much simpler kinship relations in Western society.4.2Differences onAs mentioned above,social titles, professional titles and official titles, all of them stress a proper order and seniority, whichindicates people are not equal in this worldand that everybody has a rightful place. People were taught from birth that power and duty is based on the position a person held in a hierarchy. Thus all relationships are expected to be hierarchical to some extent, from the family kinship relations to the social relations.China is a high power-distance country, where people who hold power and those who are affected by power are significantly far apart[19]75.TheConfucianism,whichinfluenced Chinese people consciously and unconsciously since the ancient, emphasized that humans exist in interactive relationships with others and that most human relationship are unequal in nature. The obligations between senior and junior ran in both directions[17]26. The junior party was bound to be respectful and obedient toward the senior part; but he or she also could expect protection, loyalty, and membership from his or her senior. China is a typical of hierarchical and vertical social structure in which everyone’s behavior is specifically detailed according to what family and social status the person has. Thus we can see in schools, children never call the name of the teacher directly, which is quite different from English speaking countries.Most English speaking countries, children and teacher using names address each other in schools.Most social titles can be addressed directly in the person’s names. Besides, English kinship terms only distinguish sex of relatives, without any specification of sex of linking relatives on father’s side and mother’s side, husband’ side and wife’s side, brother’s side and sister’s side, or son’s side and daughter’s side.Contrary to the high-power-distance culture, it is a low-distance-power culture. People in such cultures strive for power equalization and demand justification for power inequality. To them, a hierarchy is an inequality of roles established for convenience[20]78.As the Declaration of Independence says “all men are created equal, all men are assumed to be treated equally before the law and given equal rights and opportunities”. Consequently, it is widely accepted that a new base of security and prosperity can be establishes for all, regardless of position, race or religious belief and that inequality in society should be minimized. As a result,people in power, be they superiors or government officials, often interact with their constituents and try to look less powerful than they really are.4.3 Differences on culture valuesThe differences between Chinese and English address forms do not just show the differences b e tween Chinese and Western countries on social relative system, family structure and hierarchy system, but also on culture values. Value is the center of culture in traditional conception. Values are the orienting consideration and evaluation to what is acceptable and what is not[21]5. Cultural values are values that tend to permeate a culture. Whether a conversation is smooth or not depends on the degree of cultural value differences between the two interlocutors who are involved in the conversation.The Chinese culture isgroup-oriented collectivism, and harmonious relationshipbetween people is valued most. That is to say,Chinese people tend to be more aware of the connections they have with members of their social groups and the consequences of their actions on the other members of their groups. As a result, the individualistic action is always regarded as an aberrant form. Moreover, Chinese culture has been greatly influenced by Confucianism, which advocates the notion of family dominance, emphasizing the effect of families on the society. People try every means to enlarge the family circle in order to reach the ideal that the whole world is a big family, which we could see through the fictive kinship terms. People employ kinship terms frequently and extensively to address others even non-relatives, which helps in maintaining family togetherness and group harmony.In English speaking countries,different from the group-oriented collectivism in China, early since the French revolution established the bourgeois democracy with its slogans of liberty, equality and universal brotherhood, individualism has been deeply rooted in the Western society. In individualistic cultures personal goals take priority over loyalty to groups like the family. People emphasize self-existence,self-expression and self-realization which lead them to be more concerned with their own freedom of activity than with their connections to other members of their groups. In fact, in many cases, kinship relations are taken as significant barriers to individual self-realization and progress. Therefore, the individual is expected to establish a life independent of his family,nuclear family. Moreover, Western people’s high consciousness of individualism may also explain the phenomenon that the wide usage of names instead of titles.5．The significance of the studyAddress forms indicate the relation of linguistic forms to social setting and the relationship between the interlocutors―addresser and addressee. People with different social features use address forms differently. The form a person uses often reveals the social class, age, gender and other social factors of the addressee and himself. The significance of this study can be summarized in the following two aspects.(1) Consolidation of the communication between China and English speaking countriesAs address forms are keeping changing in daily life with the social structure and cultural values of a community and a person might have various address forms in different situations. Once these conditions change, address forms will alter accordingly. As a result, sometimes even native speakers find it difficult to figure out proper address forms under certain circumstances, let alone foreigners. Incross-cultural activities, misuse of address forms is more frequent and often leads to communication failure. To solve the problems, the research of the address forms should be greatly promoted to make sure the accuracy in the communication with people from different countries. Analyzing from linguistic and culture aspect will help English learners become not only linguistically competent but also communicatively competent.(2)Promotion of the present study of English。