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1、A Comparative Study on the Eastern and Western Culture From the Angle of Chinese-English Appellations Abstract: Appellation is a must in any language communication, and it is also an important sociolinguistic phenomenon, carrying strong cultural flavors and pragmatic characteristics. Since the appel
2、lation terms used in speech indicate the status relationship, peoples attitude and emotion etc., understanding their usages and pragmatic functions can be of great help for a successful communication. For this purpose, this thesis explores the similarities and differences of appellation systems betw
3、een English and Chinese through contrastive studies from the angles of kinship appellations and social appellations and their influences to intercultural communication. Keywords: kinship; social appellation; intercultural communication摘要：称谓在语言交际中至关重要，它也是一个重要的社会语言学现象，带有强烈的文化味道和语用特征。由于称谓术语用以表明身份关系，人的态
4、度和情感等等，了解他们的用法和语用功为交际的顺利进行提供很大的帮助。为此，本文通过对比英汉亲属关系称谓和社会称谓探索称谓的异同，探索中西文化的不同点，以及称谓对跨文化交际的影响。关键字：亲属关系；社会称谓；跨文化交际1. IntroductionIn linguistic communication, appellation is always the first information transmit to the audience. Proper appellation will make the communication go smoothly. In different cultu
5、re climate, the same appellation may have different pragmatical rules, different pragmatical scopes, and different pragmatical meanings (Dai Qingxia, 2004:98). The difference of using appellation is easy to make misunderstanding in intercultural communication. In order to avoid the appellation pragm
6、atic failures in intercultural communication, the difference between Chinese-English appellation should be learned.This paper is based on the kinship term and the address in social intercourse to realize and compare the differences between Chinese-English appellation, and understand the differences
7、between Chinese-English culture. In the communication, people have to bring different appellations to represent the speaker and the audience, e.g. teachers vs students, employers vs employees, governors vs publics etc. In this essay I expound from the following three points: the appellation of post
8、and profession, general social appellation and name appellation. At last, this essay gets the general understanding of intercultural differences on appellation by comparing Chinese-English appellation. 2. Classification of appellationAppellation is a must in any language communication, and it is als
9、o an important sociolinguistic phenomenon, carrying strong cultural flavors and pragmatic characteristics (Deng Yancang, 1989). The appellation terms used in speech indicate the status relationship, peoples attitude and emotion etc. Understanding their usages and pragmatic functions can be of great
10、help to successful communication. Different appellation, on the one hand, can reflect different identity, social status and distance of relationship between hearer and speaker. On the other hand, it can express the speakers idea or emotion to the hearer. Understanding the pragmatic difference of app
11、ellation is helpful to reduce the pragmatic misuse in intercultural communication, getting the expected communication effective. Appellation can be divided into: kinship term and social term.2.1 The comparison of kinship term between East and WestKinship systems refer to the blood and marriage relat
12、ionships that help people distinguish between categories of kin, create rights and obligations between kin, and serve ad the basis for the formation of certain types of kin groups (Ferraro, 1995:179).2.1.1 The comparison of kinship termsWhen compared Chinese appellation with English appellation, we
13、can easily find that Chinese appellation is much more complicated than that in English. The differences of appellation between east and west mainly exist in the following two aspects. There are equivalent kinship appellations employed in both Chinese and English to address the nuclear family members
14、. But, it is also found that Chinese kinship terms for paternal relatives are not the same as those for maternal relatives, while in English, same kinship terms are used to address the relatives from both sides, regardless of age and gender. E.g.: In English, cousin can represent eight Chinese appel
15、lations “表哥、表弟、表姐、表妹、堂哥、堂弟、堂姐、堂妹”. In China people use such terms as “姨妈，姑妈，舅妈，婶婶，伯母”etc. to distinguish female relatives of mothers generation, but in English all of those are represented by one word : aunt. In English, the peers, or the sisters and brothers usually do not use kinship appellation.
16、They can call others name or nickname instead. E.g.: “John-Johnny, Robert-Rob”. At the same circumstance, in Chinese, we not only add up kinship appellation but also mark the seniority among brothers and sisters. E.g.: “大哥、大姐、二哥”.After the analysis, we find that Chinese kinship terms have strong spe
17、cificity while English kinship terms have strong generality from above. Chinese kinship terms not only definitely show interactive relations, but also clearly indicate generations, orders in age, genders and whether they belong to the paternal side, maternal side, husbands side or wifes side. Some o
18、f English kinship terms also have such a feature, such as “father and mother”, “son and daughter” and indicate orders in age, “brother” and “sister” are good examples. Some are even vague in all aspects except gender, such as “uncle”, “aunt”. 2.1.2 Kinship appellations used to non-kinKinship term us
19、ed to non-kin is a quite common phenomenon in Chinese. But this phenomenon doesnt occur as frequently in English as in Chinese. Although we can also find the American usage of aunt and uncle by children to friends of their parents as markers of close relationship and the extension of similar terms a
20、mong members of political or religious groups, fictive use of kinship terms in English is often limited to people close to each other. To English speakers, it is impolite to call strangers by kinship terms.However, Chinese people use kinship terms to address not only acquaintance, but also people st
21、range to them. When a kinship term is used to address non-kin, the choice will bring two parties both intimacy and respect. In Chinese, people often prefix kinship terms with “大” and “老”, like “大爷”、 “大娘”、 “老奶奶” to show intimacy and respect. Sometimes people adopt both prefixes, like “老大娘”. When Chin
22、ese people address an acquaintance older than oneself, they often precede a kinship term with a surname, such as “刘爷爷”、 “马伯伯”.2.2the comparison of social address termsSocial appellation words are words used by people joined in certain social activities. Because different nations have different syste
23、ms of languages and culture, their social appellation systems are more ore less different. The degree varies according to the discrepancy of languages and cultures. The greater the discrepancy between backgrounds of languages and culture, the greater the difference between social appellation systems
24、 appears and vice versa. Moreover, social culture can also influence social appellation system. With so many differences in their cultures and social structures, China and English speaking counties inevitably have quite different social appellation words.2.2.1 General terms of appellation In terms o
25、f social appellations, “Mr.”, “Mrs.” and “Miss” are widely used to address people in public setting in both Chinese and English. Besides, they both use “post and rank” as appellations as well. However, the differences in this aspect between Chinese and English outweigh the similarities. “Mr., Mrs. /
26、Miss + surname” is used most widely in English. But it is quite different in Chinese. Appellation words are differently positioned in Chinese and English. “Mr. (Mrs. Miss)”precedes surnames while, in Chinese, these terms should be placed after surname, full name or first name. That is, we say “Mr. G
27、reen” in English, but “张同志” in Chinese.2.2.2 Official titlesOfficial title is the form of address used by social members according to their duties (Pen Zengan, 1999:17). For example resident, premier, governor, senator are usually used as forms of address in English. There are much more official pos
28、itions used ad tiles in Chinese than in English, such as “书记”, “局长”est., which are not used as forms off address in English. In Chinese, “post and rank” can be used to address someone directly, such as “局长”, “科长”, “部长”, etc. Yet in English it is very common to use Sir or Mr. to address ones boss, co
29、lleagues or officials in other departments. Third, Chinese people usually employ the form of “lao + surname/post” or “surname + lao” as a social appellation to show respect, which doesnt exist in English.2.2.3 Occupational titlesOccupational titles are the form of address used by interlocutors accor
30、ding to their occupation. Generally speaking, the number of occupation names that can be used ad titles in Chinese. Langue is greater than those in English. For example, according to Chen Jianming(1998:294-295), such terms as 老师、医生、工程师etc. are frequently used as titles in the Chinese peoples everyda
31、y communication. These occupation names that can be used as titles in Chinese are mere occupation names in English. In western culture, however, it is necessary to add titles to show the achievements, importance or seniority of the addressee. Therefore, terms like Bureau Director White, Manager Brow
32、n are rarely used by native speakers of English 3. The influences on intercultural communicationIntercultural communication is communication between people whose cultural perceptions and symbol systems are distinct enough to alter the communication event (Smovoar, 2000:48). Address forms are importa
33、nt social linguistic issues. They have important social functions. Accurate understanding and command of address forms can lead to successful results in intercultural communication.3.1 The negative influences on intercultural communicationSince Chinese wholism and western individualism serve respect
34、ively as an important subconscious guiding direction in addressing behavior of each culture, the misuse of appellation will lead to embarrassment in intercultural communication. Supposed that there is a foreign teacher called John Burger, he introduces himself to Chinese students “Im Mr. Burger.”. T
35、he intercultural communication does not work well, because most of the students think the teacher is so conceited called himself “Mr. Burger”. The reason why he called himself “Mr. Burger” is that many Chinese students call him “Burger”. He wanted to emphasis that “Burger”is his family name not his
36、first name.A certain culture breeds in certain history soil. Different address systems can then be described as originated from different “culture soil”. When addressing others, we choose appropriate words to establish, indicate and maintain our relationship with each other. The choice of address te
37、rms is virtually determined by social norms as part of culture, and such social norms vary from culture to culture. As has been obverted, address systems in English and Chinese are extraordinarily different. Such great discrepancies are exactly the consequence of the huge gap between Chinese and wes
38、tern culture. Intercultural communication is also a communication of culture. If we do not know or respect others culture, the problem will be aroused and the process of intercultural communication will be interrupted. If we use the improper appellation in intercultural communication, it may form an
39、 impolite atmosphere, even breaking the harmonious relationship between each other. Both the hearer and the speaker do not want continue the topic again.3.2 The positive influences on intercultural communicationMost verbal communications start with designating the addressee. So does intercultural co
40、mmunication. On most occasions, when initiating a conversation with another, first of all people will tray to draw his persons attention by addressing him or her in one way or another so as to conduct further communication. The behavior of addressing is actually the specification of each others role
41、 in communication. “When people use language, they do more than just try to get another person to understand the speakers thoughts and feelings. At the same time, both people are using language in subtle ways to establish the kind of speech event they are in.”( Fasold, 2000:1) The address terms thus
42、 can also identify peoples status relationship, degree of familiarity, social backgrounds, etc. In intercultural communication, address terms strongly reflect different social attributes values and are closely related to social background ethnic mentality language symbol, which embodies the culture
43、connotation behind address phenomena.4. ConclusionIn this paper, I first give a clear comparison between eastern and western appellation. Then, I come to analysis the influence of appellation to intercultural communication. References:1Fasold, R.2000. The Sociolinguistics of Language. Beijing: Forei
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