Comparative Study Of Chinese And Korean Kinship Terms

For China and Korea, the two different countries under the similar eastern culture environment, it is always an important aspect of comparison research field to compare their language and culture. The study of the differences in the culture and language usage of their kinship terms also plays an important role. In the thesis, I try to make brief statements and comparison studies of Chinese and Korean kinship terms from micro and macro aspects.From micro aspect, I make comparison studies of parent kinship terms, which are the most important and typical aspects of kinship terms, and summarize three general features. That is, from overall viewpoint, Chinese parent kinship terms are influenced by many other nationalities' languages, while Korean parent kinship terms are seldom influenced by other nationalities' languages except Chinese language. From word formation viewpoint, there are three forms in Korean parent kinship terms including original Korean words, words in Chinese characters and words in the formation of "Chinese character root + original Korean character suffix". From dialect viewpoint, the difference degree of Korean dialects is small, while the richness and diversity are two main features of Chinese dialects.Other than general comparison, I also make comparison study on the usage, that is, the reference function, of parent kinship terms. The terms in original Korean words are clarified carefully and clearly according to the degree of respect and modesty. The order is like, ).While in Chinese parent kinship terms, there is no such kind of clarification and order. Also, in terms of the age and gender of speaker and the gender of listener, there are obvious differences in the usage ofKorean parent kinship terms. There are no such features in Chinese terms. Besides, the scopes of reference of particular words are different. From macro aspect, by making general comparisons on paternal side, maternal side and marital side, I draw some conclusions on features, similarities and differences of Chinese and Korean kinship terms.1. Differences between men and women. According to the different gender of speaker or listener, there are different kinship terms in Chinese and Korean.2. Superiority of men and inferiority of women. Both cultures pay more attention on paternal side compared with maternal side. It is more obvious in Korean language.3. Differences between paternal side and maternal side. Both cultures use different terms on paternal side and maternal side. It is also more obvious in Korean language.4. Order of seniority and notability of superiority. Both cultures pay more attentions on the order of seniority compared with western culture. Relatively, Korean language emphasizes superiority more obviously.5. Clarity between family and sociality. The kinship terms on relationship between family and sociality are more clearly used in both cultures compared with western culture. The "Cun Shu" method is used in Korean language.6. Altruistic kinship terms. Both languages have altruistic kinship terms. But it is more complicated in Chinese language.Due to the relationship with kinship terms, I make comparison analysis of Chinese and Korean languages on the fictive use of kinship terms, which belong to the field of social terms.