Place Names In Sanjiang Dong

Place names are the special names given by human beings to specific physical and human geographical entities,which are closely related to the emergence and development of human society.Under the influence of geography,history,language and other factors,place names show strong regional characteristics,which imply the depth and complexity of local history and culture.Based on the research method of field linguistics and with the knowledge of cultural linguistics,toponymy and other related disciplines,this study collects,transcribes,classifies,describes and analyses the place names in Sanjiang Dong and tries to answer the following three questions: what are the major word-formation patterns of place names in Sanjiang Dong? What are the major naming patterns of these place names? What historical and cultural information do these place names contain?The study reveals that,except for a few of mono-morphemic words,place names in Sanjiang Dong are largely complex words composed of general names and special names.General names such as ka?u22 ‘head',k?i22 ‘stream',pi?21 ‘flat',?in21‘mountain' reflect the dwelling characteristics of Dong villages.These place names are named after topography,hydrology,natural resources and so on.The general names in topography are various and complicated.The general names of mountains can be divided into “mountainside”,“ridge”,“valley”,“col”,“long slope”,“hilltop(round)” and so on.Others are general names of topography based on metaphors fromhuman body parts,e.g.ka?u22 ‘head' and ten?? ‘foot'.In addition,the place names of location words are also common,that is,people use the location words pa?k22‘outside',li31 ‘inside',?u?? ‘above',t?22/ti?3/pi?? ‘below' and ta?3 ‘middle' to refine place names.Through these names,we can find the unique worship culture of the Sanjiang Dong,such as worshipping guardian tree,planting guardian forest,building wind and rain bridges,etc.Drum towers are an epitome of Dong culture.By investigating the names of drum towers in ka?u22 ?i??3 ‘Gaoding Village',it found that there are three major historical migrations: a few of Miao people initially established the village.People from former village moved here.As a result,more people have been attracted to this village.