The Study Of Language And Culture Of Chinese Toponymy

Toponym belongs to the proper nouns in the vocabulary,which is an important part of the language system.China has a long history,vast territory and abundant resources,which gives birth to the very large number of toponyms.Study on toponym can be traced back to the pre-Qin period;but due to the limitations of traditional toponym studies,the late establishment of toponymy as a discipline and other factors,the research of toponym in China is still in the development stage and has much room for study.In addition,with the development of the society in the new era,toponym has been identified as "the world's intangible cultural heritage" and its cultural property has gotten more attention.In 2014,China launched a four-year national survey of toponym,providing the study with better social background and practical value.By using the existing literature and combining the cultural characteristics of Chinese toponym,this paper aims to mining and expounding the theory and case studies in toponymy.Based on the basic theory of toponym and toponymy,this paper attempts to explore the linguistic and cultural attributes of toponym by adopting diachronic and synchronic approach.Toponym is an important part of Chinese traditional culture,so its interpretation;in this paper is closely related to the Chinese culture;they are mutually integrated and are inseparable.The main contents of this paper are as follows:firstly,the explanation of basic theory of the study of toponymy.On the diachronic and synchronic level,this part discusses the origin,development and evolution and the regional characteristics of Chinese place names.Secondly,it makes a comprehensive analysis of the construction function of Chinese place names,the interpretation in the perspective of psychological cognition.Finally,based on the data of literature and current distribution of toponyms,this paper makes detailed case study on the "Ban,Luan,Tuo,Tan,Yuan,Wu" and other place names.The full text is divided into the following six parts:The first chapter is an introduction,which briefly introduces the research status,research significance,research content,research ideas,research methods and corpus sources.The second chapter is the outline of the theory of Chinese toponyms.Firstly,the basic theoretical issues of toponym and toponymy are expounded.Secondly,a detailed demonstration on the significance of the study of Chinese place names From various aspects,such as language,history,migration,geography,social psychology and national sovereignty,is presented.The third chapter studies the origin,development and evolution of Chinese toponym from the perspective of diachronic level.In terms of origin,the Chinese toponym has experienced four stages:the geographical consciousness,the sound language toponym,the picture toponym and the written toponym.As for the development and evolution of Chinese toponym,this paper discusses two aspects:the process of its development and evolution and the factors that influence its development and evolution.As for the process of its development and evolution,the main features presented in the toponym of the oracle inscriptions of the Yin Ruins and the Toponym that follows and current toponym are described.As for the influencing factors the relationship between concept and entity of toponym and the way and speed of the development are discussed.In the fourth chapter,it studies the regional characteristics of Chinese toponym on the basis of synchronic level.Chinese toponym will be divided into three types in this chapter:history,geography and language.This chapter also gives detailed division and analysis for toponym,including historical and current toponym,old and new toponym,physical geography entity and human geography entity toponym,national language toponym,Chinese Dialects and foreign language toponym.The fifth chapter is the comprehensive study of Chinese toponym from the following three aspects:the formation function of Chinese toponym presented in Chinese vocabulary,cultural interpretation displayed from psychological cognitive perspective and the policy-based management of toponym in China.Toponym is not only an important part of Chinese vocabulary,but also has the function of building other types of Chinese vocabulary,such as plants names,family names and brands,even for agricultural products.Toponym is an important part of Chinese traditional culture,and it also reflects human cognitive and psychological characteristics.The cultural interpretation of toponym contributes to a deeper understanding of Chinese vocabulary.The sixth chapter is the case study of Chinese toponym,which does a systematic analysis and research on six common names of Chinese toponym based on historical and current data on toponym from the perspective of diachronic and synchronic level.Among them:"ban",using "Chang ban" as a starting point,has got expansion with its related ethnic minority toponym and extraterritorial language toponym.Supported by ancient Chu dialect literature and through the analysis of the evolution of sound and meaning,the study on the names "Luan","Tuo","Tan" and "Yuan"demonstrated that toponym with these words,no matter whether in historical or current geographical distribution,are located in ancient Chu region and thus they are typical Chu dialect toponyms.In addition,through the research of the geographical distribution of "Wu" and the characteristic of its use,it can be preliminarily judged that it may link with the ancient Yue language word "Wu".