The Linguistic And Cultural Features Of Geographical Names In Wuhan

Toponymy is a newly developed branch of science which systematically studies the etymology and meaning of geographical names. The researches on geographical names involve several subjects such as geography, history, sociology and linguistics, and provide valuable materials and information to those fields of science. However, the previous toponymy study in China tended to put undue stress on the exploration of etymology, neglecting other important aspects.In line with the theories of semiotics, geographical names, as language signs or semiotics, have apparent feature of indicating certain objects; as social semiotics, geographical names are inevitably influenced and restricted by the social and cultural context. Hence, place naming is a typical social activity.The thesis takes all the geographical names in the Annals of Wuhan Geographical Names as the corpora of research. Tracing the sociology of geographical names as the clue, the thesis takes the initiative in the systematic and overall statistical induction of the word-formation in Wuhan geographical names from the perspective of morphology. By the comparison in synchronic clues and analysis in quantitative means on the frequency of particular words in Wuhan geographical names, especially in the generic parts, and by the investigation on the special phenomena in the pronunciation of some geographical names, the author concludes the regular pattern of place naming in Wuhan and the regional features which are reflected by it.The regional culture is the direct embodiment of the sociology of geographical names. As a sign of culture, a particular geographical name is restricted within the range of the local history, politics, region and population. On the other hand, the geographical name is a mirror through which all the aspects of the regional culture are reflected. The evolution of Wuhan geographical names renders the inseparable relation between geographical names and the regional culture. Some geographical names in Wuhan have even mixed into the daily life of local residents, constituting an essential part of Wuhan regional culture. Generally speaking, the geographical names...