A Social Linguistics Study On Chinese-restaurant Names Across China

Being a linguistic phenomenon, nomination is also concerning culture. Names of restaurants, so far as a social language, undoubtedly should deserve our research, which is to call the public attention on it. Based on language and culture, the paper analyses 5,194 Chinese-restaurant names in Beijing and Guangzhou, in which quantitative and qualitative analytic methods are used. As to the body of paper, it develops its elaboration on the Chinese-restaurant names into four parts, including the number of syllables, generic names, specific names and the relation between the above mentioned with cuisines. The statistics on general distributive situation of all Chinese-restaurant names in the two cities, which cover different number of syllables, are carried on in the chapter of syllables. Then, analysis on the statistics follows. The chapter of generic names mainly studies the overall distribution of different generic names in the two cities, interior relation between preference on syllables and generic names, development of generic names and characteristics of generic names. In the chapter of specific names, the paper gives an explicit elaboration on the rhythmic collocation of specific names, cultural analysis of top-used Chinese characters, psychology on nomination. Focused on the number of syllables, generic names and specific names, relation between the Chinese-restaurant names and cuisines is elaborated in the following chapter. Consequently, the paper summarizes some rules on nominating Chinese restaurants in Beijing and Guangzhou, and puts forward some suggestions on the nomination of them.