The Analysis On The Vocabulary Of Folklore Culture In "Bailuyuan"

The novel Bailuyuan by Chen Zhongshi, with the village of Bailuyuan in the plain of Guanzhong in the province of Shannxi, as the story context and narrating subject, describes the folk life of the two families Bai and Lu who live here together by nation, such as their daily life, customs of marriages, funerals and religions. The distinctive features of this area as well as the rich culture it embodies are shown by languages, especially the vocabulary in this story. It goes with no doubt that the vocabulary of folklore culture in this story are the core and soul of our folklore culture in that they reveal the intrinsic nature of the culture.This thesis makes a detailed classification of its vocabulary of folklore culture in Bailuyuan from the perspective of folklore culture. Probing into some specific examples from this novel, by means of the methods of culture linguistics, this thesis analyzes the vocabulary of folklore culture in it so as to find the culture's distinctive features they exhibit, and to reflect the mentality and thinking of people in this culture.This thesis is divided into four parts:Chapter One defines and interprets three concepts of folklore culture, vocabulary and the vocabulary of folklore culture. It introduces Bailuyuan and the plain of Guanzhong.Chapter Two discusses the vocabulary related to the physical folklore culture in Guanzhong in the novel Bailuyuan. Expressions related to the customs of dressing, dieting, dwelling and transporting are analyzed to help have a general knowledge about the culture's physical features in this area in the first part of the 20th century. Chapter Three discusses the vocabulary related to the social folklore culture in Guanzhong in the novel Bailuyuan. This part focuses on expressions related to marriage, children raising, funeral, which are considered to be the three unique features of"three Qing", so that the folklore cultural information of Guanzhong embodied in them can be revealed, and pictures concerning various folk customs are portrayed.Chapter Four discusses the vocabulary related to the religious folklore culture in Guanzhong in the novel Bailuyuan. By means of probing into phrases about people's adoration of nature, totems, gods and ancestors, their particular beliefs in and fears of idols or gods are shown.It is hoped that this thesis can lend itself to better understanding the folklore culture in this area, the relationship between language and folklore culture, and further, the relationship between culture linguistics and folklore. This thesis author is in the hope of giving inspirations to researchers who are interested in studying the languages in novels.