South Korea And The Generalization Of Kinship Terms Comparative Study

The research is aimed to help Korean Chinese learners and Chinese Korean learners use generalization of kinship appellation more correctly through comparing generalization of kinship appellation in Korean with that of Chinese by adopting research method of sociolinguistics.After summing up the research results concerning Korean and Chinese appellation, it is easy to find that though there are lots of researches about Korean and Chinese appellation, researches concerning generalization of kinship appellation are limited, especially about comparative study of Korean and Chinese generalization of kinship appellation. Therefore, the research is going to compare Korean and Chinese generalization of kinship appellation, to find out the similarities and differences, and at last to analyze the social, cultural and psychological reasons giving rise to these differences. For this purpose, the research will adopt questionnaires targeting Koreans and Chinese aged20-70, aiming to find out which kind of generalization of kinship appellations they are using in universities, workplaces, restaurants and streets.After all the research processes were mentioned above, the similarities and differences of generalization of appellation in various circumstances between Korean and Chinese can be concluded as follows.In universities, when age is in correspondence with grades, both Koreans and Chinese use more kinship appellations to address seniors in intimate relationships. However, the difference between Koreans and Chinese is that in public places, Koreans do not use kinship appellation to address seniors, whereas Chinese will. When age is not in correspondence with grades, both Koreans and Chinese do not address their juniors with kinship appellation in public places, and the frequency of both them addressing their juniors and classmates by kinship appellation is very high in private places. However, the difference is that Koreans tend not to address their classmates by kinship appellation in public places, while Chinese have such tendency.In workplaces, when age is in line with position, all the Koreans and Chinese do not address their superiors with kinship appellation. The differences can be concluded to two points. First, Chinese are used to anomalous kinship appellations, but Koreans use kinship appellation as it is. Second, even in private situations, Koreans do not address their superiors with kinship appellation, while lots of Chinese will. When age is not in line with position, in the case of private places and having intimate relationships with junior staffs and colleagues, the frequency of using kinship appellation by both Koreans and Chinese addressing their junior staffs and colleagues is very high. However, the difference is that Koreans do not address their junior staffs and colleagues by kinship appellation in public places, while Chinese will do so.In restaurants, most of Koreans tend to address waiters or waitress with various kinds of kinship appellations, but Chinese almost do not use kinship appellation. And not only the kinship appellations used by Koreans are very various, but also different kinship appellations are used to different age groups.When asking the way, the differences between Korean and Chinese in using appellations can be summed up in three points. First, comparing with Koreans, Chinese use more diverse kinship appellations. Second, Koreans tend to address passers-by just by judging the age of passers-by regardless of their own ages. But Chinese are used to addressing passers-by by judging age of listener and their own ages. Third, Chinese tend to apply different kinship appellations to different age groups. In brief the similarities and differences of generalization of kinship appellations between Korean and Chinese in different circumstances were summarized above.Next social reason, cultural reason and psychological reason to account for these differences between Korean and Chinese generalization of kinship appellations can be concluded as follows.First, in terms of social reasons, social development exerts influences on generalization of kinship appellation. During the late1900s, Korea was exposed to foreign influences such as influence of Japan, and the Korean traditional appellation were affected heavily. A part of appellations that once were confined to kinships developed to social appellations, a great change when Korean traditional appellation advanced to modern appellation. Social development influences of social development on Chinese appellation can be concluded to two points. One is that, after reform and openness, appellations used by Chinese to address strangers are more various than before. Another one is that Chinese tend to apply different kinship appellations based on different age groups.Second, as far as cultural reasons are concerned, two aspects are involved: the agrarian society and Confucian ideas, and linguistic traits. Both Korea and China have the same historical background as agrarian society, and both are influenced by Confucian ideas. Korean has some linguistic traits, such as leaving out subject and usable range of the second personal pronoun is narrow, therefore, some kinship appellations have been generally borrowed to use in Korean society. And when using these kinship appellations, the age of speaker is not taken into consideration.Last but not the least, psychological factors are mainly to adopt pragmatics to analyze Korean appellation’sister’and ’aunt’, and Chinese appellation’ elder brother’and’elder sister’. These four appellations can evoke intimate and respected feelings from listeners, and at the same time shorten the distance between listeners and speakers.