Linguocultural Aspect of Chinese and English Kinship Terms

Introduction. The article deals with the kinship term systems of the modern English and Chinese languages in linguocultural perspective. Although the size and the structure of a family in different countries varies, a family is a fundamental unit of any society, which determines the topicality of the study of the semantic field of kinship terms in a diverse social context. This study touches upon the matters of the difference between the standard use of kinship terms towards family members and their extensive use in a wider social context towards non-relatives. The cultural differences determining the differences in the use of kinship terms in English and Chinese are studied. The aim of the study is to provide a linguocultural description of the characteristics and cultural connotations of the modern English and Chinese kinship terms. Materials and Methods. We use the descriptive method, the comparative analysis method, and the contextual analysis method to study English and Chinese terms collected from a variety of scientific and lexicographic sources. Analysis. Based on the obtained empirical data we make conclusions regarding the similarities and the differences in the use of English and Chinese kinship terms from the point of view of linguoculturology. Through the analysis of the data we demonstrate the fact that the factors which determine the use of kinship terms, such as age, gender and the overall context of the use, play a different role in the use of kinship terms in the studied linguocultures. Results. Conclusions are made regarding the specificity of the extensive use of kinship terms in Chinese and English languages, determined by a variety of cultural and social factors; regarding the role of polysemy and ambiguity of language symbols in Chinese language in the functioning of kinship terms; regarding the linguistic specificity of kinship terms in Chinese and English languages determined by the specificity of social development in China and the USA. The scientific novelty of the obtained results is seen in discovering the modern tendencies of communication related to the transformation and modification of traditional kinship terms and their meaning according to the requirements of the contemporary society and language.