Linguistic And Geographical Research On The Appellation System Of The Relatives Of The Naxi Ethnic Group

Based on the theory and method of Geographical Linguistics,this paper makes a systematic and thorough comparative study on the kinship terms of the Naxi minority group in the border areas of Sichuan,Tibet,Yunnan provinces.This dissertation comprises of six chapters and an appendix.Chapter One.Preface.The paper defines the two important concepts " Na ethnic group" and "kinship terms".Introduced the research content,research significance and value.pointed out the research process and corpus sources.Briefly introduces the kinship system’s research situation of the Tibeto Burman language and Na ethnic language.Chapter Two.Briefly introduces the history,population distribution,languages of Na ethnic groups.Chapter Three.Composition of the system of Na ethnic group’s kinship terms.According to the macro grasp of 28 survey kinsfolk appellation system,with Da Ju language as an example,analyzes the system Na ethnic kinship system components,and kinship terms constitute principle.Chapter Four.Three types of ethnic kinship terms in the Na ethnic group.The development of ethnic kinship appellation system in ethnic group is not balanced,and there are regional differences.In this paper,the system of ethnic kinship appellation system is divided into three types: the developed kinship appellation system,the less developed kinship appellation system and the sub developed kinship appellation system.Through detailed description and analysis of each type of two case of kinship terms system,the extraction of the three types of characteristics of the kinship terms system.Chapter Five--Chapter Seven.The geographical linguistic study on the kinship terms of Na ethnic groups.To investigate the spatial distribution of the kinship appellation words,and to deduce the development and evolution of the appellation terms of each relative.The spatial distribution characteristics and temporaldevelopment order of the kinship terms in the ethnic group of Na ethnic group.Chapter Eight.Conclusion.Summarizes the main points of this article.Appendix.Tabulate the kinship terms and their meanings.Based on a large amount of data,this paper extracts the following:1.The differences of kinship terms in the Na ethnic groups are closely related to geographical distribution.According to the number of kinship terms in each group of kinship terms,it can be divided into three categories: the developed kinship appellation system,the less developed kinship appellation system and the sub developed kinship appellation system.From the point of view of space,developed system of kinship terms in more concentrated distribution in the Naxi language Western dialect area,undeveloped kinsfolk appellation system distributed in the eastern dialect region of the Naxi language,sub developed systems of kinship terms in Eastern dialect area and the Western dialect of the border.2.Familial terms in the Naxi minority group of China have developed unevenly amongst different Naxi subgroups.Familial terms from some subgroups might include the meanings of 60-70 different Chinese terms for familial relationships while in other subgroups there might be a one to one correspondence between the meaning in Naxi and the meaning in Chinese.In this paper,familial terms have been separated into two categories according to the number of Chinese terms which a particular familial term includes.The first category can be called “Specific Familial Terms” and refers to those terms which have only one possible translation in Chinese.The second category is “Categorical Familial Terms” and refers to those familial terms which can include many different Chinese translations.In the more developed familial term systems there are more familial terms in the “Specific Familial Terms” category than the “Categorical Familial Terms” category.In the least developed systems,the opposite is true.Some familial term systems in the Naxi subgroups,though,belong a to mid level of development and have a balance between these two different categories.The uneven development between the number of familial terms in the different Naxi subgroups reflects the societal,marital,familial,and geographical differences between these subgroups.This uneven development between different subgroups provides rich material for linguistic and geographical ethnographicresearch.3.Naxi familial terms are the direct reflection of the culture of Naxi households and Naxi marriages,and through researching these familial terms,we can catch a glimpse of the historical development of the institutions of marriage and family in the Naxi minority.For instance,those subgroups which have more familial terms are those in which monogamous marriages developed earlier in,and those subgroups with fewer terms are those where monogamous marriages developed later in.Through this analysis it was observed that these areas had experienced different marriage norms through history,for example intrafamily marriages and polygamy.This is a promising area of research for linguistic and cultural studies.4.The distribution of familial terms has a close relationship with the location of the rivers in the historical homeland of the Naxis.The exact correspondences between these familial terms and the rivers is as follows: 1.the East-West opposition: the first East-West opposition is found in the differences of familial terms on the East and West bank of the Jinsha River in Lijiang;the second East-West opposition is found in the differences between familial terms on the East and West sides of the Wuliang River in Sichuan.The North-South opposition is found in the differences in familial terms on the North and South sides of the Wulang River.The value of this thesis is to make a systematic and thorough study on the kinship terms of Na ethnic groups by the theories and methods of Geographical Linguistics.The national language of our country is rich,the characteristic is complex,the content of the current geography research involves is still too narrow,there is a lot of research resources in the future.For example: animal and plant vocabulary,human geography,religious vocabulary,agricultural economic terms,family name,name,location,color,measurement,etc..Through the research of this paper,it is found that the study of vocabulary in the future will be a new scene.