Contrastive Research To The Cultural Meaning Of Manchu-Tungusic Vocabulary Of Animals And Plants

The vocabulary of animals and plants is an important component of Manchu-Tungusic vocabulary.In the historical evolution of language,the basic meanings of this category of words were being less changed,but have been endowing various and abundant cultural meanings with intricate contents.By applying the theoretical approaches in lexical semantics,cultural linguistics,law of mutual infiltration and law of similarity to deeply analyse the cultural meanings of the vocabulary of animals and plants in Manchu-Tungusic language,this research reveals the diversity of thinking,concepts and cultural traditions among Manchu-Tungusic groups in their understanding of the objective world,so that the new development of language and culture research for Manchu-Tungusic groups can be deepened.Firstly,this research has defined and classified the culture-loaded words and expressions of animals and plants in Manchu-Tungusic language.The main object of the research is the cultural vocabulary of animals and plants in Manchu-Tungusic language,which possess the semantic features of material culture and spiritual culture.Material culture includes natural ecological environment,economic mode of production,diet and costume.Spiritual culture includes mythologies and legends,culture and belief.Secondly,based on the analysis of cultural meanings of the vocabulary of animals and plants in Manchu-Tungusic language in material economy,it shows that the main reason which had caused the diversity of the words of animals and plants in Manchu-Tungusic language is that the groups who use these languages have been living under different natural and ecological environments and taking different material economic modes of production,which means the ways these words predominate in material economic modes of production were different.Thirdly,according to the dissection of the cultural meanings of the vocabulary of animals and plants in Manchu-Tungusic language in diet and costume,it is found that,although the diet and costume culture in Manchu-Tungusic groups has been constantly changing in the development of society,it is more or less preserving the influences from the hunting,fishing and gathering times all along.Lastly,according to the contrastive analysis of the cultural meanings of the vocabulary of animals and plants in Manchu-Tungusic language in belief,it is found that for one animal or plant word,its cultural meaning in Manchu-Tungusic languages is generally the same,but for some individual words,theirs can also have differences.It is related to the natural environments the Manchu-Tungusic groups have been living in,and the material economic modes of production they have been taking.It fully reflects that the sense of survival for materials has taken a significant dominate position in production and daily life,displays the historical conditions of the natural economy in Manchu-Tungusic communities,and reveals the dominant roles that Law of mutual infiltration by Lvy-Bruhl and Law of Similarity by Frazer have been played in their cultural belief at the same time.Lexicon is the most active part in language.The lexical system of a nation can best reflect the process of its social change and its cultural value orientation,and can best reveal its psychological culture.In sum,through the systematically comprehensive semantic study of the vocabulary of animals and plants in Manchu-Tungusic language,this project has discussed the features and multi-cultural characteristics showed by the nations in Manchu-Tungusic groups in the historical cultural changing development.