"historical Records" Kinship Terms For Study

Based on the fundamental research in kinship terms and ancient Chinese, this paper makes an in-depth study throughout Records of the Historian, and achieves a precise categorization of kinship terms in the book finally. This paper consists of five parts as follows.A brief introduction is made in chapter 1 to show the purpose and research significance of this paper. The scope, content and methodology of the research are also introduced in this section. Besides, the author takes a look at past and present of research in kinship terms.In chapter 2, scope of kinship and varieties of method to categorize kinship terms in both ancient and modem period are introduced. Through analyzing these materials, the author decides on the scope and classification of kinship terms mentioned in this paper.In chapter 3, all kinship terms appeared in Records of the Historian are classified according to the kinship indicated by kinship terms. The classification consists of 7 categories including general kinship terms, grandparent terms, parent terms, brother-or-sister terms, husband-or-wife terms, son-or-daughter terms, and grandchild terms. Detailed description and analysis are employed for each kinship term.On basis of the classification, in chapter 4, the author analyzes kinship terms appeared in Records of the Historian through theory of word-building, and find that compound and affixation are two main word-building methods for kinship terms. For these two word-building methods, compound takes a dominate status. At the same time, compound kinship terms in Records of the Historian can be categorized as modifying compound words and coordinated compound words. The modifying method is the most important word-building method of kinship terms in Records of the Historian.In chapter 5, the author makes an analysis on connotation of national culture showed by kinship terms in Records of the Historian. Words are the most sensitive to value orientation of national culture and kinship terms can even be compared to a mirror of national culture. According to the characteristic of kinship terms in Records of the Historian, the author analyzes the cultural connotation showed by them from several aspects, such as feudal patriarchal clan system, Confucian's thought of "ordered", innovation of social life, the concept of admiring to ancestors, etc.Finally, in the last chapter, the author makes a conclusion on main ideas showed in this paper, and points out some defects to be improved.