A Study Of Chinese Kinship Term "Ge" From The Perspective Of Memetics

As a country profoundly influenced by Confucian culture. China has formed a specific kin system. Kinship terms can be employed to address non-kin:this is called the extension of kinship terms. Such phenomena are quite common in China. which can be concluded that the traditional ideology of "family" still plays a significant role in the Chinese society. This extension is quite prevalent in social communication, but only few kinship terms can be extended. and "哥(Ge)" is one of them. As a key part in the Chinese kin system."哥(Ge)" has permeated our life. In recent years."哥(Ge)" usually works as a catch-word. such as "犀利哥(Sharp Ge)"."萝卜哥(Turnip Ge)""春哥(Chun Ge)" and "哥吃的不是面，是寂寞(I’m not eating noodles, but loneliness)". It is clear that there must be some semantic changes in "哥(Ge)". The previous study on "哥(Ge)" mainly focuses on the diachronic research, the related synchronic research is just conducted within the framework of the traditional Chinese addressing system. This thesis, a qualitative study based on data collection, tries to discuss the replication and transformation of "哥(Ge)" and its variants from the new perspective of memetics.Memetics is a new theory based on the biological evolution proposed by Darwin. Through the analog with gene, meme is considered the basic unit of cultural imitation. The replication and transmission of meme can enrich and develop the human language. The semantic changes occur in "哥(Ge)" are closely related to memes."哥(Ge)" generates new variants constantly, among which there is fierce competition, only very few part can become the successful memes finally. On the basis of researches on kinship terms and memes. this thesis analyses the background and the causes of the new items of "哥(Ge)". uses the three characteristics of successful meme to identify "哥(Ge)". summaries the variants of ""哥(Ge)" and the spread ways of them, and finally takes "XX-哥(Ge)" as a typical variant of "哥(Ge)" to conduct a systemically memetic study.This research proves that the replication and transmission of "哥(Ge)" generates its variants. which indicates that the development of language is a dynamic process. Memetics provides the study on "哥(Ge)" with a new approach. However, this research is only an attempt based on the observation and analysis of related language data. it is supposed to offer some help for the future studies.