Abstract

With the rapid development of Chinese economy, the U.S.-China relationship is widely recognized as one of the most important bilateral relationship in the world. Thus the cross-cultural communication of two countries is becoming more and more frequent. Therefore, to know more about American culture is really important to us nowadays. And kinsfolk terms is an important and necessary part of each culture and society. It can show the social structure, family value, and expectation on different gender and almost everything about culture. To make a progress in our cross-cultural communication with American people, we need to learn something about the differences between Chinese kinsfolk terms and American kinsfolk terms and to probe into the reason under them.
This paper consists of four parts. It firstly gives an introduction to the important role of kinsfolk terms and the significance of studying the differences between Chinese kinsfolk terms and American kinsfolk terms. Secondly, it shows the exact four differences between Chinese kinsfolk terms and American ones: 1. differences in blood relation and relations by marriage; 2. differences in order of seniority; 3. differences in paternal relation and maternal relation; and 4. differences in sex. Thirdly, it studies the true reasons which bring about these differences between Chinese kinsfolk terms and American kinsfolk terms, like different concepts of family, relation in siblings, degrees of emphasis on patrilineage, and different religious beliefs. Finally, it talks about today’s changes of Chinese kinsfolk terms.

Key words: cultural differences; kinsfolk terms; family structures.

摘  要

随着中国经济的高速发展，中美关系已经被广泛认为是世界上最重要的双边关系之一。中美两国之间的跨文化交流越发频繁。所以在当下，深入地了解美国文化我们来说是非常重要的。而亲属称谓是每个社会都必不可少的重要组成部分。它能够很好地显示当地的社会结构、家庭观念、对不同性别的要求甚至文化的方方面面。了解中美两国在亲属称谓上的差异、研究导致这种差异的深层次原因，有助于提升中美两方的跨文化交流。
本文分为四个部分。首先让大家简单了解亲属称谓的重要角色以及研究亲属称谓的重要意义。其次让大家详细了解中美两国亲属称谓的具体不同：在血亲与姻亲方面、在长幼次序方面、在父系亲属和母系亲属方面以及在不同性别方面。在此给大家详细地分析导致中美两国亲属称谓不同的本质原因：不同的家庭观念、兄弟姐妹间不同的关系、对父权不同程度的重视以及不同的宗教信仰。最后和大家探讨了在当今中国社会，中国亲属称谓发生的一些演变。

关键词:文化差异；亲属称谓；家庭结构