Socio-Cultural and Socio-Linguistic Functions of Nursery Names in Rural China
Subject Area
East Asian/Chinese Studies
Abstract
This presentation reports a case study that examines an ancient child-naming tradition in a rural community in northwest China where the nursery names of children have profound socio-cultural significance, and the naming practice has five main socio-linguistic sub-functions: (1) imposing the hopes of their parents; (2) reflecting a religious healing ceremonial or the villagers’ negotiations with gods or demons whom they believe to wield controls over the social and physical lives of the people in the village; (3) marking an event that is meaningful to the family or the village; (4) showing sibling relations that is deemed important in agrarian culture and (5) names for girls that reflect gender inequality. While the tradition is a valuable key to Chinese rural culture, it is facing challenges from modernity and it is already displaying a trend of declining and therefore the study of it is both necessary and significant.
Brief Bio Note
Zuotang Zhang is a lecturer of Chinese at Georgia Southern University. He has a master’s degree in Religious Studies, and a doctoral degree in Language, Literacy and Culture. He has worked as a language teacher at various levels in China and the United States. His research interests are in language, culture and education.
Keywords
socio-cultural, socio-linguistic, function, nursery names, rural China
Location
Room 217
Presentation Year
2017
Start Date
3-24-2017 2:35 PM
Embargo
11-3-2016
Recommended Citation
Zhang, Zuotang, "Socio-Cultural and Socio-Linguistic Functions of Nursery Names in Rural China" (2017). South East Coastal Conference on Languages & Literatures (SECCLL). 51.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/seccll/2017/2017/51
Socio-Cultural and Socio-Linguistic Functions of Nursery Names in Rural China
Room 217
This presentation reports a case study that examines an ancient child-naming tradition in a rural community in northwest China where the nursery names of children have profound socio-cultural significance, and the naming practice has five main socio-linguistic sub-functions: (1) imposing the hopes of their parents; (2) reflecting a religious healing ceremonial or the villagers’ negotiations with gods or demons whom they believe to wield controls over the social and physical lives of the people in the village; (3) marking an event that is meaningful to the family or the village; (4) showing sibling relations that is deemed important in agrarian culture and (5) names for girls that reflect gender inequality. While the tradition is a valuable key to Chinese rural culture, it is facing challenges from modernity and it is already displaying a trend of declining and therefore the study of it is both necessary and significant.
