Abstract：China and Japan are both Asian countries，which have the similar customs and ceremonies. From ancient time，china has had great impact on Japan，including the architectures，culture and customs. But later，Japan learns more from the western counties，especially from America.

With the development of globalization，the contacts between countries are becoming more and more frequent. In order to achieve success in diplomacy，we should learn more the rites about these countries.

This paper mainly discusses the study of contrast between Chinese and Japanese relative titles from the sociolinguistic point of view，because there are close relationship between language and culture.

Key words：sociolinguistics；contrast；Chinese and Japanese culture

中圖分類號(hào)：G640 文獻(xiàn)標(biāo)識(shí)碼：A 文章編號(hào)：1009-8283(2009)03-0147-03

1 The relationship between language and culture

What is language?

Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.

What is culture?

Culture，in a broad sense，means the total way of life of a people，including the patterns of belief，customs，objects，institutions，techniques，and language that characterizes the life of the human community. In a narrow sense，culture may refer to local or specific practice，beliefs or customs，which can be mostly found in folk culture，enterprise culture or food culture etc.

The relationship between language and culture：

There is close relationship between language and culture. On the one hand，since the knowledge and the beliefs that constitute a people's culture are habitually encoded and transmitted in the language of the people，it is extremely difficult to separate two. On the one hand，language as an integral part of human being，permeates his thinking and way of viewing the world，language both expresses and embodies cultural reality. On the other，language，as a product of culture，help perpetuate the culture，and the changes in language uses reflect the cultural changes in turn.

2 Japanese language and culture

(1) In Japanese culture，people advocate rites and ceremonies. Corresponding to this phenomenon，Japanese people often use modest language and respectful expressions to express the deference for the other people.

When Japanese people talk about themselves，whether the members in their families，the behavior or the things related to them，they usually use modest expression. On the contrary，when they talk about the other people，who are elder or who have higher position in society or who are their guests，they often use the expressions which can show their esteem to the others. Japanese culture mainly reflects the form of address，the form of verbs and the daily conversations.

(2) The Japanese language：

2.1 the form of address ：the titles of relatives：

From the above contents，we can see：

When a Japanese people speak of the members of his family，he will use the modest expressions. For example，he calls his own wife“家內(nèi)”or “妻子”；his daughter “娘”；his father“父”；his mother“母”…

When he talk about the other people’s family，the corresponding titles will become：奧さん(the addressee’ wife)；娘さん(daughter)；お父さん(father)お母さん(mother)…

In order to show his respect for other people，he will add the“さん ”at the end of the titles or add the“お”at the beginning of these titles.

2.2 the form of verbs：when a Japanese person mentions his own behavior or speaks to his contemporary，he usually uses the modest expressions；while when he talks of the action of an elder people or his boss or his guests，he usually uses the respectful words.

(1) Some verbs have their corresponding modest and respectful forms，such as：

普通動(dòng)詞 對(duì)應(yīng)的尊他動(dòng)詞 對(duì)應(yīng)的自謙動(dòng)詞

(2)As for the verbs，which have no corresponding respectful words，we can use the following five forms：

①動(dòng)詞的未然形+れる/られる(同被動(dòng)語態(tài)的構(gòu)成)。

例：◇先生、もう帰られますか。(Has the teacher already come back?)

②お(ご)+動(dòng)詞的連用形+になる(和語詞匯用#65378;お#65379;漢語詞匯用#65378;ご#65379;)

例：◇先生、いつお帰りになりますか。(When does the teacher come back?)

③お(ご)+動(dòng)詞的連用形+なさる(和語詞匯用#65378;お#65379;漢語詞匯用#65378;ご#65379;

例：◇部長、これはまたお使いますか。(Would the dean use this…?)

④お(ご)+動(dòng)詞的連用形+です(和語詞匯用#65378;お#65379;漢語詞匯用#65378;ご#65379;

例：◇社長は明日ご出張ですか。(Would the manager go on business tomorrow?)

⑤お(ご)+動(dòng)詞的連用形+くださる(和語詞匯用#65378;お#65379;漢語詞匯用#65378;ご#65379;

例：◇李さんにそのことをお伝えくださいませんか.(Mr.Li，would you mind passing the …to me?)

2.3 The daily dialogs：from these expressions，we also can notice that Japanese people venerate rites and ceremonies.

For example，when Japanese people meet for the first time，they bow to each other，saying“はじめまして，よろしくおねがいします”(初次見面，請(qǐng)多關(guān)照)；when they want to express their gratitude，they often use adverbs to modify the sentence“ほんとうにありがとうございます ”(Thank you very much!). when they disturbed somebody，they will say“おじゃまします/ お邪魔します” (I am so sorry to bother you)

3 The Chinese culture and language

From ancient time，china has upheld the rites and ceremonies，which reflects in language. In this part，we will analyze the language from the above-mentioned three aspects.

3.1 The titles of the relatives

The form shows that every member in the family has his corresponding title.

In daily conversation，when a person mentions the members of his family，or he speaks to his peers，he will say：我爺爺(my grandfather)，我奶奶(my grandmother)，我爸(my father)，我媽(my mother)，我姐/妹(my sister)，我哥\\\\弟(my brother)，我女兒(my daughter)，我兒子(my son)，我孫子(my grandson)，我孫女(my granddaughter)…

That is to say，add the word“我的 (my)”before the titles and use the informal words.

In formal situation，he will say：我祖父(my grandfather)，我祖母(my grandmother)，我父親(my father)，我母親(my mother)…

In this case，he will use the formal titles.

In daily life，when Chinese people talk with a person who is younger than him or who is his peers，they will say：你爺爺(your grandfather)，你奶奶(your grandmother)，你爸(your father)，你媽(your mother)…

Add the word “你” before the titles.

when the addresser speaks to a person who is elder than him or has a higher position than him，he will say ：您祖父(your grandfather )，您祖母(your grandmother )，您爸(your father )，您媽(your mother )…Add the word “您” before the titles to show the addresser’s respect or令尊(your father)，令堂(your mother)，令兄(your brother)，令愛(your daughter)，令郎(your son)…Add the word “令” before the titles to show the speaker’s respect to the addressee.

3.2 The form of verbs：

(1)When Chinese people talk about their own and his peer’s behavior，they often use the common verbs.

For example：when a husband will go to work，he will say to his wife，“我走了”。(I will go to work)

When a student left his book in the classroom，he will say，“我把書忘在教室里了”。

(2)when they talk about the action of his guest，his boss or the elder people，they will add the word“請(qǐng)”(please)before the verbs to show his esteem.

For example：when a guest wants to leave，the host will say，“請(qǐng)走好”or“請(qǐng)路上小心”.

3.3 In china，the daily expressions that are often used are the following：

“吃了嗎?”(whenever the Chinese people meet each other，they always ask the question“Have you had your meal?”)

“去哪兒啊?”(where are you going?)

From these dialogues，we can’t see the esteem and politeness. Perhaps these expressions are only habits.

4 the contrast between Chinese and Japanese culture and language

From the above contents，we can see that there is alikeness between Chinese and Japanese culture. Both countries promote rites and use different methods to express their modesty and politeness. However there are some differences between these two kinds of language.

From the forms of address and verbs，we can see Japanese language is dynamic. That is to say，the nouns and the verbs have different forms：modest and respectful expressions，which can be used to express their feelings，attitudes and ideas. For example，the common verb言う(說)has its modest form申す/申し上げる and its respectful form おっしゃる；the noun 田中 can be used to call himself to show modesty；the other people can use 田中さんto express their respect. On the contrary，Chinese language is static. That is to say，the nouns and the verbs are lack of changing. For example，the verb“走”has no different forms. If people would like to show their esteem，they have to add some other words：請(qǐng) 慢走!as for the noun爸爸，if we want to show our respect to the other people，we have to change it into another word您爸 or令尊.

The daily conversations：in daily life，Japanese people usually use modest and respectful expressions to show their politeness；while in china，this phenomenon is not so obvious.

5 conclusion

China and Japan are both Asian countries，there are similarities between their cultures；but as time goes on，Japan learns more from the western countries，which cause some difference between china and Japan. As a part of culture，their language reveals this situation.

Through this kind of contrast，we can learn more about the culture and language of these two countries，which is useful for our Japanese study and our diplomacy.

References：

[1]HuZhuanglin，JiangWangqi. Linguistics：An Advanced Course Book. Beijing：Beijing University Press，2002.

[2]DaiWeidong，HeZhaoxiong. A New Concise Course on Linguistics for Students of English. Shanghai：Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press，2002.

[3]中日交流標(biāo)準(zhǔn)日本語。人民教育出版社，光村圖書出版株式會(huì)社，1988.