美国地名及其文化内涵分析
毕业论文关键词：美国地名；起源; 文化内涵
Abstract
The origin of American place names was influenced by lots of cultural elements and enjoyed a close relationship with the nation’s culture. As the living fossil of American culture, American place names reproduce the nation’s natural landscape and reflect American political revolutions, economic development and social changes. By collecting and summarizing the existing research findings, American place names and their cultural implications are analyzed in this paper under the qualitative approach. The conclusion can be summed up in the following main six aspects: geographical environment, the Indian culture, the colonial history, multi-national culture, eminent persons and important events and the influence of Bible and Classical Mythology. A brief understanding of American place names and their cultural implications can make us know more about American culture, which is useful to improve the communications between China and America.
Key words: American place names; origin; cultural implications
Analysis on American Place Names and Their Cultural Implications
Contents
摘要 i
Abstract ii
I. Introduction 1
II. Historical Research and Literature Review 2
2.1 Historical Research 2
2.2 Literature Review 3
III. Cultural Implications of American Place Names 4
3.1 Geographical Environment 4
3.2 Indian Culture 6
3.3 Colonial History 6
3.4 Multi-national Culture 8
3.5 Eminent Persons and Important Events 9
3.6 The Bible and Classical Mythology 10
IV. Positive Effects of Understanding the Cultural Implications of American Place Names 10
4.1 A Deep Understanding of American Culture 11
4.2 Promotion on Sino-US Communication 11
V. Conclusion 12
Bibliography 14
Acknowledgments 15
I. Introduction
American place names bear abundant cultural implications. Robert Stevenson said, there were no places named galore, poetically, humorously and gracefully as America; all eras, nations and their languages contributed to American place names. Being the living fossil of American culture, American place names show the nation’s natural landscape, historical changes, and the economic development. Besides, it mirrors the multi-cultural characteristics of the country. For example, the fifty U.S. States took their names from a wide variety of languages. This collection of place names formed a part of American history and it’s well worth exploring. By studying American place names, much information related to American culture can be got. By analyzing American place names and their cultural implications, we can have a better understanding of American culture and history, which is useful for the communication between Chinese and Americans.
To figure out the complex relationship between the American place names and their culture, the qualitative approach will be used to analyze the origin of American place names and their cultural implications in this paper systemically. In part one, this article gives a literature review on the subject. Though there are different opinions, it is all agreed that American place names and their culture are closely related. Therefore, it’s necessary to analyze the cultural implications that American place names embodied in a systemic and comprehensive way. In part two, the cultural implications of the American place names will be analyzed, which mainly includes the following six aspects: geographical environment, the Indian culture, the colonial history, multi-national culture, eminent persons and important events and the influence of the Bible and Classical Mythology. All of them have exerted influences on the naming of American places to some extent. For example, Alabama was named after the Alabama River that was named for the Alabama Indians who originally lived in the region of that river. So the name of “Alabama” can reflect the local geographical environment and the trace of Indian culture. In the last part, this paper talks about the positive effects that a better understanding of American place names and the cultural implications takes. For example, it can help us get more familiar with the American culture and promote our communications with Americans.
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