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1、Wheredomama/papawordscomefrom?1.Masandpas.Ifyoueverlookatalistofbasicwordsinanumberoflanguagesfromaroundtheworld,youwillbestruckatoncebyoneobservationinparticular:thewordsfor‘mother’and‘father’.Inlanguageafterlanguageafterlanguage,wefindthatthewordfor‘mother’issome
2、thinglikemama,orperhapsnana,while‘father’issomethinglikepapaordada.Table1givesjustatinysampletobeginwith.Inafewlanguages,theformsgivenare‘mymother’and‘myfather’,sincedifferentwordsareusedforotherpeople’sparents.Ahyphenindicatesthatsomethingelsemustbeattachedtothewo
3、rdinspeech,andacolonmarksalongvowel.‘mother’‘father’SwahilimamababaKikuyu(eastAfrica)nanababaXhosa(SouthAfrica)-mama-tataTagalog(Philippines)nanaytatayMalayemakbapaRomanianmamatataWelshmamtadUrdumangbapTurkishana,annebabaPipil(ElSalvador)naantatahKobon(NewGuinea)am
4、ybapBasqueamaaitaHungariananyaapaDakota(USA)enaateNahuatl(Mexico)naanta’Luo(Kenya)mamababaApalai(Amazon)ayapapaChechen(Caucasus)naanadaaCree(Canada)-mama-papaQuechua(Ecuador)mamataytaMandarinChinesemamababaTable1.Somewordsfor‘mother’and‘father’.ThetraditionalTurkis
5、hformfor‘mother’,ana,isstillcurrentinAnatoliabuthasbeenoddlymodifiedtoanneinstandardIstanbulTurkish.Ofthesetwenty-onelanguages,Swahili,KikuyuandXhosa(NelsonMandela’smothertongue)areallmoderatelycloselyrelated,butobservethatnotwoofthemhavecloselysimilarformsfor‘moth
6、er’and‘father’:mamaandbaba,nanaandbaba,-mamaand-tata.TagalogisdistantlyrelatedtoMalay,butagainthewordsintheselanguagesarefarfromidentical:nanayandtatay,emakandbapa.Finally,Romanian,WelshandUrduareallverydistantlyrelated,buttheirwordsfor‘father’arenotsosimilar:mamaa
7、ndtata,mamandtad,mangandbap.Otherwise,nolanguageinthelistisknowntoberelatedtoanyother.Whatweseeaboveistypicalofthelanguagesoftheworld.Inthe1950s,theAmericananthropologistGeorgeP.Murdochexaminedthewordsfor‘mother’and‘father’in470languagesfromallovertheglobe.Hefoundt
8、hatthewordfor‘mother’containedasyllableoftheformma,meormoin52%ofthelanguagesinhissample,whilethewordsfor‘father’containedoneofthesamesyllablesinj
