Abstract:
The speech of the Hui is a regional and ethnic variety, based on various Chinese dialects. Fangshang speech spoken by Muslim people of the Hui Quarter is an ethnic vernacular of the Xi’an dialect, which is distinct from the situation of the other Han speech communities in Xi’an at phonetic and lexical levels and the difference is particularly marked by its unique kinship variants. This article, which is a case study based on sociolinguistic investigation, is to describe the kinship terms and analysis the usage statistically, calculating the current Mandarin and Xi’an dialect influence on Hui vernacular. Furthermore, we analysis the interview data to achieve a better understanding of how Hui people construct their identity through the stylistic kinship term choices.
