중국어의 어휘성분구성과 사고방식관련어휘의 세분화 분석을 통하여 중국인의 사고방식을 추출해보면 1) 구체적인 명사에 대한 선호성향, 2) 전통·관습의 고수성향, 3) 낙관적·미래지향적 사고방식, 그리고 4) 대칭과 조화의 추구 성향을 엿볼 수 있다. 어떤 언어에서 특정분야관련 어휘의 세분화 비중이 높다는 것은 당해언어사용민족이 그 어휘에 해당하는 사물이나 생각에 관심이 높다는 것과 동시에 그 분야의 생활양식이나 사회관습, 사고·행동패턴 내지는 풍토에 연중무휴로 끊임없이 연관을 맺으면서 생활한다는 문화의 일면을 나타내는 것이다. 중국어에는 다른 언어에서 그 유례를 찾아볼 수 없을 만큼 많은 죽음관련어휘가 들어 있다. 중국인들의 숙명론적인 사상적 배경과 사고방식을 중심으로 죽음관련어휘의 다양화·세분화현상을 고찰하였다. 중국인들은 어휘의 세분화 현상을 통하여 무려 143개 어휘로써 죽음에 대한 숙명론적 입장을 나타내고 있는데, 그중에서 단일음절어휘 12개, 2음절어휘 100개, 3음절어휘 5개, 4음절어휘 26개의 분포를 보였다. 이것은 결국 장구한 역사를 통하여 중국인의 사유세계에서 죽음이 얼마나 심오하고 방대한 종교적·철학적 비중을 차지해 왔는지를 극명하게 반영하는 것이라고 말할 수 있다.

There are two versions of linguistic determinism: the strong and the weak position of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. The strong one, Benjamin Lee Whorf's trademark theory on the relation of language to culture, holds that the language of a people determines or molds their culture, thought and philosophy. The weak or mild one suggests that the language of a people is just a guide to their thought and behavior patterns rather than being a master that lords it over the people and presses them towards the total world view of their culture. Here we may look to a two-way classification and analysis of language: the lexicon and the grammar. The present writer herein steers his focus of academic concern toward a lexical approach to linguistic determinism, with a firm belief that an array of frequently-occurring words in a given language will show you a framework of cultural emphasis inherent in that language. This paper has attempted at a conclusion that the Chinese people seem to stick to a predestinarian attitude towards death in that the Chinese language has as many as 143 death-related vocabulary words in its lexicon, which boil down to 12 one-syllable words, 100 two-syllable words, 5 three-syllable words, and 26 four-syllable words.

There are two versions of linguistic determinism: the strong and the weak position of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. The strong one, Benjamin Lee Whorf's trademark theory on the relation of language to culture, holds that the language of a people determines or molds their culture, thought and philosophy. The weak or mild one suggests that the language of a people is just a guide to their thought and behavior patterns rather than being a master that lords it over the people and presses them towards the total world view of their culture. Here we may look to a two-way classification and analysis of language: the lexicon and the grammar. The present writer herein steers his focus of academic concern toward a lexical approach to linguistic determinism, with a firm belief that an array of frequently-occurring words in a given language will show you a framework of cultural emphasis inherent in that language. This paper has attempted at a conclusion that the Chinese people seem to stick to a predestinarian attitude towards death in that the Chinese language has as many as 143 death-related vocabulary words in its lexicon, which boil down to 12 one-syllable words, 100 two-syllable words, 5 three-syllable words, and 26 four-syllable words.

thought and behavior patterns, predestinarian attitude, death-related vocabulary