Naming Roads, Streets, and Alleys, from Chinese to English, in the Cultural City of Changsha, China
Abstract
In this study, we investigate the methods and results of nomenclature and toponymity of roads, streets and alleys in the city of Changsha, in China. We conducted ethnographic fieldwork and library research, in order to extensively collect primary and secondary data. As such, we explored, in ethnographic detail, the history of Changsha as a cultural city of heritage, and its place naming, and the ways in which cultural connotations can differ in terms of the hypernym of toponym. This is evident in the translation of the terms for roads, streets, and alleys, more so in their references to their geographical, cultural, and historical references and features.
This comparative study thus emphasises the similarities and differences between Chinese an Anglo-American nomenclature practices, drawing on the work of Blair and Tent (2021), to analyse the methods of such nomenclature in Changsha, China. Owing to the strong correlation between the evolution of society and the development of place-naming in Changsha, we conducted the ethnography and the analysis of the data through both diachronic and synchronic methods.
Keywords: Changsha, toponym, translation, naming, history, culture, linguistic anthropology