作者 ｜
張小虹 (國立臺灣大學外國語文學系暨研究所)
摘要 ｜
2022年教育部「性平詞條修訂事件」引發軒然大波，爭議焦點乃在於「外祖父母」是否也可稱為「祖父母」。本文以此事件為切入點，聚焦「外祖父」多出來的那個「外」字，質疑為何華人親屬稱謂行之千年的「綴字」，搖身一變為當代性別平權必須除之而後快的「贅字」。全文分為三個主要部分。第一部分聚焦於華文親屬稱謂的結構分析與類型歸屬，嘗試鋪陳各種詞素組合與單系、雙系繼嗣的分類規則，一探在貌似理性客觀的結構分析與類型歸屬中所可能隱含的盲點。第二部分從宗親／外親千年的嚴格之別切入，展開「父之黨為宗」、宗法為「宗親之法」的批判思考，並以傳統「五服制」來說明當代用語同為「二親等直系血親」的祖父與外祖父，為何在古代卻因一個「外」字，就讓後者的服制規格與親屬等級驟降，不是「宗親」是「外親」、不是「血親」是「姻親」。第三部分則回到日常生活實踐中去找出當代各種「不見外」的實踐策略與行動可能，以期在「外」的習以為常之中，揭露千年宗親／外親之分的陰魂不散，並嘗試破除血統－嗣系－姓氏－性別之間根深柢固的交纏。
關鍵字 ｜
宗族嗣系; 父權; 宗親; 外親; 性別; 姓別
Title ｜
Wai Grandfather Is Not Grandfather: The Remainder of the Patrilineal System in Chinese Kinship Terms
Author ｜
Hsiao-Hung Chang (Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, National Taiwan University)
Abstract ｜
The 2022 “Gender Equality Term Revision” issued by Taiwan’s Ministry of Education triggered widespread public debate over whether wai (“outside”) grandparents should also be designated simply as “grandparents.” Taking this controversy as its point of departure, this article interrogates the extra morpheme wai in wai grandfather and asks why a term that has structured Chinese kinship systems for millennia has now been recast as a “superfluous” element to be eliminated in the name of contemporary gender equality. The article proceeds in three parts. First, it analyzes the structural composition and typological classification of Chinese kinship terms, outlining morphemic patterns and rules of unilineal and bilineal descent to expose the blind spots embedded within these seemingly objective classificatory systems. Second, it examines the thousand-year distinction between zong (lineage insiders) and wai (outsiders), critically interrogating the patrilineal principle that “the father’s line constitutes the lineage” and the operation of the zong system as the law governing kinship relations. Drawing on the traditional system of the Five Degrees of Mourning Garments, this section demonstrates how the paternal and maternal grandfathers-now equally classified as “second-degree lineal relatives”-were hierarchically differentiated in premodern society, with the maternal line demoted from zong to wai, and from consanguinity to affinity. Finally, the article turns to contemporary everyday practices to examine strategies of de-centering wai, revealing the persistent specter of the ancient zong/wai distinction and challenging the deeply entrenched entanglement of bloodline, surname, and gender embedded in the taken-for-granted logic of wai.
Keywords ｜
patrilineage; patriarchy; zong relatives; wai relatives; sexual difference; surname difference