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1、 The Chinese Borrowing of Lexical Items from EnglishAbstract: Among the various factors that contribute to the increase in the vocabulary of a language, borrowing seems as prominent as any other. This can be illustrated by the fact that Modern Chinese differs lexically from Old Chinese most obviousl
2、y in the number of borrowing words. Borrowing occurs when one language takes a word or morpheme from another language and adds it to its lexicon. It has been a source of new words for most languages of the world.Key words: language change; borrowing; English; lexical itemsI. IntroductionThe words of
3、 a language can be classified into two major categories: nonnative and native. Nonnative words are borrowed, technically called loan words. Borrowing can be direct and indirect. A direct borrowing refers to a borrowed word that is a native term in the language from which it is borrowed. When an item
4、 is said to be an indirect borrowing, it is indirectly borrowed from a language, with another language as an intermediary. Since the late 19th century, Chinese has been in close contact with the English. As a result, numerous English words and morphemes are borrowed into Chinese. Most of them are di
5、rect borrowings. However, there are also a large number of indirect borrowings through Japanese. This research concerns about the direct and indirect lexical borrowing from English as well as the major principles used when adopting English words or phrases. II. Direct Chinese Borrowing from EnglishT
6、he ways of direct borrowing are manifold. Generally speaking, there are six kinds of direct borrowing.1. TransliterationTransliteration means the act of writing words or letters in or as the letters of a different alphabet1. However we must know that complete transliteration of English into Chinese
7、is very rare. The phonetic as well as phonological systems of the two languages are quite different so that it is very difficult for English to be transliterated into Chinese. Strictly speaking, transliteration of English into Chinese is often incomplete. In English there are stresses while in Chine
8、se there are tones. It often happens that an English sound is replaced in Chinese by a character with similar sound as corresponding to the English one. For instance, the English /v/ is usually replaced by the corresponding Chinese /f/ as in “volt” 伏特. And the Chinese /d/ and /te/ are often intercha
9、ngeable in replacing English /d/ or /t/. Most Chinese characters are meaningful morphemes, and generally such a character composes a syllable in a word. Each syllable in Chinese word has its meaning, for example, every syllable in Chinese words like 人口，母亲， and 文具 is meaningful. While in most English
10、 words, separate syllables, except the affixes and inflectional endings, are meaningless, for example, e-le-gent in elegent are absolutely meaningless. When phonologically replacing these syllables, the Chinese characters involved in most cases become completely mere phonic signs, which have no mean
11、ings at all. Words which are transliterated are mostly proper names, currency units, weights and measures, names of animals and plants, medicine, diseases, chemicals, scientific terms, musical terms, explosives, specific exotic terms, and terms of daily life. E.g.pint品脱gallon加仑ballet芭蕾golf高尔夫guitar吉
12、他Paris巴黎coffee咖啡lemon柠檬Vivian维维安Australia澳大利亚London伦敦Salon沙龙In adopting English words, Chinese may use radicals to denote the attribute of the English concept, showing roughly to which classification it belongs2. For example, 女by itself is the word for “woman, female”. Used as a radical, it denotes
13、feminality. When transliterating English names, Chinese may use words with the radical 女 to signify feminality, e.g. 露西娅and 索非娅for Lucia and Sophia respectively.2. Transliteration + SenseloanSome English words or expressions are adopted into Chinese with both their sounds and their senses, which are
14、 expressed with existing corresponding morphemes. There are mainly two types of this sort of loanwords.A. The English words or expressions are adopted into Chinese constituent by constituent, namely, the two Chinese parts, the transliterations and the senseloans, have their corresponding counterpart
15、s in English.Cambridge剑桥milkshake奶昔water ballet水上芭蕾Disney land迪斯尼乐园miniskirt迷你裙Downing street唐宁街Dowling paper道林纸internet因特网hula-hoop呼拉圈ice-cream冰淇淋x-ray爱克斯光Wall Street华尔街B. The transliteration of an English word is followed by a Chinese word which shows or indicates the attribute of the English conc
16、ept or makes its meaning clearer. The additional Chinese word has no English counterpart:salmon三文鱼sardine沙丁鱼pizza比萨饼motor摩托车sauna桑拿浴bowling保龄球poker扑克牌jazz爵士乐jeep吉普车jacket茄克衫3. Coincidental Senseloan by Transliteration3 This is an interesting case in which Chinese sounds and their meanings are accide
17、ntally identical with their corresponding English counterparts. Some of them are solely transliterated and some of them are transliterated together with senseloans corresponding to the original, and a few others are transliterations with additional sense signifiers absent in the original.Carrefour家乐
18、福romantic罗曼蒂克Coca-Cola可口可乐Pepsi-cola百事可乐Benz奔驰shock休克vitamin维他命humor幽默E-land衣恋Bird波导4. The Adoption of Acronyms and AbbreviationsSome English acronyms and abbreviations are merely transliterated into Chinese or adopted as senseloans, or in both ways; others are transliterated with additional Chinese
19、 explanatory elements following the transliterations.AIDS艾滋病SAT(Scholastic Aptitude Test)学力性向测验OPEC欧佩克TMO(telegraph money order)电汇票GDP国内生产总值UFO不明飞行物or飞碟WTO世界贸易组织VOA美国之音5. Calques or Translation Loans4English words and expressions, mostly English compound words, may be translated into Chinese with th
20、e material already existing in the Chinese language according to the English patterns by way of morpheme-for-morpheme translation. Some of the calques take on additional Chinese explanatory elements. Goldlion金狮basketball篮球Soft-ware软件hot dog热狗blackboard黑板machinegun机关枪quick lunch快餐honeymoon蜜月However,
21、as for this type of borrowing, linguists have divergent opinions. For example, according to Hu Shuangbao（胡双宝）, complete senseloans are made according to the Chinese word formation principles; Therefore, they should be regarded as native words newly coined instead of borrowings5.6. Copy of the Origin
22、alSome English elements are taken into Chinese in the original. Most of them are simple symbols or English letters, e.g. ￥, $, No. Others are adopted because it is hard to turn them into Chinese. For example:AC米兰意大利一支重要的足球队DOS磁盘操作系统PH值法语“氢氧离子浓度指数”的缩写IQ智力商数XO一种法国名酒SOS国际通用船，飞机呼救信号Indirect Chinese Borr
23、owing from English through JapaneseThere is another kind of Chinese borrowing from English, that is, indirect borrowing through Japanese. The borrowings through Japanese are different from those borrowed directly from English. In this case, only the spellings and Japanese senseloans are adopted into
24、 English without taking over their pronunciations. The spellings of quite a number of Japanese characters are nearly or exactly the same as they are in the Chinese language; however, their pronunciations are seldom identical with the Chinese characters. Therefore, it is very possible that the Chines
25、e adopts the Japanese spellings and senses while neglecting their pronunciations. Examples of Chinese borrowings from English through Japanese are shown in the following:essence本质ingredient成分dictatorship独裁negation否定denial否认stoma基质viewpoint观点conversation会话play-drama脚本class阶级lecture讲演kiss接吻As shown ab
26、ove, most English words or expressions taken over from Japanese into Chinese are scientific terms or terms of abstract conceptions, such as philosophical, political, economic, psychological and artistic terms.The Borrowing of PhrasesEnglish phrases have also been borrowed into Chinese. For instance,
27、 goldenage, which implies an age when everything was as it should be, or when a nation or a person was in its prime, was borrowed into Chinese as 黄金年代. The phrase lead somebody by the nose, which describes a situation where a strong character makes someone who has no will of their own do anything he
28、 wants them to, has likewise had its established Chinese equivalent 牵着某人的鼻子走. Other examples are as following:blue collar蓝领阶层A wolf in the sheeps clothing披着羊皮的狼culture gap文化差距Bubble economy泡沫经济The last straw最后一根稻草Be born with a silver spoon in ones mouth含着银匙出生Concentration camp集中营generation gap代沟 Th
29、e Chinese Borrowing of English Words and Expressions for the Names of Chinese Companies, Products; Trade Marks and Brand NamesThere is a special type of Chinese borrowing of English words and expressions, that is, the borrowing of English words and expressions in industrial and commercial circles fo
30、r the names of Chinese companies, products; trademarks and brand names. In this case most of the English words and expressions are borrowed through transliteration, and some are borrowed through coincidental senseloan by transliteration. It is helpful for the Chinese companies to enter the global ma
31、rket and easy for foreigners to remember their products. Meanwhile it may leave a novel and pleasing impression on the native people because people are always more curious about foreign makes. Thus it can help expand the domestic market.双星 Double Star纳爱斯 Nice捷安特 Giant凯乐特 Carrot乐百氏 Robust脱普 Top非常可乐Fu
32、ture Cola喜乐 Cheerio海尔Haier声乐 MusicIII. General Principles for Borrowing English Words into ChineseThere are neither established principles nor fixed ways for the borrowing. In different times or different places, or by different persons one English word might be borrowed in several ways and turned i
33、nto a number of forms in Chinese. Sometimes one or another of the forms has survived side by side as synonyms, and sometimes all the Chinese forms may die out and defer to Japanese ones. There is only one general rule to go by, for example, all the borrowing must be subject to the characteristics of
34、 the Chinese language.The main tendency is that in the early stage of the borrowing most words are transliterated into Chinese. Later senseloans that are usually better than transliterations appeared and eventually replace the transliterations. A great number of transliterations only make temporal a
35、ppearance in Chinese and then disappear forever.Generally speaking, acceptance and rejection of the forms adopted through different ways into Chinese is subject to three principles:1) Senseloans are preferred. The favor for senseloans corresponds to the Chinese characteristics that lexical items, in
36、cluding monosyllabic words, must be meaningful. The meaning of such a lexical item is generally identical with the meaning of the character or characters that compose it. Therefore, such lexical items can be easily understood, leaned, memorized and accepted. Most English words can be transliterated
37、into Chinese as senseloans, and their meanings can be taken over quite exactly and appropriately. If such lexical items were transliterated into Chinese in the early stage of their introduction, which were frequently happened, they would sooner or later be replaced by appropriate senseloans. For ins
38、tance:English Early Chinese formsLater Chinese formsEnglishEarly Chinese formsLater Chinese formsscience赛恩斯科学boycott杯葛抵制telephone德律风电话pose甫士姿势laser莱塞/镭射激光camara开麦拉照相机/摄影机2) Polysyllabic lexical items defer to simple-syllabic ones6. Syllabic simplicity is another characteristic of Chinese lexical ite
39、ms. Few Chinese lexical items have more than three syllables. However, most English words are polysyllabic, and thus their corresponding Chinese transliterations have to be polysyllabic accordingly. Since most of the transliterations are formed with meaningless morph-phonemes (characters deprived of
40、 the their original meanings and used in transliteration as mere phonic symbols), they are incompatible with the morphological characteristics of the Chinese language. They are difficult to understand, to learn and to memorize, and thus are mostly rejected later, giving way to simple-syllabic lexica
41、l items. This is one of the reasons why most transliterations have give way to senseloans, which are mostly syllabically simple and semantically meaningful. For example, “吉他”replaced “六弦琴”for guitar. Some transliterations have survived because they are simple syllabically as well as meaningful by th
42、emselves, for instance, “幽默”, “逻辑”和”休克” for humor, logic and shock. Such lexical items are widely spread and generally accepted.3) Transliteration is necessary for proper names and certain special terms. Place names, person names, names for exotic institutions, plants and animals, and specific or te
43、chnical terms usually have to be transliterated. IV. ConclusionThe borrowing is due to a constant close contact between English and Chinese and to the increasing efforts made by the modern China to learn form the outside world. As shown above, the borrowing from English involves nearly every aspect
44、of the society. As an important part of linguistic borrowing, lexical borrowing, which is a very common phenomenon conditioned by many factors, enriches the borrowing and endows it with remarkable diversity and versatility. However, owing to different ways of borrowing, the borrowed forms for one En
45、glish element may differ in Chinese, especially in regional varieties of Chinese. The difference is particularly serious in the borrowing of place names, personal names and scientific and technical names. Therefore, it is necessary for the government to take measures to standardize the borrowings in
46、 Chinese. The normalization and standardization will contribute to the healthy development of the Chinese language and greatly benefit Chinese-speaking people in their communication among themselves. Refernces:胡双宝. 北京: 北京大学出版社.1998 Hu, Zhaoyun. Language Contact and Lexical Borrowing of English and Chinese: A Comprehensive Study. Shandong: Shandong University Press.2001刘坚.北京: 北京大学出版社.1998孙仁生, 李延瑞, 徐吉润. . 大连: 大连理工大学出版社.1996魏志成. . 上海: 上海外语教育出版社. 2003http:/202.108.44.25/newsoul/soulpage/7/13/2001/0502/528844.htmlhttp:/fhpi.yingkou.
