汉语中英语词的分类与其意思的扩展

昌 言

(四川外语学院英语学院，重庆 400031)

汉语中英语词的分类与其意思的扩展

昌 言

(四川外语学院英语学院，重庆 400031)

随着科学技术和经济的发展，全球化的步伐在加快，不同语言的接触变得更加频繁和紧密，现代汉语中的英语词汇在不断地丰富起来。学者们通常根据翻译的方式来划分英语外来词，而本研究从文化的视角介绍一种新的分类法。通过案例讲解汉语中英语词的分类，并分析这些英语词经过长期使用后的意义的扩展。

英语词;汉语;借用;扩展

Ⅰ．Theory and Reason behind the Entry of Loanwords

The history of the entry of English words can be traced back to the first half of seventeenth century．At that time，Ming Dynasty took many silks，tea and pottery to the Europe．Language contact appeared among merchants during the trading．More than two-hundred years，Chinese borrowed English words gradually．A lot of scholars work on the categorizing of English loanwords and have achieved a lot so far．But with a great deal of technologies，thoughts and culture from western intruded in since China entered WTO，to distinguish English words in Chinese more reasonable and effective becomes important．Analyzing the reason and theory behind the entry of English words carefully will help to categorize them in a new way．

A．Theory of the Entry of Loanwords

The notorious second language learner Terence Odlin gave a brief and accurate definition to Language Transfer:“Transfer is the influence resulting from similarities and differences between the target language and any other language that has been previously(and perhaps imperfectly)acquainted．”［1］The main sentence structure of English language or Chinese is similar．It’s Subject+Verb+Object．However，the morphology of the two languages is quite different．English is a grammatical language while Chinese is a semantically based language．While English language uses clipping，blending，affix，and suffix to form new words，the Chinese use the combination meaning of two words to indicate new words．

B．Reason of the Entry of Loanwords

The first reason is the globalization stimulated by economy development．Chinese have to accept the standard abbreviation which created by the westerners so that others can understand what you said during the communication．The second reason goes to the universal education of English in China．To improve the English level of the citizens，the Chinese will be equipped with competence in the international trade circumstances．With the reform and opening-up，more and more national companies expanded into the oversea market．Thus to get accustomed to the foreign culture and be strong in the negotiation，our Chinese need to know their language．The third is crucial．Over the past hundred years，English culture took advantage over the Chinese culture．Because of the inequality between the two cultures，the mighty culture gradually became the borrowing origin，whereas the weak culture was assimilated by the opponent．For instance，at the end of the nineteenth century，the words like 引擎(engine)，马达(motor)was borrowed from the west．Since the Chinese had not seen those things before，of course，they did not have words to match them．

Ⅱ．Three Categories of Loanwords

In the past，most scholars usually differentiate the loan words according to the way of translation．Generally，it has the following kinds:First，use English letters directly．The example can be‘UNESCO(United Nations Educational，Scientific and Cultural Organization)’．Second，Sino-British hybrid，like‘T恤衫’．Third，pure transliteration，like‘Simmons 席梦思’．Fourth，pure free translation，like‘software 软件’．Fifth，combination of transliteration and Chinese characters，like‘wow 哇塞’．Sixth，use two or more than two English words in Chinese directly，like‘let’s go［2］．However，in this article，the author will classify the loan words into three major categories based on the function of these words．

One type is those words that did not exist in Chinese culture or people’s life previously．But due to the cultural and scientific technology invasion by the west，we borrowed the words and felt that we are in vogue．For example，salad，coffee，guitar，taxi，chocolate，shampoo，bus，neon light，bar，ice-cream，pizza，ballet，jeep，mini，sauna，hot dog，jazz，generation gap，soft drink，white collar，hippy，mosaic，copy，gene，engine，radar，email，microphone，bikini，shopping，pudding，sandwich，hamburger，cheese，supermarket，intellectual property，click，download，jeans，suntan，blog，fans，model，logic，telephone，rail way，tank，fast food，hot line，whisky，champagne，wine，brandy，superstar，blues，internet，hip-hop，summit，sofa，poker，cartoon，salon，cigar，fax，walkman，karaoke，action film，flea-market，cowboy，etc．

One kind is for the use to communicate with the rest of the world effectively;these loan words are almost international vocabulary，such as UFO(Unidentified Flying Object)，IQ(intelligence quotient)，EQ，SOS，DC(Compact Disc)，Olympic，TOFEL，IELTS，vitamin，VCD，DVD，CD，DV，IT，AIDS(Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)，BBS(Bulletin Board System)，ISO(International Standardization Organization)，PK，CEO，CFO，CT，DNA，ID，MTV，WTO，DIY(Do It Yourself)，ATM(Automatic Teller Machine)，OPEC(Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries)，NATO，VIP，MBA，GDP(Gross Domestic Product)，GNP(gross national product)，GPS，NBA，CPU(Central Processing Unit)，laser，white house，credit card．

Another is some international brand name．We directly quote the foreign names for their concise and comprehensive forms．Like Disney，Coca-Cola，Canon，Casio，Nokia，Sony，Motorola，KFC，IBM，Nike，Adidas，Prada，Fox，Benz，BMW，Pepsi，Belle，Hilton，Sprite，BBC，CNN and so on．

Different from the previous way of distinction，this sort of classification is categorized from a cultural perspective．First of all，it can help us to directly get the reason for bringing English words in Chinese and the way of using them．In most cases，people use loanwords is because the things that those words indicate did not exist in China before or we behind others have such kind of thing during the development of society．For instance，when we express many high-tech products and pop culture，loanwords keep appearing in our expression．In the second place，this classification can reflect the transformation of mentality of Chinese people in the process of using English loanwords step by step．Our attitude toward loanwords changed from stiffly borrowing them for communication to regarding using them as some kind of fashion．

Ⅲ．Extended Meanings of Loanwords

In recent years，English loan words have new developments and changes．Basically，it includes the following points:first，the trend of increasing letter words．The so-called letter word is words that entirely use foreign language letters or letters with digital expression in them．With the science and technology progress and further strength of cultural communication，letter words are widely used by Chinese，because it is more convenient．For instance，nowadays，most of us know what 3D is，since Avatar took the world by storm and 3D films quickly took its place in every cinema in globe．It is a fashion to enter a theatre with‘IMAX’on its title．3D image express the effect of image iconically and we are ready to use this word to explicit the meaning of three dimensions images．In fact，this kind of technology was adopted in computer games long before，but it was not mature enough or popular．Today，as science and technology developed，these kinds of words are popular in China．The other type of letter word originates from the communication on Internet between Chinese and foreign friends and the circulation of network information．Language is changing and updating every day，English has no exception．When chatting online，foreigners create some abbreviations for convenient communication．And these abbreviations become part of the common expression while Chinese chatting with foreigners．For instance，OIC stands for‘oh，I see．’ASAP means‘as soon as possible’BTW is‘by the way’，etc．

Second，English loan words extend their meanings after borrowed by Chinese．Set‘bar’as an example，it refers to the table before the bartender，and then extend to the meaning‘a place where can legally serve alcohol for people to drink’．However，when ‘bar’ came into China，it not only mean‘bar’，but also can refer to a place where some particular things gather together．Such as“书吧、水吧、氧吧、陶吧”．The other example is word ‘cool’which appeared in American black music in the 1950s．The original meaning of this word is pleasant，fresh and wonderful．When translated to Chinese“酷”，we use it express admiration and create“酷毙了、装酷、酷呆了”．Another example‘show’is translated to“秀”and refers to a person who has began to perform talent in public，like“新起之秀”．‘fast food’originally refers to crash and simple food，but today in China，we extract‘fast’and‘simple’to describe the cultural trends and phenomena pursuing crash，vulgar，short-term popular，and not paying attention to the intrinsic value of things．So we have words“文化快餐、电视快餐、科普快餐”．

Third is the transformation between commendatory and derogatory meanings of the words．Some neutral terms in English change into commendatory or derogatory terms in Chinese．For instance，word‘mini’which means very small in English becomes a commendatory term in Chinese，because the translation“迷你”create an adorable，charming image in people’s mind．The term‘Miss’which refers to young ladies in English becomes a derogatory term in Chinese since the translation“小蜜”indicates a secretary who has irresponsible relationship with her boss［3］．

The fourth is increasing use of code-switching．Codeswitching is a common but complicated sociolinguistic phenomenon．It is affected by society，language itself and psychological factor of both parties in communication．According to the research of Professor Wang Guowen in Beijing University，codeswitching often appears in articles of news，sports，real estate market and tourism．Usually，writers make a note of English in a bracket after important conception［4］．Take financial and entertainment articles for example，a lot of companies’names，songs’names and movies names are quoted in English．Fifth is the rapid increasing in vocabulary of commercial brand．With the development of commodity economy and international trade，more and more foreign brands enter into the Chinese market．People turn to pay attention to the brands and many Chinese companies follow suit to English names．Most foreign brands are transliteration．Some combine the sounds and meaning，and the meaning must have certain associations with the characteristics of the goods or look like inherent Chinese words．For instance，the automobile brand-Peugeot and Benz;the daily article-safeguard．That vocabulary achieved great progress in 20 years in China，not only conforms to the mentality of people，especially young people who have unconventional or unorthodox social mentality，but also shows the development trend of the language of business society．

［1］Odlin．Language Transfer:Cross-linguistic Influence in Language Learning［M］．Cambridge:Cambridge University Press，1989．

［2］方梦之．译学词典［M］．上海:上海外语教育出版社，2004．

［3］黄伯荣，廖向东．现代汉语［M］．北京:高等教育出版社，2007．

［4］李小飞．从英汉互借词看中外文化渗透［J］．山东外语教学，2004(1):47．

(责任编辑 张佑法)

H146

A

1007－7111(2012)06－0085－03

2012－05－31

昌言(1990—)，女，研究方向:英语。