毕业论文题目：英语中的汉语借词

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专业：英语班级：学号

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完成日期：2013年6月

A STUDY OF CHINESE LOANWORDS IN

ENGLISH

THESIS

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for The degree of Bachelor of Arts

In Hunan Institute of Engineering

By

Supervisor:

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Contents Abstract……………………………………………………………………….….( 1 ) Introduction……………………………………………………….....................( 2 ) 1. Development of Chinese Loanwords in English……………………………( 4 ) 1.1 History Before the Founding of New China………………………....................( 4 )

1.2 History After the Founding of New China...…………………………………...( 5 )

2. Formation Ways of Chinese Loanwords in English...........................( 6 ) 2.1 Transliteration.............................................................................( 6 ) 2.2 Paraphrase.. (7)

2.3 Transliteration Combined with Paraphrase………………………………......( 8 )

3. Features of Chinese Loanwords in English…………………………………...( 8 ) 3.1 Miscellaneous and Wide Coverage…………………………….......................( 9 )

3.2 Great Influence and Strongly Adaptation (10)

4.Causes for the Existence of Chinese Loanwords in English (11)

4.1 Influence of Chinese Traditional Culture (12)

4.2 Effect of Chinese Economic, Social and Political Change (12)

4.3 Extension of English Itself (14)

Conclusion (16)

Bibliography (17)

Acknowledgments (19)

The Study of Chinese Loanwords in English Abstract: Language borrowing is one of the most important ways to get new words and enrich vocabulary of English, and numerous Chinese loanwords have been absorbed in the development of English. Chinese loanwords in English have a long history. With the enhancement of China's political, economic strength after the founding of new China, more and more Chinese loanwords appeared in English. The formation way of Chinese loanwords in English mainly includes transliteration, paraphrase and transliteration combined with paraphrase. The content of Chinese Loanwords in English is miscellaneous with a wide coverage, involving all aspects of politics, economy, culture and life. The Chinese Loanwords in English have strong adaptation and great influence. The causes for the existence of Chinese loanwords in English include the influence of Chinese traditional culture, the effect of Chinese economic, social and political change and the extension of English itself. English language is a kind of compatible language, and enjoys the process of absorbing words from foreign language.

Key words: English; Chinese Loanwords; Formation; Culture

英语中的汉语借词

摘要：语言借用是获取新词和丰富语言词汇的最重要途径之一，英语在发展过程中吸纳了众多的汉语借词。英语中的汉语借词有很长的历史，新中国成立后由于中国政治、经济实力的增加，更多的汉语借词出现在了英语中。英语中汉语借词的形成方法主要有音译法，意译法和音译结合法三种。英语中的汉语借词内容复杂且广泛，涉及到政治、经济、文化、生活等各个方面，并且有很强的适应性和影响力。英语中之所以出现如此之多的汉语借词的原因，一是中国古老、博大精深的传统文化的影响，二是中国实力增强后，种种经济、社会、政治变革对语言也产生了影响，三是英语作为一门有很强的兼容性，并乐于吸收外来词汇的语言，由其本身的发展和延伸造成的。

关键字：英语；汉语借词；成因；文化

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Introduction

Language is an important way for humans to communicate with people, for which humans would create many words so as to communicate efficiently. With the development of the society, communication between different nationalities which use different language is becoming more and more frequent. To communicate well, the phenomenon of loanwords is inevasible. Loaning, as a linguistic term, is defined as the transfer of language elements (forms, sounds, or even grammatical structures), for the most part in changed form and sometimes translated, in total or in part, from one language into another. So a loanword or a borrowed word is a word taken over from another language which changed in phonemic shape, spelling, and paradigm of meaning in accordance with the standards of the English language. The important way to flourish the vocabulary is borrowing foreign words. In recent years, with the deepening of globalization, and growing of Chinese national competitiveness, there are more and more foreign people learning Chinese, and the number of loanwords from Chinese is expanding. Studying Chinese loanwords in English can help Chinese students of the English major can not only get a deepen comprehension of cultural communication, but also learn more about the linguistic phenomena.

With the upgrading of China, Chinese contributions to the English are increasing gradually. According to Europeans detailed statistics, the Chinese contribution has increased from 5% to 20% since 1994.In the article“Never toss” to see influence of Chinese loanwords in English,Gong Yifan and Huang Xiaowen(2010) discussed it from the semantic region and put these words into 15 categories roughly. The expression of Chinese national culture is something unique in vocabulary, which relates to many aspects of China’s political, economic, social and cultural life. With the deep exchange of Chinese and Western cultures and the further strengthening of China’s status i n the world, more and more Chinese loanwords have enrich the English vocabulary. Wu Zhuxia（2009）pointed out that the linguistic features of Chinese English are influenced by the Chinese culture and Chinese thinking at four levels, there are phonology, vocabulary, syntax and discourse.

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In the process of learning, people don't often realize that some English words that they have learned come from Chinese actually, and emphasizing these words consciously is not only good for learners to master vocabulary better and faster but also get their cultural connotation. This can support language learners to establish a dynamic language concept of development, thereby increasing the Chinese people’s enthusiasm in learning English and instilling Chinese culture when learning the English language knowledge.

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1. Development of Chinese loanwords in English

Cultural development needs fully inclusive and equitable different ethnic cultures while language development also requires the fusion of different ethnic language. So English words borrowed from Chinese are the inevitable products of the language and cultural development. In this sense, English words that borrowed from Chinese are essentially borrowed from the Chinese culture. The process that English borrows words from Chinese, in fact, is the process that the fusion and absorption between Chinese and English cultures. This process has been carried out since the Qin Dynasty. The following is the studies of the development of Chinese Loanwords in English before and after the founding of new China.

1.1 History Before the Founding of New China

From Qin dynasty to Han dynasty, Chinese army pursued and attacked the Xiongnu, an ancient nationality in China, to the northwest parts of Asia, in the attacking way they building a big path from east to west. From 192B.C to 124B.C, Zhang Qian, a Chinese official and envoy of the royal court, embarked on his business trip to Xiyu(meaning western countries) following this trade thoroughfare linking Asia and Europe. Because China’s silk reached the West along this road, European scholars came to call it the “silk road”. At this period, besides silk and tea, there are still other Chinese words entered into English, such as galingale(良姜), bonze（和尚）, litchi(荔枝),typhoon(台风), mandarin(官话),sampan(舢板) and so on.

With the opening of sea lanes and the establishment of supremacy after the bourgeois revolution in the 17th century, United Kingdom needed to expand overseas and to strengthen the trade with China at that time. After direct contact between Britain and China in 1637, more and more Chinese loanwords entered into English. At that time most of these words were about diet, commerce, customs and culture, among which there were many dialect words came from Guangdong and Fujian, such as ketchup(蕃茄酱), chow-chow(杂拌), pok choy (小白菜), ginseng (人参), longan (龙眼), loquat (枇杷), kowtow(叩头), long time no see (好久不见), Kung Hei Fat Choy

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(恭喜发财), etc.

Since the 19th century, the UK is a world power country, who was known as the "the Sun Never Sets", and the United States is also one of the powers. They launched the Opium war and opened China's doors using artillery and warships. After the Opium war, China was gradually becoming to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. During this period, Chinese borrowings entered into English mainly include chow fan(炒饭), lomein(拉面), drunken shrimp(醉虾), oolong(乌龙茶), shangtung(山东府绸), ying ching(影青),Tang(唐代), nien hao(年号), fen(分), coolie(苦力), kylin(麒麟), pakua(八卦) and so on.

The appearance of the overseas Chinese is associated with China’s backwardness at that time. The overseas Chinese are looked as competitors by Americans, so that they become the targets of discrimination and bullying. They can only do the most menial and heavy work. The main occupation is to open a laundry or a Chinese restaurant. During this period, there are still a lot of Chinese loanwords entered into English, among which some are relating to tea, silk, porcelain and others, such as gamble(赌博),wench(嫖妓). Nevertheless they are no longer the symbol of Chinese advanced culture.

1.2 History After the Founding of New China

After the founding of new China, Chinese loanwords in English record Chinese significant events in politics, economy and life etc. Since the founding of new China to China’s Reform and Opening up, the trade loanwords depressed, while a lot of political words not only frequently appeared in the British and American news media, but also entered into the English vocabulary, such as Maoist(毛泽东主义者), Denger(邓小平追随者), Land Reform(土改), two civilization(两个文明), Great Leap Forward(大跃进).

After the reform and opening up in the 80s, more and more Chinese loanwords about economy, trade and culture entered into English. With the successful launch of Shenzhou V spacecraft, the Chinese have shown the advanced technology and strong

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comprehensive national competitiveness to the world. With the first Chinese astronaut traveling the space ,the word taikonaut（中国宇航员）came into English at the end of 2003. In November 2003, the British and American media report the news that China successfully launched the Shenzhou V spacecraft, this is the first time that the media use the term to describe the Chinese astronaut in space. Now many western countries began to use the term to describe Chinese astronauts.The birth of this wonderful word taikonaut, is one of the signs that the Chinese nation stand up in the world.

Since the revolution, China has experienced several major social changes. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, with the development of international exchanges and cooperation, a lot of Chinese loanwords enter into English. These loanwords are mainly relating to China’s politics, economy, culture, science and technology, sports and medicine, for example, official profiteering(官倒), mahjong(麻将), cheongsam(旗袍), kuo-yu(国语), wonton(馄饨), jiao zi(饺子), birds nest(燕窝), job-hop(跳槽), belated action(马后炮), big bucks(大款), Chinese herbal medicine(中草药), etc.

2. Formation Ways of Chinese Loanwords in English

The generation of Chinese loanwords in English mainly has the following ways: transliteration, paraphrase and transliteration combined with paraphrase.

2.1 Transliteration

Transliteration is to borrow a word with the sound and the meaning to the target word according to the original pronunciation, and using the target language symbols. In another word, it is just to translate a word directly by using the word that has similar pronunciation in English in accordance with the Chinese syllable, which is often used in the translation of Chinese proper nouns. By this way, English can be used without any change of the external components when absorbing the foreign words. So this formation way of loanword is used most widely and the incoming of

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Chinese words by this way is the most.

Generally speaking, the loanwords formed by this way seems like Chinese pinyin except the tone, such as maotai(茅台), yingyang (阴阳), fengshui(风水), pingying (拼音), guanxi (关系) and so on, all of these words are emerged according to the spelling of Chinese pinyin. Attention should be paid that many loanwords are converted from dialect pronunciation of Guangdong and Fujian. For example, litchi(荔枝), cheongsam(旗袍), dimsum(点心) come from Cantonese tone, and Amoy(厦门), Fujian (福建), clam shaw(赏金) come from Fujian dialect. With the development of the language, many loanwords formed originally by transliteration are replaced now by free translation. For example, wushu is turned into martial arts(武术), ping pang become table tennis (乒乓球), and jiaozi is turned into dumpling(饺子), etc.

2.2 Paraphrase

Paraphrase is to translate according to the Chinese meaning and keep the content of the Chinese, which is mainly used to introduce words relating to the new affairs and the characteristics in Chinese culture. The formations of the following Chinese loanwords are by this way, such as Special Economic Zone(经济特区)which means a specific area where adopt specific policies in foreign economic activities, it reflecting China's economic policy, and the Spring Festival(春节), which is one of the most important Chinese traditional festivals, marks the beginning of the Chinese Lunar New year. Most important of all, the Spring Festival is the occasion for a family reunion and Lantern Festival(元宵节), another important Chinese traditional festival falls on the 15th of the first lunar month. All these Chinese loanwords are formed by paraphrase. Paraphrase word is to use the original English words to express the things with Chinese characteristics. There are many Chinese words become the English words in this way and these words are usually phrases with more than two words, like the Dragon-Boat Festival (端午节) which is on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month to celebrate in memory of Qu Yuan, an ancient poet and loyal minister who drowned himself while in exile from a corrupt court, and spring roll(春卷) which is also called griddle cake, is a kind of the Han Nationality traditional food, running dog (走狗),

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which means someone help a bad person to do some bad things etc. Those phrases relating to face, such as lose face (丢脸), save face (保全面子), give face (给面子) are all Chinese borrowings created by paraphrase.

In China, people often use rhetorical devices in expressions, and if the word with figure is borrowed into English by the means of paraphrase, the loanword formed is also with that figure. Most of these Chinese loanwords in English have Chinese characteristics of certain times and national culture. If someone does not know Chinese historical, cultural or political condition in a certain period of time, he can't understand these Chinese loanwords in English. For example, if people don't know the metaphor meaning of the paper tiger (纸老虎), he will think it means a tiger made of paper and consider it as a toy and then it will make a joke when this word appears in some specific context.

2.3 Transliteration Combined with Paraphrase

Transliteration combined with paraphrase refers that the loanword is made up of two parts, among which one part is formed by transliteration according to its original Chinese pronunciation and the other part is formed by paraphrase according to the Chinese meaning. There are many Chinese loanwords enter English with combined ingredients, such as Shandong university(山东大学), lung ching tea (龙井茶) ，hula-hoop (呼啦圈）are belong to this type. In these loanwords, Shandong, lung ching and hula are transliteration while university, tea and hoop are paraphrase.

This kind of method for composing new loanwords is to combine the national language components with the words borrowed from foreign countries together, such as, Beijing opera (京剧), Tian An Men Square (天安门广场), Tung oil(桐油),etc. Beijing and Tian An Men and Tung are transliteration while opera, Square and oil are paraphrase. This formation way of loanwords greatly enriches the English language.

3. Features of Chinese Loanwords in English

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The loanwords in English that are derived from the Chinese vocabulary have reached about 1000. Apparently, the Chinese loanwords in English show the features which recorded the history of the communication between Chinese culture and Western culture.

3.1 Miscellaneous and Wide Coverage

Chinese food culture has a long history and enjoys a high reputation all over the world. So when the East and the West cultures started collision and communication, English borrowed words from the Chinese food culture at first. Later, as the China's food culture entered the European and America, Chinese restaurants spread all over those countries. China’s Reform and Opening up make the Western world to know more about the Chinese besides food culture. More and more Chinese words enter into English and are absorbed in all kinds of general-purpose dictionaries, and then become an organic part of English. These Chinese loanwords cover a lot of aspects, for example,

○1On dietary: bean curd(豆腐），soy sauce(酱油），steamed bun(馒头），moon cake(月饼），puffed rice(爆米花），birds nest（燕窝）etc.

With the exchange of Chinese and Western culture, the exchanges between Chinese and Western food culture are frequently. More and more westerns like Chinese food, there are many Chinese food loanwords entering into English.

○2On politics: Red China(红色中国), Maoist(毛泽东主义者), Land Reform(土改), Great Leap Forward（大跃进）, Long March（长征）, Cultural Revolution（文化大跃进）etc.

Chairman Mao has not only affected the Chinese people but also affected the westerns. More and more western scholars study the Maoism. The most politics loanwords in English come from the period of Chairman Mao.

○3On culture: Book of Changes(易经）, Book of Odes（诗经）, Lun Yu（论语）, Four Books（四书）, Five Classics（五经）, Ta Hsueh（大学）, Chung Yung（中

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庸）etc.

These books are Chinese Confucian classic books and Chinese classical literature. If the Westerners want to understand China, they must understand Chinese classic books. With the development of Confucius heat, more and more literature loanwords enter into English.

○4On economy: vegetable basket project(菜篮子工程）, family-contract responsibility system（家庭联产承包责任制）, township enterprises(乡镇企业), family planning（计划生育)etc.

The development of China's economy not only enhances China's position in the world but also provides a large number of new words for English. These loanwords are full with Chinese characteristics.

In the long-term practice, English also has borrowed Chinese vocabulary about agriculture, such as lingc hi(灵芝), ginseng(人参), caoliang(高粱), kumquat(金橘), poko(薄荷), loquat (枇杷),mango(芒果)etc.

3.2 Great Influence and Strongly Adaptation

The loanword is known as "Cultural Ambassador", which plays the important role in cultural communication. Language reflects the culture and will have an impact influence on culture. Language is an important carrier and media in culture, it can reflect all aspects of culture, like politics, economy, science and technology, art, religion, diet. So, when English borrows words from Chinese, these Chinese vocabularies influence the English culture.

There are many Chinese loanwords influence the English language and culture. The particular word is tea, according to the Encyclopedia Benthonic contained, the Dutch East India Company is the first one that sent Chinese tea to Europe in 1610. Since then, western countries began to appreciate this particular drink from China. Tea culture has changed the British diet, which get the Englishman into the habit of drinking tea. The tea trade between China and Europe began to flourish. Tea began to

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spread the continents, and the team of the word tea entered the English. Then with the development of the tea trade and tea spreading widely, the term has become a basic vocabulary in English and makes up a lot of new words, such as tea cup(茶杯）, tea board(茶盘), tea poy(茶几), tea trolley(茶具车), tea party(茶话会)etc.

Another kind of example is the dim sum, which is transliterated into English from Guangdong dialect, it means a great variety of small snacks originally, such as shrimp dumplings（虾饺）, a kind of Guangdong special dessert, shaomai(烧卖), a kind of cooked wheaten food and so on. This kind of "dim sum restaurant" (点心餐厅)is extremely popular in Chinatown. The customers can eat many kinds of food. Such a Chinese loanword carries forward the Chinese diet culture and reflects the traditional Chinese culture and values.

Although there are many loanwords changing in the process of using, they still exist in the English language. This Chinese loanword reflects great adaptation. For example, ketchup is transliterated into English from the Guangdong dialect. It refers to a sauce made up of salted fish sauce and spices, while these materials are replaced by tomatoes after being introduced to Europe. Therefore the term now refers to the "tomato sauce". Chop suey’s original meaning is a cooking with a variety of vegetables and meat together, and eats with rice. After entering into English, it has been added new meanings in the process of using, which refers to "mixture". For example, “His coterie of execs were up to their pin stripes in a chop suey of deals”(他的那班主管人员完全是一锅大杂烩).

4. Causes for the Existence of Chinese Loanwords in English

From the Chinese loanwords in English, we see a variety of factors influence the communication between Chinese and English cultures. The Chinese loanwords that input in different periods are the products under different ideologies and different social and cultural backgrounds, which reflect China’s social status and national

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