Bachelor Thesis Chinese Loans In English

MASARYK UNIVERSITY BRNO FACULTY OF EDUCATION Department of English Language and Literature Chinese Loans in English Bachelor thesis Brno 2012 Author: Helena Juřicová Ph.D Supervisor: Mgr Radek Vogel, Declaration I proclaim that this bachelor thesis was done by my own and I used only the materials that are stated in the bibliography I agree with the placing of this thesis in Masaryk University Brno in the library of the Department of English Language and Literature and with the access for studying purposes In Brno Helena Juřicová ………………………………… Prohlášení „Prohlašuji, že jsem závěrečnou bakalářskou práci vypracoval samostatně, s využitím pouze citovaných literárních pramenů, dalších informací a zdrojů v souladu s Disciplinárním řádem pro studenty Pedagogické fakulty Masarykovy univerzity a se zákonem č 121/2000 Sb., o právu autorském, o právech souvisejících s právem autorským a o změně některých zákonů (autorský zákon), ve znění pozdějších předpisů.“ V Brně dne Helena Juřicová …………………………………… Acknowledgement I would like to thank my supervisor Mgr Radek Vogel, Ph.D., for his valuable advice, time and encouragement that he provided me with during work on this thesis I would also like to express great thanks to my husband and children for their loving support and help during my studies Helena Juřicová Abstract This bachelor thesis aims to examine words in English originated in Chinese Firstly, the theoretical part deals with the process of borrowing in general, introduces terminology and terms Both languages, English and Chinese, are described on the levels of typology, lexis and other characteristic relating to borrowing Secondly, the practical part analyzes loanwords assorted from two test corpora: Oxford English Dictionary Online and The Economist Loanwords are commented with regard to their orthography, forms, grammar, source and transmission languages and semantic fields Finally, the outcomes are evaluated from the perspective of linguistic as well as social and cultural phenomena Key words Borrowing, loanword, loan translation, donor language, recipient language, lexicon, pinyin, text corpus Anotace Tato bakalářská práce se zabývá čínskými výpůjčkami v angličtině Teoretická část popisuje proces přejímání obecně a uvádí příslušné terminologie Dále klasifikuje angličtinu a čínštinu z hlediska typologického, stručně popisuje jejich slovní zásobu a její rozšiřování a další charakteristiky týkající se přejímání Praktická část analyzuje přejatá slova obsažená ve dvou jazykových korpusech První korpus představují nové čínské výpůjčky v Oxfordském slovníku přístupném na internetu Druhý korpus obsahuje slova čínského původu, která byla použita v textech časopisu The Economist V závěru jsou slova přejatá z čínštiny zhodnocena z hlediska jazykovědného, jakož i sociálního a kulturního Klíčová slova Přejaté slovo, výpůjčka, transliterace, zdrojový jazyk, cílový jazyk, slovní zásoba, pinyin, textový korpus Content Introduction …1 Terminology of borrowing; characteristics of English and Chinese in relation to borrowing process …3 2.1 Loans and borrowings…3 2.2 English…13 2.2.1 Typology…14 2.2.2 Writing system …15 2.2.3 Vocabulary and its enlargement…15 2.2.4 Characteristics related to the borrowing process…18 2.3 Chinese…20 2.3.1 Typology…20 2.3.2 Dialects…21 2.3.3 Writing, Romanization and transcription…22 2.3.4 Characteristics related to the borrowing process…24 2.3.5 Vocabulary and its enlargement…25 Practical Part…28 3.1 OED Online index of Chinese loans…25 3.1.1 New OED Corpus development…28 3.1.2 Analysis of the New OED Corpus…32 3.1.3 Summary…37 3.2 The Economist Corpus…38 3.2.1 The Economist Corpus Development…38 3.2.2 Analysis of the Economist Corpus…39 3.2.3 Summary …48 Conclusion…50 References Appendices Motto: 吾生也有涯，而知也无涯 Life is finite, while knowledge is infinite Wu sheng ye you ya, er zhi ye wu ya Zhuang Zi Introduction English language is not only the lingua franca of today, but has become an integral part of our globalized lives On the contrary, Chinese is the language of the greatest number of native speakers and has been progressively gaining its world-wide importance as well Every language is a lively and living substance and as such it is inevitably being transformed; developing and reflecting internal and external changes One of the leading processes causing the changes is evident where two languages interfere with each other on the level of vocabulary The existence of human beings almost entirely depends on communication Thus, language and namely words are the crucial means of it The way we express ourselves and employ particular words identifies us Therefore, mapping a territory of certain lexis may be found interesting, useful and even a thrilling pleasure, especially by those linguistically engaged This is even truer when the intersections between languages are explored In that case, even other elements of contribution are present, such as academics in terms of linguistics and intercultural mixing The study of words´ origins enables scholars to make an insight into former times of contacts among language territories, and hence, contributes to other sources such as history and anthropology The language, and its described changing forms, is not only “a means” to register information, but is the source for study in itself This thesis is an attempt to study this particular portion of lexicon from the academic viewpoint of linguistics; to compile, classify and describe properties of this stock of words It will comprise loanwords, loan translations and eventually any other subcategories belonging to the process of borrowing Firstly, the general processes leading to loans and borrowing will be dealt with Secondly, both languages, English and Chinese, will be introduced on the levels of typology, lexis and some other specifics which can later elucidate the morphological and other structures of the studied lexis The core of the thesis will be the practical part divided into two sections The first one contains a revised and commented index of Chinese loanwords presently comprised in the Oxford English Dictionary Online This “yin” must be completed with its “yang”, which is the corpus of Chinese loanwords and words of Chinese origin assorted from The Economist weekly in 2011 Morphological, grammatical and semantic properties of the words will be examined This thesis aims to provide an outline of words in English that originate from Chinese and to detail facts of their linguistic background It should also demonstrate the process of language intercourse and consequently “physical penetrating” of one into the other Additionally, it will try to evaluate cultural and social phenomena related to the topic Figure World Language Map Note: Map of world languages according to the number of speakers 2 Terminology of borrowing; characteristics of English and Chinese in relation to borrowing process 2.1 Loans and borrowings Whenever and wherever there are contacts of any sort between the speakers of different languages, speakers will make use of words from other languages to refer to things, processes, and the ways of behaviour, organization, or thinking for which words or phrases were not available or convenient in their own language hitherto (Robins, 2000, p 354) Before the principal terms of this work, a loanword/a borrowing, will be dealt with, its “predecessor” should first be mentioned here Renowned linguist Einar Haugen in his famous “The Analysis of Linguistic Borrowing” introduces a rather metaphorical term “mixture” (p 210) used by the linguists of older generations, namely Hermann Paul, William Dwight Whitney and Hugo Schuchardt In Haugen´s view “mixture implies the creation of an entirely new entity,” (p 211) which is the reason why the term was soon abandoned and a “borrowing” and took its place What is a loanword/ a borrowing The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English provides a concise definition of a loanword, “a word taken into one language from another.” (www.ldoceonline.com) This definition is simple and clear, but raises questions whether the form of a borrowed word must be changed or may remain the same and whether the whole lexical item is to enter the process of borrowing or only some of its components – a written form, a phonetic shape or a meaning The Collins English Dictionary definition says more on the topic “a word adopted, often with some modification of its form, from one language into another.” To consult, The Oxford Dictionary of English states, “loanword is a word adopted from a foreign language with little or no modification” The latter two definitions cover both possibilities; words modified as well as unchanged According to The Oxford Dictionary of English a borrowing is “a word or an idea taken from another language, person, or source and used in one’s own language or work” Appendix The Economist corpus index - extracted from the weekly journal volume 2011 Pinyin spelling: anmo massage / brothel cuju kick ball (a sport similar to football first mentioned in the 2nd century BC) dajiaqiu playing fake ball dipiao 3x land ticket for developer certifying such an area of farmland (planned to be being built on) has been created elsewhere dipiao markets 2x dipiao system dipiao trading falang hair salon/ brothel fangshi literally „room business“ – euphemism for sex life fengshui compliant bad fengshui bad situation/prediction gaizhi 2x changing the system gaokao college entrance-exam guanggun „bare branches“ – men who will not add to the family tree (unmarried) guanxi 2x connections hei shao black whistle hukou 17x house-hold registration certificate hukou system 6x hukou holders 5x 61 hukouben hukou book (ben3 本 = book) hukou reform jiaolong deep-submersible vehicle jiu alcohol ju´e „big crocodiles“ – hedge funds laowai foreigner luohan enlightened one luohou back ward neibu internal qingquyongpin interesting love products shengnü left-over women (unmarried) shengshi 6x taizidang the age of prosperity (now) sheng1shi4 汉汉 party of princelings (of offsprings of senior officials including Mao´s comrade-in-arms tianxia all under heaven (notion the golden age of classical Chinese philosophy –Confucius, Mencius, Laozi) weibo microblog weiqi go, Chinese chess weiqi rules weiqi in the Himalayas quadripartite game of weiqi a weiqi triumph, strategist playing weiqi Wenzhou rate after the most famous city for this sort of finance xiaokang society term from the Confucian “Book of Songs” – a moderately prosperous society that can begin to enjoy the fruits of its labour xiushen self-improvement (basic moral principle of Confucian ethics) yan slang for cigarettes (the) yang male antipode yanjiu research (the) yin female antipode zuyu zhongxin foot massage parlour 62 Cantonese spelling: chop suey a Chinese dish of meat, rice, onions, etc fried in sesame-oil dim sum 3x kind of yuan deposit measures in Hong Kong dim-sum bonds 3x dimsum bond 2x dim- sum market dim- sum debt dimsum issuance English spelling: capitalist roaders a Party official alleged to have capitalist tendencies China model developing in a way China does China price mostly cheap Chindia price price which is affordable for Chinese and Indian people cultural revolution from wen2hua4da4ge2ming4 文化大革命 going out policy from zou3chu1qu1zhan4lüe4 走出去汉略 – China´s current strategy to encourage overseas investments harmonious world, from he2xie2 shi4jie4 和汉世界 harmonious socialist society from he2xie2 she4hui4zhu4yi4she4hui4 和汉社汉注 意社汉 - famous catchphrases of Wen Jiabao and Hu Jintao originating in ancient Chinese philosophy iron rice bowl from tie3fan4wan3 汉汉碗 - cradle to grave socialism little red book from Mao2zhu3xi2yu3lu2 毛主席汉汉- literally Quotations from Chairman Mao, but in the West known as The Little Red Book the People´s Daily Communist Party newspaper Ren2min2 Ri4bao4 人民日汉 princelings from Chinese tai4zi3 太子 crown prince 63 Red Guards paramilitary social movement during the Cultural Revolution Hong2 Wei4bing1 汉汉兵 Sina model a company in China with an offshore parent (after Sina Weibo) from jing1ji4 te4qu1 汉汉特汉 special economic zone stroll 2x euphemism in Chinese for demostration, from san4bu4 散步 strolling same as stroll Shanghainese dumplings food from san1bei1ji1 三杯汉 three cups chicken the practices of a warlord, from jun1fa2 汉汉 warlordism Mixed/adapted spelling: Huaweians new recruits of the Huawei company kung-fu actor from gong1fu 功夫 - abilities and skills in martial arts kung fu propaganda pingpong from ping1pang1 汉汉 ping-pong politics frequent government changes taikonauts Chinese astronauts, blend from tai4kong1 太空 - outer space and astronaut tycoon(s)13x from Japanese taikun – great lord, from Chinese ta4 gong1 大公 – great prince typhoon(s) yuanify from Chinese da4feng1 大汉 – strong wind opening China´s financial market, from Chinese yuan2 元 – currency Proper names: Baidu internet search engine, Chinese “Google” Caixin Chinese news organization 64 Confucius, Confucianism from Kong3zi3 孔子 The „Chongqing Model“ city with state-led capitalism under Communist Party Secretary Bo Xilai Dangdang online retailer Han Chinese most populous ethnic of China – Han4 汉 Huawei Chinese Telecom; has two meaning: China can/splendid act India´s Guangdong article dealing with similarities between Guangdong and Gujarat Maoist, Mao-era Qiao-ke-li Cheng one area of Guangdong - home to African traders), literally means “Chocolate City” Renren Chinese „Facebook“ Shanghai Bailian supermarket chain Sina Weibo microblogging tool, Twitter-like service Sun Tzu Sun1zi3 汉子- Chinese military strategist, author of “The Art of War”; Tzu is in Wade-Giles transcription, in pinyin should be Zi3 Tiangong space laboratory Tsinghua University Wade-Giles transcription, in piyin: Qing1hua2Da4xue2 汉汉大汉 Wumart Beijing-based chain Xinhua a government news agency Youku Chinese „Youtube“ Phrases: bufangbian from bu4fang1bian4 不方便- not convenient buqingqu bu4qing2chu4 情趣 - “I´m not clear” guo jin tui 2x guo2jin4min2tui3 汉汉民退 - state advances, private retreats – a new economic era in China Note: Numbers followed by „x“ indicate how many times a particular word occurred Missing number means one occurrence only 65 Appendix Transcription table of pinyin pinyin a an ang ao cha chai chan chang chao che chen cheng qi qia qiang qiao qie Wade-Giles a an ang ao ch'a ch'ai ch'an ch'ang ch'ao ch'e ch'en ch'eng ch'i ch'ia ch'iang ch'iao ch'ieh 66 Czech a aj an ang ao čcha čchaj čchan čchang čchao čche čchen čcheng čchi čchia čchiang čchiao čchie qian chi qin qing qiu qiong chuo chou chu qu chua chuai chuan quan chuang que chui chun qun chong zha zhai zhan zhang zhao zhe zhen zheng ji jia jiang jiao jie jian zhi jin jing jiu jiong zhuo zhou zhu ju zhua ch'ien ch'ih ch'in ch'ing ch'iu ch'iung ch'o ch'ou ch'u ch'ü ch'ua ch'uai ch'uan ch'üan ch'uang ch'üeh ch'ui ch'un ch'ün ch'ung cha chai chan chang chao che chen cheng chi chia chiang chiao chieh chien chih chin ching chiu chiung cho chou chu chü chua čchien čch' čchin čching čchiou čchiung čchuo čchou čchu čchü čchua čchuaj čchuan čchüan čchuang čchüe čchuej čchun čchün čchung ča čaj čan čang čao če čen čeng ťi ťia ťiang ťiao ťie ťien č' ťin ťing ťiou ťiung čuo čou ču ťü čua 67 zhuai zhuan juan zhuang jue zhui zhun jun zhong e en er fa fan fang fei fen feng fo fou fu hai han hang hao he hei hen heng hou xi xia xiang xiao xie xian xin xing xiu xiong xu xuan xue chuai chuan chüan chuang chüeh chui chun chün chung e en erh fa fan fang fei fen feng fo fou fu hai han hang hao he hei hen heng hou hsi hsia hsiang hsiao hsieh hsien hsin hsing hsiu hsiung hsü hsüan hsüeh čuaj čuan ťüan čuang ťüe čuej čun ťün čung e en er fa fan fang fej fen feng fo fou fu cha chaj chan chang chao che chej chen cheng chou si sia siang siao sie sien sin sing siou siung sü süan süe 68 xun hu hua huai huan huang hui hun hong huo yi ran rang rao re ren reng ri rou ru ruan rui run rong ruo ka kai kan kang kao ke ken keng kou ku kua kuai kuan kuang kui kun kong kuo ga hsün hu hua huai huan huang hui hun huo i jan jang jao je jen jeng jih jou ju juan jui jun jung juo k'a k'ai k'an k'ang k'ao k'e k'en k'eng k'ou k'u k'ua k'uai k'uan k'uang k'uei k'un k'ung k'uo ka sün chu chua chuaj chuan chuang chuej chun chung chuo i žan žang žao že žen ženg ž' žou žu žuan žuej žun žung žuo kcha kchaj kchan kchang kchao kche kchen kcheng kchou kchu kchua kchuaj kchuan kchuang kchuej kchun kchung kchuo ka 69 gai gan gang gao ge gei gen geng gou gu gua guai guan guang gui gun gong guo la lai lan lang lao le lei leng li lia liang liao lie lian lin ling liu luo lou lu lü luan lüan lüe lun long kai kan kang kao ke kei ken keng kou ku kua kuai kuan kuang kuei kun kung kuo la lai lan lang lao le lei leng li lia liang liao lieh lien lin ling liu lo lou lu lü luan lüan lüeh lun lung kaj kan kang kao ke kej ken keng kou ku kua kuaj kuan kuang kuej kun kung kuo la laj lan lang lao le lej leng li lia liang liao lie lien lin ling liou luo lou lu lü luan lüan lüe lun lung 70 ma mai man mang mao mei men meng mi miao mie mian ming miu mo mou mu na nai nan nang nao ne nei nen neng ni niang niao nie nian nin ning niu nuo nou nu nü nuan nüe nong ou pa ma mai man mang mao mei men meng mi miao mieh mien ming miu mo mou mu na nai nan nang nao ne nei nen neng ni niang niao nieh nien nin ning niu no nou nu nü nuan nüeh nung ou p'a ma maj man mang mao mej men meng mi miao mie mien ming miou mo mou mu na naj nan nang nao ne nej nen neng ni niang niao nie nien nin ning niou nuo nou nu nü nuan nüe nung ou pcha 71 pai pan pang pao pei pen peng pi piao pie pian pin ping po pou pu ba bai ban bang bao bei ben beng bi biao bie bian bin bing bo bu sa sai san sang se sen seng sha shai shan shang p'ai p'an p'ang p'ao p'ei p'en p'eng p'i p'iao p'ieh p'ien p'in p'ing p'o p'ou p'u pa pai pan pang pao pei pen peng pi piao pieh pien pin ping po pu sa sai san sang se sen seng sha shai shan shang pchaj pchan pchang pchao pchej pchen pcheng pchi pchiao pchie pchien pchin pching pcho pchou pchu pa paj pan pang pao pej pen peng pi piao pie pien pin ping po pu sa saj san sang se sen seng ša šaj šan šang 72 shao she shei shen sheng shi shou shu shua shuai shuan shuang shui shun shuo suo sou su suan sui sun song si ta tai tan tang tao te teng ti tiao tie tian ting tuo tou tu tuan tui tun tong da dai shao she shei shen sheng shih shou shu shua shuai shuan shuang shui shun shuo so sou su suan sui sun sung szu t'a t'ai t'an t'ang t'ao t'e t'eng t'i t'iao t'ieh t'ien t'ing to t'ou t'u t'uan t'ui t'un t'ung ta tai šao še šej šen šeng š' šou šu šua šuaj šuan šuang šuej šun šuo suo sou su suan suej sun sung s' tcha tchaj tchan tchang tchao tche tcheng tchi tchiao tchie tchien tching tchuo tchou tchu tchuan tchuej tchun tchung ta taj 73 dan dang dao de dei deng di diao die dian ding diu dou ca cai can cang cao ce cen ceng cuo cou cu cuan cui cun cong za zai zan zang zao ze zei zen zeng zuo zou zu zuan zui zun zong tan tang tao te tei teng ti tiao tieh tien ting tiu tou ts'a ts'ai ts'an ts'ang ts'ao ts'e ts'en ts'eng ts'o ts'ou ts'u ts'uan ts'ui ts'un ts'ung tsa tsai tsan tsang tsao tse tsei tsen tseng tso tsou tsu tsuan tsui tsun tsung tan tang tao te tej teng ti tiao tie tien ting tiou tou ccha cchaj cchan cchang cchao cche cchen ccheng cchuo cchou cchu cchuan cchuej cchun cchung ca caj can cang cao ce cej cen ceng cuo cou cu cuan cuej cun cung 74 du duan dui dun dong duo ci zi wa wai wan wang wei wen weng wo wu ya yai yang yao ye yan yin ying you yu yuan yue yun yong tu tuan tui tun tung tuo tz'u tzu wa wai wan wang wei wen weng wo wu ya yai yang yao yeh yen yin ying yu yü yüan yüeh yün yung tu tuan tuej tun tung tuo cch' c' wa waj wan wang wej wen weng wo wu ja jaj jang jao jie jen jin jing jou jü jüan jüe jün jung 75