English Loanword Development and Chinese People’s Attitude Changes

• Published in: 열린정신 인문학 연구, 22(2) Vol. 22; no. 2; pp. 237 - 259
• Main Authors: Guo Sisi, Lee Borim
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 원광대학교 인문학연구소 01.08.2021; 인문학연구소
• Subjects: 기타인문학; 외래어 차용 방법; 알파벳 외래어; alphabetic loans; an on-line survey; 영어 외래어; loanword adaptation methods; 온라인 조사; phonemic loans; English loanwords; 의미적 외래어; 중국어; Chinese; semantic loans; 음성적 외래어
• ISSN: 1738-7701; 2671-7018

The goal of this study is to introduce the historical backgrounds of English loanword development in Chinese by examining the unique features of the three different periods of English loanword history and to understand the Chinese people’s current attitude toward English loanwords. In the adaptation process of English loanwords, the outputs have undergone many changes to meet the different needs of the Chinese people under different circumstances. In the adaptation history, there existed two main trends that were exactly opposite: phonemic loans to semantic loans and then semantic loans to phonemic loans. An on-line survey was conducted on 735 Chinese people of various age groups and English backgrounds to investigate the Chinese people’s current attitude towards English loanwords: specifically, between phonemic loans and semantic loans, between alphabetical loans and Chinese native correspondents, and between English loanwords and Chinese native words. Overall, English loanwords are quite popular among Chinese people, and the results seem to reflect the recent changes in the Chinese society. KCI Citation Count: 0