Literal words (字母 词 zìmŭcí, lettered-words) are the words of the modern Chinese language , written either completely in letters of foreign (mainly Latin) alphabets, or with their participation.
In the first case, these are borrowed abbreviations of words / phrases of the English language and unabbreviated foreign words that are included in the Chinese language in the alphabetical notation with Latin characters, as well as abbreviations of the actual Chinese words and phrases that are written in Chinese using the Chinese phonetic alphabet of pinyin , for example:
CD (compact disk "compact disk");
UFO (unidentified flying object "unidentified flying object");
HSK (汉语 水平 考试 hànyǔ shǔipíng kǎoshì "State Examination in Chinese");
MM (妹妹 mèimei “younger sister”);
BB (宝贝 băobèi “child”), etc.
In the second case, these are words combining literal and hieroglyphic components, or “mestizo words” 混血儿 hùnxuer in Chinese terminology. For example:
卡拉 OK ("karaoke");
T 恤 (T-shirt "T-shirt");
call 台 (“call center” = call “call” + 台 tái “stand, counter, tribune”);
三 G 手机 (“third generation mobile phones” = 三 sān “three” + G eneration “generation” + 手机 shǒujī “mobile phone”), etc.
Alphabetic words also include popular borrowed words of the English language, which entered the Chinese language in its original form, that is, in the full alphabetic entry: kiss “kiss”, call “bell”, ball “ball”, smile “smile”, nice “wonderful” " and etc.
Against the background of the general stream of borrowings, active word-formation processes occur using the form-and word-formation tools of the Chinese language itself.
History
The implementation of the " policy of reforms and openness to the outside world", proclaimed by Deng Xiaoping in 1979, which soon began the widespread introduction of the latest information technologies, the rapid spread of the Internet, the increase in users of network resources, and the intensification of international interaction, led to the need to borrow international terminology, process and create a huge amount of new vocabulary. The widespread use of foreign words in magazine, newspaper texts, advertising, television and radio, in the speech of native Chinese speakers has become an integral sign of modern thinking and lifestyle. Since that time, we can talk about the formation of a special - literal - layer of Chinese vocabulary and the literal stage of its development.
One of the main sources of penetration of borrowed words and the formation of their own literal words are materials from the worldwide electronic Internet (electronic versions of news, popular, youth, entertainment publications of the PRC , official publications on the websites of Chinese universities, numerous forums and blogs ).
Graphic writing in letters determines the isolation of letter borrowings in relation to the borrowings of the previous stages, written in Chinese with hieroglyphs.
Returning to the origins of the reform of the modern Chinese language, one cannot but recall the outstanding Chinese writer of the last century, Lu Xin and his famous character 阿 Q (A-Q). It was 阿 Q that for a long time remained the only example of the mestizo word in Chinese. Paying tribute to the invariable Chinese tradition of turning to the classics, the author of one of the iconic articles on alphabetic words in modern Chinese says: “阿 Q 不再 孤独 ， 让 我们 为 他 高兴 吧！” - “And Kew is no longer alone, rejoice for him! "
Literature
- 刘涌泉 Liu Yongquan.关于 汉语 字母 次 的 问题 - On the issue of literal words in Chinese // 语言 文字 应用. No. 1/2002. S. 85-90.
- Solntseva N.V. Some problems of neologisms // Chinese Linguistics. Isolating languages. —— M., 2002.S. 231–234.
- Hansell Mark Donald. The Sino-Alphabet: the assimilation of the Roman alphabet into the Chinese writing system // Sino-Platonic Papers. No. 5/1994.