| The fifty-year-long separation of the two sides of the Taiwan Straits has brought many differences into the lexicon of Modern Written Chinese. This dissertation presents a study of the lexical differences across the Taiwan Straits in the following four linguistic domains: (1) loanwords and loan types, (2) political terminology and new homegrown expressions, (3) tong xing yi yi (words with exact the same forms but different meanings) and (yi xing tong yi words (words with different forms but the same meanings), and (4) dialectal influences and slang. Although lexical data collected in this study include the words of the earlier decades, the study focuses upon the lexical differences resulting from the lexical developments on both sides in the 90s. It uses a quantitative-comparative-data collection (from the July 1990, 1996 and 1997 issues of three newspapers on each side), and a qualitative-comparative-analysis as its methodology. In addition to the careful examination of the lexical differences across the Straits in the four linguistic domains, the study also identifies the cultural factors within, without, and across the two regions in order to reveal the close interconnection between lexical development and cultural variables, a point that can be underscored by the following brief statements:; The different amount of loanwords, and the different loan types and borrowing strategy across the Straits suggest that the lexical borrowing in Taiwan resembles a familiar/cultural borrowing (borrowing culture in addition to borrowing objects), whereas that on the mainland, a distant or technical borrowing (borrowing only objects). Political ideology that induced different borrowing environments and language policies across the Straits, as well as historical and cultural differences are the causes for this lexical difference.; The studies of the lexical differences across the Straits in the above four linguistic domains reveal the fact that the growing cultural differences resulting from the economic, political, socio-cultural developments on both sides in the recent decade have created further divergence of the Chinese lexicon. They can be the lexical differences of meanings/signified, represented by the lexical differences between the loanwords, terminology and new home coinage of the two sides, and lexical differences of forms/signifiers, represented by the lexical differences in tong xing yi yi words, ( yi xing) tong yi words and dialectal expressions across the Straits. Continuing separation and growing cultural differences across the Straits would increase the differences of both kinds. |
