Letter Words In The Chinese Newspapers Studied

This thesis analyzes the letter words in Chinese newspapers with Dahe Daily as the case study. Since 1978, piles of letter words, such as DVD, VCD, WTO and PK, have emerged, majority of which become parts of mass media. Nowadays, letter words have become quite common in Chinese newspapers. On the one hand, the public feel strange and curious about the letter words; on the other hand, letter words have been employed in all walks of life. Thereby, the study of letter words has become a hot spot in the field of linguistics.Newspapers are supposed to be reader-oriented and transmit information in simple and plain language. In view of the drastic letter words emerging in variety of media, questions such as readers' understanding, recognition and acceptance of letter words, proper ways of the employment of letter words in Chinese newspapers and the impact on readers'use of language, all need to be paid attention to by linguists. In order to investigate the using frequency of letter words, Dahe Daily (published between June 9,2010 and August 9,2010) have been taken as the study object and an exhaustive investigation on letter words has been carried out. In order to research the degree of understanding and recognition on letter words, the top 25 letter words have been picked up and a questionnaire survey has been accomplished by 95 people with different social background (education backgrounds, genders, ages and professions). The result shows that letter words are highly understood and accepted by readers. Meanwhile, there are some problems on using letter words in newspaper. At last, some suggestions on standardizing letter words in newspapers have been given.