Dialectal Loanwords Of English Origin In Modern Chinese:from Socio—Cultural Perspective

Languages are always enriched and developed in the process of contacting with other languages. As the most active and sensitive element of language, words are the most commonly borrowed items in language contact. In the history of China’ development, a lot of foreign words (loanwords), especially the words from the most widely used language-English, have been borrowed into Chinese along with the exchanges between China and foreign countries. Most of these English loanwords were marked by the transliteration of mandarin Chinese while some of them were transliterated by dialects. Among all the English loanwords introduced into Chinese, some of them were ultimately discarded because they did not follow the Chinese rule of thumb. However, a large number of these loanwords have found way into the Chinese language after naturalization and regulation, enriching the Chinese vocabulary and exerting vital influence on the modern Chinese language.Lexical borrowing is the most common phenomenon in language contact. As language contacts differ in forms and levels, there are different ways of word borrowing. In this thesis, the author focuses on the indirect way of borrowing-The borrowing of English words via certain dialects into the modern Chinese language. The indirect way of lexical borrowing resulted from the social and cultural factors of the day. Consequently the author analyzes the reasons behind indirect borrowing from the socio-cultural perspective. Based on the detailed description of the English words borrowed from the prestigious dialects--Wu dialect and Cantonese dialect into modern Chinese or Putonghua, the writer sums up the rules and principles of such borrowing.The paper develops in the following chapters:In the first chapter, the author makes a general introduction to the study before gaving the literature review on past studies in chapter two. In chapter three, the addresses the theoretical framework-language contact from the socio-cultural perspective. The following two chapters are the detailed descriptions of the loanwords in the two prestigious dialects-Wu dialect and Cantonese dialect. Word borrowing is the most common consequences of language contact. Based on the elaborative description of the English loanwords in the above two dialectal areas, the writer summarizes the reasons, the rules and the principles of such loanwords. In the different backgrounds of local society and culture, language contact also has different outcomes. Due to the different areas and the different historical periods, different English words were borrowed into modern Chinese. Since there are significant differences among the loanwords in the above two dialectal areas, the writer draws out the differences and tries to make some analysis on such differences in chapter six. Finally, in the concluding chapter, the author summarizes the whole thesis briefly and puts forward some suggestions for the later study.According to the systematical study on the dialectal loanwords, the author finds that the language is an open system and it has to absorb new elements to keep its vitality. In the case of borrowing of English loanwords into Chinese, the prestigious dialects serve as the media of introducing new things and foreign linguistic elements. Thanks to the role of certain dialects as the hub between English and Chinese, the modern Chinese has become much more energetic and colorful. From this point of view, we should also realize that the language policy makers should follow the natural law of language in order to promote the healthy and harmonious development of languages.