Study On Standard Application Of English Acronyms Into Chinese From The Perspective Of Principle Of Least Effort Of Language

After entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) and opening-up policy, China has come into frequenter association with many other countries in the world in different fields such as politics, economy, culture and technology. China has embraced an epoch-making page with different countries on the cosmopolitan arena, and attracted unprecedented attention from all over the world. Under such circumstances, English acronyms emerged into Chinese and are used by a large number of Chinese people. Obviously, it has brought great convenience because of its succinctness and efficiency when used in daily communications. One case in point is that the usage is accompanied by bewilderment for its irregularity and incompleteness. The truth can be found that English acronyms are popular and fashionable, but to some extent threatens the purity of Chinese at the same time. A large number of dictionaries concerning English acronyms have been published in the past decades, which indicates both the increasing number and the simultaneous influence on Chinese. Chinese has been enriched by English acronyms and the growing attention has been drawn to the regularity and reliability as well.The Principle of Least Effort was put forward by the American scholar Zipf, he explained in his research that the shorter the words are, the more frequently they intend to be used. A conclusion was drawn by him that only by the realization of the balance and compromise between the two forces (effort-taking force and effort-saving force) can the real "least effort" be available., on the basis of perspective of listeners and speakers as well as the analysis of what is the most and least effort-saving. The French linguist Andre Martinet made a summary on the Principle of Least Effort and Communicative Requirements, that is, one was apt to convey himself/herself to reach the communicative requirements; on the other hand, the least effort was achieved by reducing physical and psychological consumption to the least. The American philosopher Paul Grice supposed that it was unnecessary to add to more connotation in terms of Conversational Implicature. The Principle of Least Effort was combined with pragmatics by American pragmatic scientist Laurence Horn, he elaborated on the R-principle (Relevance Principle) and Q-principle (Quantity Principle), both of which were inclined to depend on each other and appeal to the interests of listeners and speakers. The American linguist Noam Chomsky argued in his Minimalist Program that the operator displacement should also conform to the Principle of Least Effort to meet the system requirements. The great importance of the Principle of Least Effort was attached by Geoffrey Leech from the perspective of language usage.English acronyms are indicative of the Principle of Least Effort of Language, which tends to deliver oneself and convey plenty of meaning in a brief way. More often than not, the meaning cannot always be expressed so contently by English acronyms one hundred percent on account of cultural differences and linguistic uncoordinated usage between English and Chinese. As a result, it requires of the "quantity" and "quality" of English acronyms to be standardized and regularized. The thesis talks about the regularities of English acronyms on the basis of the Principle of Least Effort of Language. It deals with the reasons for the penetration of English acronyms into Chinese, the puzzlement and cultural conflicts caused by English acronyms, then puts forward some counter-measures: objectivity and compliance with mainstream; perfected translation of English acronyms into Chinese avoidance of ambiguity and prohibition on certain occasions; assimilation and simplification; establishment of corpus and legal regulations for English acronyms. After the discussion and summarization of the countermeasures, it can in a way facilitate the regularized usage of English acronyms into Chinese. Meanwhile, it can also provide references for some bureaus or committees to make some regulations on language usages.