A Major Difference between the Formation of English Words and the Formation of Chinese Words in Modern Times

Abstract

The English language is a language of “fertility” due to its continuous formation of new words in modern times. However, the Chinese language is “infertile” because it has basically stopped creating totally new words. The general trend in the development of a Chinese character in the Chinese history has been moving from complexity to simplicity. As a result, it leads to the "infertility" of the Chinese language and makes it difficult to combine a limited number of different strokes within a limited space known as方块字Fāngkuàizì ‘Square Block Word’. What is a totally new word in English is simply a combination of used words in Chinese. The Chinese language's capability of saving horizontal and linear space makes this combination feasible to express a new meaning. Three types of constraint arising from limited type and number of Strokes, General Trend toward Simplicity and Square-Framed Space have made their concurrent contribution to the "infertility" of the Chinese word formation. The preference of the Chinese language for new combinations of used words over the creation of total new Chinese words in modern times constitutes a major difference between the formation of English words and the formation of Chinese words in modern times.