Abstract
This research explored the linguistic features of English phonetic loanwords in terms of matrix, carrier, recipient and donor, the approaches from a recipient to its corresponding donor and the reasons for the creative use of English as phonetic markers in Chinese context. The following conclusions were obtained: (1) all matrix is grammatical Chinese. The carriers located in the matrix are fixed expressions, or formulaic language; most recipients are made up of two Chinese characters, a few of which are even nonwords in Chinese; Donors are closely related to famous persons, popular brands, pop songs, popular software packages, and films and TV shows, which embody popularity, modernism and prestige. (2) When a recipient is replaced by a donor, the number of Chinese characters combination is not always equal to that of the corresponding donors, for most of two-character combinations will decrease to monosyllabic English phonetic loanwords. In addition, English phonetic loanwords can derivate further both vertically and horizontally. (3) The English phonetic loanwords are used in Chinese context mainly for playful effects, low-level cosmetic effects and the marking effects of multicultural identities.
Highlights
Globalization brings about free movement of goods, services, people, technology and information
For the new trend of multilingual practices on China’s Internet, this research will explore the linguistic features of English phonetic loanwords, the approaches from English to Chinese and the reasons for the creative use of English as phonetic markers in Chinese context
This research explored the linguistic features of English phonetic loanwords in terms of matrix, carrier, recipient and donor, investigated the process of English phonetic loanwords from English to Chinese, and analyzed the reasons for using English phonetic loanwords in Chinese context
Summary
Globalization brings about free movement of goods, services, people, technology and information. It is due to the free movement of people speaking different languages that using loanwords from the other language is inevitable, since the two or more languages or varieties will interact and influence one another. A creative use of English loanwords phonetic markers (‘English phonetic loanwords’ for short hereafter) in Chinese context has been becoming more and more popular on Internet among Chinese netizens [2,3,4,5]. English phonetic loanwords make full adoption of English no adaption to Chinese at all, that is to say, they only use English words directly in Chinese context. For the new trend of multilingual practices on China’s Internet, this research will explore the linguistic features of English phonetic loanwords, the approaches from English to Chinese and the reasons for the creative use of English as phonetic markers in Chinese context
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