THE VARIANTS OF THE ENGLISH LOAN WORDS IN CHINESE

Through constant language contacts, loan words have become an indivisible part of the Chinese vocabulary. The process of assimilation loan words has long existed in Chinese language. Typical ways of assimilation loan words with English origin in Chinese language are phonetic and semantic ways. In the history of Chinese language, existed a period when the same English loan word could be translated at the same time in phonetic and semantic ways. During the assimilation of English words, exists the fact of replacing semantic way to phonetic way, and vice versa. Till now, in Chinese linguistics “competition” between phonetic borrowing and semantic borrowing is still an open controversy. In their works, Chinese linguists have different views on the use of phonetic and semantic ways. After selection and review of scientific works of Chinese linguists, this article in detail considers different ways of assimilation and possible variants of transfer English loanwords in Chinese language. This work also gives many examples from modern Chinese mass media. For more in-depth comparison and study of semantic and phonetic ways of assimilation words in modern Chinese language, this article uses the method of comparative analysis. The results of the conducted research highlights the trend of using alphabetic abbreviation and using semantic way of assimilation English words in modern Chinese language.