A Study of Characteristic Words of Macao Chinese

Wang Shan and Tang Lei

Chinese Journal of Language Policy and Planning ›› 2022, Vol. 7 ›› Issue (2) : 74-85.

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Chinese Journal of Language Policy and Planning ›› 2022, Vol. 7 ›› Issue (2) : 74-85. DOI: 10.19689/j.cnki.cn10-1361/h.20220206

A Study of Characteristic Words of Macao Chinese

  • Wang Shan and Tang Lei
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Abstract

The study of Chinese varieties around the world, with their vocabulary being the most dynamic part, is the basis for a comprehensive understanding of the Chinese language. As a multilingual society characterized by three scripts and languages, Macao has offered an ideal site for language contact in the past several centuries. The Chinese Mandarin language in Macao has numerous words with local characteristics through constant contact with Cantonese, Portuguese, and English. However, there is a lack of systematic and large-scale corpus-based analysis of these special words. With A Comprehensive Dictionary of Global Huayu as the source of data, this study investigates 45 Macao Chinese words and describes their basic features in terms of vocabulary sources, phonetic features, word formation, and semantic features. In addition, an analysis of their regional distribution and word sense distribution in LIVAC shows that most words are used in other Sinophone regions, indicating a trend of gradual integration of Chinese. Furthermore, most of these words are in stable use, whereas a few of them are disappearing from the language life of Macao.

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Macao / the Chinese language / words with local characteristics / A Comprehensive Dictionary of Global Huayu

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Wang Shan and Tang Lei. A Study of Characteristic Words of Macao Chinese[J]. Chinese Journal of Language Policy and Planning. 2022, 7(2): 74-85 https://doi.org/10.19689/j.cnki.cn10-1361/h.20220206

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