CityU releases 2014 LIVAC Pan-Chinese New Word Rosters

 

Political concerns have again become the most popular new words used by the media in the Pan-Chinese region, while “The Umbrella Movement” was the hottest new word in Hong Kong, according to the 2014 LIVAC Pan-Chinese New Word Rosters released by City University of Hong Kong (CityU) on 12 February.

 

The 2014 LIVAC Pan-Chinese New Word Rosters are based on the LIVAC synchronous corpus of Chinese (http://www.livac.org) cultivated by Professor Benjamin T’sou Ka-yin, Emeritus Professor of CityU’s Department of Linguistics and Translation. The 2014 LIVAC Pan-Chinese New Word Rosters are based on the popularity of new words mainly in regional newspapers. The following table shows the five most prominent new words:

 

 

 

“Major events in politics have overshadowed all other domains,” said Professor T’sou. “They include all manners of actions and deliberations: such as comprehensive anti-corruption campaigns and deliberations on political succession and transition, ranging from ‘Hunting tigers and hitting flies’ in mainland China, Taiwan’s ‘Sunflower Movement’ and Hong Kong’s ‘Umbrella Movement’.”

 

It was interesting that “Umbrella Movement” had not made it to Pan-Chinese roster because it had appeared in all communities’ top rosters, except for Shanghai, he added.

 

In Hong Kong political and social issues continued to dominate in 2014. The “Umbrella Movement” has evolved from last year’s “Occupy Central Movement” and the terms increasingly reflect the serious social disparity and polarisation in Hong Kong. This is underscored by the fact that only one of the top five new words in Hong Kong reflects non-political concerns: new measures in social welfare, “Old age pension”.

 

However, the Pan-Chinese roster had been topped by the new term in economics and finance, “Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect”, which had not yielded the expected results initially but its impact would be felt as the balance between the pros and cons worked itself out, said Professor T’sou.

 

The Taipei media has been gearing up for the up and coming 2016 presidential election, as can be seen in the prominence of “9-in-1 local elections”. Furthermore, the realisation that circumstances so far appear to favour the pro- independent Democratic Progressive party and that independence sentiments may rock the current cosy cross-straits relations has led to the “Freezing Taiwan independence proposal”.

 

The anti-corruption drive in Beijing has further gathered momentum with visible impact as reflected in the reference to the Silk Road, i.e., the “One belt and one road”, just as Beijing has been interested in the “Sunflower Movement “ in Taiwan and “Umbrella Movement” in Hong Kong.

 

But the surging traffic congestion in Beijing has not been forgotten, and is reflected by the emergence of the new word “Rapid transit”.

 

As in the previous year, new words in Shanghai under the media’s spotlight are concentrated mostly on the daily lives of the general public, including “‘Help-Help’ chair” and “Selective two-child policy”. Its exceptional exclusion of the “Umbrella Movement”, according to Professor T’sou, reflects a greater sense of pragmatism in Shanghai, which has been consistent in the city. It is this pragmatic approach which has brought about the direct Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connection, and contributed to the leading new word in the Pan-Chinese context.

 

Unlike popular words on the internet, the LIVAC New Word Rosters are based on the LIVAC (Linguistic Variations in Chinese Speech Communities) database which systematically processes, screens and analyses words used by the press in the Pan-Chinese region including Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Taipei, as well as in various Chinese print media.

 

Since 1993, the database has analysed over 550 million words from the major press outlets in the Pan-Chinese region and has accumulated over 1.7 million words for the LIVAC dictionary.

 

The brief meaning and background information on the new words can be found at the appendix (in Chinese only) and the website http://www.livac.org.

 

Media enquiries:

Professor Benjamin T’sou, Emeritus Professor, Department of Linguistics and Translation, CityU (Tel: 6421-4916)

 

 

 

1.     滬港通：滬港股票市場交易互聯互通機制的簡稱。指上海證券交易所和香港聯合交易所允許兩地投資者透過當地市場的交易所及結算所，買賣和結算在對方市場上市的股票。

2.     太陽花學運：2014年3月間，台灣大學生和民眾不滿即將簽訂的《兩岸服務貿易協議》，發起佔領台灣立法機構的社會運動事件。

3.     自拍神器：又稱自拍桿、自拍棍等。一種可將相機等固定在桿頂的伸縮桿，通過遙控器可作多角度自拍。

4.     APEC藍：2014年北京APEC會議期間，北京周邊實行環境保護，空氣品質達到良好水準，天空呈現藍色。

5.     萌萌噠：原為網絡熱詞，意指「萌萌的」，由「萌」文化演變而來。

 

1.     雨傘運動：2014年9月間，香港部份民眾為爭取「真普選」而發起的一系列公民抗命、佔據道路行動。

2.     袋住先：在香港社會對普選方案有分歧情況下，香港政府呼籲民眾先接受當局提出的政改方案。

3.     三堆一爐：特區政府環境局擬訂的垃圾處理方案，指興建屯門、打鼓嶺、將軍澳三個垃圾堆填區和石鼓洲焚化爐。

4.     三軌提名：香港一些政治團體提出的選舉特首政改方案之一。即循公民、政黨或提委會取得提名，便可入閘。

5.     老年金：指全民老年金，香港政府針對65歲或以上長者設立的保障金。

 

1.     9合1選戰：2014年台灣地區公職人員選舉的俗稱。

2.     雨傘運動：2014年9月間，香港部份民眾為爭取「真普選」而發起的一系列公民抗命、佔據道路行動。

3.     凍獨案：台灣民進黨部份人士提出的「凍結台獨黨綱」案的簡稱。

4.     存股證（Depository Receipts，簡稱DR）：又稱存券收據，指在一證券市場流通的代表外國公司有價證券的可轉讓憑證，屬公司融資業務範疇的金融衍生工具。

5.     瓶中梨：台中東勢培育的一種連瓶帶果新梨品種。

 

1.     一帶一路：「新絲綢之路經濟帶」和「21世紀海上絲綢之路」的簡稱。

2.     三嚴三實：中國國家主席習近平針對推動作風建設提出的講話內容：嚴以修身、嚴以用權、嚴以律己，謀事要實、創業要實、做人要實。

3.     打虎拍蠅：即「打老虎拍蒼蠅」，「老虎」喻指位居高層的腐敗官員，「蒼蠅」喻指身處基層的腐敗官員，這是黨中央懲治腐敗的重大行動。

4.     雨傘運動：2014年9月間，香港部份民眾為爭取「真普選」而發起的一系列公民抗命、佔據道路行動。

5.     快軌車：中國軌道交通裝備領域新車種，最高運行時速可達160公里。

 

1.     單獨兩孩：亦稱單獨二孩、單獨二胎。中國2013年底實施的新政策，夫妻雙方中若一人為獨生子女便可生育第二胎。

2.     四季跑：一種路跑嘉年華，融合4D高科技立體感官技術，沿途設四個換季站。

3.     幫幫椅：上海虹口區政府推行的一項實事工程，在多層住宅中，隔幾層樓放置椅子，以便老人家上樓梯中途稍事休息。

4.     視聯網：一個實時網絡。包括了藍牙、GPS導航、三維地圖等技術，能以高清視頻實時傳輸。

5.     鄉愿官：指某些官員沒有堅定立場、不能堅守原則，臨事牆頭草，決定隨風倒。