Implicit
Deconstruction of “Huanjing Baohu”
and “Huanbao”: A Linguistic Study of Chinese
Abbreviation in the Case of Environmental Protection
Zhu Licheng
(朱澧澄)
The aim of this paper is to
reconsider the role of the cognitive process in conducting word abbreviations
in Mandarin Chinese. Conventional approaches tend to regard Chinese
abbreviations as fixed results majorly due to the
implementation of certain linguistic rules, especially in face of newly emerged
words and phrases, whereas human factors such as word comprehension, knowledge
storage and moral values are largely overlooked.
In this paper, I critically
summarize the three major abbreviation methods for Mandarin Chinese and
conclude that the widely adopted explanations for Chinese abbreviations are not
capable of expounding recently formed words, as they fail to capture the larger
social content behind the characters themselves. In the case of “huanjing baohu” and “huanbao,” I discovered the abbreviated word contains a
second underlying meaning of “protective environment” in addition to its
commonly perceived meaning of “environmental protection” because of the
embedded spirit of Anthropocentrism. By examining the “Explicit Deconstruction”
theory of Yanhuang Zhao, I
propose the idea of Implicit Deconstruction is able to explain the case of “huanbao” along with a new model for understanding
abbreviation procedures in Mandarin Chinese by giving unique considerations to social
aspects.