电视媒体中的现代假借字 = THE MODERN VERSION OF CHINESE PHONETIC LOAN CHARACTERS IN TELEVISION

Abstract

The usage of the Modern Version of Chinese Phonetic Loan Characters is largely seen in the titles of TV shows and advertisements in Singapore. In such cases, certain Chinese words in idioms, proverbs and well-known Chinese expressions are being substituted by other words that are phonetically similar, in an attempt to be creative so as to gain the attention of the target audiences. This paper seeks to investigate the effects this practice has brought about to the learners of Chinese Language, especially the secondary school students in Singapore. A total of 109 local TV shows have been found to have used such characters in their titles, 16 of which were set as questions in a test conducted in a local secondary school. Results have shown that, with an accuracy of only 42.5%, students were not well-equipped with the ability to identify the correct words in phrases. Also, when tested in the recognition of words in phrases through MCQs and writing of words through fill-in-the-blank type questions, 31.6% and 35.5% of the students' answers respectively were Phonetic Loan Characters, showing an inclination towards using Phonetic Loan Characters as their answers. Through the use of IBM SPSS Statistics 20.0 software, it was further found that there is a very strong positive correlation between the frequency of watching Chinese TV shows and the number of Phonetic Loan Characters found in local students' answers. Hence, this indicates that local students who spend more time watching Chinese TV shows have a higher tendency to mistake Phonetic Loan Characters seen on TV as the correct forms of words in phrases. In addition, an online questionnaire was conducted to find out the response of the public towards this practice. 95% of the 100 respondents agreed that control measures should be taken to prevent the situation from worsening as these Phonetic Loan Characters are seen as stumbling blocks for the learners of Chinese Language in Singapore. Suggestions of control measures, such as the use of inverted commas to indicate the use of Phonetic Loan Characters in TV shows and advertisements, are proposed in the final chapter of this paper.