中文與英文新聞資訊用字之研究

語言文字的使用會因地區和時代背景的不同而有所差異。為瞭解台灣地區、大陸地區與美國地區近年來的用字情形及其演化，本研究以最具有集合生活資訊流通的電子新聞報為題材。研究之電子新聞報乃選取台灣、大陸與美國等地區之最多人瀏覽的電子新聞報進行調查研究。台灣地區選擇較多人瀏覽的自由時報與中時電子報，及較偏生活化的蘋果日報。大陸地區則選擇最多人瀏覽的電子新聞報之人民日報與大紀元電子報為主。在美國地區則以紐約時報與今日美國報為最多人瀏覽。台灣地區5,475則新聞用字經統計後共有3,955,690字、大陸地區3,650則新聞用字經統計後共有3,635,972字、美國地區3,650則新聞用字經統計後共有3,002,616字）。研究結果顯示：(1)台灣地區：95%新聞內容用字只用到1,483個字，也就是說其實平常使用到的文字，只集中在少部分的文字上。(2)大陸地區：95%新聞內容用字只用到1,312個字，亦即只要學習約1,312個字，即能看懂95％的大陸新聞電子報用字。(3)美國地區： 95％的英文新聞電子報，其新聞內容用字只用到16,275個單字，也就是只要學習這16,275個左右的單字，就能看懂95％的英文新聞電子報用字。(4)大陸與台灣地區之常用字使用之統計的結果具有高度相關性 (r = 0.94)。本研究所得之常用字將可提供該三大地區之國民學校教育、語言推廣教育、及外國人學習該地區語言等教材編撰時的參考。

關鍵字

繁體常用字；簡體常用字；英文常用字；使用頻率；文字演化

並列摘要

Language usage varies with place and time. In order to grasp the circumstances concerning the frequency of use and evolution of Chinese characters and English words, this study examined daily news in Taiwan, China, and the United States of America. Chinese characters and English words were collected from news items that were randomly selected from various fields. The news items were taken from seven electronic newspapers: The Apple Daily, The Liberty Times and The China Times (traditional Chinese, read in Taiwan); The People’s Daily and The Epoch Times (simple Chinese, read in China); and The New York Times and The USA Today (English, read in the United States of America). The main findings of this study were as follows: first, the cumulative percentage of the frequency of use of the 1,483 most commonly used traditional Chinese characters included 95% of the total character frequencies; that of the 1,312 most commonly used simple Chinese characters included 95% of the total character frequencies; and that of the 16,275 most commonly used English words included 95% of the total character frequencies. It was revealed that the list of the most frequently used traditional and simple Chinese characters and English words can serve as a useful reference for editing materials for primary students, in the areas of popular education, and for foreign use of Chinese and English language learning materials.

並列關鍵字

Chinese characters ； English words ； frequency of use ； daily news

參考文獻

David D Qian.(2002). Investigating the Relationship Between Vocabulary Knowledge and Academic Reading Performance: An Assessment Perspective.Language Learning,52(3),513-536.

Kate Parry.（1991）. Building a Vocabulary Through Academic Reading. Tesol Quarterly,25(4).

Ryder, Randall James; Hughes, Melody.（1985）. The Effect on Text Comprehension of Word Frequency. Journal of Educational Research, 78(5),286-91.

參考文獻