A Study on the Restraining Factors and Its Acting Forces of Selected Components of Chinese Abbreviations

Previous studies offer little quantitative analysis of the restraining factors in selected components of Chinese abbreviations, and the influence of each factor remains controversial. In order to solve these problems, this study firstly put forward an important concept - “internal segment”, which attached importance to the hierarchical grammar structure of the original forms. Secondly, we sorted out, refined and tested the 10 restraining factors of selected components of Chinese abbreviations mentioned by predecessors; and based on their influence on the abbreviations as a whole, they can be categorized into three levels: strong, medium and weak. In addition, we found that the acting force of those restraining factors were overlapping and no single factor could operate independently. The findings could help to trigger a deeper consideration of theoretical and applied research on Chinese abbreviations.