A Contrastive Analysis of the Lexicalization of English and Chinese Abbreviation

The criteria proposed by Packard for grading lexicalization and the corresponding ones for Chinese compound words cannot be applied,without modification,to English and Chinese abbreviation,the lexicalization of which can be graded into three levels: high,middle and low.It is held that the boundary between every two levels is obscure and they form a continuum.Some abbreviations have been completely lexicalized,some are in the course of lexicalization and others still retain the prototypicality of abbreviation.