《檳城新報》的語言選用──以煙、酒類廣告為例

The Language Adoption of “Penang Sin Poe” -The Cases of Cigarette and Liquor Advertisements

《檳城新報》是檳城當地較早發行的報紙，刊行時間為1895-1941 年。47 個年份中， 目前的統計約有 1 萬 1 千多餘篇。以 5 年為一間隔，共 10 個年份內的報紙為觀看範疇， 計有 2,223 篇。整理出 134 筆煙類廣告，212 筆酒類廣告，觀察煙、酒類廣告的語言選用與互動。 《檳城新報》煙、酒類廣告的語言景觀多元豐富，不論是煙或酒類廣告的語言數量以多語言是常態。語言組合類型中，煙、酒類廣告皆以華語使用得最多。在主標題文字向量的位置上，不論是煙或酒類廣告，文字向量多集中在由右上往左上與右上往右下的書寫，尤其交集位置「3」是重要的擺放位置。 《檳城新報》的語言特色，主標題、次標題、說明文的語言皆以具有華語的為多數， 其次為福建話、英語，粵語只有少數。主標題的翻譯方式分為：「音譯」、「意譯」、「圖譯」， 並搭配「注釋」使用。除了「音譯」、「意譯」外，「圖譯」是廣告中重要的一環，圖文並茂的版面讓讀者更易於了解商品，「注釋」則是用以輔助說明商品的種類。 《檳城新報》內使用的語言包含福建話、粵語、華語、英語，沒有馬來語。一方面是因為這個報紙的主要讀者群為華人，二來當時的馬來語還不是唯一的官方語文，因此 並沒有規定在報章雜誌內必須使用馬來語。而英國殖民者的英語不論是在早期的《檳城新報》或是現在的廣告都隨處可見。

'Penang Sin Poe'' was an old local newspaper founded in Penang, published from 1895 to 1941. In its 47 years, there were a total of over 11,000 pieces printed according to recent statistics. By using five-year intervals, there were 2,223 pieces selected over ten years. There were related language adoptions and interactions observed in the selected 134 cigarette advertisements and the 212 pieces of the liquor advertisements. On ''Penang Sin Poe'', the language adoption in the cigarette and liquor advertisements were versatile and abundant. No matter in the cigarette or the liquor advertisements, it was a common condition for multiple languages to be used. As to the text directions of the main titles, no matter in the cigarette or the liquor advertisements, the texts directions were mostly from the upper right to upper left, or from upper right to bottom right, the cross section ''3'' was an especially important space. The language features shown on the main titles, the subtitles and the descriptions of the ''Penang Sin Poe'' were mainly written in Mandarin. The second largest languages adopted were Hokkien and English. Cantonese was featured the least. The approach to translating the main titles can be divided into ''transliteration'', ''translation'' and ''graphic illustrations'' and they were also used with the approach of ''annotation''. In addition to the ''transliteration'' and the ''translation'', the translating approach of ''illustrated graphics'' played an important part in the advertisements. The outline with illustrated graphics and descriptions made the readers easier understand the product, and the ''annotation'' was an auxiliary explanation of product variety. The languages adopted in the ''Penang Sin Poe'' included Hokkien, Cantonese, Mandarin, and English, while Malay was excluded. On the one hand, the main reading group of the newspaper were Chinese. On the other hand, Malay was not the only official language at the time. Therefore, there weren’t any regulations forcing the use of Malay in the magazines or newspapers. Early British colonial Englishwas not only frequently seen in ''Penang Sin Poe'' back then, but also in widely used in advertisements in modern times