| Sumario: | This study examines English-based internet slang and Chinese-origin hybrid symbols on Chinese digital platforms through the lens of acculturation theory. In response to the limitations of immigrant-centered and one-way adaptation models, the study uses the Adaptation-Diffusion-Discipline (ACE) framework as an interpretive lens for analyzing symbolic interaction in platform-mediated communication. Drawing on multi-year platform records for corpus construction and a questionnaire survey of active social media users, the analysis focuses on the associations among mixed-use frequency, psychological acceptance, self-reported symbol use intensity, perceived external influences, and platform-use contexts. The results suggest that both mixed-use frequency and psychological acceptance are positively associated with self-reported symbol use intensity, with psychological acceptance showing the stronger association in the estimated model. Higher perceived commercial influence is associated with a weaker positive relationship between acceptance and use, indicating that users who perceive greater commercial incorporation tend to report a weaker acceptance-use association. Platform context also appears to shape the observed pattern: the association is more evident in public, algorithm-driven settings, whereas the WeChat-related pattern is weaker and should be interpreted cautiously given the current sample and model specification. These findings provide modest associational evidence for using the ACE framework to organize the relationships among cultural adaptation, symbolic circulation, and perceived external constraints. The study contributes to research on digital symbolic interaction by clarifying how different types of hybrid online expressions circulate within platform environments while maintaining the conceptual distinction between English-based adaptations and Chinese-origin hybrid forms.
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