Research On Cognitive Construal Mechanism Of Internet Catchwords

With an increasing number of netizens and people's enhancing awareness of participation in network communication, internet language has been widely accepted and used by more and more people. Internet catchwords, as one of the most salient parts, have aroused widespread concern in all sectors of society, and also attracted scholars'strong interest in the study. This thesis is an attempt to explore internet catchwords with the cognitive theories (metaphor, metonymy, and recategorization). The aims of the study are to understand the nature of internet catchwords, and to find the underlying cognitive motivations behind the generation and interpretation of internet catchwords.The thesis encompasses six chapters:The first chapter provides an overall introduction of the thesis's research status, including significance of the topic, research content and objectives as well as the research methods.The second chapter makes a detailed introduction of internet catchwords, including its definition, development, classification and characteristics.In the third chapter, we, first, review the notion of metaphor and metaphoric thinking, then deal with the processing of metaphors in internet catchwords. We hold that metaphoric expressions are pervasive in internet catchwords, and they have become the main force of internet catchwords.In the fourth chapter, we review the notion of metonymy, and then analyze the metonymic expressions in internet catchwords. We believe that metonymic expressions in internet catchwords fit the principle of economy.The fifth chapter is devoted to the perspective of recategorization, including the conversion of nouns to verbs, nouns to adjectives, etc. It provides a new perspective for the generation and interpretation of internet catchwords.The last chapter is the concluding part, in which our major findings, limitations and areas for further research are stated.