A Cognitive Study On The Denominal Verbs In Chinese Netspeak

The denominal verb, a prevalent phenomenon in both English and Chinese, refers to the phenomenon in which a word’s form is inconsistent with its meaning and syntactic function in language. Due to their uniqueness and particularity, denominal verbs have attained quite a lot of attention from many scholars in linguistics. A great number of researches have been conducted on denominal verbs in English and Chinese from rhetorical, semantic, pragmatic and cognitive perspectives. Nevertheless, most of the previous studies have concentrated on the conventional and highly fossilized denominal verbs like锁(Suo, to lock)上,锤[Chui, to hammer)一锤,驼(Tuo, to be humpback)背,意味(Yiwei, to imply) and the like. On the whole, researches on the innovative and unconventional denominal verbs are scarce, let alone the denominal verbs in netspeak.With the development and popularity of internet in China, network language has flourished rapidly and exerts profound impact on people’s life and the development of Chinese. In recent years, a variety of novel denominal verbs have emerged in Chinese netspeak, such as雷(Lei, to astonish)人,百度(Baidu, to get information from the internet explorer of Baidu)一下,被河蟹(Hexie, to delete something for the purpose of social harmony),稀饭(Xifan, to like/love something or somebody)他/她,粉(Fen, to admire somebody deeply)他/她and the like. Such a linguistic innovation breaks grammatical rules and enriches the current Chinese expressions. However, so far few studies have been carried out on the denominal verbs in Chinese netspeak. On this background, this paper attempts to undertake an in-depth analysis of Chinese net denominal verbs in order to uncover the rules and mechanism governing the use of this novel linguistic phenomenon.Data for this study are mainly collected from the internet. Our aim is to provide a linguistic description and interpretation of denominal verbs on the data basis. This paper firstly describes Chinese net denominal verbs in light of semantics, syntax and pragmatics and probes into the constraints on denominalization in Chinese netspeak. Afterwards, in order to reveal the cognitive mechanism behind this phenomenon, this paper offers a tentative interpretation of Chinese net denominal verbs under the theoretical framework of conceptual metaphor and metonymic ICM (idealized cognitive model).In this way, people’s understanding of denominal verbs can be deepened and enhanced.Our major points and findings are summarized as follows.First, parent nouns are correlated with their corresponding denominal verbs in morphology, syntax, semantics and functions. Specifically, parent nouns and denominal verbs are mutually related with each other on the basis of semantic extension and phonetic similarity. For most Chinese net denominal verbs, the parent nouns must contain the semantic components that indicate the dynamic process of an action. Such kind of semantic components are bound to be extended and passed on to the denominal verbs, which contributes to the transformation from noun to verb in function. Other net denominal verbs are realized by virtue of phonetic similarity, which is considered as a new route for noun-verb conversion in Chinese. With regard to this type of net denominal verbs, the sound-based forms (similar to the parent nouns) act as the most important mediator but show nothing relevant in meanings. For the purpose of vividness and humor in communication, people tend to utilize the form of the net denominal verb as a disguise while understanding its real meaning in terms of another word bearing the similar pronunciation.Second, not all the nouns can be converted into verbs in Chinese netspeak. The selection of parent nouns is restricted by the constraints in lexical semantics, morphology and rhetoric. Semantically, the parent nouns must involve certain semantic components which entail the process of an action. Moreover, the parent nouns are supposed to be the prototypes at the basic level and can’t be analogized at random. Morphologically, nouns for denominalization in Chinese netspeak are mostly bisyllabic and with few in monosyllabic form. Rhetorically, the parent nouns must conform to the economy of language in expression.Third, the noun-verb conversion in Chinese netspeak is a dynamic cognitive activity rather than a static language phenomenon. On the one hand, metonymy is the fundamental cognitive mechanism underlying net denominal verbs. Metonymy accounts for how nouns are functionally changed into verbs. On the other hand, the comprehension of Chinese net denominal verbs reflects metaphorical thinking. Metaphors give rise to the similarities among different entities, which makes an action concrete, vivid and visible, thus helping people construe and comprehend denominal verbs in Chinese netspeak.This thesis falls into six parts. The first part introduces the background, significance, purpose, methodology and the layout of the thesis. The second part gives a review of prior studies on denominal verbs and Chinese netspeak from different perspectives. The third part presents the theoretical framework of this study including conceptual metaphor and metonymic ICM (idealized cognitive model). The fourth part supplies a linguistic description of Chinese net denominal verbs in light of semantics, syntax and pragmatics. In addition, this part also explores the constraints on the denominalization in Chinese netspeak and makes a brief comparison between traditional denominal verbs in contemporary Chinese and the denominal verbs in Chinese netspeak. The fifth part interprets the production and comprehension mechanism of Chinese net denominal verbs within the theoretical framework of conceptual metaphor and metonymic ICM. The sixth part summarizes the major findings, implications and limitations of this study.There are still some deficiencies in this study. As the denominal verbs are newly emerged coinages in Chinese network language, the quantity of them are inadequate for the present study. Besides, data for this study are mainly collected from the internet so the scope of the corpus is limited and may not cover all the distribution for the denominal verbs. Furthermore, the thesis only adopts the qualitative way for research due to the smaller corpus, so the conclusion may not be generally true to the matter of fact. It is suggested that further studies should adopt both the qualitative and quantitative ways on the basis of a larger corpus.