A Study On Chinese Neologism Clusters

Chinese neologism clusters, arising from lexical analogy, are aggregations (or sets) of words or phrases marked by the uniform structure and shared morphemes (words) that carry identical or related senses. Based on lexicology, semantics, sociolinguistics, cognitive linguistics, this dissertation centers on the motivation, construction, semantic change and evolutionary trend of Chinese neologism clusters, as well as their application in the teaching of Chinese as foreign language.Chinese neologism clusters range from words to expressions. The occurrence of shared morphemes or words is indispensable to the formation of Chinese neologism clusters, of which the study is conducted at both macro-level and micro-level, i.e. a comprehensive study of the neologism clusters and their shared morphemes or words. Shared morphemes of Chinese neologism clusters become the focus of this dissertation on the grounds that they are the mark of such neologism clusters and that it is a better perspective for a precise and in-depth exploration into the clusters.External and internal facts all provide stimulus to the origination of Chinese neologism clusters, say, social development, language integration as well as pragmatic psychology fit into an external category whilst language homeostasis, self-regulation and analogical mechanism of the language all provide evidence of the internal factors. It is such external and internal facts that are combining forces to motivate the occurrence of Chinese neologism clusters which are marked by their uniform structures and analogicality.The construction of Chinese neologism clusters is in accordance with Chinese word-formation laws while asymmetry in structural type can still be observed, say, much more attributive-head structure than subject-predicate structure. Semantic change also happens to certain shared morphemes (words). Judging from whether the shared morphemes function as roots or affixes in neologism, Chinese neologism clusters fall into two categories, namely root cluster and affix cluster. Between a root carrying lexical meaning and an affix indicating grammatical information, there exists a continuum.Therefore criteria like whether a shared morpheme is fixed in lexical structure and whether it carries lexical meaning are prerequisites for the coming research. Careful observation on the structural and semantic features of Chinese neologism clusters suggests that repetitive morpheme (word), semantic connection, selective collocation and affixation tendency are the epitome of the Chinese newly-coined word clusters.Semantic change, which can be observed from within neologism clusters, takes the form of overall transference or partly transference, which are motivated by human cognitive mentality and brain mechanism. A tendency to name new things after existing expressions leads to an amplification of lexical meaning on a cognitive basis. Metaphorical thinking mode is the key to semantic transference mechanism. Similarities based on logical reasoning or association, which are essential to projection between semantic domains and multi-directional derivation of lexical meaning, also lay a psychological foundation for semantic transference.The overall semantic transference of Chinese neologism clusters takes place at the level of entire words and phrases within a neologism cluster instead of any further division of a neologism into the level of a morpheme. When neologism clusters do get involved in an overall semantic transference, an existence of shared morpheme (word) still contributes to the basis of word cluster, however the relativity and correlation of an overall meaning of a cluster helps establish semantic connection between words (phrases). Through semantic analysis an exploration is made into the process of the overall semantic transference, including similarity in feature, function, process, status similarity, outcome and so on.The partly semantic transference of neologism clusters involves the change in the meaning of the shared morpheme (word) within a neologism cluster. There are two ways of partly semantic transference, one is the amplification of semantic category and the other semantic generalization. The amplification of semantic category is formed by putting categorized semantic features into the denotation of a shared morpheme or word, with some shared morphemes getting extra connotations. The generalization of semantic transference of neologism clusters is characterized by semantic abstraction, commonness and expansion; it is premised on the loss of some semantic components of neologism clusters, and expansion of semantic application. When the number of semantic feature decreases, new ways of expression spring up, thus resulting in the increasing number of sense. This is a process of encouraging language users to explore new referential relationships between the signifier and the more signified. Types of semantic generalization include radiation, chain and compound generalization.Metaphor mechanism contributes to the amplification of semantic category and the semantic generalization of some shared morphemes or words within neologism clusters. In the process of the amplification of semantic category and the semantic generalization, exists a loss of semantic elements and diluting semantic nuances, as a result, gradually emerging a fixed semantic abstraction, in some cases, additional meaning comes into being.The grammaticalization of the meaning of the shared morphemes takes place in this process of semantic change. By investigating into langue and parole phenomena, the study is conducted ,on the first hand, into the law of neologism cluster'development under the general law of language development, on the other, the alternation of implicit and explicit language phenomena in word-clusters'development. We also manage to predict the development tendency of neologism clusters, tri-syllabification of the word clusters and grammaticalization of the shared morphemes are the developing tendency of neologism clusters. On the whole, two-syllable words dominate the Chinese language and double syllabus is the general tendency of the Chinese language evolution. A tri-syllabification tendency is then studied within the scope of neologism clusters. The grammaticalization of shared morphemes expresses itself in three tendencies, namely further grammaticalization into affixes, maintenance of the statue quo, and termination of the grammaticalization.In the teaching of Chinese as foreign language, neologism clusters are not only feasible but also an essential part of the instruction. Due to the fact that Chinese neologism clusters are highly analogized, that the formation model of neologism is comparatively simplex within the cluster, and that meanings of the shared morphemes are either identical or related, students can easily make analogy after having acquired the internal components and semantic motivation of a few neologisms. In the process of instruction, only standardized neologism clusters are encouraged to be introduced into classroom teaching, and much emphasis should laid on the word-formation model as well as semantic change since the two aspects are indispensable to the teaching. Better is that teachers should follow"necessity and universality"as principles and that morpheme-expansion approach and subject-extended approach should be taken into account in the teaching of Chinese neologism clusters to non-Chinese speakers, so as to guarantee effectiveness of teaching.