| The whole world today has witnessed the rapid development of society,economy and culture.In China,together with the development in all aspects,the language environment is also changing dramatically to adapt to the changing situation.The use of catchphrases,which best represent the development of language,not only records the distinctive social phenomena,but also showcases people's value and attitude.Catchphrases can be regarded as the record of a certain period of time,which can bring back people's memories and help the offspring to better understand the present period.In this sense,the study of catchphrases plays a very crucial role in both the development and enrichment of language,and the recording of history.Existing research on catchphrases has been done from many perspectives.Among them are the studies on the nature of catchphrases including the origin of them,the reason for their popularity,their spreading channels etc.,and the interdisciplinary studies from the angles of sociology,psychology,journalism,etc..However,regarding to comprehension of catchphrases,the existing studies are mostly concerned with its causes,process and modes of transmission,while their comprehension in context is rarely studied in a systematic way.Therefore,the present study aims to interpret the pragmatic meaning of catchphrases based on the context of their usage,probing into the cognitive process and characteristics of their interpretation.On the basis of this,the translation of catchphrases from Chinese into English could be done more precisely,and the translating principle and procedure could be given more thinking and inspiration.The study of catchphrases cannot be completely isolated from that of neologism and another relevant concept----hot words.These three concepts are connected with one another,thought each has its own unique features.To tell the similarities and differences of the three is what should be done prior to any detailed probing into them.Thus the present study first differentiates the definitions of the three concepts.Collecting and analyzing the definitions of catchphrases from both English and Chinese dictionaries,and those given by researchers at home and abroad,the present study gives its own working definition of catchphrases according to its research purpose,so that the very wide range of catchphrases is narrowed down into a workable research subject,i.e.the subject of the present study is non-topical catchphrases(would be called as catchphrases in the present study for simplicity).In accordance with by the working definition,the more valuable and research-worthwhile catchphrases are selected,and the research gets started.The source of the research subject comes first from "The Annual Top 10 Catchphrases" jointly released by Beijing Language University and National Language Resource Monitor and Research Center from 2002 to 2013,second from"The Report on Language Situation in China" released by the National Language Committee from 2005 to 2013,and third from "The Annual Top 10 Catchphrases"released by Yaowenjiaozi(weighing words with excessive attention and deliberation)—a journal finding faults with the use of language in public media around China and trying to defend the purity of Chinese language—from 2008 to 2013.Different types of non-topical catchphrases are analyzed,and of them,several cases from different types are used to help with the analysis.Discourses containing those catchphrases are searched on the Internet by typing them as key words in popular searching engines such as Baidu.Within the theoretical frameworks of Lexical Pragmatics,under the principle of the balance between the cognitive effect and processing effort from Relevance Theory,the catchphrases are analyzed to inquire into the comprehension of their pragmatic meanings based on the context.The findings of the present study are summarized as follows:1.The pragmatic meaning of words is three-dimensional:conceptual,interpersonal and rhetorical.The semantic broadening of catchphrases is progressing shoulder to shoulder with their transmission.During the process,the more abstract conceptual meanings are kept intact,while the original contextual features are lost,so that the catchphrases could be used in diverse contexts to express the proper meanings of the speakers.In this case,the contextualization of catchphrases becomes the best means to interpret their pragmatic meanings.As to the dimension of interpersonal meaning,the conformist mentality and novelty-pursuing psychology make it a growing tendency and an effective method for people to use catchphrases to identify themselves as a member of a certain community.Besides,the signs and hints of almost imperceptible fineness,from the use of catchphrases which are loaded with abundant cultural information,will bring listeners into the presence of an enriched concept unlike any other,adding to its rhetorical effect.2.The rich pragmatic meaning of catchphrases makes their cognitive process a unique one.It is for sure that the cognition of catchphrases adheres to the general principle governing pragmatic enrichment.Their interpretation covers both their explicature and implicature,both of which should be comprehended with resort to the contextual information.Yet the special cognitive mechanism highlights some of the pragmatic enrichment methods.Some methods such as broadening,metaphorization and cognitive association stand out as more valid and commonly-used.This is in accordance with the features of the pragmatic meaning of catchphrases:indeterminacy,opaqueness,metaphorization and allusiveness.After pragmatic enrichment,the comprehension of catchphrases will wipe out ambiguity,determine reference,and contextualize lexical meaning,while the obstacles in communication will be smoothed away and the cognitive effect will be achieved.3.Regarding the translation of fad Chinese words into English,some strategies in translation are suggested:direct translation based on the utterance meaning;free translation based on the pragmatic meaning;direct translation based on the utterance meaning plus connotation.The present study expands the scope of lexical pragmatics by focusing on the contextualization of catchphrases.The discussion on the distinctive cognitive process of catchphrases also complements the existing research on pragmatic enrichment.In addition,the present study has implication for the procedure of catchphrases translation.Finally,the present study brings benefit to the fields of lexicography,lexicology and cross-cultural communication.It is suggested that in future study,contextual factor could be elaborated,and quantitative analysis could be adopted as well,supplementing the qualitative analysis in this research,so as to make the study of catchphrases more scientific and universal. |
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