Research On Chinese Network Hot Words Based On Cognitive Sociolinguistics

The iterative development of the internet and artificial intelligence has had a profound impact on people’s linguistic lives,altering their language psychology and cognitive perspectives.Amidst the changing landscape of language,vocabulary(lexicon)stands out as the most sensitive,responsive,and information-rich component.Vocabulary,within the language system,is like bricks to a building,and trendy words within vocabulary are akin to the building blocks.This paper,using the discrete characteristics of semantic elements as a benchmark,defines the concept of internet trendy words and distinguishes it from similar terms like "internet slang." It further classifies internet trendy words from a morphological perspective,discussing their generation and development,the phenomenon of old words undergoing variation within them,and the propagation of internet trendy words.Internet trendy words born in the Chinese online social environment are primarily composed of words and short phrases.The data source consists of annual lists selected from three major platforms,including new words and words and phrases from internet slang.New words capture new changes in societal language,reflecting the shared experiences of language and society,forming the basic vocabulary based on traditional Chinese word formation.In contrast,words and phrases from internet slang are unconventional linguistic creations resulting from the uniqueness of the internet context,changes in communication patterns,and the psychological needs of the new generation of internet users.Internet trendy words can be classified into three levels based on their morphological components:the first level includes Chinese characters and others,with Chinese characters further divided into old word variations,new words,neologisms,and neologistic phrases,while the others include alphabetic,numeric,symbolic,and mixed categories.The significance of classifying internet trendy words lies in observing the unique morphological types of this new form of social dialect and gaining insights into the future development of Chinese vocabulary.From a morphological perspective,internet trendy words are primarily composed of Chinese characters,with compound formations being dominant,and nouns being the predominant part of speech.In terms of form,Chinese character-based internet trendy words exhibit prominent class-affixation and homophonic phenomena,while other categories show features such as code-switching,code-mixing,and the textualization of spoken language.At its core,internet trendy words are a form of social dialect vocabulary.Studying them using cognitive sociolinguistics allows for a holistic examination that combines language,cognition,and society,integrating internal and external factors influencing vocabulary change.The variation in internet trendy words is primarily studied from the aspects of types of variation,derivation paths,variation manifestations(semantic and phonetic variations),factors influencing variation,and the structural evolution during variation processes.The types of variation primarily examine changes in meaning and pronunciation,with two main derivation paths being metaphor and metonymy.Three factors contribute to the variation of old words:changes in external objective conditions affecting cognitive processing,changes in communication patterns brought about by the emerging internet environment,and the adaptation of the internal language function to continuously meet new demands,leading to trendy word variation.The paper uses examples and diagrams to illustrate the process of old word variation into internet trendy words in detail.A typical trajectory of an internet trendy word from its birth to becoming popular consists of four stages:assimilation,memory,expression,and dissemination.When these stages are integrated with the concept of online community,the development trajectory of an internet trendy word can be discerned.Within this trajectory,several important nodes include hot information,online communities,dissemination entities,and cross-community propagation,ultimately entering the common language.Mobile internet possesses social characteristics and hosts a variety of different communities.Netizens engage in daily activities within these communities,and their fluidity enables popular words within one community to spread to others,completing the initial propagation.Furthermore,most netizens belong to multiple community groups,and there is a prevalence of cross-community phenomena,resulting in”community convergence." Community convergence amplifies the flow of information,driving the expansion of cognitive emotions,and can lead to the disorderly and magnified expression of societal emotions.As a new form of social dialect,internet trendy words have many aspects worth exploring.With the development of technology and society,it remains to be seen how internet trendy words will impact modern Chinese vocabulary and whether they themselves will undergo further changes.