A Study Of Cognitive Mechanism Of Conceptual Metonymy In Netspeak

In recent years, along with the development of computer multimedia developmentand the spread of the internet, more and more people communicate on the internet.Netspeak, a new language variety, has come into being. Its appearance has attracted manylinguists’ attention. Currently, most studies of Netspeak are conducted from perspective oflexicology, semantics and pragmatics. In this thesis, the author attempts to analyzeChinese Netspeak based on the cognitive linguistic theory of conceptual metonymy andexplores the meaning construction of metonymies from internet.The paper attempts to testify whether the theory of conceptual metonymy possesses alarger explanatory power to the formation of Netspeak compared with conceptualmetaphor theory. It tries to analyze the condition, method and consequence of meaningconstruction of Netspeak neologisms in perspective of conceptual metonymy. This thesisalso attempts to explore the generative motivation of compounds and coined words inNetspeak. In the meantime, the present paper explores the cultural and mental motivationshidden in the meaning construction of Netspeak. Based on the findings of this research, itexplains the powerful effect that metonymy and metonymic thinking brings about inconstructing new words and new ideas in the rapid advance of science and technology.Metonymy and metaphor are two different cognitive phrases in the development ofhuman thinking. Both of them are necessary in human’s cognitive activity. The theory ofconceptual metonymy is an essential subject in cognitive linguistics and it is a radicalmethod in constructing new words. The researches on conceptual metonymy have beenattracting more and more scholars and researchers both at home and abroad.Based on the theory of conceptual metonymy, the research begins with collecting thedata of Netspeak from Living Conditions of Chinese Language Report, internet languagedictionary, forum, blog, BBS, websites or other resources of natural language and then thepaper classifies the data according to three types of metonymy: referential metonymy,predicational metonymy and speech act metonymy, and make linguistic analysis andinductive reasoning, trying to explicate the process of meaning construction of Netspeakin perspective of conceptual metonymy and the multiple motivations hidden in Netspeak. The paper has proved that most coined words in Netspeak are really generated basedon conceptual metonymy for that metonymy is an important method in constructing newwords. And indeed, metonymy possesses a larger explanatory power to the formation ofNetspeak. The process of meaning construction of metonymies in Netspeak is based onsemantic and phonetic contiguity, salience and contextual relevance. There exits culturaland mental motivations to facilitate the operation of conceptual metonymy mechanismfluently. Metonymic thinking is accordance with the features of today’s society that can bedemonstrated by language. The findings of the study will testify the metonymy andmetonymic thinking takes a part in bringing about new words and new ideas in the rapidadvance of science and technology.It is hoped that findings of the research will make contribution to a betterunderstanding and comprehension of formation of Netspeak in view of cognitivelinguistics. Meanwhile, the present paper is supposed to be able to provide a newperspective and lend support to the theory of conceptual metonymy.