A Cognitive Study Of Network Catchwords From The Perspective Of Conceptual Integration Theory

This paper applies the Conceptual Integration Theory to analyze the meaning construction of network catchwords, aiming at clarify ing the cognitive mechanism of the meaning processing of them, and offering a new research method for network catchwords. Conceptual integration theory is put forward by Fauconnier and Turner, which stems from the cognitive psychology area and traditionally develops from mental spaces theory. It mainly presents the projection and integration of conceptual elements. Conceptual integration theory has complete theoretical framework and sophisticated operating mechanism. As one of the most significant and influential theories in cognitive linguistic field, it has attracted great interest among researchers both at home and abroad in recent years. Conceptual integration network model is considered to be powerful in its cognitive force. Thus its application can provide the theoretical support for various linguistic phenomena study.With the popularity of computer and internet, more and more network catchwords are coming into being. It has become an indispensable part of human life. The popularity of network catchwords groups the Netizens together and is influencing people’s daily life increasingly and even the officially used language. The study of network catchwords has aroused a lot of interest in linguistic circles. Nevertheless, previous researches were conducted from the perspectives of the lexical, grammatical and phonological characteristics, rhetorical effects, pragmatic and sociological significances of network catchwords. Few of the researchers have carried out studies of network catchwords from cognitive perspectives, and little attention has been paid to the systematic and comprehensive explanations of network catchwords from the cognitive point of view. People’s living experiences and their understanding of the world have been making influences on their ways of producing new words. For this reason, the construction of each network catchword undoubtedly is constrained by people’s cognitive rules. The theory of cognitive linguistics helps people to comprehend the formation and development of network catchwords and therefore the present study attempts to analyze network catchwords from a perspective of cognitive linguistics. By means of cognitive analysis in CIT perspective, the blending process of interpreting network catchwords is explicated clearly. At the same time, the explanatory power of conceptual integration theory is proved as well.Network catchwords here refer to the words, phrases and expressions that become spontaneously popularized through widespread repeated usage on the internet. Such as the words“霉女”、“粉丝”、“蜗居”,and the phrases and expressions like’‘水能载舟,亦能煮粥”,“爱情就像鬼,听说的人多,遇见的人少”The present study is a new attempt to study network catchwords in CIT perspective. At the same time, it is to examine the great explanatory power of conceptual blending theory in this new language variety.The core part of this thesis is focused on analyzing the selected network catchwords in order to reveal the cognitive mechanism of comprehending network catchwords. Firstly, the cognitive steps of network catchwords in the frame work of conceptual integration theory are discussed. Secondly, the network catchwords are divided into three categories according to the way of word-formation, namely phonological variation, lexical variation, and semantic changes. Then, the network model of meaning construction of the network catchwords in each category is revealed respectively to testify the result of this research. Furthermore, network catchwords from four integration networks namely:single framing networks, framing networks, one-sided networks and two-sided networks are elaborated in order to explore the cognitive process of interpreting network catchwords further and prove that network catchwords can be comprehended more smoothly and better by adopting conceptual integration theory. This thesis is a qualitative study. Based on data collection, several methods such as the case study, introspective etc. are applied in the study. Description and explanation are combined in the study to reach a reliable result.This thesis consists of five chapters and the final conclusion. Chapter one is an introductory part, which presents the study background, organization and the hypotheses of the thesis, meanwhile the study significance, questions, objectives are also included. Chapter two makes a literature review of the previous studies on network catchwords and conceptual integration theory both at home and abroad. It also explores the theoretical foundation-CIT in great detail. Chapter three introduces the research methodology and data collection. Chapter four focuses on the dynamic meaning construction process of network catchwords in the theoretical framework of CIT. This chapter makes case study according to the classification of the network catchwords. Chapter five discusses the operation procedure of network catchwords according to the four types of conceptual integration networks respectively. The conclusion of the study summarizes the findings of the study. Moreover, its limitations as well as the prospects for further study are also discussed.