A Study Of "Shejian Shang De X" From The Perspective Of Memetics Theory

Catchword refers to a type of language that is widely spread in a certain period of time,which can reflect the social culture and local customs at that time.Because of its rich expressivity and lasting vitality,catchword has always been the research emphasis of contemporary linguists.Since the food documentary A Bite of China was broadcasted by CCTV on May 2012,which pronounces “Shejian Shang De Zhongguo” in Chinese,the catchword “Shejian Shang De X” became one of the most popular catchwords in recent years.Based on detailed language data,this thesis analyzes the catchword “Shejian Shang De X” under the guidance of Memetics theory to reveal how and why this catchword can be widely replicated and transmitted,and to further predict the prospect of its development.Memetics,first proposed by the British scholar Richard Dawkins,is used to explain the cultural evolution based on the viewpoints of Darwin's evolution theory.It has been applied into the fields of sociology,anthropology,psychology,and linguistics etc.According to Dawkins,language itself is a kind of meme.Based on this view,a lot of scholars have applied Memetics theory into language study,including the research on foreign language teaching,translation,advertising language,rhetoric and catchwords etc.However,most researches on the catchwords mainly concentrate on the whole description and explanation of catchwords,but there is nearly no research about a specific catchword based on Memetics theory.In order to analyze the catchword “Shejian Shang De X” comprehensively and systematically,this thesis collects 200 corpus containing “Shejian Shang De X” on the Internet.Through the analysis of the corpus,this thesis will sort out different variants of “Shejian Shang De X” from the perspectives of structure and meaning.Then,this thesis will analyze its transmission process the influencing factors during the process based on the life cycle theory in Memetics.Finally,the development prospects of “Shejian Shang De X” will be predicted subjectively.On this basis,this thesis has the following major findings:First of all,the meme variants of “Shejian Shang De X” prove that it is a strong linguistic meme.From the perspectives of structure and meaning,“Shejian Shang De X” owns the ability to produce abundant expressions,which to some degree proves its fecundity.Through analyzing the types of “X”,it is found that disyllable nouns account for 45.5% in the corpus,highly in accordance with the original form,thus proving its high copying-fidelity.From the perspective of time,since it has been popular since 2012,the linguistic meme “Shejian Shang De X” owns the high longevity compared to other catchwords.Fecundity,high copying-fidelity and longevity make this catchword a strong linguistic meme.Secondly,the linguistic meme “Shejian Shang De X” gets widely transmitted through completing the four stages of memetic life cycle successfully.The course from the broadcast of TV program to the spring-up of catchword “Shejian Shang De X” reflects four stages of a memetic life cycle: assimilation,retention,expression and transmission.In this process,this linguistic meme successfully steps into next stage because it meets the selection criteria in each stage,which helps it successfully complete the life cycle and get widely transmitted.Thirdly,in the transmission process,the linguistic meme “Shejian Shang De X” is influenced by both internal and external factors.The internal factors mainly refer to the quality of linguistic meme itself and the rhetorical function of metonymy.The external factors mainly refer to influence of background event,meme hosts and vehicles,and social tolerance.These internal and external factors work jointly,ensuring the wide transmission of linguistic meme “Shejian Shang De X”.Fourthly,the future development of linguistic meme “Shejian Shang De X” can be predicted as follows: the selection of component “X” will become more diversified,the application of “Shejian Shang De X” will become broader,and some other variants of this linguistic meme will be produced.However,some factors including the declining salience of background event,the length of this catchword and people's psychology of pursuing fashion may limit its development,even making it no more popular.In a word,this thesis aims at making a tentative study on catchword “Shejian Shang De X”.Based on the analysis of language data,the variant characteristics,transmission process and influencing factors of “Shejian Shang De X” as a strong linguistic meme are revealed.The findings of this thesis to some extent enrich the case study of catchword,and contribute to the application of memetics theory from perspectives of specific language phenomenon.