A Cognitive Study Of Chinese Netspeak Neologisms From The Perspective Of Conceptual Integration Theory

With the emergence of new things and new phenomena,Chinese netspeak neologisms featured with briefness,vividness,productiveness and humor are constantly updated and get more and more widely used in our daily life.As a special linguistic phenomenon,the emergence and the popularity of Chinese netspeak neologisms have received much attention from scholars.At present,the researches of Chinese netspeak neologisms have been mainly carried out from the aspects of classification,semantics,translation,teaching Chinese as a foreign language and cognition.However,the study of Chinese netspeak neologisms from the perspective of cognition still needs to be enriched,especially the study on exploring the meaning construction process of Chinese netspeak neologisms from the perspective of conceptual integration.Conceptual Integration Theory is taken as the theoretical framework in this paper.84 Chinese netspeak neologisms in the annual Top Ten Catchwords published by YAOWEN JIAOZI from 2008 to 2017 are selected as the research subjects.Qualitative analysis is applied to analyze the meaning construction process of Chinese netspeak neologisms.In light of the previous studies and the characteristics of the collected data,Chinese netspeak neologisms are divided into five categories:abbreviated words,compound words,homophonic words,analogical words and old words with new meaning.Case studies of the five categories of Chinese netspeak neologisms are analyzed in conceptual integration networks,which aim to cover the cognitive mechanism behind the meaning of Chinese netspeak neologisms.The study has found that the process of the meaning construction of abbreviated words and homophonic words can be explained in double-scope network;the meaning construction of compound words can be interpreted by both double-scope network and mirror network;simplex network can be used to analyze the meaning construction process of analogical words;old words with new meaning can be illustrated through mirror network,single-scope network and double-scope network.By comparison,it is discovered that double-scope network has higher applicability in explaining different kinds of Chinese netspeak neologisms and has a stronger explanatory power in interpreting the process of meaning construction.In addition,the meaning construction of Chinese netspeak neologisms is not a simple semantic overlay,but a process of semantic integration based on combining relevant background knowledge and cultural context.It is the result of human cognition.It is expected to help people to understand the meaning of Chinese netspeak neologisms more accurately and profoundly by analyzing Chinese netspeak neologisms from the perspective of Conceptual Integration Theory.Meanwhile,this study also attempts to enrich the cognitive studies of Chinese netspeak neologisms.