An Analysis Of The Construction Of English Network Neologisms From The Perspective Of Cognitive Sociolinguistics

As the carrier of social and cultural communication,language is closely related to the progress and development of human civilization.In recent years,many neologisms have been produced and disseminated due to the fast leap and popularization of the Internet,and the way of people's expression in their daily lives has been influenced by the network neologisms,which has aroused the extensive attention of many scholars to research on network neologisms.At present,the research on network neologisms mainly focuses on the external features such as the etymology,usage and classifications of network neologisms,but there is little research on the semantic construction mechanism and lexical communication mechanism of network neologisms.Therefore,this thesis aims to make a complementary study from multiple perspectives to enrich the achievements of previous studies on network neologism.This thesis not only studies the formation and characteristics of network neologisms,but also analyzes the semantic construction mechanism and lexical communication mechanism,regarding network neologisms as part of the research scope of cognitive sociolinguistics.In order to enrich related research,271 network neologisms emerging from 2010 to 2018 are collected and classified by qualitative and quantitative methods,and the formation and characteristics of these neologisms are analyzed.Based on the collected data,this thesis probes into the form and meaning construction of network neologisms with the guidance of cognitive sociolinguistic theories including prototype theory,metaphor and metonymy theory,analogy as well as conceptual blending theory.In addition,it also discusses the communication and development tendency of network neologisms from the perspective of cognitive sociolinguistics.This thesis aims to answer the following three questions:(1)What are the word-formation characteristics of network neologisms?(2)What is the semantic construction mechanism of network neologisms?(3)What is the communication mechanism of network neologisms?Through the study,it is found that network neologisms are mainly created by meansof compounding,derivation,blending,abbreviation,conversion,analogy.At the same time,emoticons,as special forms of network neologisms,are also adopted.Based on the analysis of collected data,this study finds that the form and meaning construction of network neologisms is the result of people's categorization and conceptualization of the objective world by using metaphor,metonymy,analogy and conceptual blending.In addition,this thesis analyzes the communication of network neologisms from the aspects of communication foundations,modes,approaches and cyberspace participants,and points out that the communication form of the network neologisms accords with the three social semantic relations in cognitive sociolinguistics,which can help to promote the fast communication of network neologisms.With the popularization of network and the application of English,the uniqueness of network neologisms will become more and more prominent,thus the study of network neologisms is getting more and more prominent.In the framework of cognitive sociolinguistics,this thesis makes an in-depth study of network English neologisms from the sociality and cognition of language,which is instructive to the cognitive sociolinguistic study of network neologisms.