A Cognitive Semantic Study Of English Network Neologisms In WST100L

China Internet Network Information Center?CNNIC?released the44^th Statistical Report on Internet Development in China showing that by June 2019,the number of Internet users in China had reached 854 million and the Internet penetration rate was 61.2%.Network has become an indispensable part of people‘s daily life.And because of its high speed and efficiency,network communication has become a preferred way for people to keep in touch with each other.Network language arises with the highly development of network communication and network neologisms mushroom in people's network communication every day.Nowadays,network neologisms have become a hot topic in linguistic researches.Previous studies mainly focus on the classification,formation,or features of network neologisms,as well as the social or cultural factors leading to their prevalence.Although some studies analyze the network neologisms from the perspective of cognitive linguistics,the meaning construction processes of those neologisms require further exploration and enrichment.Also,there are relatively few explorations of the cognitive motivations for the occurrence of the network neologisms in these studies.The research objects of this thesis are 100 English network neologisms selected from?Top100 List?of an authoritative foreign neologism website—Word Spy?https://www.wordspy.com/??WST100L,for short?.The WST100L is made up of the 100 most popular English network neologisms,which sometimes has minor updates.Quantitative method and qualitative method are adopted to systematically analyze and study these English neologisms by using the Conceptual Blending Theory.This study aims to answer the following three questions:?1?How are the English network neologisms in WST100L formed?And what are their semantic features??2?How are the meanings of the English network neologisms in WST100L constructed??3?What are the cognitive motivations for the meaning construction of English network neologisms in WST100L?The significance of this thesis exists in the following three aspects:Firstly,the data of this study are from?Top100 List?,therefore,the research objects are innovative and typical.Secondly,this thesis is based on the quantitative analysis which makes this study more objective.Thirdly,this thesis tries to make a deeper and systematic study of English network neologisms from the perspective of cognitive linguistics.It can help people understand the connotation of English neologisms better,and provide references for second language teaching,especially English vocabulary teaching.Through detailed analysis and study,this thesis has the following findings:?1?English network neologisms in WST100L are primarily formed by compounding,blending,affixation,analogy and shortening.On the one hand,compounding and blending account for the largest proportion,which are 44%and 37%respectively,especially the subordinate compounds and the?head+tail?blending;On the other hand,the formation of English network neologisms in WST100L depends greatly on fixed words.The semantic features of these neologisms include semantic salience,high degree of conciseness,metaphor,metonymy and semantic analogy.?2?The meaning construction process of English network neologisms in WST100L can be explained by the five types of integration networks proposed by the Conceptual Blending Theory.And the meaning construction process of most English network neologisms in WST100L is based on the context of the internet.The meaning construction of neologisms formed by compounding and blending is more complex and it includes four basic types of networks of the Conceptual Blending Theory—Simplex Network,Mirror Network,Single-scope Network and Double-scope Network,while that of the other three kinds of word-formation ways only contains one or two types networks of the Conceptual Blending Theory.What‘s more,it is worth noticing that in some neologisms formed by affixation,a more complex network—Multiple Blending Network is operated.?3?The cognitive bases for the meaning construction of English network neologisms in WST100L are as follows:encyclopedic knowledge structure,cognitive salience,principle of cognitive economy and social factor.