A Contrastive Study Of Chinese And English Words Of The Year(2016-2019)from The Perspective Of Conceptual Integration Theory

The emergence of neologisms reflects the diversity of expression and the uniqueness of its formation.Most of the existing literature only focuses on Chinese or English neologisms.There are few contrastive studies of Chinese and English neologisms.Because of the strong explanatory power of the Conceptual Integration Theory to the on-line meaning generation mechanism,this thesis makes a contrastive analysis of Chinese and English neologisms from the perspectives of origin,formation,and Conceptual Integration Theory.This thesis focuses on the following questions:(1)Where do Chinese and English neologisms come from? What are the similarities and differences between the two?(2)What are the formation means of Chinese and English neologisms? What are the similarities and differences between the two?(3)What are the cognitive mechanisms of Chinese and English neologisms within the framework of the Conceptual Integration Theory? This thesis selects215 Chinese and English new words of the year from 2016 to 2019,including 109 in Chinese and 106 in English.Combining quantitative and qualitative research methods,this thesis analyzes the cognitive generation mechanism of Chinese and English new words and uses the case study method to reveal the process of meaning construction of new words by Concept Integration Theory.The results show that:(1)Chinese and English neologisms have the same origins such as politics and economy,the Internet,social life,and screen culture.And the biggest origin of both is politics and economy and the smallest origin is screen culture.The difference is that Chinese neologisms have the origin of technology while English neologisms have the origin of slang and others.And the number of Chinese and English neologisms of the same origin is different.There are more new words from the Internet than from social life in Chinese while in English it is the opposite.(2)Chinese and English neologisms have the same formation means such as compounding,abbreviation,analogy,and old words with new meanings.And both of them are mainly formed by compounding.The differences are that Chinese neologisms have the formation means of homophony and borrowing while English neologisms have the formation means of blending and coinage.The neologisms formed in the same way are different in proportion.The order of Chinese neologisms’ formation means from more to less is abbreviation,analogy,old words with new meanings.The order of English neologisms’ formation means from more to less is old words with new meanings,abbreviation,analogy.(3)Conceptual Integration Theory can reflect the meaning construction mechanism of Chinese and English neologisms,and different types of conceptual integration network can analyze Chinese and English neologisms in different forms.The four types of conceptual integration network,including simplex,mirror,singlescope,and double-scope networks,can be used to analyze Chinese and English compound neologisms.The double-scope network can interpret abbreviated words and old words with new meanings.The simplex network can interpret analogical words.Besides,the doublescope network can analyze the homophonic and borrowed Chinese neologisms.The singlescope network can analyze English coinage neologisms,and the four types of conceptual integration network can analyze English blending neologisms.By studying the similarities and differences between Chinese and English neologisms,we can understand the basic situation of domestic and foreign development from the side.It can deepen the understanding of neologisms from the thinking level through the Conceptual Integration Theory.