Memetic Perspective Of Netspeak

Recent years have witnessed fast development of computer and Internet technology, which has exerted great impact on our lives. It brings people not only a technological revolution, but also a linguistic revolution. A new language variation—netspeak, are being commonly used on the Internet even in our daily life. Under such circumstances, netspeak has attracted attention from all circles. So study on netspeak is an urgent demand.Nowadays, more and more scholars are interested in netspeak. Previous researches are mainly about the notion, general features and lexical features of netspeak. But there are few researches on the generation and transmission of netspeak. In light of this phenomenon, the author provides an attempt at investigating and analyzing it from the perspective of memetics.Memetics is a newly rising theory for interpreting cultural evolution and social phenomenon. According to Oxford English Dictionary, a meme is a cultural transmission unit that can spread from one individual to another by non-genetic means. As a kind of meme, language meme plays an important role in the development of the language. Its copying and spreading provide another way to fertilize human languages. Netspeak, as a new language variation, is closely connected to memes. In the thesis, the author argues that not all the netspeak will survive in the process of transmission, many of which will vanish while some will survive. What on earth will survive in the process? Although some scholars have answered the question, most of the criteria are too general. Therefore, they can not be used to analyze specific matters. Attributed to the special Internet environment, the selection criteria of netspeak are distinct. So the netspeak has its own selection criteria. In the thesis, five criteria are proposed, which are simplicity, novelty, informality, expressivity and conformity.To demonstrate those criteria, the author proposes the theoretical framework of memetic adaptation by combining memetics and adaptation theory.. On the basis fo memetic adaptation, three worlds are analyzed:the mental world, the physical world, and the society. In the selection process, the netspeak is always restricted by the three worlds. Therefore, the selection process of netspeak is the adaptation process of netspeak to these three worlds.The research indicates that the netspeak is result of netizens'adaption to the three worlds—mental world, physical world and society—with the impact of memes. This study is a tentative research conducted by analyzing the collected data. It is hoped that the study will be profitable to the field of netspeak research.