Neologisms Of Current English And Chinese In The Pluralistic Society

Vocabulary is the most active component of language. Neologisms refer to the words and expressions created to express new things, new concepts, new ideas, new experiences, and new problems in written and oral communication. The neologisms have witnessed the developments of science and technology; they also reflected great changes in political, economic, social, cultural fields. Meanwhile, China has been carrying out a serious of political and economic reforms, which have brought about amazing developments in different fields. Thus, magnitudes of neologisms have appeared both in English and Chinese. These neologisms are a great challenge to those who learn English and Chinese as a foreign language of the second language.The purpose of this thesis is to provide an exploration of neologisms both in English and Chinese. In general, five chapters compose this thesis, mainly dealing with the classifications of semantic changes, and characteristics and its origins. The author also elaborates the relationship between neologisms and society, and the interaction between neologisms and culture. Neologisms involved mainly come from A Dictionary of Contemporary Chinese New Words 《现代汉语新词词典》 , A Dictionary of Contemporary Chinese Neologisms 《现代汉语新词词典》, Xinhua Dictionary of New Words 《新华新词语字典》 , New Age Concise Chinese-English Dictionary 《新华新词语字典》 , Oxford Dictionary of New words 《英汉大词典 (补编)》 and other dictionaries, and the rest are chosen from several online dictionaries. Therefore, all the Chinese neologisms in this thesis were translated in English.The thesis elaborates the purpose and significance of the research on neologisms and a brief review of studying neologisms, as well as the development of research field This thesis presents a picture of the definitions, classifications, origins, characteristics and pragmatic aspects of neologisms. There are three origins of neologisms both in English and Chinese: 1) borrowing words from other countries, 2) creating new words with native word elements, 3) adding new meanings to old words. And then, the writer tries to be objective, factual and calmly analytical in putting forward the classifications of neologisms, politics and economy, science and technology, education and personnel training, and intercultural contact and social life.The analysis of semantic features of English and Chinese neologisms establishes on a base of their characteristics. Transparency, vividness, generalization,specialization and affective meanings are shared features, which can be found among English and Chinese neologisms. To understand semantic change, one should be aware of how it is produced. Linguistic factors and extra-linguistic factors can analyze them.The creative point of this thesis lies in the interaction between neologisms, society and culture. The socio-cultural features of English and Chinese neologisms are analyzed with sociolinguistic theories. Language develops with society. Thus, social changes and developments are the major force to coin neologisms. Among all the social factors, scientific and technological Progress, political and economic development, and growth in the living standard are the most influential factors. As the world tends to be a globe village, different nations and peoples can share more and more products, physical and spiritual. English and Chinese neologisms spawned in such an international situation tend to have more and more equivalents, which can be reflected from English and Chinese neologisms.English and Chinese are both among the widely used languages in the world. Theoretically and practically, it is of great significance to analyze and compare English and Chinese neologisms comprehensively. Theoretically, it helps linguists and language teachers understand the rules and trends better, which govern the development of languages. Practically, in foreign language learning or communication, it can help foreign language learners and language native-speakers get more information about the two different language...