Contemporary Chinese Neologism Word To Use Their Social Differences Research

This is a sociolinguistic research on the social variation of old words with new meaning. Based on the data collected from a survey investigating Beijing residents'usage and attitude towards old words with new meaning via questionnaire and interview, the research analyzes the correlation between the usage of old words with new meaning and the speakers'social characteristics.The subjects of the research are Beijing taxi drivers, middle school students, college students and teachers. From the internal differences of the usage of each group, the recognition rate of the new meaning for the taxi drivers is inversely proportional to the age, the utilization rate of the middle age group slightly is higher than the youth, and the words with new meaning spread from the younger to older drivers; the recognition rate, the utilization rate and commonly usage rate for the urban drivers are higher than that of the suburban drivers, and the words with new meaning spread from urban to suburban drivers. The gender differences of middle school students and college students in recognition rate, utilization rate and commonly used rate of the new meaning are not obvious, the words with new meaning spread from male to female students; Teachers'recognition rate and utilization rate of the new meaning are inversely proportional to the age, and the words with new meaning spread from the younger to older teachers.The usage of the new meaning shows the occupational differences. Drivers and teachers know the most of the old meaning; College students know the most of the new meaning and the drivers know the minimum. From the relationship of the recognition rate of the old meaning and new meaning, the recognition rate of the old meaning is higher than that of the new meaning in each group. From the usage of the new meaning, the groups with highest utilization of the new meaning are the middle school and college students, and the drivers and teachers are lower; the commonly used rate of the new meaning of middle school students is the highest, while the drivers'is the lowest. From the pathway of recognization of new meaning, taxi drivers recognize the new meaning mainly through the televisions and radios; middle school students recognize the new meaning mainly through the network and their friends; college students recognize the new meaning mainly through the network; teachers mainly through the network, and few words are known from their students. From the usage objects and styles, the taxi drivers use the words with new meaning with their peers in spoken language; the middle school and college students use the words with new meaning with their classmates and friends mainly in spoken and network language, and some words are used in written language; teachers use the words with new meaning with their young colleagues and friends in spoken and network language, and few words are used in written language. Teachers also use the words with new meaning with their students in the need of work.From the language attitude, middle school students and taxi drivers use the words with new meaning in order to pursue fashion; college students and teachers use the words with new meaning in order to have a harmonious conversation atmosphere. The conversation with the words with new meaning will result in communication barriers, but the functions of the words with new meaning reflecting new things and concept are generally recognized. People will relate the words with new meaning with "fashion and vanguard". Students intend to be optimistic about the prospect of the words with new meaning. Teachers intend to be cautious on the prospect of the words with new meaning, and they hope that the words with new meaning can obtain some norms and guidance.