On The Features Of Lexicon Of Internet Language In China-From The Perspective Of The Theory Of Linguistic Adaptation

Internet language is a kind of linguistic form which emerges along with thedevelopment of internet. It is a type of linguistic variety which represents the cultureof internet and brings tremendous impact on our languages. Internet language hasbecome an attractive research field in modern linguistics. Lexicon of internetlanguage, which has specific characteristics and grows fast, has drawn attention frommany linguists. We may observe the process of the use of the lexicon and find out thecauses of language change and variation.Internet language has been studied from many different perspectives. Thestructure and word-building of the words and expressions used on line are the twoaspects which have been much discussed by linguists. But on the whole, the studies inthis field are still preliminary. More investigations are needed to find out otherfeatures of the lexicon. Besides, the research approaches to the causes of thesefeatures are rather limited.This study summarizes the features of lexicon of internet language in the aspectsof structure, pronunciation, meaning and deixis through qualitative and quantitativeanalyses of a vocabulary composed of3002Chat Terms, Internet Technology Termsand Special Network Terms. After that, the causes of the features are discussed in atheoretical framework based on the Theory of Linguistic Adaptation.This thesis consists of seven chapters. Chapter One introduces the researchbackground and arrangement of the thesis. Chapter Two defines lexicon of internetlanguage, reviews the relevant literature, analyzes the limitations of the previousstudies and finds out the breakthrough points and research aims of the present study.Chapter Three describes the research questions, data collection, research instruments,and data analysis in detail. Chapter Four introduces the theoretical framework of thepresent study. It reviews the core concepts and four research angles of the Theory ofLinguistic Adaptation and then builds the theoretical framework of the present studyon the basis of this theory. Chapter Five and Six are the focus points of the thesis.Chapter Five analyzes the features of lexicon of internet language by pinpointing theproportions of lexical items of different structures, comparing the pronunciation andmeaning of lexicon of internet language and those of Standard Chinese lexicon andStandard English lexicon, and describing the forms and functions of indexical expressions used in online communications. Chapter Six explains the causes of thefeatures. It describes the linguistic adaptations taking place in the aspects of contextand structural objects in the framework based on the Theory of Linguistic Adaptationto find out the causes of the features of the lexicon. Chapter Seven summarizes themajor findings and concludes the limitations of the study, and suggests someimplications for studies in future.The innovation of this study is to analyze an emerging linguistic variety with arelatively new perspective to find out the causes of language change and variation.Besides, it improves the Theory of Linguistic Adaptation through using this theory inthe field of language change and variation and enhancing the applicability of thetheory.