A Comparative Study On Netspeak Between English And Chinese From Semiotic Perspective

The advent and global use of the computer has resulted in the emergence of a new way ofcommunication—computer-mediated communication, while the widespread of Internet gives birth toa new kind of language—the language on the Internet or Netspeak. Netspeak is a new linguisticphenomenon with the spread of the Internet. It is an important research field in Applied Linguistics anddiscussed by many people. At present, many Western and Chinese linguists have taken up the study ofNetspeak, the topics of which are such as the nature, characteristics, forms, and norms of Netspeak.Although these researches are fruitful, they have limitations with the lack of scientific survey andempirical methods. Descriptive method alone is not enough for us to understand deeply the dynamicfeatures of Netspeak. In this paper the author chooses Netspeak in a broad sense as research objects,hoping that the research will be a tentative supplement to the study of Netspeak and semiotics.The thesis theoretically based upon the theories of Saussure’s linguistic signs and RolandBarthes’s, takes Netspeak signs in a broad sense as the research objects to analyze the features ofNetspeak between English and Chinese, specificly from the aspects of characteristics, word formation,signification and representation. The scope of analysis covers ways of word formation, signifier,signified, signification and metaphor. The thesis combines the quantitative and qualitative methods,and also applies the process of description, observation, analysis, and comparison. And then the resultsare described and analyzed.The results are the following. Firstly, the author admits that Netspeak is first a language variantand then a system of signs, and also states the Netspeak signs in English and in Chinese due tobelonging to different language families, thus have distinctive forms, while the word formationmethods are of few differences. As the combination of signifier and signified, the first importantfunction of a sign is to communicate and convey meaning. Through the research of the entire processof generation, development, loss of a sign, the author puts forward that the signifier and signified ofthe above two languages have made some change during transmission, and also have exerted influenceon the General Language. Furthermore, the author elaborates the metaphor, a way of signrepresentation. All in all, this thesis is a start point for further understanding and research of Netspeak.