A Study Of Chinese Netspeak Parody Word Meme From Complementary Perspective Of Conceptual Integration Theory

Parody is a kind of improvisation and created by imitating an existing format.By imitating a familiar word, sentence, or text to create new content with fresh vigor,parody always attracts people’s attention easily in linguistics. The imitation feature ofparody caters to the novelty and divergent pursuit of the psychological tendencies ofnetizens. Thus, parody swiftly becomes a main means used by netizens to make anetspeak forms. We call them the netspeak parody. Netspeak parody word (NPW) isthe data of this paper. The author divides the data into three types according to theimitation feature.Dawkins proposes Memetics to explain the law of cultural evolution with thefoundation of the Darwin’s evolution theory. A meme, created by Dawkins firstlythrough an analogy with gene, refers that thought or idea is imitated and propagatedeach other in the artistic field and passed down from generation to generation. As thetransmission tool of thought or idea, it is undoubtedly that language is a kind of ratherimportant meme. Language follows the same laws of the meme’s replication andtransmission also.Although Memetics owns strong explanatory power for netspeak parody due tothe feature of parody (imitation), slightly less than in the interpretation ofpsychological spaces and online meaning construction of netspeak parody. It is exactlythat Conceptual Integration Theory (CIT) can provide a powerful supplement to thesetwo aspects.This paper is divided into five parts. An introduction to the study, the aim andsignificance of the research, the questions to be solved and the arrangement of thethesis is given in the chapter one.Chapter two is a literature review. First of all, the author discusses thedefinitions of parody. Then the author has a review of research on netspeak andnetspeak parody and previous studies of Memetics and at home abroad and CIT. Chapter three introduces the theories involved into this thesis-Memetics and CITand illustrates the new perspective that this paper puts forward-complementary ofCIT for Memetics and classification of Chinese netspeak parody word in the presentstudy.Chapter four is the analysis of cases. According to the most dominantcharacteristic of the parody-imitation, netspeak parody word is divided into three types:the phonetic similarity, structural similarity, semantic similarity. From thecomplementary perspective of Conceptual Integration Theory for Memetics, this papermakes the analysis for the three types. According to the analysis, this paper gets theconclusion that the CIT supplies five complementary aspects to the life circle of memein the assimilation and expression process. Firstly, CIT provides a detailed explanationfor the mental space operation of assimilation happening in our mind. Secondly, CIT isbenefit for the concretion of meme unit. Thirdly, the CIT makes the vital relationsamong memes more perspicuous. Fourthly, the CIT is helpful for the variation processlaying out of meme in expression stage. Fifthly, CIT is one prevailing explanation forthe meme online meaning construction.The last chapter is a conclusion for this paper. Despite the fact that there aresome research consequents are listed, some questions still unsolved, so that the furtherresearches on these issues are ardently expected.