| Language change occurs over time.Netspeak is a unique linguistic phenomenon and a new way of communication.Economic development,linguistic evolution and change in human thinking pattern make netspeak particularly important,for netspeak is a highly sensitive,interesting,direct and innovative way to reflect such trends,and even more ambitiously,can lead to novel trends.This thesis addresses cognitive meaning construction in Chinese Netspeak driven by conceptual integration networks which are commonly held in the cognitive linguistic world to be functioning in general human thinking,including language.The theoretical framework applied in this study is the Conceptual Integration Theory proposed and developed mainly by Gilles Fauconnier and Mark Turner,which has been proved to be applicable in the explanation in varied areas of human thinking.The five levels of Chinese Netspeak that have been investigated in this research are phonological,lexical,semantic,syntactic and iconic.It is important to emphasize that Chinese Netspeak consists of characters,English words,emoticons,symbols,figures,code-switching and so on constructed through various conceptual integration networks.The samples collected and the typical cases analyzed in this study are real data from several kinds of Internet software like BBS,Wechat,QQ.The criterion for sampling is that the chosen samples should be catchy expressions originally created in on-line communication or ‘frozen’ expressions in ordinary Chinese which have suddenly become ‘melted’ and hot on the Internet.The aim of the present study is to provide a new perspective on the analysis of netspeak and to delve into the underlining cognitive meaning construction mechanisms of Chinese Netspeak in the hope to answer such questions as why certain netspeak may become catchy,while others may not.This thesis consists of six chapters.Chapter One is an introduction,focusing on the background to the present study,its significance and the methodology applied.Chapter Two reviews the related and relevant literature,citing and analyzing the major findings which have been done by researchers both at home and abroad,in anattempt to give a panorama of netspeak analysis from a number of distinct perspectives.Chapter Three presents the theoretical framework in this study,namely the Conceptual Integration Theory(CIT)co-proposed by Gilles Fauconnier and Mark Turner.Chapter Four explores in detail the characteristics and categories of Chinese Netspeak at the phonological,lexical,semantic,syntactic and iconic levels as a basis for a further analysis in the following chapter.Chapter Five illustrates how meaning is cognitively constructed in Chinese Netspeak through the application of the Conceptual Integration Theory to the analysis of different categories of Chinese Netspeak.Chapter Six concludes the thesis by listing the major findings,limitations and prospects for future study. |
