A Study of Chinese Internet Language

王媛

【Abstract】Chinese Internet language， as one variety of Chinese language， has its own origins or features. The current paper tries to classify the Chinese Internet language tracing an analogy between the features of Chinese Internet language and lexical change in traditional morphological linguistics.

【Key words】Internet Language； Lexical change； Morphological Linguistics； Variation

I. Introduction

Internet slang， also called Internet shorthand， Cyber-slang， netspeak， chatspeak， or Cybertalk， refers to a variety of slang languages used by different communities on the Internet. With the development of Chinese Internet services， the Internet users gradually formed an Internet community， in which its members shared one variety of language with certain features and origins. In this paper， I try to classify this variation.

The traditional morphological way of classifying lexical changes will be used to classify Chinese Internet Language. There will be phonetic， phonological， grammatical， syntactical change and Lexical Variation.

II. Phonetic Variation

China enjoys a vast land and lots of regions， which result to a variety of dialects. People transfer their dialect to the Internet language when they communicate online， so there are a large number of phonetic variations in the Chinese Internet language used online.

·青蔥=青春 加入后鼻音 西北方言

·盆友=朋友 后鼻音脱落 部分南方地区方言

·灰常=非常 声母变化 闽粤地区方言

The reasons for their transfer vary： some people lack a proper knowledge of standard Mandarin pronunciation， and cannot type the exact word they intend， so they replace the right word with a misusing one； some want to keep a close distance with people from the same region； some use them just for fun. Whatever the reason is， lots of people tend to conventionalize these words when they communicate online.

Attention should be paid here that some changes are not dialect related：

·米有=没有 韵母变化

It is impossible for us to trace back to see who the first user is， and what his or her intention was. Maybe it was just a mistyping， but the popularity of this usage reflected a trend of language revolution.

III. Phonological Variation

Phonological variations are rarely found in Chinese Internet language due to the distinguishing features of the Chinese. However， some expressions， if not all， are borrowed from the western online community.

·B4=Before

·Q=Cute

·CUL8R=See You Laterendprint

·就酱紫=就这样子

The first four expressions， as similar pronunciation substitution， used mostly for typing efficiency， are from the common English communicating community. The last one is derived from Taiwan nonstandard Chinese.

IV. Grammatical and Syntactic Variation

Grammar and syntax are always considered the most stable part in a language with scarcely any change. However， in the causal and goal-directed online environment， better communication is the only rule. Besides， some changes reflect a language evolution tendency， in which vitality and efficiency are recommended.

·“被”字句 被就业

·Yous=你们 过度概括

·…ing=正在 e.g.：睡觉ing

·……的说=有……之说 动词后置，源于日语

As what we can observe from the examples， most of the variations are transferred from either grammars that exist in Chinese or other languages. These changes broaden the usage of the traditional grammar， and make the expression more precise， vivid and efficient.

V. Lexical Variation

Lexicon is always considered to be the most changeable and variable part in linguistics， so is that in Internet language. Several kinds of lexical variations are to be discussed here.

1. Invention

Those expressions are purely invented by individuals， who intended to refer to some newly-born signified.

·白蓮花=道德高尚为人纯洁

·Mary Sue=同人文中虚构出的强大完美主角

The virtual online world grows with the development of the society. Therefore， when some new things emerge in the society， there should be some corresponding new expressions to refer to in online communication simultaneously.

2. Loan Word

·本命=最喜欢的角色 （源自日语）

·心水=喜欢 （源于粤语）

The examples above are expressions borrowed from dialects and foreign languages and localized by Chinese online users for fetching up Chinese vocabulary vacancy or just for fun.

The discussion above mainly focuses on the classification of the Internet language according to the now available traditional lexical change classification. Future studies can concentrate more on how to categorize Internet language.

References：

[1]Hudson，R.A.（2000）.Sociolinguistics.Cambridge：Cambridge University Press.endprint