Causes of the creation of online game languages in Glory of Kings

张靖

【Abstract】The development of online games act as a catalyst for online game languages. As an online game， Glory of Kings is popular among players. The current study analyzes the causes of the creation of online game languages in Glory of Kings from linguistic perspectives. Findings suggest that compound， abbreviation， metaphor and metonymy are the causes of the creation of online game languages. Future study should update online game languages and find other causes of the creation of online game languages.

【Key word】online game languages;Glory of Kings; compound;abbreviation;metaphor;metonymy

1.Introduction

Glory of Kings is one of the most famous online games in China. Players have create their own online game languages while playing the game， and this special linguistic phenomenon is worth exploring. Many studies have generally investigate the formations and applications of online language through different perspectives （Yu， 2001; Qiu， 2005; Liu， 2010）. Several studies start to focus the online game languages （Zeng， 2006; Liu， 2004）， however， these studies all start with the characteristics and end with the advises for better usages. To fill the gap， the current study analyzes the causes of the creation of online game languages in Glory of Kingsfrom linguistic point of view.

2.Compound and abbreviation

Compounding is one of the oldest ways of word formation. Compounding refers to the process of conjoining two or more free morphemes to form a new word （Yu， 2011）. The example of compound is “秒開！”， here “秒” and “开”are different morphemes， and the first morpheme modifies the second morpheme. The first morpheme is the unit of time， it means， in a very short time. The second morpheme is a verb， it is the act of starting to operate or function. This new word means to start a game very quickly.

Another common way to form a word is to abbreviate， or shorten a longer word. Abbreviations can also be made out of initials to stand for other words （Yang，2005）. For example， “GG” is the shorten form of “Good Game”， which means “I feel proud though defeated”.

3.Metaphor and Metonymy

Lakoff （1980） suggested that the world is metaphorical in nature. Metonymy works by the contiguity between two concepts， whereas the term "metaphor" is based upon their analogous similarity （Fass， 1988）.

The example of metaphor is “王者农药”. If you are over addicted to the game， then the “game” will turn out to be the “pesticide”.This means you have spend excessive money and time in virtual game， and it does harm to you just like the toxic pesticide.

The examples of metonymy is “First Blood”. Blood is red and always reminds people with bad things. In this game “First Blood”refers to the death of the first player killed by the enemy， it heralds misfortune and the tension among players.

4.Conclusion

Compound， abbreviation， metaphor and metonymy are the causes of the creation of online game languages in Glory of Kings. To some degree this study expands the research of online game languages both theoretically and practically. However， the current study only focuses part of the causes of the creation of online game languages. Thus， future research should compare different online games and update online game languages to have a better understanding to the causes of the  creation of online game languages.

References：

[1]Fass，Dan（1988）.“Metonymy and metaphor：what's the difference？” Proceedings of the 12th conference on Computational linguistics.

[2]Lakoff，George （1980）.Metaphors We Live By.Chicago：University of Chicago Press.

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