A Memetic Research on the Characteristics of neologisms

◎黃婷

A Memetic Research on the Characteristics of neologisms

◎黃婷

From the perspective of memtics， the purpose of language is to explain the nature of cultural transmission based on Charles Darwin’evolutionism. Therefore， two key words of this paper can not be ignored： memes and neologisms. Neologisms provided with distinct characteristics can be found almost everywhere in the social network era， especially with the globalization of China. Besides， memes is the significant factor that affects the propagation.

1　Introduction

Memes is a unit of imitation，which conveys the idea of cultural transmission. In addition， Network neologism is the consequence of the development of language and the interactions of language and culture，which propels the improvement of nations. In modern society， the neologism is a tool without which people can not communicate. Therefore，it is significant to study memetics in revealing the nature of neologisms. Meanwhile， the author should attach importance to the law of the words. As the Internet becomes prevalent， a large number of new Internet words appear，which have greatly enriched the English vocabulary.

2　memetics and memes

Memetics is a new theory to make a study of the neologisms. However，memes is its fundamental concept. The word meme was created by Richard Dawkins in the book The Selfish Gene. The new replication factor meme derives from the Greek word mimema（“something imitated”）. It is the basic unit of imitation and culture transmission just as gene. Memetics researches everything， such as music，culture or fashion. All of them can take the shadow of the form of memes if it can be imitated and transmitted. A meme is a self-propagating idea. So the words develop and evolve in this mode. The neologisms， as a new language variation， have a close relationship with memes. The manufacturing of the network neologism based on the theory of memetics is a novel cognition. Memes is just like the language carriers of the transmission of information and culture， existing in people's brain respectively.

3　Three Characteristics of neologisms based on Memetics

With the rapid development of society， a lot of neologisms have been constantly appeared. They develop and spread far and wide. Memetics can account for some phenomena in natural language， especially in neologisms. The generation and transmission of neologisms goes through four stages. The following shows respectively：

3.1Novelty

What is novelty is that neologisms will not impose restrictions to words phrases， vocabulary sentences and even code switch. Neologisms possess the nature of inventiveness and vitality，which can catch people's eyes promptly. Consequently， neologisms will change the state of mind of people. For instance， Since the cyberword“Diaos” landing ， it's speed to rocket to fame on both sides of the Changjiang River. There is no doubt that Diaos means the opposite of Gao Shuai Fu that is full of half self-mockery and half reality.

The novelty of neologisms with new forms impress us easily that is gifted with an extraordinary retentive memory. The words are provided with unique semantic meanings. At last， we do readily assimilate.

3.2Simplicity

The characteristic of simplicity is conciseness and clarity. We prefer to use short sentences to express the largest amount of information. The neologisms that are charactered by simplicity can make readers comprehend the information much easier. In order to achieve high efficiency， neologisms should be clear， clear and direct by using words， phrases or sentences. For example， the use of “DUANG” and“VIP” is simple in the form， however，the practical usage is abundant.

The simplicity of neologisms conforms to the economy principle of language. People use the least amount of words to convey enough information in daily communication ， the property corresponding to the nature of neologisms.

3.3Popularity

The popularity is popular and easy-to-understand language， which is suitable for people of all ages. With the development of technology and science， the use of neologisms is becoming prevalent. For instance， “Sell Cuteness” has been popular for a time. It means some girls show off their innocence or play the coquetry.

Similarly， people are inclined to strive for popular neologisms to express their feelings so as to make a relaxed communication. Simultaneously，we used to choose a labor-saving expression to get comprehensive ideas.

4　Conclusion

As a consequence， the neologisms is inevitable and indispensable. The theory of memetics provides a new angle to study the cyberwords. This paper makes great endeavors to apply memetic theory to neologisms，enhancing the comprehension of the nature and generation of language. The author tries to analyze neologisms from the perspective of memetics for the benefit of acquiring enlightenment so as to retrieve thorough knowledge.

（作者單位：信陽師范學院外國語學院）