Study on Chinese“Internet New Idioms”

HONG Shuang

With the development of internet and the increase of internet users， internet language develops rapidly. Many new words， new idioms and new constructions are derived from the internet， which enriches the expressional function of language and meanwhile brings difficulties to language standardization. The paper takes internet new idioms as examples to discuss the development and standardization of internet language.

Keywords： four-syllable idioms， internet language， language development

Internet New Idioms

Internet new idioms are derived from the internet. They are usually some kinds of abbreviations， which are generally abbreviated sentences as four-syllable or four-characteridioms without any reasonable rules， shown as（1） to （6） for example.

These new idioms intensively appear online about the year of 2013. At first， they are forbidden to be used in official publications and radio/television programs because as a view of language standardization these internet new idioms have the same forms with traditional Chinese idioms and may cause a shock to the latter. However， after several years， these internet new idioms are still used not only online but also in official publications， shown as （7）-（9）. That is to say， these internet new idioms do have some vitality and advantages of expression so that they do not disappear because of standardization.

Usage of Internet New Idioms

In the year of 2015， I conducted the first survey that sending questionnaires to 999 college students about the usage of 24 internet new idioms. The survey results indicate that firstly， 93.5% of the participants can totally understand these internet new idioms， shown as Figure 1. 20.3% of them use these idioms very often and 79.7% of them use these idioms occasionally， shown as Figure 2.

Secondly， the participants use the internet new idioms in a certain context. All of them use the internet new idioms online， while 60.2% of them also use the idioms in spoken language and 2.9% of them even use the idioms in written language， shown as Figure 3. Thirdly， the participants use the internet new idioms according to different communicative partners. All of them use the internet new idioms with their contemporaries such as their classmates and friends， while 3.7% of them also use the idioms with the elders such as their parents and teachers， shown as Figure 4. Fourthly， the participants have different attitudes to the development of the internet new idioms. 22.2% of them have positive attitudes that these idioms can be alive and continue to be used in language communication， while 21.7% of them have negative attitudes that these idioms should be standardized and forbidden to be used. 56.1% of them have open attitudes that people should give the internet new idioms more time， shown as Figure 5. If they are helpful for language development， they should be alive and continue to be used. Otherwise， they are going to disappear from our language. Fifthly， the internet new idioms have unbalanced using frequency. There are six idioms of them that have high frequency： ren2-jian1-bu4-chai1> lei4-jue2-bu4-ai4> bu4-ming2-jue2-li4> xi3-da4-pu3-ben1> shi2-dong4-ran2-ju4> xi4-si1-kong3-ji2， shown as Figure 6. Till today， these six internet new idioms are still used in our language communication， while the other 18 internet new idioms have already decayed from our language.

In the year of 2019 and 2020， I conducted the second survey by sending questionnaires to 270 college students about the usage of the six internet new idioms （shown as （1） to （6））. The survey results indicate that firstly， 9.6% of the participants have never used these idioms， shown as Figure 6. Secondly， 23.7% of the participants who use the idioms only use them online， and 66.8% of them use the idioms both online and in spoken language， while 9.5% of them also use the idioms in written language， shown as Figure 7. Thirdly， all of the participants who use the idioms use them with their contemporaries such as their classmates and friends， while 1.2% of them also use the idioms with the elders such as their parents and teachers， shown as Figure 8. Fourthly， 91.7% of the participants have positive attitudes that these idioms can be alive and continue to be used in our language communication， while 56.3% of them think that people should distinguish certain contexts when use the idioms. They suggest that the internet idioms should be standardized in official publications and can be freely used in informal contexts such as online communication or in spoken language. 8.3% of the participants claim that the internet new idioms should be forbidden to be used neither online nor offline， no matter in spoken language or in written language， shown as Figure 9.

Development of Internet New Idioms

During eight-year usages， the internet new idioms have some developments.

Firstly， at the beginning， as a newlanguage phenomenon， the internet new idioms are used with quotation marks， shown as （10）； while after several years， they are used without quotation marks， shown as （11）. That is to say， the acceptability of the internet new idioms is increased.

Secondly， some internet new idioms have evolved into proper nouns. For example， “SCUSATE SE ESISTO” is a name of an Italian movie， which is translated into Chinese as “Ren2 Jian1 Bu4 Chai1”. Here “Ren2 Jian1 Bu4 Chai1” is used as a proper noun. Meanwhile， “Bu4 Ming2 Jue2 Li4” is used as a name of a popular song， and “Lei4 Jue2 Bu4 Ai4” is used as a name of a network novel.

Thirdly， some internet new idioms have derived new idiom forms， shown as （12）. The new idiom form “ai4 jue2 bu4 lei4” is derived from the internet new idiom “lei4 jue2 bu4 ai4”.

Conclusion

Through the two questionnaire surveys， we can find that college students prefer to use internet language and have positive attitudes to the new language phenomena， which makes us to reconsider the advantages that internet language might have. As for the internet new idioms， they are abbreviated from sentences， which makes them express concisely and be suitable for the expression online and in spoken language. The internet new idioms have four-character formations that are the same as classic Chinese idioms， which is in conformity with Chinese prosodic principles and also makes expression have graceful and solemn style. Therefore， these advantages of expression make the internet new idioms still be used in our daily language communication. Some of the internet new idioms are introduced into Global Chinese and have their own development， shown as （13）.

The two questionnaire surveys mentioned above also involve the factors of major and gender of the participants， but they have no obvious impact on the results. However， the factor of age has significant impact. The frequency of the usage and the acceptability of the internet new idioms declines along with the age and the grade of the participants increasing. That is to say， as the youngest adult， college students prefer to accept new language phenomena. When asked the reason why they use the internet new idioms， 46.4% of the participants think that these idioms are cool and fashionable， and 36.9% of the participants use the idioms because of their concise expression， and 14.2% of the participants use the idioms for their humorous function， and 2.5% of the participants use the idioms for emulating their contemporaries such as their classmates and friends.

Through the surveys of internet language used by college students， we can find that contemporary college students prefer to accept fresh thinking and create new expression and challenge traditional usage of language. They grow up with the internet environment so they can get with it very well. The expression online is direct and concise so college students prefer to use this kind of expression in order to fit for the pace of the internet communication. Meanwhile， the results of the surveys indicate that college students use formal and informal expression according to the different communication occasions and objects. They do have awareness of communication principles.

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