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Article published In:
Chinese Language and Discourse
Vol. 9:2 (2018) ► pp.209–243

The emergence of a discourse construction in the internet

Technological affordance and socio-cultural factors in language innovation

| Nanjing University

This analysis aims at establishing the discourse construction as a theoretical construct within the framework of Construction Grammar. Linguistic constructions theoretically exist at different levels of analysis, but linguistic analyses at the level of discourse are few and far apart. This analysis showcases a study of a discourse construction that contains the internet neologism yě-shì-zuì-le. This discourse construction emerges from the Chinese cyberspace and develops complex meaning and function. I illustrate how the construct of discourse construction allows for an in-depth explanation its use and development. Also, the analysis of this construction demonstrates the necessity to redefine and broaden the consideration of ‘context’ when the idea of a discourse construction is introduced.

Keywords: discourse construction, discourse, Construction Grammar, internet neologism, yě-shì-zuì-le , language change, context, social media
Article outline
  • 1.Theoretical background
  • 2.Introducing the internet neologism yě-shì-zuì-le
    • 2.1 Yě-shì-zuì-le: An example
    • 2.2Approaches to investigate semantic change: Pragmatic inferences and metaphor
    • 2.3The metaphorization of zuì
    • 2.4The emergence of yě-shì-zuì-le
  • 3.Data and methods
    • 3.1Data source: Weibo
    • 3.2Introduction to the dataset
    • 3.3Theories and general methods
  • 4.Analyses
    • 4.1The idiosyncrasies of the phrase yě-shì-zuì-le
      • 4.1.1Entrenchment
      • 4.1.2The first-person subject
      • 4.1.3Interim summary
    • 4.2The discourse coherence of two components in the YSZL construction
      • 4.2.1Positioning in a blogpost
      • 4.2.2Discourse integration with preceding component
    • 4.3The [EVENT] component
      • 4.3.1The unexpected [EVENT]
      • 4.3.2Closer analysis of the [EVENT] component based on sample dataset
  • 5.Discussions
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 13 December 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/cld.18012.pen
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