春晚流行語的社會語言學研究

【Abstract】Spring Festival Gala is the main platform for the birth and use of catchwords， and the catchwords in lingual items constitute a large portion of the whole. They are representative of catchwords not in Spring Festival Gala but also in the social catchwords as a whole. By means of monitoring， analyzing and researching catchwords， the changes of language rules are found out， which can helpful to the healthy development of language.

【Key words】catchwords； rhetorical devices； sociolinguistics

【摘要】春晚是流行詞語誕生與使用的一個主要平臺，而春晚語言類節目中所體現的流行詞語則占據了一席之地，它是春晚流行語的典型代表，同時也是我國當代社會流行語中的重要組成部分。與此同時，通過對流行語的觀察與分析，可以更加有效地掌握語言的變化規律，促進語言的健康發展。

【關鍵詞】流行語 修辭方式 社會語言學

1. Introduction

Catchword， as a language symbol， is the immediate language phenomenon which can reflect the social changes or the social psychology.

CCTV Spring Festival Gala （hereafter referred to as SFG） is always the best sample for language study. In recent years， with the development of our society， the demand for the spirit part of SFG also has been lifted to a new height. People are watching the show with a critical eye. With the increasing adoption of internet catchwords in SFGs， the curious and enthusiastic audience gather online to predict the choices of the catchword in SFGs.

2. The Characteristics of Catchword

2.1 Timeliness

Timeliness means that the vitality of catchword is closely related to the time. From the definitions in the previous chapter， we found that the expressions like “in certain time” and “in certain period” is the main determiner. Therefore， catchword is the product of the time. For instance， catchword like “大字報” would remind us of the Cultural Revolution， and catchword like “特區”，“市場經濟”and“小康”would bring us back to Chinas inception of the reform and opening up program in 1978.

2.2 Popularity

The catchwords have deeply influenced every aspect of human social life， especially in this information world. The catchwords become popular in masses with the help of TV， advertisements， internet and newspapers. For example， the catchword “cool” became well known in American music in the 1950s， and it appeared not only in daily conversation， films and advertisements of American， but also in many other countries such as China. It was translated into “酷” in Chinese and has been in wide use among the Chinese teenagers.

3. The Sociolinguistic Study of Catchword in SFGs

Language， on the one hand， is the product of society and largely influenced by the society， but on the other hand， language can reflect the change of politics，the development of economies and the progress of technology. In other words，it is the reflection of social culture.

3.1 Borrowed Word from Foreign Languages

Linguistic borrowings take place very often in language. Borrowing is one of the sources of catchwords. We cannot find even one language which is immune from heterogeneous linguistic elements， especially when the whole word is becoming a global village in the present information age. In recent years， owing to the international exchanges， lots of borrowed words have their Chinese name and some of them become catchwords such as “芬達” and “粉絲” which are directly borrowed from English.

《媽媽的今天》“唐戈兒揍是趟呀趟著走，三步一回頭，五步一招手，然后接著趟呀趟著走。”

In the short sketch A Day of Moms “探戈（唐戈兒）”is borrowed from English word Tango which is a kind of dance with ones foot walking without leaving the floor.

3.2 Semantic Shift from Existing Chinese Words

Semantic change plays a very key role in the increase of the vocabulary of a language. Language is kind of symbolic； therefore， each word serves as a symbol in relation to a specific meaning. For example， “下海” has undergone semantic change from its original meaning “go to sea” to “engage in trade”.

《昨天·今天·明天》宋丹丹：“秋波就是秋天的菠菜。”

The meaning of QiuBo should be the bright eyes of beautiful woman， while after the sketch has been broadcasted， people have begun to use its wrong explanation of spinach in autumn as a joke more and more often.

From the above observation it is found out that catchwords can be both regarded as a language phenomenon and a social phenomenon. Its changing characteristic is full of linguistic value and social-cultural value. Catchwords， as a symbol， can best reflect the changing of the society and the changing of peoples mind.

References：

[1]Leech，Geoffrey.Semantics[M].Penguin Books.1951.

[2]Richards，Jack C.，John Platt & Heidi Plat（eds.）.Longman Dictionary of Language Sapir，Edward，An Introduction to Language[M].Beijing：Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press，2001.

[3]He Ziran[何自然].語用學與英語學習[M].上海外語教育出版社，1999.1.

[4]He Zhaoxiong[何兆熊].語用學概要[M].上海外語教育出版社，1998.8.

作者簡介：蔣侃婕（1988.12-），女，浙江嘉興人，碩士學位，助教，英語筆譯。