Abstract

Language is a medium to disseminate culture. Scientific advancement and globalization have promoted the emergence and development of weblish. Weblish originates from the special words used in online communication by netizens on the Internet, and has become an indispensable part of our linguistic life. Researches on the features and causes of weblish may help us understand weblish better. This essay is an attempt to probe  into the lexical features, causes and ways to normalize English. At the beginning, the essay introduces the lexical features of weblish, mainly from the perspectives of morphology and semantics. It is found that words from weblish are created through traditional means of word formation, such as abbreviation, derivation and conversion. They also contain some web-based features, including the use of digitalization and emoticons. As far as semantic features are concerned, weblish exhibit such sense relations as synonymy, polysemy and homophony. Then the essay goes on to reveal the causes of weblish, which are shown from web-based and psychological aspects. Finally, four possible ways to normalize weblish are offered, including enacting laws and regulations, establishing long-term supervision mechanisms, publishing some books, and including weblish into dictionaries.

Key words: weblish; lexical features; causes; normalization

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1 Introduction.1

2 Lexical Features of Weblish.3  

2.1 Morphological features-3

2.1.1Traditional morphological features-3

2.1.2 Web-based features-5

2.2 Semantic features-5

2.2.1 Synonymy-6

2.2.2 Polysemy-6

2.2.3 Homophony-6

3 The Causes of Weblish7  

3.1 Web-based Causes-7

3.2 Psychological causes-8

3.2.1 Cognitive factor-8

3.2.2 Cultural factor-8

4 The normalization of Weblish.10  

4.1 Current situation-10

4.2 Possible solutions-10

4.2.1 Enacting laws and regulations-10

4.2.2 Establishing long-term supervision mechanisms-11

4.2.3 Publishing some books-11

4.2.4 Including weblish into dictionaries-12

5 Conclusion.12  

5.1 Summary of the Main Points-12

5.2 Limitations of the Study-12

5.3 Directions for Future Research-13

References14