ABSTRACT

This study has explored the linguistic features and the effects of Internet language from the view of stylistic. This thesis takes Internet language in chat rooms and online forum as the subject of study, chooses examples from the Internet and by means of description, interpretation and evaluation to analysis their stylistic features from lexicon, graphology and syntax level. Lexically, new word keep coming up, and some old words hold new meanings; on graphology level, the form of Internet language is very casual along with homophones and emoticons; syntactically, incomplete and elliptical sentences are commonly used. This thesis shows that all these features are related to the form of Internet communication, which makes Internet language and formal language different. What is more, Internet language is dynamic and they will change with the development of Internet technology.

Key words: Internet language; Stylistic Analysis; CMC; linguistic features

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABSTRACT

摘要

Chapter One  INTRODUCTION1

Chapter Two  LITERATURE REVIEW3

2.1 Stylistics.3

2.2 Computer mediated communication and Internet language.3

 2.2.1 Researches on CMC.3

 2.2.2 Previous studies on Internet language.4

Chapter Three LINGUISTIC DESCRIPTION OF INTERNET LANGUAGE6

3.1 At the Lexical Level 6

 3.1.1 Abbreviation.6

 3.1.2 Compound7

 3.1.3 Blend8

 3.1.4Derivation9

3.2 At the graphological level10

 3.2.1 Homophones.10

 3.2.2 Emoticon and Chat Expressions.11

3.2.3 Punctuation marks.13

3.2.4 Free Choice of Capitalization13

3.3 At the syntactical level.14

3.3.1 Short and simple sentences.14

3.3.2 Elliptical and incomplete sentences15

Chapter Four CONCLUSION16

REFRENCES18