Sociolinguistic Interpretation of Internet Catchwords

In Crystal's(2001) opinion, Netspeak is a genuine new medium, which is indicative of an imminent language revolution. It is of great value to sociolinguists who are concerned about the impact of the Internet on language in general and on individual languages in particular. The net catchwords, as an indispensable part of internet language, have caught both mass and scholarly attention. They represent not only a linguistic phenomenon but also an indispensable social component. This study offers a detailed description of net catchwords and focuses on the sociolinguistic aspects of net catchwords, investigating their features and social ground for their widespread and profound influence on people's life and language development. It is reasonably hoped that this study will nourish the sociolinguistic approach to language variety and language change.