UC Santa Barbara

The interrelationship between the Internet and society has made significant contribution to the development of language—specifically, the rise of Chinese Internet language. In this thesis, I analyze search frequencies and familiarity trends among Chinese words and phrases in order to highlight their association to social change and identity aspects.

This study uses Baidu Index as the main reference for data collection of trending Chinese words from 2011-2018. This website keeps track of how frequently words and phrases are looked up on the Chinese search engine, Baidu. The basis of my research compares online data from Baidu Index with ten ethnographic interviews and Chinese lexica surveys to recognize patterns found in the application and interpretation of words. A total of 50 Chinese words and phrases were compiled and used in the complete survey to evaluate different familiarity features. I conducted these interviews and surveys with undergraduate Chinese international students who attended or graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2018. This process aimed to gain insight on their attitude towards Chinese identity-associated lexica, their Internet habits and societal standards. In the data analysis portion, the focus is on 15 of the 50 words due to their relations to language and identity patterns.

The results of the study have shown how newly created words in Chinese Internet language parallels with changes in society—such as current events, social media usage and social pressures—that in turn reflect the individual’s and community’s perspective towards these topics. This is evident in the number of trending words that follow developments in topics of family structure, gender stereotypes and social attitudes. The familiarity and spread of these words are influenced by the prominence of social media, the convenience of how information circulates over the Internet, and the pressure to stay current with society. These general social changes implied in Chinese internet lexica and are further observed in participants’ interviews to offer a more in-depth understanding of internet users and their language usage. Through the interviews, it is seen how keeping up with language and social trends is important for self-expression and integrating oneself into different communities. It is also observed how self-identity and the community influences language development and vice versa.