Abstract:

With the popularity of personal computers and the widespread of the Internet, a unique virtual community, which brings great impact on the traditional communication style, has been created by netizens. Unlike the traditional social and political institutions, virtual community possesses its distinctive features, and gives rise to the new Internet culture, as well as causes the great change of language used by those netizens. The emergence of netspeak can be regarded as language variation. This article systematically analyses the characteristics of netspeak from the perspective of sociolinguistics, reveals the relationship between language variation and social and cultural surroundings, and clarifies the influences that the virtual community has brought to the real social and cultural environment.

Key words: netspeak, language variation, social dialects, sociolinguistics