"Cute words" make online social networking more warm

Source: Guangming Daily

"Good drop", "Yes", "Good", ...... When chatting with people online, do you often encounter or use this kind of "cute words"?

In online social networking, people often use the kind of language and expressions that imitate children's tone and tone, with the meaning of coquettishness and cuteness, we call it "cute words and cute words" for the time being. There are several types of common "cute words": one is to add "ha", "hey", "la", "yo", "drop", "yah", "whoa" and "wow" at the end of the sentence, such as good da, yes drop, good wow; one is to replace the original words with homophonic words, such as child paper (child), swollen (what's wrong), mulberry heart (sad); and there is another type of use overlapping words or overlapping words to express their sincerity and attitude, such as uh-huh, come, come, good, good, these also contain a little "cute" meaning.

Human language comes in many forms, and languages in a broad sense include spoken language, written language, flag language, computer language, telegraph code, mathematical symbols, etc. Different language forms have different application scenarios.

In offline face-to-face communication, the presentation of information is three-dimensional. In addition to oral language, there are also accompanying movements, expressions, demeanor, etc., which make oral language clearer, richer and more profound in conveying feelings. With the development of the Internet, the social scene of human beings has migrated more online. In online communication, most of the auxiliary means such as movements, expressions, and demeanor in offline communication are not useful, and the same language cannot convey the rich meaning of offline. As a result, netizens have created a kind of "cute words" suitable for online social scenes. This set of "cute words" can express richer meanings by recombining words.

For example, A sends a WeChat message to B saying, "The meeting will start tomorrow at 9 a.m." B can have several answers, such as "received", "understood", "good", "good", "good", "good", "good", "good", etc. "Received" and "Understood" are a little cold, and it is impossible to even tell whether B will attend the meeting. "Good" and "good" are more neutral, from which it can be judged that B agrees to attend the meeting the next day. "Good" and "good" are completely different, from which not only can you tell that B will attend the meeting the next day, but you can also feel that B is happy, and even think of B's naughty appearance when he answers. A few answers, the number of words is about the same, but the feeling is very different.

There is an old saying in China, "A good word is warm in three winters, and a bad word is hurtful and cold in June". This shows that when interacting with and communicating with people, sweet language and gentle attitude can achieve better results. The "cute" of "cute words and cute words" contains the meaning of warmth and softness. People who use "cute words" will give people the impression of being soft and modest, and can create a warm social context, which can clearly convey their own opinions and information, and at the same time bring a sense of comfort to the other party. For example, "pro", "little sister" and "little brother" are a kind of affectionate way of addressing people, which helps to quickly eliminate strangeness and shorten the distance between people; "Bang Bang Da", "Mei Mei Di" and "Mo Mo Da" are a kind of compliments with a cordial tone, which are more infectious and friendly than compliments like "very good" and "not bad", making people feel that the complimenter is more sincere and interesting.

"Cute words" are generally more humorous, and humorous language is like a lubricant, which can effectively reduce friction and conflict in interpersonal communication. In online social networking, people are separated by screens and mainly use text as a communication tool. When both sides express conflicting opinions, a sense of humor is needed to ease the atmosphere and defuse the awkwardness. For example, A does something that hurts B, and B complains to A. If A and B have a close relationship, it doesn't matter how you express it. If the relationship between the two is average, B directly sends a text to A, such as "You did that and I have been hurt a lot", which will give people a sense of oppression in formal negotiations, as if they are asking for guilt. Instead, "cute words", B can say: "You do that to make me feel good (sad)" or "You do that makes me feel very sad". They are all complaints, but the latter has more humor, without the oppression of formal negotiations, and more of a sense of relaxation in private communication. This expression is more acceptable and conducive to problem solving.

As an online language, "cute words" was mainly popular among young people in the early days. With the popularization of the Internet, online social networking has become an important part of people's daily social networking, so there are more and more users of "cute words", and some people even regard the use of "cute words and cute words" as a kind of "online social etiquette". Because one party uses "cute words" such as "good da" and "good drop" to the other party, there is a subconscious in the user to show their enthusiasm and sincerity and make the other party comfortable and satisfied. As a receiver of information, some people will also judge whether the other party's attitude is sincere, whether they are happy, and whether they are enthusiastic about themselves by whether the other party uses "cute words". Over time, in the eyes of some people, "cute words" has become a polite term in online social networking. It's the same way people use polite words like "you" and "please" to show politeness and respect for the other person in person. Etiquette is a set of conventional behavioral norms formed by people in social interactions for mutual respect. When both parties reach a consensus on the value of social etiquette, "Mengyan Mengyu" has more meanings than language.

In short, "cute words and cute words" is not only a network language, but also a rhetorical way in the network society. It adapts to the characteristics of online social networking, makes the text more warm, makes online communication more fun, shortens the distance between people in the virtual space, and enriches the Chinese language and culture.

Of course, the use of "cute words" should be moderate, and the occasion and context should be clearly distinguished. Nowadays, some primary school students will intentionally or unconsciously use "cute words and cute words" when writing essays, but many "cute words and cute words" do not meet the grammatical norms. For children, if the use of "cute words and cute words" affects the learning of standardized Chinese, it will be a bit more than worth the loss. "Cute words" are mostly used for informal communication in online social networking, and using them in formal settings can be childish and out of place. Language is constantly evolving. In the future, while maintaining the creativity and interest of "cute words", it should also be regulated and guided in a timely manner to avoid it falling into excessive entertainment or even vulgarization, which is the only way to contribute to the healthy development of language and culture.

(Author: Xie Rong'e, Professor and Doctoral Supervisor, School of Literature, Journalism and Communication, South-Central University for Nationalities)