Transmission of Chinese yi ‘ one’-item Idioms: A Linguistic Memetic Perspective SHANG Mengya (Shangqiu University) ZHUANG Huibin (Henan University)
Contents LOGO p Importance of the Topic p Previous Studies p Research Question p Research Method p Key Terms p Structure of the Writing
1. Importance of the Topic Chinese idioms are the quintessence of Chinese language and culture. In the numerals, yi (one) is the smallest positive integer but the biggest number in philosophy. In Chinese idioms, the form of numeral yi (one) is simple, but its meanings are various. The meanings of yi mainly include literal meaning “one”, for example, “ 一呼百应 ” ( yī hū bǎi yìng “hundreds respond to a single call”) and functional meanings, “full, completeness”, for example, “ 一反常态 ” ( yī fǎn cháng tài “be not one’s usual self”), “same, concentrated”, for example, “ 一心一意 ” ( yī xīn yī yì “undivided attention”).
1. Importance of the Topic As a result, yi has been an indispensable constituent element in Chinese idioms since ancient times. Chinese yi -item idioms is an interesting issue. However, there is little published research on Chinese yi ‘one’-item idioms. A meme is described as anything that is passed on by imitation (Dawkins, 2016). Chinese linguist He Ziran combined memetics founded by foreign scholars with the Chinese language to establish a new pragmatic theory: linguistic memes. Linguistic memetics is a theory to study the law of speech spread and language replication (Li Jie & He Ziran, 2014).
1. Importance of the Topic Therefore, this paper attempts to study the transmission mechanism of Chinese idioms whose first Chinese character is yi (one) from linguistic memetic perspective.
2. Previous Studies Liu Shue (1992) discusses the use of yi in Chinese idioms as numeral (cardinal numbers and ordinal numbers), adverbial and adjective and analyzes their grammatical meanings and functions.
2. Previous Studies After researching the Chinese idioms of “ yi x bu y”, Yang Lijun (2001) finds that “ yi x bu y” can express the grammatical meaning of a certain amount or emphasis. It includes two kinds of structure, i.e. “ yi n bu v” and “ yi v1 bu v2”. “ yi n bu v” that implies exaggeration belongs to a subject-predicate structure, and it has a varied pattern, “ yi v yi n”. “ yi v1 bu v2” is a consecutive predicate structure, and it has the same structural feature and structural meaning as “ yi v jiu x”.
2. Previous Studies That is to say, a certain degree or a certain consequence will be achieved once the action is taken. The significance of idioms derived depends on the lexical categories and the meanings of “x” and “y”, and it is also relative to the meaning of a small quantity of yi and the negative meaning of bu.
2. Previous Studies Zhang Jinxia (2011) believes that numeral collocations of yi in the idioms deserve a further study. Yi can be matched with ban (half), yi (one), er (two), san (three), jiu (nine), shi (ten), bai (hundred), qian (thousand) and wan (ten thousand) to form regular collocations. The first property of those collocations is that they cannot be understood separately. The second one is that most of them hold extended meaning or exaggerated meanings.
2. Previous Studies Wei Zaijiang (2015) analyzes cognitive attributes of the Chinese polar languages—the yi polar idiom constructions from the perspective of construction grammar, combining with embodied philosophy, figure-ground theory and metonymy theory. He argues that the production and use of polar language constructions are determined by various internal and external factors, such as, human’s experience, cognition, semantics, pragmatics and so on.
3. Research Question What is the transmission mechanism of Chinese yi ‘one’-item idioms with first character yi from the perspective of linguistic memetics?
4. Research Method Qualitative Research
5. Key Terms In 1976, Richard Dawkins, the zoologist of the University of Oxford, published The Selfish Gene . The term “ meme ” is coined by Dawkins in the eleventh chapter: Memes: the new replicators . Dawkins regards a meme as “a noun that conveys the idea of a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation” (Dawkins, 2016: 249). Examples of memes are “tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches” (ibid.).
5. Key Terms In 1999, The Meme Machine published by Dr. Susan Blackmore established the disciplinary position of memes. Blackmore emphasizes that the core of memes is imitation which includes “any kind of copying of ideas and behaviour from one person to another” (Blackmore, 1999: 43). Blackmore illustrates a meme with an example “when you hear a story and pass on the gist to someone else, you have copied a meme” (ibid.). Memes are “stories, songs, habits, skills, inventions and ways of doing things that are copied from person to person by imitation” (ibid.: 65).
5. Key Terms Meanwhile, when memes are copied and transmitted, they will pass four stages . They are “ assimilation , retention , expression and transmission ” (Heylighen, 1998: 148). The existent memes must be first noticed, understood, and accepted by the host and then they must remain within the memory of the host. Next, in order to spread widely, memes must be transformed from abstract patterns into concrete entities that the host can perceive. After that, the expression of memes requires tangible vehicles or medias. The carriers can be books, photographs, CDs, etc. Finally, memes are spread from one host to one or more potential hosts.
5. Key Terms Beyond this, Dawkins proposes three qualities that make for high survival value among memes: “longevity, fecundity, and copying-fidelity” (Dawkins, 2016: 251). Longevity refers to the length of time that memes last in human brains or material carriers. Fecundity means the replication speed of memes. Copying-fidelity indicates the degree of retention of the original version.
5. Key Terms Furthermore, memes can be divided into strong memes and weak memes (He Ziran, Xie Chaoqun and Chen Xinren, 2007). Strong memes refer to those ones that are replicated with high faithfulness, copied with more chances, spread in a wide range and live much longer. Nevertheless, weak memes do the reserve. Moreover, strong memes and weak memes do not have absolutely clear delimitation but relatively distinct (He Ziran et al., 2014: 9).
5. Key Terms B e s i d e s , t h e r e a r e t w o m o d e s o f transmission : “the same core content being inherited in various forms and the identical set pattern being followed by different contents” (He Ziran, 2005: 64). The former is of “ memetic genotype ” (He Ziran, Xie Chaoqun and Chen Xinren, 2007: 138), and the latter is of “ memetic phenotype ” (ibid.).
5. Key Terms “In memetical view, language memes reveal the law of speech spread and language replication” (He Ziran, Xie Chaoqun and Chen Xinren, 2007: 150) from a new angle. Since the autumn of 2012, Prof. He Ziran have led his team to establish a series of conceptions on linguistic memes. They propose that “a linguistic meme is a representation of information which is widely spread with the intention of the meme’s host, making use of linguistic structure and by means of repeating and analogizing” (Li Jie & He Ziran, 2014: 59).
6. Structure of the Writing 1 Introduction 2 Previous Studies 3 Research Objects 4 Linguistic Memetic Studies on Chinese yi -item Idioms 4.1 Language Memes on Chinese yi -item Idioms 4.2 Transmission Modes of Memes on Chinese yi - item Idioms 5 Conclusion
6. Structure of the Writing 4 Linguistic Memetic Studies on Chinese yi -item Idioms 4.1 Language Memes on Chinese yi -item Idioms If representations want to become memes, “they must meet three demands: firstly, they have determinate content; secondly, they must be replicable; thirdly, they must be able to exert their effects if they wish to be selected” (Distin, 2005: 37-38). Undoubtedly, every Chinese yi -item idiom whose first character is yi represent determinate content and convey determinate cultural information, for instance, “ 一清二楚 ” ( yī qīng èr bái “be perfectly clear”) .
6. Structure of the Writing 4.1 Language Memes on Chinese yi -item Idioms What’s more, replication equals to imitation and to a certain extent, imitation can be embodied by the fecundity whose “a rough measure could be obtained by counting the number of times it is referred to in successive years” (Dawkins, 2016: 252). Thus, by searching 398 Chinese yi -item idioms in Modern Chinese Corpus of CCL, the author obtains the frequency of every yi -item idiom. The frequency of “ 一清二楚 ” is 811, which shows that the idiom can be replicable.
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