Yanqi Ma

Yanqi Ma

30 June, 2024

Internet buzzwords, “(X) Ma Le”, Memetics, Morphology (linguistics), Semantic generalization.

With the rapid development of Internet language, “Ma Le”, “Wo Ma Le”, “Ying Ma Le” have swept the Internet platform. “(X) Ma Le” has a certain base of Mandarin and dialect usage, in which “X” can be a noun, verb, adjective, personal pronoun, etc. The popularity of this construction is closely related to the economic principle of language, the theory of meme replication and the psychology of popular culture. In terms of grammar, “(X) Ma Le” is predominantly trisyllabic, with four main types of constructions. In terms of semantics, “Ma” reflects semantic metaphor, while “X” shows semantic value-added. In terms of pragmatics, “(X) Ma Le” is highly productive but unstable, highly subjective, and has not yet formed a strict collectivization statute. After the popularization of “(X) Ma Le”, it has played a role in reflecting the psychology of popular culture, but it also has the effect of challenging the language norms and other aspects.

© 2024, the Authors. Published by ISCCAC

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