Buzzwords on their way to a tipping‐point: A view from the blogosphere

“Buzzwords” are new words (i.e., neologisms) that enter the language and acquire great popularity as “fashion words.” To date, the dynamic aspect of buzzwords has not been the subject of a rigorous scientific analysis. In this study, we analyzed the appearance of buzzwords in the blogosphere and compared their dynamics to the one of nonpopular neologisms and well‐established words. It was found that the growth rate of buzzwords is exponential and higher than that of the blogosphere. Moreover, we have identified general early warning signals for an approaching tipping point in the dynamics of buzzwords indicating that as fashion words they are on their way to a tipping‐point of decline. The article presents these findings and others and concludes by presenting a model for studying the dynamics of new words entering the language. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 16: 58‐68, 2011     

“言文一致”：从词汇看现代汉语的现代性

汉语的现代化进程始于20世纪的第一个十年,经五四新文化运动的强力推动,20年代末初具规模。近代汉语和现代汉语的区分标志是什么？王力认为语音、语法、词汇三者中,应将语法作为主要依据,关注的是汉语本体的变化;吕叔湘则强调言文一致的实现是汉语现代化的分水岭,着眼于语言在社会运用上的变化。随着书面语使用者的爆发式增长、语言内容和话语行为的质变,以及传媒的多样化成为汉语近现代转型的重要动机,新增词语引发的词汇体系的重构是汉语之为现代的最重要的体现形式。新增词语有一个共同的形态特征：二字词。二字词具有两种语言功能,一、精密描写,二、讲述与听解。只有二字词才能应对科学的进步和日益复杂的人类社会,也只有二字词才能对非日常的内容做到说得出、听得懂。这种本文称之为“科学叙事”的话语行为以“言文一致”为基本条件,是语言现代化的本质所在。本文的主要观点是,言文一致是汉语现代化的重要标志,而言文一致需要词语上的基础;汉语的词语新增得以在短时期内完成,是东亚域内语言接触与词汇交流的结果。从词汇体系现代重构的视角对汉语进行考察是必不可少的,因为语言的现代性是由词语的现代性决定的。