A Shortcut to Expression or a Narrow Lane for Thinking? ——The Dual Effects of Adolescent Internet Slang from the Perspective of Cognitive Linguistics

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-553-9_88How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Internet Slang; Adolescents; Cognitive Linguistics; Language Acquisition; Conceptual Metaphor; Metalinguistic Awareness

Abstract

This study systematically examines the dual impacts of internet slang on minors’ language expression and cognitive development from the perspective of cognitive linguistics, combining Conceptual Metaphor Theory and the framework of Cognitive Grammar. Based on a questionnaire survey of 311 minors ranging from primary school to senior high school, the study analyzes the usage characteristics, cognitive motivations, and potential effects of internet slang among this group. The results show that through metaphorical mapping (e.g., “tangping” [lying flat], “emo” [feeling emotional]) and the solidification of high-frequency constructions (e.g., “YYDS” [the best of the best], “juejuezi” [extremely good]), internet slang effectively helps minors concretely understand abstract emotions and social phenomena, and plays a role in social connection and expression simplification in informal contexts. However, excessive reliance on such simplified expressions may lead to the narrowing of the vocabulary system, weakening of grammatical awareness, and superficialization of thinking, which poses potential risks especially during the critical period of language acquisition. This study not only contributes new empirical data to the study of adolescent internet language use but also provides a theoretical basis and practical approaches for families and educational practices to guide minors in the rational use of internet language and foster critical metalinguistic awareness.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Xinye Xia
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/03/25
TI  - A Shortcut to Expression or a Narrow Lane for Thinking? ——The Dual Effects of Adolescent Internet Slang from the Perspective of Cognitive Linguistics
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 4th International Conference on Educational Science and Social Culture (ESSC 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 810
EP  - 824
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-553-9_88
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-553-9_88
ID  - Xia2026
ER  -