인터넷 生僻字의 의미 재활성화와 자형 도상성에 대한 인지언어학적 분석

초록

This study investigates the cognitive mechanisms underlying the semantic reactivation of twenty-four rare Chinese characters (shengpizi, 生僻字) used in online communication. By first identifying each character’s original principle of character formation as recorded in traditional lexicographic sources and then contrasting it with contemporary internet usage, the study systematically examines the relationship between graphic structure and semantic reinterpretation. The analysis shows that, in the process of semantic reactivation, the visual structure of Chinese characters functions as a salient interpretive resource. Three major patterns are identified: (1) decomposition of graphic components and recombination of their meanings; (2) interpretation of repeated components as semantic intensification, quantitative amplification, or parallel category aggregation; and (3) diagrammatic reinterpretation of spatial configuration within the character. These patterns share a common strategy of foregrounding graphic components as meaning-bearing units. This study conceptualizes this process as ‘synchronic graphic remotivation’ (共時的字形再動機化), and identifies three subtypes: retrograde huìyì (逆行的會意), quantitative iconic amplification, and diagrammatic reinterpretation. Retrograde huìyì, in which heterogeneous components are decomposed and their meanings recombined, constitutes the most theoretically salient subtype. However, not all cases can be fully explained by graphic iconicity. In certain characters, semantic reassignment of components, conceptual generalization, cultural transmission, and phonological association play decisive roles. This suggests that the semantic reactivation of rare characters in online contexts is not reducible to a single cognitive principle but emerges from the interaction between graphic structure and broader cognitive–cultural resources. The study contributes theoretically by extending discussions of iconicity to the visual-graphic dimension of the writing system and by elucidating the gap between original semantic motivation (構意) and synchronic interpretive motivation in digital contexts. It further demonstrates how the digital environment enables the reactivation of previously marginal graphic resources within the Chinese writing system. Future research should incorporate large-scale corpus data and experimental methods to refine the analysis of the relationship between graphic form and meaning construction.

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