A Study of Metro Station Names in Zhengzhou from the Perspective of Sociolinguistics

Abstract：Sociolinguistics is a study of language structure and language use in social context. The name of subway station can reflect the social history， culture and social psychology of a city. This paper mainly takes 101 station names of 5 lines of Zhengzhou Metro as the research object， and makes analysis of station names in terms of sociolinguistics.

Key words： Sociolinguistics; name of metro station; social culture

Sociolinguistics is concerned with investigating the relationships between language and society. Chambers （2002） is more direct： Sociolinguistics is the study of the social uses of language， and the most productive studies in the four decades of sociolinguistic research have emanated from determining the social evaluation of linguistic variants.

Different languages can also reflect the details of different cultural areas （Mao Nan， 2020）. Sociolinguistic theory holds that language does not exist independently， and there is a close relationship between language， society and culture. This paper will study the name of Zhengzhou metro station from the perspective of sociolinguistics， and to explore the linguistic characteristics， naming methods and social and cultural psychology.

Research scope and method of Zhengzhou metro station name

Zhengzhou Metro refers to the urban rail transit system serving Zhengzhou， the capital of Henan Province. By May 2020， there are 5 metro lines in Zhengzhou. They are： Line 1， Line 2， Line 5， Line 14 and Line 9. In this paper， 101 stations of 5 metro lines of Line 1， 2， 5， 14 and 9 are selected as the research objects.

The research adopts literature method and interview. The author has carefully read the relevant literature and consulted a large number of journals and books. The names of metro stations are from the network， including the official website of Zhengzhou metro， Baidu search engine， etc.

Language features of metro station name

This paper makes statistics on the number of syllables in the name of Zhengzhou metro station. From the research， the statistical results are shown in text. The number of syllables is mostly three syllables， followed by more than three syllables， and less two syllables. According to Adaptation Theory， language use is a process of continuous language selection. Through the analysis of the composition of the name of stations， the author found that some station names are nouns. But， the most stations are phrases， such as Wuyi Park， Rose Garden.

Conclusion

From the perspective of sociolinguistics， it is found that the names are mainly referred to the road signs， commercial areas， scenic spots， transportation hubs and famous universities. Most of them are three or four syllables， which not only conforms to the principle of structural adaptation， but also suits habits of people. It has the characteristics of simplicity. In addition， it not only reflects the historical and cultural accumulation of the city， but also reflects the social psychology that people expect and yearn for a better life.

References

[1]Chambers，  J.  K. （2002）.  Studying  Language  Variation： An  Informal  Epistemology. In Chambers  et  al.

[2]郭枫， 2019， 青岛市地铁站名的社会语言学分析，《海外英语》。

[3]李燚， 2018， 以社会语言学视角研究地铁站名称——以西安市为例，《海外英语》（5）。

[4] 毛楠， 2020， 西安市公交站名的社会语言学分析，《科教文汇》， 492。

[5]彭晓， 2019， 成都市地铁站名的社会语言学分析，《海外英语》。

作者简介：

刘慧慧（1995-2），女，汉族，河南周口人，碩士在读，吉林大学学生，研究方向：外国语言学及应用语言学

（吉林大学公共外语教育学院  130012）