The Evolution of Four-Character Linguistic Pattern and Four-Character Expressions in the Language Memes
（School of Humanities, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024）
Abstract: The four-word language is the most active part of modern Chinese vocabulary development. From the perspective of linguistic memes, its evolution is based on an attributive type. The four-word framework is a syntactic form which has an inherent form（grammatical form）and a fixed structure, and a generative ability. There are three kinds of meanings of four-word framework: semantic generalization or semantic function, semantic metaphor or semantic metonymy, and symmetric in front and back. Based on linguistic memes, there are three main types of development and evolution of four-word language:（1）not to change the morpheme, the surface form is the same, meaning and usage are different;（2）replace part of the morpheme, the basic framework remains unchanged;（3）change the whole morpheme, the surface form is different, the internal logical relations is the same.
Key Words: four-word language; linguistic memes; four-word framework; development and evolution