Abstract: Language is a mirror reflecting society. Catchword is a special words phenomenon spread in a specific time and field. It is been widely and frequently used by people and is popular among a large range. With the improvement of people’s livelihood and the popularity of the Internet in China, Chinese catchwords update in an accelerating pace and gradually penetrate from the Internet to the traditional media and social lives, even go into public language. As the sign of fashion, it can be seen everywhere in our daily life. It is the reflection of people’s wisdom and the way of expressing themselves. This paper, starting from the concept of meme and catchword, analyzes the transmission pattern and variation pattern of catchword. It can not only promote the development of linguistics and the communication between human beings, but also is beneficial to cultural development.
Key words: memes; catchwords; transmission pattern; variation pattern

摘  要：语言是社会的镜子，流行语是传播在特定时间和领域内的一种语言现象，被人们广泛和频繁地使用。随着人们生活水平的提高和网络在中国的普及，汉语流行语不断加速更新，并且逐渐从互联网渗入到传统媒体和社会生活，甚至公共语言。作为时尚的标志，流行语随处可见，它是人们智慧的体现和表达自我的方式。本文将从模因和流行语的概念入手，分析流行语的传播和变异模式，其不仅能够促进语言学和人们交流的发展，同时也有益于文化的发展
关键词：模因；流行语；传播模式；变异模式

Catchwords are in the leading edge of society and they reflect social development and change. Some scholars did research from the respect of semantics, society and cognition, but few people conduct research from the perspective of meme. Therefore systematic theory has not been formed yet. The research based on the new theory of evolution Darwin is growing vigorously. The word “meme” has been widely spread and it has been related with such fields like psychology, sociology, culturology and philosophy. The development of meme theory is relatively slow. As a meme copy, meme also suits the regulation “survival of the fittest”. Different types of meme compete for surviving. Only the strong memes can live with the competitive trend. Internet language is limited by psychological, physical and social areas in its duplication. In 2010, some catchwords are issued on the internet, followed by new catchwords in 2011. Theses catchwords have undergone big changes and some have disappeared. The remaining catchwords have their unique characters. Firstly, they combine the succession and creativeness. Secondly, catchwords have reflected grassroots characters. Lastly, they frequently emerge on the internet.