The Role of Numbers in the Chinese Cyberculture

Abstract

The paper touches upon the problem of the growing influence of numbers on modern cultures and languages. Among which the Chinese language gives the most vivid examples of such an integration. The article reveals that the Chinese language in the cyber-space does not only experience the effects of digitalization, but also observes the excessive introduction of numbers in traditionally humanitarian spheres of life like interpersonal communication, thus creating a digital metalanguage used in different layers of the Internet. The paper contains a brief overview of the use of numbers in the global Internet communications. The authors come to a conclusion that the prevailing method of forming digital codes in different languages is based on consonance or homonymy, or visual similarity of numbers and letters. The paper puts forward the idea that the Chinese language possess great potential for linguistic creativity based on the mixing of semantic codes, especially, in on-line communication.