社会语言学视角下“Quiet Quitting”的语义演变与流行成因研究

A Study on the Semantic Evolution and Popularity Causes of “Quiet Quitting” from a Sociolinguistic Perspective

摘要: 2022年，“quiet quitting”一词在全球职场语境中迅速引发广泛讨论，并被柯林斯词典列入年度十大词汇。该词源于职场亚文化，经历了从贬义“消极怠工”到中性“只做分内事”再到赋权“工作生活平衡”的语义转变。本文从社会语言学视角出发，基于语义演变理论、身份建构理论与模因论，运用定性内容分析与情感标注方法，考察“quiet quitting”的语义演变路径与流行成因。研究发现，该词的演变经历了社群内部贬义、语义泛化、赋权接纳三个阶段，其机制涵盖隐喻、泛化、漂白与交互主观化；流行是语言内部因素与外部社会文化因素协同作用的结果。本研究为数字时代语义演变理论提供了新案例，揭示了职场亚文化对主流语言的渗透机制，并为理解当代青年身份建构策略提供了语言学观察窗口。

Abstract: In 2022, the term “quiet quitting” rapidly sparked widespread discussion in global workplace contexts and was listed by Collins Dictionary as one of its Words of the Year. Originating from workplace subculture, the term underwent a semantic shift from the derogatory meaning of “slacking off” to the neutral meaning of “doing only what is required”, and further to the empowering meaning of “work-life balance”. From a sociolinguistic perspective, and drawing on theories of semantic change, identity construction, and memetics, this study employs qualitative content analysis and sentiment annotation to investigate the semantic evolution path and popularity causes of “quiet quitting”. The findings reveal that the evolution of the term comprises three stages: in-group derogation, semantic generalization, and empowerment acceptance, with mechanisms involving metaphor, generalization, bleaching, and intersubjectification. Its popularity results from the synergistic effect of internal linguistic factors and external social and cultural factors. This research provides a new case study for theories of semantic change in the digital age, reveals the penetration mechanism of workplace subculture into mainstream language, and offers a linguistic lens for understanding contemporary youth identity construction strategies.