The article is devoted to such a layer of vocabulary as neologisms, which are one of the most productive means of replenishing the lexical composition of the English language. New words are created every day, and their number in the English language is growing rapidly, their appearance is the result of a struggle between two trends Ц the development trend of the language and the trend of its preservation. In order to more adequately reflect, reproduce and consolidate new ideas and concepts, language in general and vocabulary in particular are forced to rebuild, differentiate, generate new units

Gorbunova, E.

Piskun, Y.

Digital Library of Polotsk State University (Репозиторий Полоцкого государственного университета)

ELECTRONIC COLLECTED MATERIALS OF XII JUNIOR RESEARCHERS’ CONFERENCE           2021 Linguistics, Literature, Philology 22  UDC 81 ' 1   NEOLOGISMS AS A FACTOR OF CHANGING THE LINGUISTIC WORLDVIEW  YAKOV PISKUN, ELENA GORBUNOVA  Saratov State University, Russia  The article is devoted to such a layer of vocabulary as neologisms, which are one of the most productive means of replenishing the lexical composition of the English language. New words are created every day, and their number in the English language is growing rapidly, their appearance is the result of a struggle between two trends – the development trend of the language and the trend of its preservation. In order to more adequately reflect, reproduce and consolidate new ideas and concepts, language in general and vocabulary in particular are forced to rebuild, differentiate, generate new units.  The beginning of the XXI century is characterized by an unprecedented growth in the vocabulary of the English language, namely, the introduction of new lexical units – neologisms, which are one of the most productive means of replenishing the lexical composition of the English language. New words are created every day, and their number in the English language is growing rapidly, their appearance is the result of the struggle of two trends – the trend of language development and the trend of its preservation. In order to more adequately reflect, reproduce and consolidate new ideas and concepts, language in general and vocabulary in particular are forced to restructure, differentiate, and generate new units. There is no doubt that today's life urgently requires the study of everything new that arises in the language. The study of new words, the analysis of the ways and methods of their occurrence in the language always reflect the most characteristic trends in the change of its vocabulary at the present stage of development. All innovative phenomena of the social and political life of the society are embodied in new words. Most linguists point to the intensification of the processes of updating the lexical composition of modern languages, which, according to S. I. Togoeva, causes the desire to consider neologism not as a static linguistic phenomenon, but as a unit of the internal lexicon of an individual native speaker, in combination with the support of such criteria of neology developed within the framework of the system-structural scientific paradigm as normativity, usuality, variability, novelty, temporal and spatial parameters of the origin and functioning of the word [1, p.83]. The appearance of neologisms is a direct evidence of the viability of the language, its desire is to express all the richness of human knowledge and the progress of civilization.  The analysis of the scientific literature and the research material allows us to conclude that neologisms are used in almost all spheres of life of modern English-speaking society; for example, with the development of computer technologies, a large number of neologisms associated with their use have appeared:  applet – a small computer application program, especially one that executes a single task within a larger application;  cybernaut – someone, who uses various devices in order to experience virtual reality;   e-verdict – a judicial verdict communicated through the Internet;   intermercial – an advertisement published on the Internet;   internaut – a habitual user of the Internet;   mouse potato – someone who spends an excessive amount of time in front of the computer, especially who uses it online;   mail bomb – an abnormally large e-mail message, or an abnormally large number of e-mail messages, sent maliciously in the expectation that the receiving computer will be unable to cope [2].  The political situation in the world has a great influence on the appearance of new words. So, for example, during the civil war of 1991 in Yugoslavia, the phrase “ethnic cleansing” appeared, which today is firmly included in the vocabulary of the language. As a result of another famous conflict of the 90s in the Middle East, the expression “Gulf War syndrome” appeared. The US policy (not always correct) in relation to some countries has led to the fact that many military euphemisms have been used in the media: collateral damage, friendly fire, rapid reaction force [3, p.76]. ELECTRONIC COLLECTED MATERIALS OF XII JUNIOR RESEARCHERS’ CONFERENCE           2021 Linguistics, Literature, Philology 23  Political leaders also contribute to the process of neologization. Among the neologisms included in the vocabulary of the English language, the following words are found: Putinomics, Clintonomics, Obamacare, Trumponomics. The name of the US President Donald Trump has contributed to the emergence of a huge number of neologisms (over 50), including Trumpponomics (the president's economic policy), trumppertantrum (angry early-morning tweeting laced with innuendo and falsehood) and trumpkin (a pumpkin carved to recall the former TV host), Trumpflation (the inflation analysts predict will be caused by the new administration's economic policies), Trumpist (a Trump supporter), Trumpette (a female Trumpist) and Trumpista (a rare Hispanic Trumpist), Trumpsplaining and Trumpageddon. The White House during Trump’s presidency became known not only as 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, but also TrumpWorld, Trumpville, Trumplandia and even Trumpistan.  A neological boom is observed in the sphere of cultural life as well. In the field of musical art there appeared such words as:   britpop – the music of a loose affiliation of independent British groups showing influences from a variety of British musical traditions;  gabber – a follower of a harsh, aggressive type of house music originating in Rotter-dam, characterized by its extremely fast dance beat;   handbag – a form of electronic dance music, derived from house, characterized by its highly commercial appeal, catchy melodies, and an upbeat or euphoric mood [3].  A number of neologisms are formed by merging several bases:   netizen – a blend of net and citizen;  feminazi – a blend of feminist and Nazi;  internaut – a blend of Internet and astrounaut [3].   In the course of studying the phenomenon of neologization of the modern English language, it is established that the process of the appearance of neologisms is continuous, while the lexicographic fixation of language innovations is significantly delayed. For instance, such neologisms as “chickenatarian” (a person who does not eat any other meat but chicken.), “cat café” (a theme café whose attraction is cats that can be watched and played with), have not been introduced into the vocabulary of the major online dictionaries: Macmillan dictionary, Urban dictionary until fairly recently [4].  Many scientists who compile authoritative, recognized dictionaries say that traditionally the mission of the dictionary is to provide accurate, comprehensive information about the current state of the vocabulary of the language. Composing a dictionary entry, learning a new word usually takes quite a long time. And only after careful study, the word is introduced into the vocabulary of the language, which happens several times a year after collecting and processing a number of neologisms.  However, the language responds very quickly and reacts to any changes. Since the Covid-19 crisis (the abbreviation Covid-19 was formed from the phrase – coronavirus disease 2019), which is perhaps the newest and the most frequently used neologism at the moment, is developing at such a rapid pace, and some words and ideas related to it are new in themselves, an unplanned, unprecedented update of dictionary entries related to this disease was made. Some of these terms are completely new, others have revised definitions. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the latest representative lexicographic source of English neologisms, which includes the results of the work on lexicography of neologisms conducted over many years, is one of the first dictionaries, along with Oxford and Cambridge Dictionaries that drew attention to the layer of new vocabulary that appeared in the pandemic. Among these words we find the following neologisms: Covid-19, social distancing, super-spreader (disease-carrier), hidden carrier of the disease, index case, index patient, patient zero, contact tracing, community spread, self-quarantine. It should be noted that these neologisms are used in all languages, since the spread of this disease has covered the whole world. This proves once again that language is the mirror of human life.  Recently, neologisms with a share of irony and humour have begun to appear. To the above examples, you can add the following words that appeared in English in April 2020:  coronial/ coronababy noun [C] – someone who was born around the time of the Covid-19 pandemic;  covidivorce noun [C] – the process of ending a marriage as a consequence of the couple spending a large period of time together in lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic; ELECTRONIC COLLECTED MATERIALS OF XII JUNIOR RESEARCHERS’ CONFERENCE           2021 Linguistics, Literature, Philology 24   social bubble noun [C] – a small group of family and friends who are permitted to see each other as the Covid-19 lockdown measures are gradually eased;  corona corridor noun [C] – an area that people are allowed to travel through to reach a particular destination as the Covid-19 lockdown measures are gradually eased. As mentioned above, language is a reflection of all the realities of our life. The language uses all the word-forming/ morphological means available to it (affixation, conversion, word composition, reduction, reverse word formation, postpositivation, onomatopoeia, repetition, lexicosemantic word formation, alternation of sounds, stress transfer in the word) to create concepts related to the current situation. The ways of word formation are usually divided into usual and non-usual, otherwise referred to as occasional ways. The usual ways are typical for both common and occasional words. Along with this statement, the researches note that there are specific patterns and methods that are characteristic of creating just occasional patterns. So, L.A. Nefedova considers blending to be an occasional way of word formation, although at the present stage of language development and lexicography in particular, an increasing number of blends are reflected in dictionaries and reference books, thus passing into the category of commonly used speech units [5, p. 89].  The following words have entered the English vocabulary via blending:  covexit noun [U] – the process of easing the restrictions on public life imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic;  coronapocalypse (corona + appocalypse) or coronageddon (corona + armageddon) – a time of upheaval (is used jokingly);  covidiot – а blend of Covid-19 and idiot, covidiot is a slang insult for someone who disregards healthy and safety guidelines about the novel coronavirus [6];  blursday – humorous word for any day of the week that feels not much different from the previous one, a meme during the coronavirus lockdown, the weakening sense of time when so many days bleed into each other;  doomscrolling – hypnotic state of endlessly reading grim Internet news;  quarantine and chill – to make oneself relaxed and comfortable at home while observing rules of social isolation and distancing;  covideo party, virtual happy hour, etc. Several abbreviations have also appeared. The most widely spread ones are:  WAH – working at home;  WFH – working from home;  PPE – personal protective equipment.  In the Australian version of English, abbreviations such as “quaz” have appeared for “quarantine” and “sanny” for “sanitiser”. It should be noted that while discussing the situation with the coronavirus, military terminology is used. For example: to fight the virus, a cruel virus, to battle an attacking virus, this is the frontline of a war. Many politicians use such rhetoric, for example, D. Trump calls himself a war-time president, Boris Johnson describes this virus as a virus that enlisted us in a fight. Some scientists consider the word ‘pandemic’ as a fusion – the worldwide outbreak of a new disease (panic + epidemic) or as a kangaroo word (the word structure contains another word with a similar meaning pandemic – panic), but, in any case, the word is characterized by a negative connotation.  Practice shows that linguistic processes are now much faster than they were a few decades ago. This “neogenicity” of language processes creates favourable conditions for studying the full cycle of the emergence of a new lexical unit – identifying an intra – system lacuna, the existence of a potential word, the appearance of a neologism, as well as its further fate in the language-obtaining the status of a common unit, the implementation of derivational potencies, lexicographic fixation of the word, or the disappearance from the vocabulary of active use. For neologisms of English origin at the turn of the XXI century, along with the signs of peripheral vocabulary (a sense of novelty, etc.), nuclear signs become characteristic: high frequency, communicative relevance, functional mobility, a tendency to emotional coloring, word-forming activity, metaphoricity.  In conclusion, it is necessary to note that at the time of social upheavals, the processes of language development are accelerated, a large number of new lexical units appear, adding to the vocabulary of the language and reflecting changes in the linguistic picture of the world.   ELECTRONIC COLLECTED MATERIALS OF XII JUNIOR RESEARCHERS’ CONFERENCE           2021 Linguistics, Literature, Philology 25  REFERENCES  1. Тогоева, С. И. Психолингвистические проблемы неологии : дис. докт. филол. наук. / С. И. Тогоева. – Воронеж, 2000. – 251 c. 2. Ерошкина, Н. А. Неологизмы в английском и американском языках. [Электронный ресурс]. – Режим доступа : https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/neologizmy-v-angliyskom-i-amerikanskom-yazykah. – Дата досту-па : 20.04.2020. 3. Усова, И. В. Неологизмы в современном английском языке / И. В. Усова // Балтийский гуманитарный журнал. – 2015. – № 1(10). – С. 75–77. 4. Macmillan dictionary [Электронный ресурс]. – Режим доступа : http://www.macmillan dictionary.com. – Дата доступа : 22.04.2020. 5. Нефедова, Л. А. О некоторых особых способах словообразования в современном немецком языке / Л. А. Нефедова // Вестн. Мед. гос. ун-а. Сер. 19, Лингвистика и межкульт. коммуникация. – 2002. – №5. 6. Cambridge Dictionary [Электронный ресурс]. – Режим доступа: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/ dictionary/english/covid-19?q=covid. – Дата доступа : 22.04.2020.   

Neologisms as a factor of changing the linguistic worldview

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Neologisms as a factor of changing the linguistic worldview

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