NEOLOGISMS AS UNITS OF MODERN LANGUAGE CULTURE

Martirosyan M.

Abstract
The article presented here is devoted to the study of neologisms in English. New words are often the subject of scorn because they are new, because they are perceived as unesthetically or improperly formed, or because they are considered to be unnecessary. They are, however, a normal part of language change; with frequent use and the passage of time they become unremarked items in everyday use. The aim of the work is the investigation of neologisms, used in the language of mass-media, newspapers , magazines, Internet, science, literature .

Keywords: Internet, Literature, Neologisms


Category: 10.00.00 Philology

Article reference:
Neologisms as units of modern language culture // Modern scientific researches and innovations. 2011. № 6 [Electronic journal]. URL: https://web.snauka.ru/en/issues/2011/10/2909

View this article in Russian

Every day we either consiously or not owing to our work or just for entertainment come across different types of mass media, internet, television, radio. They promtly and in a simple way present us big amount of various information and make us more intellectually powerful, according to the saying “who knows a lot controls the world’. But the world changes very quickly as a result our language changes new words, terms notions appear

A neologism (Greek νεολογισμός [neologismos], from νέος [neos] new + λόγος [logos] word, speech, discourse + suffix -ισμός [-ismos] -ism) is a word, term, or phrase which has been recently created (coined) – often to apply to new concepts, to synthesize pre-existing concepts, or to make older terminology sound more contemporary. Neologisms are especially useful in identifying inventions, new phenomena, or old ideas which have taken on a new cultural context. The term e-mail, as used today, is an example of a neologism. Neologisms are by definition “new”, and as such are often directly attributable to a specific individual, publication, period or event. The term neologism was itself coined around 1800; so for some time in the early 19th Century, the word neologism was itself a neologism. Neologisms can also refer to an existing word or phrase which has been assigned a new meaning”.
We live in a society that constantly develops. New objects in different spheres arise and they need to be named. That is why no science can exist without neologisms, new words. Though the neologisms dominate in the field of knowledge, other people, not only scientists, can also feel the necessity to express and interpret reality by new ways and create new words that would reflect it. Sometimes old words receive new meaning, change their word category or get new affixes or suffixes.
If we want to come across a neologism we do not have to search for it very strenuously. Every day the mass media and advertisements want to attract our attention and one way for achieving it is creating of new words. We notice immediately that our vocabulary does not contain the created word and we start to think about it. Also many marketing strategies are based on this principle. We are flooded by these words through television, we can see them on billb Many neologisms have come from popular literature, and tend to appear in different forms. Most commonly, they are simply taken from a word used in the narrative of a book; for instance, McJob (McJob is slang for a low-pay, low-prestige job that requires few skills and offers very little chance of intracompany advancement. The term comes from the fast-food restaurant McDonald’s, but applies to any low-status job where little training is required and workers’ activities are tightly regulated by managers. Most perceived McJobs are in the service industry, particularly fast food, copy shops, and retail sales.). The term is used to emphasize the fact that many desirable middle-class jobs are being eliminated, either due to productivity gains (often the result of automation) or due to the shifting of operations to second- or third-world countries where labor costs are cheaper. For example, manufacturing, call-center, accounting, and computer programming jobs are not as abundant in developed countries, as they used to be, as firms have looked abroad to meet these needs, frustrating many people who used to work in these industries. These displaced workers often spent many years gaining specialized education, training, and experience, and don’t want to start over at the bottom rung in a new industry. However, many older workers may have no choice but to take a “McJob”, because an employer will prefer to hire a younger person who has just finished college for an entry level job.
The term was coined in 1991 in Douglas Coupland’s book Generation X: Tales For An Accelerated Culture. The word McJob was added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary in late 2003.[1, 35].
Sometimes the title of the book becomes a neologism. For instance, Catch-22 (from the title of Joseph Heller’s novel) and Generation X (from the title of Coupland’s novel) have become part of the vocabulary of many English-speakers. Catch-22 is a 1961 novel by Joseph Heller about the madness of war. Specifically, it follows Yossarian and a number of other American airmen during World War II, based on the island of Pianosa, south of Italy. (A magazine excerpt from the novel was originally published as “Catch-18,” but Heller changed the title after another World War II novel, Leon Uris’s Mila 18, was published.) Also worthy of note is the case in which the author’s name becomes the neologism, although the term is sometimes based on only one work of that author. This includes such words as Orwellian (from George Orwell, referring to his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four) and Ballardesque (from J.G. Ballard, author of Crash). Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle was the container of the Bokononism family of Nonce words. The word “sadistic” is derived from the cruel sexual practices Marquis de Sade described in his novels. Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle was the container of the Bokononism family of nonce words. [1, 18].
Another category is words derived from famous characters in literature, such as quixotic (referring to the titular character in Don Quixote de la Mancha by Cervantes), a scrooge (from the main character in Dickens’s A Christmas Carol), or a pollyanna (from Eleanor H. Porter’s book of the same name). James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake, composed in a uniquely complex linguistic style, coined the words monomyth and quark.
Lewis Carroll has been called “the king of neologistic poems” because of his poem, “Jabberwocky”, which incorporated dozens of invented words. The early modern English prose writings of Sir Thomas Browne are the source of many neologisms as recorded by the OED (Oxford English Dictionary). The children’s book Frindle by Andrew Clements is a story about neologism.
Popular examples of neologism can be found in science, fiction, branding, literature, linguistic and popular culture. Examples include laser (1960) from Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation, robotics (1941), genocide (1943), and agitprop (1930s). [2, 26].
Many neologisms have come from popular literature and tend to appear in different forms. Most commonly, they are simply taken from a word used in the narrative of a book; a few representative examples are: “grok” (to achieve complete intuitive understanding), from Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
Every day different organizations and enterprises, scientists and scholars offer new words, word-combinations and phrases to name things. These new words may be equivalents for the already existing terms or may denote something new. For example, the International Society for Animal Rights (ISAR) in the USA, having met problems with too many no longer needed cats and dogs in America, has proposed the new term “pet overpopulation” to be included into English dictionaries. This term may be explained as – too many animals suffer from being abandoned by their owners and are to be subjected to euthanasia.
The former president of the USA Bill Clinton often used the word “gridlock” when he talked about difficult situations. But in the majority of dictionaries we can find only the translation of its compounds: grid is translated as решетка or сеть and lock as замок or шлюз. But the new meaning of this word is тупик, безвыходное положение.
Internet has greatly promoted language change. A neologism used on the Internetis spread almost instantly to readers who are miles away from the physical
location of the creation of this word. In today’s wired world, neologism appearing
on the web also enters verbal communications in people’s real life, Internet, , has provided rapid sharing of information to 40 million registered users. It has greatly amplified the influence of neologism, by giving web browsers a chance to quote a neologist unlimited times to an infinite number of audience who might adapt intuitively this very expression at various degrees to suit certain contexts. In this process, a neologism gradually transforms into a real-life linguistic being.
The Internet and computers in particular have spawned a large and specialized jargon. For example, the prefix “e-” is particularly productive in generating new terms such as e-mail, e-commerce, e-solution, e-vite, e-newsletter, e-book, e-publishing, e-politics and egovernment, to name just a very few. e- can be added to almost any term to create a reference to the online computer world. The prefix e- is also unique in that it is only a single letter. Although there are
other instances of neologisms being formed in English from other single letter prefixes (eg. Algeo 1998: he points to A-bomb, F-word, S-curve, U-boat, V-neck and G-string), none of these are productive in that they can attach themselves to numerous other words in the same way that e- can. ”:[2, 48].
The main difficulty in the translation of neologism is in understanding the meaning of the new word. And if a translator already knows the meaning of the neologism it is easy enough for him to translate it.
As a rule new words appear on the basis of already existing words and morphemes. The analysis of these words and morphemes can help the translator to understand the meaning of neologism.
Particularly the translation of neologism, which meaning has already known to translator, the mission is more easy and it solves by the way of using means, being suspended for the type of the word which belongs to that neologism.
If the new word absents in English-Armenian dictionary, as it is need to try to find it in English-English dictionary.
There are ‘’New words Sections’’ in many famous dictionaries. A list of neologisms is presented bellow. Each list contains ‘new’ words beginning from 2000 up to our days . According to our system, new words are those which have not occurred in previously processed newspaper text of the same type. They are therefore not all new coinages.
The new words offered to you have been selected on an arbitrary basis, as ‘interesting or amusing’ examples.
Neologisms of 2000
- weaselings – »
e.g. It forces every one of us to look into ourselves and decide what’s right. It allows no political weaselings. No hiding place.
- battle-rallying – Ïáã (Ñé»ïáñ³Ï³Ý Ïáã)
e.g. It was the prime minister’s bid for a major part on the global stage, and it was used to justify his passionate advocacy of military intervention in Kosovo, at a cost of some £5 bn. Now a test looms, determining whether that was simply battle-rallying rhetoric or the first sketch of a consistent political vision.

2005
Flunkophobia –
Meaning: Fear of failure.
Usage: Everytime I gave the Machine Drawing test, I used to have seizures of flunkophobia.
Pronunciation: Flunk-ko-phobia.
Root: To flunk is to fail.
Spliterature -
Usage : The Brad-Jen spliterature ate up quite a few rain forests.
Pronunciation: sounds like literature
Root : Split + literature
Zippie –
Meaning: A young person who is always in a rush.
Usage: “Just ask that zippie to spare a moment to listen to me will you,” commanded father to mother about son.
Pronunciation: Zip-ee
Root: zip & hippie
Gastrolepidopia –
Meaning: The state of having butterflies in your stomach.
Usage: Gastrolepidopia is the reason why many great communicators make goofy speeches.
Pronunciation: Gas-tro-lay-pee-dopey-ah.
Root: Gastro (stomach in greek) + Lepido (as in butterfly in greek).
Nakeup -
Nakeup: The feeling of nakedness experienced by some women when they are not using make up.
Usage:She felt embarrassed when he barged in especially since she was nakeup.
Pronunciation: Nake (as in snake)- up
Origin: Naked & make-up.
302 –
Meaning: A murderer.
Usage: It’s difficult to be non violent when you’re in the company of 302s.
Pronunciation: Three-knot-two.
Root: Section 302 pertains to murder in the Indian and British penal code
Boeing 404 –
Meaning: A missing plane.
Usage: Mayday! Mayday! We have a Boeing 404!
Pronunciation: Bo-ing-four-knot-four
Root: 404 is the error message flashed in the web world for ‘not found’ or ‘missing’. And Boeing has this habit of giving 3-digit names to its aircrafts like 747 or 707
2006
Xenohow գիտելիք այլմոլորակայինների և նրանց վարքի մասին
Meaning: Knowledge on aliens and their behaviour.
Pronunciation: Xee-know-how.
Usage: Life would have been far more interesting if I had acquired xenohow instead of a degree in mining engineering.
Root: Xeno (alien) + Knowhow (knowledge).
Fisterical անկառավարելիորեն բռնի
Meaning: Uncontrollably violent.
Pronunciation: Fist-terry-cull.
Usage: The English hooligans turned fisterical when England where denied the penalty.
Root: So hysterical that one gets into fistcuffs.
Heetotaller մեկը ով հեռու է մնում տղամարդկանցից
Meaning: Someone who abstains from men.
Pronounciation: He+tow+tull+er
Usage: Been in a relationship? Then you’ll know the advantages of being a heetotaller!
Root: He+Teetotaller (One who abstains completely from alcoholic beverages)
Related word: Shetotaller
Loutspeaker –
Meaning: A stupid person speaking to an audience
Pronunciation: Rhymes with loudspeaker
Usage: Most politicians are loutspeakers
Root: Lout + Loudspeaker
Clicktomaniac –
Meaning: He who steals mice and other input devices
Pronunciation: Clik-toh-maniac
Usage: Our office IT guy is a clicktomaniac
Root: Click (mouse-click) + Kleptomaniac
Pseudopolyglot –
Meaning: One who pretends to know many languages.
Pronunciation: Sew-do-poly-glot.
Usage: With a massive vocabulary of 8000 English words, 3 French words, 2 German words and 1 Esperanto word, I passed myself off as a polyglot. But I guess wordminters will call me a pseudopolyglot.
Root: Pseudo (Fake) + Polyglot (One who speaks many languages).

Blissterical անկառավարելիորեն երջանիկ
Meaning: Being uncontrollably happy.
Pronunciation: Bliss-teri-cull.
Usage: Disneyland makes children go blissterical.
Root: Bliss + Hysterical.
Budrenaline բուդրենալին, ալկոհոլի մեծ քանակություն օրգանիզմում
Meaning: High on alcohol.
Pronunciation: Bud-ri-na-lin.
Usage: 7 out of 10 road accidents at night can be blamed on the budrenaline rush.
Root: Bud (nick for Budweiser) + Adrenaline (State of excitement).
2010
Nobile – մարդ, որը չի սիրում բջջային հեռախոս
Meaning: One who hates to carry a mobile.
Pronunciation: No-bile.
Usage: Nobile young men are not neanderthals or luddites. They are the future of mankind.
Root: No + Mobile.
Buycarbonate ադամանդամոլ
Meaning: A habitual diamond shopper.
Pronunciation: Buy-carb-bun-ate.
Usage: Women turn buycarbonates as a response for hooking up with jerks.
Root: Buy (shop) + Carbon (diamond is carbon stone) + -ate (one who does).

January 21, 2011
Chessperanto- շախմատային խոսք
Meaning: Chess-speak.
Pronunciation: Chess-per-rant-toe.
Usage: In Chessperanto, f3e5 g4qh4 means, ‘Fool, you got mated in two moves!’
January 22, 2011
Baatankwad-
Meaning: Bamboozling with verbal threats. Pronunciation: Bath-thunk-vaadh.
Usage: China doesn’t believe in diplomacy. It just bullies countries with baatankwad.
Root: Baat (Hindi for talk) + Aatankwad (Hindi for terrorism).
The analysis of neologisms in English allows us to come to the following conclusions:
1. A neologis is a word, term, or phrase which has been recently created (coined) – often to apply to new concepts, to synthesize pre-existing concepts, or to make older terminology sound more contemporary.
2. Neologisms tend to occur more often in cultures which are rapidly changing, and also in situations where there is easy and fast propagation of information.
3. Many neologisms have come from popular literature, and tend to appear in different forms. Most commonly, they are simply taken from a word used in the narrative of a book.
4. Neologisms often become popular by way of mass media, the internet, or word of mouth.
5. The Internet and computers in particular have spawned a large and specialized jargon. The prefix “e-” is particularly productive in generating new terms.

- Books:
J. Ayto – A Century of New Words. Oxford University Press.- 2006.
J. Algeo – Fifty Years among the New Words: A Dictionary of Neologisms. Oxford University Press.- 1991.
- Электронные ресурсы (Ресурсы Интернет):
List of English neologisms[Электронный ресурс]
- Режим доступа: http://wordmint.blogspot.com/2011/04/dressignation.html



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