The purpose of the present work is to investigate the neologisms in the lexical system of the modern English language and reveal the major trends and tendencies taking place within the processes of the new words formation and distribution.
To achieve the above mentioned purpose the following objectives are established:
to study the theoretical linguistic material and the latest data on those lexicological facts and phenomena which are related to the topic of the present research;
to analyze the most highly rated newspapers of Great Britain with the aim of selecting newly created and borrowed lexemes;
to build up a collection of neologisms from the above mentioned mass media;
to define the dominant part of speech prevailing among the collected neologisms and the distribution of other parts of speech within this framework;
to define and study the types of word building inherent in the neologisms;
to define and investigate the most dominant word building type and study the distribution of other ones characteristic of the collected new lexemes.
In the present paper there were used such methods of scientific research as analysis and synthesis, following every chapter and part of the current work, descriptive method and the method of statistical analysis, methods of typological and lexicological analysis, comparative method, adapted NeoTrack method of neologisms detection (Appendix B), plus deductive and inductive methods of investigation and generalising the retrieved facts and data.
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1. NEOLOGISM AS A RESULT OF LEXICAL NOMINATION
1.1. The definition of neologism
1.2. Transposition and identification as the two stages of nominative process
1.3. The types of transposition
1.4. The meaning structure of a word
CHAPTER 2. NEOLOGISM: ITS PARADIGMATIC AND SYNTAGMATIC PROPERTIES
2.1. The principles of collecting neologisms
2.2. Paradigmatic analysis of the new lexical units
2.3. Neologism as a result of transposition
2.4. Contrastive analysis of a neologism as for the types of transposition
Research Objectives and Topics
The primary objective of this research is to investigate neologisms within the lexical system of modern English, specifically as they appear in British mass media, in order to identify major trends in new word formation and distribution.
- The linguistic and extralinguistic sources of modern English neologisms.
- The role of transposition and identification in the nominative process.
- The paradigmatic and syntagmatic properties of new lexical units.
- Statistical distribution of neologisms across different parts of speech.
- The productivity of various word-building mechanisms, such as composition and affixation.
Excerpt from the Book
1.2. Transposition and identification as the two stages of nominative process
The process of nomination is a complicated linguistic phenomenon representing internal and external reality through the reflective ability of human consciousness; it generalizes the notions which already exist and establishes the new ones [9, p. 42]. In this way some part, constituent of reality is labelled, i.e. it is given a name. So, any process that results in a new name-label is an element of the process of nomination.
The process of nomination proper is a complicated phenomenon; it includes numerous patterns, regularities and stages that are organized according to certain linguistic laws. The latter are discovered a posteriori, after analysing some significant group of units that is the product of nominalisation.
The process of nomination, however, consists of two basic stages – transposition and identification.
The former is the mechanism of word derivation which functions in conditions of speech on a syntagmatic level. Transposition in turn is divided by the majority of linguists into three following types.
Morphological (or structural) transposition is characterised by covering the processes of word formation, such as composition, agglutination, affixation, abbreviation, back-formation and compound derivation.
Summary of Chapters
CHAPTER 1. NEOLOGISM AS A RESULT OF LEXICAL NOMINATION: This chapter introduces the theoretical framework of neologisms, defining the concept and examining the processes of transposition and identification in word formation.
CHAPTER 2. NEOLOGISM: ITS PARADIGMATIC AND SYNTAGMATIC PROPERTIES: This chapter provides a practical investigation into collected neologisms, analyzing their part-of-speech distribution and the productivity of various word-building types like composition and affixation.
Keywords
Neologism, Lexical System, Modern English, Mass Media, Nomination, Transposition, Identification, Word Building, Composition, Affixation, Paradigmatic Analysis, Syntagmatic Properties, Lexical Innovation, Corpus, British Newspapers.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this research paper?
The paper primarily focuses on the study of neologisms within the modern English lexical system as they appear in contemporary British mass media (2000–2010).
Which key topics does the research explore?
It explores definitions of neologisms, their origins (linguistic and extralinguistic sources), the mechanics of word formation, and the statistical distribution of new words across different parts of speech.
What is the primary objective of the work?
The goal is to investigate how new words enter the English language, the methods used to create them, and the major trends and tendencies in their formation and distribution.
What scientific methods are utilized?
The author employs methods such as analysis, synthesis, descriptive analysis, statistical analysis, typological and lexicological analysis, and a comparative method for examining word-building processes.
What is covered in the main body of the work?
The body analyzes the nature of neologisms as lexical nominations, details the principles of corpus collection, and presents a paradigmatic and syntagmatic analysis of collected neologisms (370 items).
How would you characterize the work with specific keywords?
The work is characterized by terms such as lexical innovation, composition, affixation, mass media discourse, and paradigmatic analysis.
What specific observation does the author make about prefixes?
The author highlights that the prefixes 'e-' and 'i-', which originated as abbreviations, have gained status as "full-right" prefixes due to their extensive use in the modern technological lexicon.
Does the research conclude that affixation is the most common word-building type?
No, the research explicitly refutes the initial hypothesis of affixation dominance, concluding instead that composition is the most productive word-building type in the analyzed media discourse.
- Quote paper
- Yaroslav Levchenko (Author), 2010, Neologism in the lexical system of modern English, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/151735
