Neologisms in Modern English language

КИЇВСЬКИЙ СЛАВІСТИЧНИЙ УНІВЕРСИТЕТ

ЗАКАРПАТСЬКА  ФІЛІЯ

КАФЕДРА ФІЛОЛОГІЇ 

Реєстраційний номер__________

Дата реєстрації_______________ 

Смоленяк  С. С.

3 курс, спеціальність «Мова та

література (англійська)»

        

Неологізми  в сучасній англійській  мові

“Neologisms in Modern English language”

КУРСОВА РОБОТА 
 
 

                             Науковий керівник:

                                                                                          Андрусяк І. В. 

Допущено до захисту   ____________

Зав. кафедрою філології_____________ 
 
 
 
 

Ужгород – 200_

Contents

  Introduction …………………………………………………………………pp

  Chapter I. General notes on Neologisms

1.1.Characteristic of neologisms  …..…………………………………...…….pp

1.2. Cultural acceptance………………………………………………………..pp

1.3. Versions of neologisms………………………………………………..…pp

1.4. Types of neologisms……………………………………………………...pp

  Chapter  II. Uses of neologisms

 2.1. Art and music……………………………………………………………pp

2.2. Computing ………………………………………………………………pp

2.3. Business word………………………………………………………...…pp

2.4. Health and fitness ………………………………………………………pp

2.5. Lifestyle and leisure……………………………………………………..pp

2.6. Polities…………………………………………………………………..pp

2.7. Popular culture …………………………………………………………pp

2.8. People and society………………………………………………………pp

2.9. Sports…………………………………………………………………...pp

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………..pp

  List of literature used …………………………………………………….pp 
 

Introduction

    With the development of technology, science many “new words”  appeared in English language as well. Most of them are terms. The layer of terminological neologisms has been rapidly growing since the start of the technological revolution. The theme of our investigation is “Neologisms in Modern English language”.

   The sphere of the Internet alone gave birth to thousand of new terms which have become international (network, server, browser, e-mail, e-news, provider, site, netscape communicator, facebook, Internet explorer etc.). Recent discoveries in biochemistry, genetic engineering , cosmonautics and other sciences  demanded new words to name new concepts and ideas. However, the vocabulary of our everyday usage is also being enlarged by neologisms.

   The actuality of our theme is preconditioned by the fact that Every period in the development of a language produces an enormous number of new words or new meanings of established words. Most of them do not live long. They are not meant to live long. They are coined for use at the moment of speech.

    The aim of our work is to investigate the neologisms in deferent spheres of  life and their usage in Modern English language. To achieve the goal I have done the following tasks:

• Investigate the use of neologisms in art and music;
• Investigate the use of neologisms in computing and business world;
• Research the use of neologisms in lifestyle and leisure, popular culture;
• Examine the usage of “new words” in sport, polities atc.

 
 
 
 

Chapter I. General notes on Neologisms

1. Characteristic of neologisms

     A neologism (from Greek neo = "new" + logos = "word") is a word, term or phrase which has been recently created (coined) – often to apply to new concepts, or to reshape older terms in newer language form. Neologisms are especially useful in identifying inventions, new phenomena, or old ideas which have taken on a new cultural context.

    Neologisms are by definition "new", and as such are often directly attributable to a specific individual, publication, period, or event. The term "neologism" was coined in 1800; so for some time in the early 19^th Century, the word « neologism» was itself a neologism. Neologism can also refer to an existing word or phrase which has been assi8gned a new meaning.

    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. They are often created by combining existing words or by giving words new and unique suffixes or prefixes. Neologisms can also be created through abbreviation or acronym, by intentionally rhyming with existing words, or simply through playing with sounds.

   Neologisms often become popular by way or of mass media, the Internet, or word of mouth. Every word in a language was, at some time, a neologism, though most of these ceased to be such through time and acceptance.

    Neologisms often become accepted parts of the language. Other times, however, they disappear from common usage. Whether a neologism continues as part of the language depends on many factors, probably the most important of which is acceptance by the public. Acceptance by linguistic experts and incorporation into dictionaries also plays a part, as does whether the phenomenon described by a neologism remains current, thus continuing to need a descriptor. It is unusual, however, for a word to enter common use if it does not resemble another word or words in an identifiable way. (In some cases however, strange new words succeed because the idea behind them is especially memorable or exciting). When a word or phrase is no longer «new», it is no longer a neologism. Neologisms may take decades to become «old», though. Opinions differ on exactly how old a word must be to no longer be considered a neologism; cultural acceptance probably plays a more important role than time in this regard.

       Neologisms are very common in newspaper vocabulary. The newspaper is very quick to react to any new development in the life of society, in science and technology. Hence, neologisms make their way into the language of the newspaper very easily and often even spring up on newspaper pages. Now, in the early 21st century, neologisms relating to computers and the Internet outnumber all others, for example, cybersickness (a feeling of illness caused by using a computer for long periods of time), keypal (someone with whom one regularly exchanges e-mail), online auction, access provider, MP3, PDA (Personal digital assistant), animatronics.

       Finance has also launched numerous new words, such as dead cat bounce (a situation in which the price of shares rises a small amount after a large fall, sometimes before falling further), stealth tax (a tax that you pay on something that you buy rather than tax you pay directly to the government, and which you are less aware of paying than, for example, direct tax on your income).

      Sometimes finance and computers come together, as with dot-com (a person or a company whose business is done using the Internet), 
e-cash (money that can be used to buy things on the Internet, but that does not exist in a physical form or belong to any particular country). Many new words have come from medicine and biological science, e.g., biologically engineered, genetically modified; from the world of business: benchmark (to use a companies good performance as a standard by which to judge the performance of other companies of the same type), best practice (a description of the best way of performing a particular activity in business).

     Every period in the development of a language produces an enormous number of new words or new meanings of established words. Most of them do not live long. They are not meant to live long. They are coined for use at the moment of speech, and therefore possess a peculiar property —that of temporariness. The given word or meaning holds only in the given context and is meant only to "serve the occasion."

     However, such is the power of the written language that a word or a meaning used only to serve the occasion, when once fixed in writing, may become part and parcel of the general vocabulary.

     The coining of new words generally arises first of all with the need to designate new concepts resulting from the development of science and also with the need to express nuances of meaning called forth by a deeper understanding of the nature of the phenomenon in question. It may also be the result of a search for a more economical, brief and compact form of utterance which proves to be a more expressive means of communicating the idea.

     The first type of newly coined words, i.e. those which designate newborn concepts, may be named   terminological coinages. The second type, i.e. words coined because their creators seek expressive utterance may be named stylistic coinages.

Among new coinages of a literary-bookish type must be mentioned a considerable layer of words appearing in the publicistic style, mainly in newspaper articles and magazines and also in the newspaper style— mostly in newspaper headlines.

      Another type of neologism is the nonce-word – a word coined to suit one particular occasion. They rarely pass into the standard language and remind us of the writers who coined them.

Cultural acceptance

     After being coined, neologisms invariably undergo scrutiny by the public and by linguists to determine their suitability to the language. Many are accepted very quickly; others attract opposition. Language experts sometimes object to a neologism on the grounds that a suitable term for the thing described already exists in the language. Non-experts who dislike the neologism sometimes also use this argument, deriding the neologism as "abuse and ignorance of the language."

Some neologisms, especially those dealing with sensitive subjects, are often objected to on the grounds that they obscure the issue being discussed, and that such a word's novelty often leads a discussion away from the root issue and onto a sidetrack about the meaning of the neologism itself.

      Proponents of a neologism see it as being useful, and also helping the language to grow and change; often they perceive these words as being a fun and creative way to play with a language. Also, the semantic precision of most neologisms, along with what is usually a straightforward syntax, often makes them easier to grasp by people who are not native speakers of the language.

      The outcome of these debates, when they occur, has a great deal of influence on whether a neologism eventually becomes an accepted part of the language. Linguists may sometimes delay acceptance, for instance by refusing to include the neologism in dictionaries; this can sometimes cause a neologism to die out over time. Nevertheless if the public continues to use the term, it always eventually sheds its status as a neologism and enters the language even over the objections of language experts.  
 
 
 

Types of neologisms

   • Unstable - Extremely new, being proposed, or being used only by a very small subculture.

   • Diffused - Having reached a significant audience, but not yet having gained acceptance.

   • Stable - Having gained recognizable and probably lasting acceptance.

   • Trademarks are often neologisms to insure they are distinguished from other brands. If legal trademark protection is lost, the neologism may enter the language as a genericized trademark. Example: Laundromat, Hoover.

  •  Nonce words – words coined and used only for a particular occasion, usually for special literary effect.

  •  Inverted – words that are derived from spelling (and pronouncing) a standard word backwards. Example: redrum

  •  Paleologism – a word that is alleged to be a neologism but turns out to be a long-used (if obscure) word, such as Stephen Colbert’s truthiness. Used ironically.

Chapter II Uses of the neologisms

     Neologisms widely uses in art, music, computing, business world, popular culture in sports and also in literature. 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 from Douglas Coupland's Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture and cyberspace from William Gibson's Neuromancer. Sometimes the title of the book will become the 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. 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).

Lewis Carroll's poem "Jabberwocky" has been called "the king of neologistic poems" as it incorporated some dozens of invented words. The early modern English prose writings of Sir Thomas Browne 1605-1682 are the source of many neologisms as recorded by the OED.

       In psychiatry, the term neologism is used to describe the use of words that only have meaning to the person who uses them, independent of their common meaning. This is considered normal in children, but a symptom of thought disorder (indicative of a psychotic mental illness, such as schizophrenia) in adults. People with autism also may create neologisms. Use of neologisms may also be related to aphasia acquired after brain damage resulting from a stroke or head injury.

      In theology, a neologism is a relatively new doctrine (for example, rationalism). In this sense, a neologist is an innovator in the area of a doctrine or belief system, and is often considered heretical or subversive by the mainstream clergy or religious institution(s).

Art and Music:

Hip-hop /hIp' hɔp/ noun, adjective, verb Often written hip hop

Intransitive verb: To dance to hip hop music.

   Formed by combining the adjective hip in its slang sense ʻcoolʼ with the noun hop, which also had a well-established slang ʻdanceʼ; hip-hop had existed as an adverb ʻmeaning with hopping movementsʼ since the seventeenth century, but hip-hop as a noun was quite separate development. Its adoption as the name of the subculture and its music may have been influenced by the catch-phrase hip hop, be hop, chanted by the disc jockey and rapper Lovebug Starsky in the form ʻto the hip hop, hip hop, do not stop that body rockʼ.

    In the US the name was used to refer to the assertive and showy culture as a whole, which its visible and flamboyant street manifestations, and its related dress and hair styles. Break-dancing , and crews of graffiti artists leaving their TAG signatures, are typical parts of the hip hop scene. The word was first imported to Britain to refer specifically to the music, when it became popular in clubs in the mid eighties, though the dress and general culture have also since taken root among British urban blacks.Its popularity as a dance music has led to the development of the verb hip hop and the action noun hip-hoping; someone who listens or dances to the music or follows the hip-hop culture in general is a hip-hopper;adherents may consider themselves, or be described as, part of the hip-hop community or hip-hop nation.