5.
Terms. Neologisms.
Term is a word or a word-group which is specifically employed by a particular
branch of science, technology, trade or the arts to convey a concept peculiar to
this particular activity. A classical term is monosemantic and has no synonyms.
Terms of general nature are interdisciplinary (approbation, definition, anomaly,
monograph, etc.). semantically narrow terms belong to a definite branch of
science. Hiberdating = hibernating + dating
Learned words are mainly associated with the printed page. But this is not
exclusively so. The sphere of use of learned words is not always restricted to
fiction, official or professional communication, but in common conversational
speech.
Workaholic = work + alcoholic
Situationship = situation + relationship
Skort = skirt + short
Staycation = stay + vacation
Cyberspace = cyber + space
Selfie = self + suffix ie
(The suffix -ie usually makes a word into the informal and endearing form)
Sweetie = sweet + ie
Humanness = human + ness
Gonna, wanna
Neologisms are words and word-groups that denote new concepts, they are
newly born words. Most of them are terms. The layer of terminological
neologisms has been rapidly growing since the start of the technological
revolution.
What Are The Main Types of Neologisms?
Neologisms come in different forms but they can be separated into three main
types. We can borrow words from other languages, form new words by blending
two together or add a prefix or a suffix to change the form of the existing word.
A new word may be adopted from another language. For example, the word
‘cafe’ is the word for ‘coffee’ in many different parts of the world. ‘Wanderlust’,
‘cartoon’, and ‘loot’ are other words that have been taken from other languages
and are commonly used in English.
Common blended words to form new words include:
Breakfast + lunch = brunch
Hungry + angry = hangry
Chill + relax = chillax
Confused + puzzled = confuzzled
Smoke + fog = smog
And it’s common to add the suffix -er to a verb or a noun to describe a person in
that area or profession. For example:
Instagram = Instagrammar
Blog = Blogger
Influence = Influencer
Facebook = Facebooker
Lexical Neologisms
Two common elements used to produce new words related to the Internet are
cyber- and e-:
cybercafé, n. ‘a cafe that offers its customers computers with Internet access’;
cyberterrorist, n. ‘a criminal who uses the Internet to do damage to computer
systems’;
Semantic neologisms – new meanings of already existing words – result from
semantic derivation due to the functional mobility of the vocabulary:
virus, n. ‘a piece of code which is capable of copying itself and typically has a
detrimental effect, such as corrupting the system or destroying data’;
6. 6. Informal layer of the vocabulary. Colloquialisms.
Informal words and word-groups are traditionally divided into 3 types: colloquial,
slang and dialect words and word-groups.
Colloquial words are characteristic of the informal style of spoken English.
One should distinguish between literary (standard) colloquial words as units of
Standard English and non-literary colloquialisms that belong to sub-standard
English vocabulary.
Literary colloquial words are used in everyday conversations both by cultivated
and uneducated people and are also met in written literary texts. They are closer
to neutral words than to literary-bookish units, but, as a rule, have stronger
emotional colouring. Non-literary (sub-standard) colloquial words include slang,
jargonisms, professionalisms and vulgarisms, dialect words and word-groups.
Informal words peculiar for a certain social or professional group should be
considered as jargonisms. Jargonisms stand close to slang, also being substandard, expressive and emotive, but unlike slang they are used by limited
groups of people, united either professionally or socially. The aim of jargon is to
preserve secrecy within one or another social or professional group. Jargonisms
are generally neutral words with entirely new meanings imposed on them.
7. 7. Slang. Vulgarisms.
The term “slang” originated in the USA at the beginning of the 20th century and
then penetrated to the other countries. Slang comprises highly informal words
not accepted for dignified use. Slang is represented both as special vocabulary
and as a special language. Slang is much rather a spoken than a literary language.
Slang words, used by most speakers in very informal communication, are highly
emotive and expressive. Such words are expressive sub-standard substitutes for
current words of standard vocabulary. As a rule, their meanings are based on
metaphor and have a jocular or ironic colouring. But yet all their meanings are
based on metaphor, they strike us as singularly unpoetical. Example: spill the tea,
salt to (angry), get upset (they are angry or get upset), mood (relatable), to ghost
someone (cut off communication with someone).
Vulgarisms are coarse words with a strong emotive meaning; words denoting the
notions which are taboo in a given speech community, normally avoided in polite
conversation. Vulgarisms include: a) expletives and swear words of abusive
character; b) obscene (or taboo, four-letter) words which are highly indecent. We
should differentiate between 1) those which have lost their shocking power and
are not meant to abuse anybody; they serve as mere signals of strong emotions
and 2) those which are meant to offend, insult or abuse. Example
: