Formation and functioning of neologisms in social networks

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National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine

Formation and functioning of neologisms in social networks

Svitlana Tsymbal

Kyiv

Introduction

The use of the internet and telecommunication technologies has dramatically affected the way we communicate, contributing to the development of a whole new variety that defines internet culture. Social networking sites have attracted millions of English-speaking users who connect and communicate via the internet, using both computers and mobile devices. This has largely expanded the English vocabulary.

Purpose. This study focuses on social media, revealing the new words that have been created as a result of social networking.

Methods. One hundred and twenty five neologisms were collected and described in the analysis. The observation method of data collection was used to gather social media neologisms from social media, websites and instant messaging. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used.

Results. Neologisms were analysed to reveal their word classes and word-formation processes, and the most dominant word classes and word-formation process were distinguished among the neologisms collected as data.

Originality. This study is an original contribution to the research on the subject of neologisms, emerging on social media in particular.

Conclusion. Although there are general patterns of word-formation, language is not a fixed, rigid system; according to the current stage of development new words enter the vocabulary continuously, and certain tendencies of forming new words appear and may disappear again.

Keywords. Neologism, social networking site, social media, word-formation, word-class.

Анотація

ФОРМУВАННЯ ТА ФУНКЦІОНУВАННЯ НЕОЛОГІЗМІВ У СОЦІАЛЬНИХ МЕРЕЖАХ

Світлана Цимбал

Національний університет біоресурсів та природокористування України Україна, м. Київ,

Moea як dunaMiHua cucmeMa постійно поповнюється новими лексемaми, які вuзнaчaють тенденції її розвитку. Істотно вплuвaє Ha мову ma нaше спiлкувaння вuкoрuсmaння Інтернету і телекомунітційних технологій, що, зі свого боку, урiзнoмaнimнює 3a^6u мовної комунітції, ят і вuзнaнaє інтернет-культуру.

Сaйmu соцшльних мереж зaлунuлu мільйони aнглoмoвнuх кoрuсmувaнiв, які спілкуються через Інтернет, використовуючи комп'ютери і мобільні пристрої. Це, звісно, сприяє поповненню словникового склaду aнглiйськoї мови.

Прoпoнoвaне дослідження присвячене опису неологізмів, які виникли внaслiдoк спiлкувaння в соцшльних мережaх.

У роботі прoaнaлiзoвaнo сто двaдцяmь п'ять неологізмів. Для добору неологізмів із соцшльних медш, веб-сaйmiв і миттєвих повідомлень вuкoрuсmaнo методи спостереження ma суцільної вибірки, a maкoж кількісний метод aнaлiзу. Виявлено ma прoaнaлiзoвaнo клaси слів, виділено дoмiнaнmнi процеси їхнього словотворення.

Дослідження є внеском у розвязaння проблем лексикології aнглiйськoї мови, зoкремa щодо специфіки функцiювaння неологізмів у соцшльних мережaх.

Ключові слова: неологізм, ^arn неологізмів, словотвір, сaйmu соцшльних мереж, соцшльні мережі.

Аннотация

ФОРМИРОВАНИЕ И ФУНКЦИОНИРОВАНИЕ НЕОЛОГИЗМОВ В СОЦИАЛЬНЫХ СЕТЯХ

Светлана Цимбал

Национальный университет биоресурсов и природопользования Украины Украина, г. Киев

Язык как динамическая система постоянно пополняется новыми лексемами, которые определяют тенденции его развития. Существенное влияние на язык и наше общение оказывают Интернет и телекоммуникационные технологии, что, в свою очередь, делает разнообразными средства речевой коммуникации, которая и определяет интернет- культуру. Сайты социальных сетей привлекли миллионы англоязычных пользователей, которые общаются через Интернет, используя компьютеры и мобильные устройства. Это, конечно, способствует пополнению словарного состава английского языка.

Предлагаемое исследование посвящено описанию неологизмов, возникших в результате общения в социальных сетях.

В работе проанализированы сто двадцать пять неологизмов. Для отбора неологизмов из социальных медиа, веб-сайтов и мгновенных сообщений использованы методы наблюдения и сплошной выборки, а также количественный метод анализа. Выявлены и проанализированы классы слов, выделены доминантные процессы их словообразования.

Исследование является вкладом в решение проблем лексикологии английского языка, в частности специфики функционирования неологизмов в социальных сетях.

Ключевые слова: неологизм, классы неологизмов, словообразование, сайты социальных сетей, социальные сети.

Relevаnce of reseаrch. The lex^l system of modern English аs it is represented in the socml medm hаs been neglected аs а field of study. Mаny English users аге unаwаre of whаt socml medm neologisms meаn, in pаrticulаr, students of non-linguistic specmlities. Socml medm refer to Internet- аnd telecommunicаtions-bаsed tools for shаring аnd discussing informаtion аmong people. The primаry goаl of socml medm is socml networking. Socml networking is thus known аs the ай of interacting with other people in а socml online environment through the use of а website or telecommunicаtions network.

Аnаlysis of recent scientific pаpers. The kng^ge of socml medm hаs been of some interest to reseаrchers аcross the globe. Аccording to Technopedm dictionаry, “а socml networking site is аn online pktform ^t аllows users to creаte а public profile аnd interact with other users. Socml networking sites usudly аllow а new user to provide а list of people with whom they shаre а connection, аnd then аllow the people on the list to confirm or deny the connection. After connections ага estаblished, the new user cаn seаrch the networks of connections to mаke more connections” [9]. Socml medm а^га the usаge of the kng^ge аnd introduces new meanings аnd vocаbulаry. In this study, we will refer to reseаrch pаpers by B. Akkoyunl^ & S. E^nb [1], R. Nordquist [6] , S. Shаhlee & R. Mustаffа [7] аnd A. Yаsin & I. Mustаfа [10]. lexeme neologism communication word

The aim of this study was to investigate the neologisms that were created as a result of social networking. The objectives of the study were to analyse the neologisms, to reveal their word- classes and word-formation processes, and to distinguish the most dominant word-class and word- formation process among the neologisms collected as data.

New words are entering English at an ever increasing rate. Although this phenomenon is often associated with new things, processes, and concepts that need names, there is also a great acceleration, in trendy, eye-and-ear-catching words. Although there are general patterns of word- formation, language is not a fixed, rigid system; according to the current stage of development new words enter the vocabulary continuously, and certain tendencies of forming new words appear and may disappear again. In linguistics, a neologism is understood as a newly coined word, expression, or usage. It's also known as a coinage. Not all neologisms are entirely new. Some are new uses for old words, while others result from new combinations of existing words. They keep the English language alive and up-to-date. Neologisms are especially useful for identifying new inventions, new phenomena, or old ideas which have taken on a new cultural context.

The emergence of neologisms has always been an interesting phenomenon as it demonstrates the dynamism of language. The term neologism comes from the Greek word neos meaning `new', and logos meaning `word'. Also, P. Newmark has defined it as “newly coined lexical units or existing lexical units that acquire a new sense” [4, p. 140]. D. Crystal (1992) views neologism as “the creation of a new lexical item as a response to changed circumstances in the external world, which achieves some currency within a speech community” [2, p. 264]. Theorists have classified neologisms from different viewpoints.

P. Newmark classifies neologisms into following categories: semantic neologisms; new forms (new coinages, derived words, abbreviations, collocations, eponyms, phrasal words, transferred words, and acronyms. D. Delabastia (3, p. 884) suggests the following processes for creating different types of neologisms: borrowing, shifts, combining, coining, imitating, blending, and shortening. According to Silvia [8], there is a difference between morphological neologisms and semantic neologisms. Morphological neologisms are produced through the following mechanisms such as derivation, compounding, blending, acronymy, and borrowing. Semantic neologisms result from such processes as expansion, metaphor, conversion of grammatical category where a word changes its class, adoption from another field.

In agreement with suitability to the language, three types of neologisms can be distinguished:

unstable neologisms are at the beginning of their existence, they are still new and being proposed to the public;

diffused neologisms which have already gained a certain audience but still have not achieved acceptance constitute the second degree;

stable neologisms which have achieved a full acceptance and the so-called “stability” in the language.

Another classification distinguishes the following three types of neologisms:

a completely new word;

a totally new meaning of an old word;

a new “seme” in an existing word.

The first class includes only those lexemes which did not exist up to a certain period of time,

e. cannot be found in the texts written before a certain moment. Thus, it includes the smallest number of lexical units. For example, such words as “googling', “facebooking”, “vlogging” did not exist even in the first half of the 1900s. The second class represents the words that have changed

their meanings but retained their old form, with their old meanings lost or moved towards secondary importance, e.g. slum, bread, salt, etc. These units are the results of “secondary nomination”. The third class contains those lexemes which have only added one or more new meanings without losing the significance of the old ones; they present the paradigmatic relations of polysemy, for instance, surf, file, mouse, report, etc.

The neologisms collected for this study come from social media/websites and Instant Messaging (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook Messenger, SMS and general social networking platforms).

Overall, we have collected over 100 units which can be classified as follows:

The pie chart below shows what percentage of the data each word-formation type accounts for. The chart demonstrates that the most common word-formation type used in the neologisms is blending, while the least common is coinage.

Chart 1. Word-formation type

The most common word-formаtion type аmong the neologisms is blending. Techn^l^, this is 44 % of the dаtа exаmined for this study. The next word-formаtion type in order of frequency is compounding ^t is 20 % of the entire dаtа exаmined. Аfter compounding comes аffixаtion which constitutes 18.5 %, semаntic extension which аccounts for 16 % аnd coi^ge which makes up only one out of the one hundred twenty five neologisms (1.5 %).

The pie chаrt below shows whаt percentаge of the dаtа eаch word-ckss аccounts for. The chаrt demonstrates ^t the most common word-chss is noun, while the ^st common is аdjective.

Chart 2. Word-class

The most common word-ckss in the dаtа is the noun. Out of one hundred twenty five neologisms, 87 аre nouns. Thаt is 66 % of the entire dаtа exаmined. Next to nouns is the verb, which аccounts for twenty out of the one hundred twenty five neologisms (15 %). Аs а result of the eаse with which kng^ge users convert nouns to verbs, аnd vice vers^ some of the neologisms which were orig^Hy nouns аnd verbs аre now used interchаngeаbly, either аs nouns or аs verbs. Thus, out of one hundred twenty five neologisms, eighteen (14 %) cаn be used in this mаnner. Аdjectives аccount for only seven (5 %) out of the one hundred twenty five neologisms.

Conclusions

The evolution of socral medra hаs cut аcross аll fаcets of society with its positive аnd negаtive impаcts. Sociаl mediа hаs transformed the wаy we communicаte, le^n, reseаrch аnd get educаted.

The aim of this study was to investigate the neologisms that were created as a result of social networking. The objectives of the study were to analyse the neologisms to reveal their word-classes and word-formation processes, and to distinguish the most dominant word-class and word- formation process among the neologisms collected as data.

One hundred twenty five neologisms were collected and described in the analysis. The observation method of data collection was used to gather social media neologisms from social media/websites and Instant Messaging (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook Messenger, SMS and general social networking platforms). Both the qualitative and quantitative methods were used. The qualitative method of analysis involved defining the word-class and word- formation process of each neologism, with an example to show its context of usage. The quantitative method of analysis involved the arrangement of the data in graphs to demonstrate the percentage of neologisms that fall under each word-class and word-formation process identified in the data.

References

1. Akkoyunlua B., Erkanb S. A Study on student and teacher views on technology use. Social and Behavioral Sciences. 2013. № 103. P. 68-76.

2. Crystal D. An Encyclocpedic Dictionary of Language and Languages. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1992.

3. Delabastita D. Literary style in translation: Archaisms and neologisms. 2004.

4. Newmark P. Approaches to Translation. London : Prentice Hall,1988.

5. Newmark P. A Textbook of Translation. London : Prentice Hall, 1988.

6. Nordquist R. How Neologisms Keep English Alive. ThoughtCo. 2019.

7. Shahlee S., Mustaffa R. Neologisms in social networking among youths. International Journal Of Multidisciplinary (TIJM). 2019.

8. Silvia P. Handbook of Terminology. Terminology and Standardization Directorate. Translation Bureau. Canada : Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2001.

9. Social Networking Sites (SNS)

10. Yasin A., Mustafa I. Neologism as a linguistic phenomenon in mass media textbook with reference to translation. 2010.

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