Social media neologisms in contemporary English of social networks: a case of Facebook and Twitter language

Стаття присвячена збагаченню сучасної англійської мови неологізмами, які використовуються в соціальних мережах, зокрема у Facebook та Twitter. Авторка дослідила сутність поняття «неологізм», його види та способи формування. Детально простудійовано вплив Інтернету та соціальних мереж Facebookта Twitterна зміну лексики англійської мови.

Наведено приклади морфологічних та семантичних неологізмів із соціальних мереж Facebookта Twitter, процес їх формування та значення. Визначено найпродуктивніші шляхи формування неологізмів.

Ключові слова: неологізми, морфологічні та семантичні неологізми, соціальні мережі.

Main part

Problem statement in a short form… Every language is a complex system, which has been constantly improving, developing and updating in the course of time. As a result, the appearance of new words has become an indicator that the language is alive. The English language is a vivid example of continuous accumulation and emergence of new words. In linguistics such words are defined as neologisms, that is, equivalents for new communication conditions. A word «neologism» is borrowed from French neologisme «the habit of forming new words, a newly formed word», from neologie «coining of new words» [1].

The Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary defines a neologism as a new word, or expression, or a new meaning for an existing word [2, p. 846]. Neologisms are especially useful in identifying inventions, new phenomena or old ideas which have taken on a new cultural context.

V.N. Yartseva offers a broader definition stating that «Neologisms are words, word meanings or collocations that appeared in a certain period in a language or that are once used (occasional words) in a text or speech act» [3, p. 279]. Some words enter the language while others are used for a short time, or perhaps only once. Nowadays, however, the rate of their growth has accelerated.

Relevant studies analysis…The study of neologisms has aroused a lot of interest in researchers from different language backgrounds and the fact that there is a myriad of lexicographical works in this area attests to this. The profound research of the English neologisms has been carried out by different scientists. For example, L. Bauer depicts the changes in English, D. Crystal considers English as a global language, C. Mair has studied the history, variation and standardization of the twentieth-century English. J. Grieve, T. Veale, A. Metcalf devote their researches to the emergency of new words in modern English online. T. Cabre makes a conclusion that neologisms are objects of knowledge, relative units that can only be identified when placed in a specific time period, discursive context and declarative perspective [4]. Philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein supposes that «a new word is like a fresh seed sown on the ground of the discussion». [5, p. 4]. We can conclude that there are three types of neologisms: a completely new word, a new meaning of an old word and a new addition in an existing word.

The focus of our article is analysis of neologisms that have been created as a result of social networking a case of Facebook and Twitter language.

Statement of basic materials… In modern languages a lot of neologisms appear every year. But very few of them are fixed in the language for a long time and become an integral part of the lingual discourse. The reason for that is a living language is evolving very rapidly, it can be under the influence of various factors, it adapts to the constant changes in social, political, scientific and cultural life of the society. It always obtains new forms and values, at the same time it is self-cleaning of old items that no longer can perform its functions. Each change in the society encourages creating new words and terms, namely the generation of new words in the language is performed to express new concepts and phenomena.

There are a lot of classifications of neologisms. Tom McArthur claims that most neologisms in English belong to such categories [6, p. 685]: (1) compounding: couch potato, someone constantly slumped on a couch watching television; (2) derivation: yuppie, formed from yup, the initial letters of the phrase «young urban professional» by adding the suffix - ie; (3) shifting meaning: necklace, a name in South Africa for a tyre soaked in petrol, to be put round someone's neck and set alight; (4) extension in grammatical function: the nouns quest and necklace used as verbs; (5) abbreviation: the computer acronym GIGO, meaning garbage in, garbage out; (6) back-formation: disinform formed from disinformation (and not the reverse); (7) blending: harmolodic mixing harmony and melodic; (8) borrowing: loanwords such as nouvelle cuisine from French; (9) Very rarely, root-creation, or coinage from sounds with no previous known meaning whatever: googol, Kodak. This classification is based on the word-formation processes, in other words the morphological criterion.

P. Silvia and D. Nolet [7] suggest such types of neologisms as «morphological neologisms», which are created through derivation, compounding, blending, acronymy and borrowing, and «semantic neologisms» resulting from: expansion: extension of the meaning of a term by giving it a new meaning (i.e. a shift from the concrete to the abstract or from the abstract to the concrete); metaphor: the process whereby a word or expression is used to refer to something other than what it was originally applied to, or what it literally means, in order to suggest some resemblance between the two things.

V.I. Zabotkina has expanded this classification, adding some more types [8]:

1) phonological neologisms, created from separate sounds. They include:

2) new words, formed from interjections (e. g.: zizz - a whizzing or buzzing sound; a short sleep);

3) slangisms - words-exclamations to express feelings and emotions (e. g.: Yuk!, wow! - to express delight or surprise);

4) echoism - imitation of real phenomena to reproduce sounds observed in the environment (e. g.: Rah-rah - froufrou while dancing; enthusiastic speech or behaviour intended to encourage someone);

— borrowings-trans-nominations - reinterpretation of already existing loan words (e. g.: doping - 1) taking drugs; 2) use of a substance or technique to illegally improve athletic performance);

— semantic neologisms - a new meaning is denoted by an already existed form (e. g.: to leaflet, to google);

— syntactic neologisms - merging of two components into a single complex neologism (e. g.: hotbutton, spacetourism).

Another approach to the analysis of neologisms is the criterion of linguistic space, that is, the sphere of use where lexical innovations appear. At the same time, such indicators of the word as a new formation may be used to indicate new realities or to reflect «old» concepts: 1) in languages in general; 2) in a particular national language; 3) in the literary language; 4) in a specific sub-language [9].

Nowadays the Internet is one of the linguistic spaces, where we can observe a lot of neologisms referring to different spheres of life. It is an inexhaustible source for research for linguists, because oral and written languages coexist in it, as in a particular medium of communication. G. Kjellmer notes that many newspapers and media broadcasters have special experts that invent new words for new concepts and supervise the use of these in the publications [10]. D. Kerremans differentiates three factors to use the Internet for the research of new words [11, p. 23], namely 1) the Internet contains an unparalleled wealth of easily accessible linguistic material; 2) the Internet serves as the prime source of innovation in many respects; 3) the Web not only acts as a source of innovation, but also «as a powerful vehicle for its diffusion, because Internet users are much less constrained by adherence to the linguistic norms than «real» users» [12, p. 116].

Apart from communication by e-mail, people recently have preferred interaction using social media. Online communication offers unique opportunities for the study of new words and the early phases of their establishment. Using the web and social media like Facebook and Twitter as corpora offers an economical way of investigating whether newly coined words are taken up by language users and begin to spread and diffuse into other domains of discourse. When examining Facebook and Twitter social networks, we have found a great number of neologisms, referring to different spheres of life: politics, popular culture, psychology, etc. People even create social network groups for presenting neologisms, such as «Neologisms», «Funny Neologisms», «Language nerds», «English Monsters», etc. (Facebook); «Digital Neologisms», «Academic Neologisms», «Gazi's Neologisms», etc. (Twitter).

For example, Twitter, as one of the prime examples of microblogging, has developed its own twitspeak language, lives by its own laws and etiquette - twittiquette, it has its own unique structure. Now this social media has become so popular and necessary to people that even the verbal substantive (namely gerund) appeared in English «twitting», which means a way of communicating on the Internet, which has become popular thanks to the above-mentioned network.

The meaning of many words in social media are shifted, creating a brand new word, combination of two words and usage of old words in totally new context. e.g.: surf, meaning «to browse the internet»; mac meaning «a kind of computer» etc. The characteristic feature of the given social networks is the use of a large number of neologisms, which have family of words: «twitter», «tweet», «follow», and «facebook»: twitterazzi, tweet stealer, followorthy, facebooktivist, etc. [13].

We have analyzed peculiar features of the English language lexicon enrichment with the help of morphological and semantic neologisms of Facebook and Twitter social networks. Morphological neologisms are formed by affixation, compounding, conversion, while the semantic neologisms - due to metaphors, metonymy, extension or reduction of the meaning of words.

Morphological neologisms can be divided into three groups:

1) neologisms formed by affixation; 2) neologisms formed by compounding; 3) neologisms formed by conversion. In its turn neologisms of the first group can be divided into such groups: 1) neologisms formed by suffixes;

2) neologisms formed by prefixes; 3) neologisms formed by suffixes and prefixes.

Nouns are formed with the help of suffixes - er, - dom, - ness, - ation, - ist. For example,

Twitter:

Brexiteer - someone who is in favour of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union: Hardline Brexiters are unlikely to accept this new deal with the European Union [14].

Twitterdom - the world or sphere of Twitter: Thailand Twitterdom is on fire with 1.14 million hashtag talking about the stripping of title of noble Royal consort Koi [15].

Facebook:

Chaoism - the state of mind one ends up with if they think about chaos theory too much: The factory I work in is being shut down and moved to China, due to Chaoism [16].

Facebooktivist - a person who engages in social activism by joining different «petition» groups and installs applications dedicated to different causes on Facebook: The facebooktivists are out in full force protesting Facebook's new privacy features [17].

Words with components - mania, - aholic, - philia, phobia - are frequently formed at present. For example,

Twitter:

Jacindamania - a condition in which someone is extremely interested in the activities of Jacinda Ardern, the prime minister of New Zealand: Jacindamania has returned to New Zealand following a deal with a kingmaker [15].

Twitterholic - someone addicted to Twitter, so much so that it may be an actual problem [18]: Dude, you're such a twitterholic [17.]

Facebook:

Hoplophobia - a political neologism coined by retired American military officer Jeff Cooper as a pejorative to describe an «irrational aversion to weapons». Hoplophobia is a political term and not a recognized medical phobia [16]: The person had hoplophobia and passed out at the mere sight of a gun [17].

Verbs are formed with suffixes - en, - fy, - ize. For example,

Twitter:

Twitterize - to turn a word or phrase into Twitter-based language [18]. Dude, I'm totally going to twitterize Shelly from Calculus tonight [17].

Facebook:

Ramplify - adding veggies to «fancy up» a dish: Bob decided to ramplify his omelette by adding mixed greens, mushrooms, and all the garlic in the house [16].

Adjectives are formed with suffixes - ible, - less, - ful, - ific, - ous. For example,

Twitter:

Twitless - used to describe one who is known for posting absurd, gratuitous or witless comments on Twitter: That girl is twitless, reading her updates is like pulling an empty cereal box out of the cupboard [17].

Twitterific: a profound feeling of wellness or happiness (Perhaps upon discovering that you've been tweeted by your favourite celeb). Also used to describe a very good tweet or tweeter [18]: Man I just won the lotto, how twitterific is that! [17].

Facebook:

Reprefensible - a really awful justification for a terrible idea or practice: The traditional plan's proponents came up with the reprefensible idea that it was both biblically correct and demanded by their grandmothers [16].

Trumpestuous - political campaigns that are as unpredictable and drama-filled as the Trump Presidential campaign: The chaos and drama surrounding the corporate merger resembled a Trump campaign. It was very Trumpestuous [17].

The most popular prefixes used for creation of Twitter and Facebook neologisms are: de-, un-, re-, under-, over-, mis-, hyper - self-, astro-, geo-, micro-, tele-, audio-, tele-, cyber-, pod - [10]. For example,

Twitter:

Geotwitter - tracks the geographical location of the most recent tweets [18].

Overheard - eavesdropping on Twitter [18]: I overheard on Twitter that Ann is going to that party on Friday.

Facebook:

De-friend - someone you have de-friended on Facebook but still see around, in an awkward manner: I pretended to be on the phone earlier when I walked past him, he's a de-friend [17].

Hyperfacebookspace - when you on facebook post everything every hour and you get a like or comment per second especially by a few regulars on your page and you got three or more different conversations going on in the background: I'm getting five comments at once and I got two people I'm chattin with. Holy shit I'm in hyperfacebookspace! [17].

Compounding, the joining of two separate words to produce a single form, is considered one of the most productive ways of neologisms' formation. For example,

Twitter:

Trump Derangement Syndrome - a disorder that some people have which is triggered when they see, hear about Donald Trump in the news: Did you notice last night how all CNN could talk about was Donald Trump's latest Tweet? They apparently have Trump Derangement Syndrome [17].

Facebook:

Bi-Parmesan agreement - the situation when two opposing Italian political parties cooperate: The Senate has reached a Bi-Parmesan agreement [16].

Davos Man - a neologism referring to the global elite of wealthy (predominantly) men, whose members view themselves as completely «international»: President Donald J. Trump gets to be a Davos man, at least for a few days [16].

Conversion is a change in the class of a word. Nouns can start to be used as a verb (or vice versa) without any change in the word itself. Sometimes the converted forms shift in meaning. For example,

Twitter:

A tweet out ^ to tweet out - promoting a product you like or a greeting to one's friends on Twitter (noun): I asked my friend to give my new website a Tweet Out, so I could take advantage of his following on Twitter [17]; to promote a product you like or to greet one's friends on Twitter (verb): I tweeted out. He glared at me again and then threw me the letter.

Facebook:

To like ^ a like - clicking «Like» below a post on Facebook is a way to let people know that you enjoy it without leaving a comment. Just like a comment, anyone who can see the post can see that you liked it [16]: Facebook likes don't necessarily mean people actually like things.

The ability to mark the unknown through the known is represented in semantic word formation [13]. Vocabulary is growing by giving a new, additional meaning to the existing lexical forms. The older meaning can be replaced completely or partly, the old and the new meanings co-exist side by side, this type of process is called semantic extension. As semantic neologisms we have differentiated metaphors, metonymy, extension or reduction of the meaning of words. For example,

Metaphors in Twitter and Facebook:

Friend surge - adding a large number of friends or followers on social media:

After returning home from camp, Anna experienced a Friend surge, gaining 32 followers on Twitter in one afternoon [17].

Facebook narcissist - someone who thinks every time you post or update your status on Facebook, it is about him/her: Steve is a facebook narcissist because every time I update my status on facebook, he believes I am talking about him [17].

Metonymies in Twitter and Facebook:

Wealthy selfie - a self-posted image to social media that features a flashy display of large quantities of money: What's up with the wealthy selfie? Who you think you are, P. Diddy? [17].

Woofie - (woof + selfie) - a picture of your dog or a self-portrait with your dog, which is one of a kind selfie with your own pets: Where's Woofie - a group for those who like to take photographs with their dogs [15].

Extension or reduction of the meaning of words in Twitter and Facebook:

Favourite - semantic extension in Twitter means to mark an item as one of your favourites: Favoriting a picture means you like it.

Fakester - a person who creates the profile in a social network containing false information (photos, biographical data) for the purpose to deceived for selfish purposes [10].

Conclusions…To sum it up, we can assume that neologisms are words, collocations that appeared in a certain period in a language or that are once used (occasional words) in a text or speech act. Nowadays the Internet is one of the linguistic spaces, where we can find neologisms referring to different spheres of life. Various types of neologisms in Twitter and Facebook play a productive role in the enrichment of the English language. The study of morphological neologisms of these social networks proves that the most productive way of word formation is derivation and compounding. Analysis of semantic neologisms shows that metaphors are the most numerous semantic neologisms in Twitter and Facebook.

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