Stylistic classification of the english vocabulary

e) Neologisms

Neologisms appear when there is the need to express new ideas and notions. If a word is fixed in a dictionary, it ceases to be a neologism. If a new meaning is recognized as an element in the semantic structure of a lexical unit, it ceases to be new and becomes part and parcel of the general vocabulary.

Every period in the development of language produ-

ces an enormous number of new words or new meanings of established words. Most of them do not live long. The given word or meaning holds only in the given context. 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 them. When artificial satellite was first launched into the space by scientists new names appeared in English voca­bulary: baby-moon, man-mode moon, artificial satellite, sputnik.

The first type of newly coined words, i.e. those which designate new-born concepts, may be named termi­nological coinages or terminological neologisms.

The second type, i.e. words coined because their creators seek expressive utterance may be named stylis­tic coinages or stylistic neologisms.

Neologisms are produced in accordance with the exis­ting productive wora-building models of the English lan­guage, mainly by means of affixation and word compoun­ding etc. For example, missileer - a person skilled in mis­silery or in the launching and control of missiles.

Among new creations those with the suffix -ize seem to be the most frequent. The suffix -ize gives a shade of bookishness to new words. For example, villagize, moistu­rize.

The prefix anti- has given us a number of new words, which are gradually becoming recognizable as facts of the English vocabulary, e.g. anti-novelist, anti-hero, anti- emotion.

There is another means of word-building, that is the bending of two words into one by curtailing the end of the first components or the beginning of the second. Examples are numerous: musicomedy (music+comedy), cinemactress (cinema+actress); avigation (aviation+navigation); smog (smoke+fog). Such newly coined words are called blends.

Another type of neologism is the nonce-word, i.e. a word coined to suit one particular occasion. Nonce-words remain on the outskirts of the literary language. They rarely pass into the language as legitimate units of the vocabulary.

Here are some of these neologisms which have the right to be called so because they will always remain neologisms, i.e. will never lose their novelty. Eg.: I am wived in Texas, and mother-in-lawed, and uncled, and aunted, and cousined.

The past participles mother-in-lawed, uncled, aunted and cousined are coined for the occasion on the analogy of wived and can hardly be expected to be registered by English dictionaries as ordinary English words.

Another example: On the basis "do it yourself' a new word-combination 'Do-it-yourself book" was created.

Many new coinages disappeared from the language, leaving no mark of their existence. When they are used in the written text they produce special stylistic effect. Their function may be different: to produce a humorous effect, to make distinct the additional meaning. Eg.:

Some were naked,...others half-naked, jac­keted or jerseyed.

Here the verbs "jacketed" and "jerseyed" are coined due to.conversation, which is a productive way of enric­hing of English vocabulary.

In Modern English new words are also coined by a means which is very productive in technical literature and therefore is mostly found in scientific style - by contrac­tions and abbreviations. E.g. LASER (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation); UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organiza­tions).

Among new coinages of a literary-bookish type we see a considerable number of words appearing in the pub­licists style, mainly in newspaper articles and magazines, mostly in newspaper headlines. To these belongs the word Blimp - a name of a well-known English cartoonist. The name was coined to designate an English colonel famous for his brutality, ultra-conservatism.

Semantic word-building, that is giving an old word a new meaning, is rare employed by writers who coin new words for journalistic purpose.