Ways of forming neologisms

Neologisms can be classified according to the ways they are formed. They are subdivided into: phonological neologisms, borrowings, semantic neologisms and syntactical neologisms. Syntactical neologisms are divided into morphological (word-building) and phraseological (forming word-groups).

Phonological neologisms are formed by combining unique combinations of sounds, they are called artificial, e.g. rah-rah (a short skirt which is worn by girls during parades, because girls repeat in chorus rah-rah: when they are marching.

Strong neologisms include also phonetic borrowings, such as perestroika (Russian), solidarnosc (Polish) etc.

Morphological and phraseological neologisms are usually built on patterns existing in the language, therefore they do not belong to the group of strong neologisms.

Among morphological neologisms there are a lot of compound words of different types, such as free-fall (різке падіння курсу акцій), bioastronomy (search for life on other planets,) x-rated (about films terribly vulgar and cruel), Amerenglish (American English).

Among neologisms there are a lot of compound nouns of different types. Most of them are of neutral type that consists of two stems without any joining element, e.g. moonlight - політ на Луну, ringway – кільцева дорога, sheepskin – дубленка, shelflife – термін зберігання etc.

Changes in pronunciation

In Modern British English, especially in the Southern part of England (Oxford, Cambridge, London), over the past few decades a tendency to certain changes in pronunciation has been growing. Some of these changes can be explained by the influence of American English.

There are the following changes in pronouncing vowels:

1. the tendency to shorten long vowels before voiceless consonants, e.g. sheep, meet, has become more pronounced, also long vowels can be shortened at the end of the word, e.g. see.

2. lengthening of short vowels before voiced consonants, e.g. big, good, come etc. In adjectives which end in [d] lengthening of the vowel is observed all over England, e.g. had, sad, glad, mad etc.

3. drawling of stressed syllables and clipping of unstressed syllables;

4. in unstressed syllables neutral vowel [q] is pronounced instead of [I];

5. in the words consisting of three or more syllables there is a tendency to have two main stresses, e.g. ['nesqsqrI] ['IntrqstIN];

6. the diphthong [oV] is pronounced [qV], e.g. home [hqVm], go [gqV];

7. the diphthong [Vq] is pronounced [:], e.g. sure [S:].

Topics for discussion

1. Archaisms and historisms.

2. Semantic neologisms and proper neologisms.

3. Semantic groups of neologisms connected with computerization.

4. Semantic group of neologisms referring to everyday life.

5. Phonological neologisms and borrowings as strong neologisms.

6. Morphological and phraseological neologisms.

7. Changes in pronunciation.

Lecture 10 new words

Read the words with their translations an writhe them down into your vocabulary. Pay attention to the spelling of difficult words.

1) to compile	[kqm'paIl]	комбінувати, складати
2) alliteration	[q"lItq'reIS(q)n]	Алітерація
3) rhyming	['raImIN]	римований вірш; ілюзія
4) to hay	[heI]	косити траву, перен. кувати залізо
5) analogy	[q'nxlqGI]	Аналогія
6) treachery	['treC(q)rI]	зрада, віроломність
7) proverb	['prPvqb]	прислів’я
8) motivation	["mqVtI'veIS(q)n]	мотивація, спонукання
9) fusion	['fjHZ(q)n]	об’єднання, з’єднання
10) to guess	[ges]	вгадати, відгадувати
11) collocation	["kPlqV'keIS(q)n]	словосполучення, (лингв.) сполучення слів у реченні
12) to compare	[kqm'pEq]	Порівнювати
13) attribute	['xtrIbjHt]	граматичний атрибут, визначення
14) predicative	[prI'dIkqtIv]	предикатив, іменна частина складного присудка
15) idiom	['IdIqm]	1діома; мова, діалект
16) simile	['sImIlI]	Порівняння
17) repetition	["repI'tIS(q)n]	повторення; копія