tHE CONCEPT OF NEOLOGISMS
Roswitha Fischer defines neologisms in lexicographical fields as words that are not included in a
dictionary of Standard English and thus, count as new (cf. 1998: 3). She uses the terms "new words"
and neologisms synonymously (cf. ibid.: 7). Further, she argues that there are two main aspects that
must be considered when lexicographers categorize terms as neologisms and decide to include them
in the dictionary. First, there must be a stable frequency of the word over a period of time. Second,
the word must be broadly distributed in different contexts and communicative situations (cf. ibid.:
3f.).
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5.1.
Findings
By following four main research questions closely, the research focused its data analysis onthe
specific domain of neologisms in social networking to answer to the demands of theresearch
questions:
RESEARCH QUESTIONS ANSWERS
1 What word-classes and word-formation processes are inherentin the creation of theseneologisms?
The word-classes identified are nouns, verbs andadjectives; while the word-formation
processesidentified are blending, compounding, affixation,semantic extension and coinage.2 What
do these neologisms mean? The qualitative analysis showed a definition of eachneologism with
illustrations to show its context ofusage.3 Which word-formation process ismost common in the
creation ofsocial media neologisms?Blending4 Which word-class is the mostcommon among the
neologism? NounThe first objective of the study, which was to define the meanings of social
medianeologisms, was met as the first part of the analysis revealed their meanings with
clearillustrations, word-classes and word-formation types. It forms the major focus of this study asit
provides adequate information about each of the neologisms to facilitate its use accurately.
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The second objective of the study, which was to foreground the word-formation process andword-
class of each neologism, was met as the neologisms were all listed under thecorresponding word-
classes and word-formation processes identified in the data. Not allword-formation processes in
English were identified in the data. Blending, affixation,compounding, semantic extension and
coinage were identified and each neologism in the datawas classified under one of these. In like
manner, not all word-classes in English wereidentified in the data. Nouns, verbs and adjectives were
identified and each neologism wasclassified under at least one of them. As is typical of the English
vocabulary, someneologisms can be used as both nouns and verbs. The analysis of data showed this
too andgrouped such words accordingly. They made up 14% of the data.The third objective, which
was to distinguish the most common word-class and word-formation process among the neologisms,
was met as the data was compactly arranged intables, bar graphs and pie charts to show the word-
class and word-formation type thataccounts for the highest number and highest percentage of the
neologisms. Thesearrangements revealed that the most dominant word-class is the noun. This is in
line with
Pavol Stekauer’s notion of onomasiology which formed part of the theoretical framework of
this study and states that words are coined to name existing objects and concepts in a
speechcommunity. Thus, most of the neologisms are typically nouns (names). The
structuralarrangements also revealed that the most dominant word-formation type is
blending.Blending is a very frequent process of word-formation typically accomplished by taking
onlythe beginning or end of one word and joining it to the beginning or end of the other word.
However, words in the data like ‘intexticated’ are a complete mix of ‘text’ and ‘intoxicated’.
44% of the neologisms collected are formed through blending. Most studies on lexicalcreation have
shown that blending is the most common form of neology and nouns, belonging to the open class,
are the most coined class of words. Verbs are mostly derivedfrom existing words through semantic
extension or from nouns through the process ofconversion.
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5.2.
Significance of the Study
This study will be a significant endeavour in providing additional reference for those
students, lecturers or researchers and translators
interested in similar studies. It will
improve the reader’s knowledge of soci
al media neologisms, what they mean, how theyare used and how much their coinage contributes to
vocabulary development in English.This study will also be of significance to language users by
increasing their awareness ofthe productivity of existing words in the English vocabulary, as it
revealed that theneologisms were coined from existing linguistic elements. It will also encourage
languageusers to look beyond the belief that neology is purely creative (Crystal, 2006) and
stopgainsaying its larger role in language change. Moreover, this research will
providerecommendations on what related fields to carry out further research.
5.3.
Contributions to Scholarship
Theses by definition are required to be original contributions to scholarship. Focusing onthe practice
of analyzing social media neologisms, this study will contribute to theempirical records of ways in
which technological advancements in social networkinginteracts with language use on the internet. It
will draw on and contribute to scholarlyliteratures that examine word-formation as part of the
naming process in a speechcommunity. It will also draw on and contribute to scholarly works on the
computerizationof social networking as well as that of the interaction between computer-
mediatedcommunication and sociolinguistics. The results of this investigation will contribute to
theadvancement of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) as the neologisms collected can bedescribed
as belonging to the social media register. The theoretical foundations of thisstudy buttress the need
for improved educational efforts towards a single linguistic theorythat can account for such multi-
disciplinary investigations
