ANALYSIS OF MORPHOLOGICAL ENGLISH NEOLOGISMS ON COVID-2019

Abstract

The current study is aimed to explore the linguistic analyses of morphological neologisms coined as a response to economic and social hazards caused by COVID-19 pandemics. British linguists have counted more than one thousand words related to the pandemics. These words have not been properly studied from the point of linguistics, because they are being coined by journalists and bloggers. The time is too short for lexicographers to record new-coined words. The study covers new words created with the help of composition and blending. Different approaches to morphology, semantics, phonology are used in composition and blending. Multiple variants of constituents’ interaction may complicate the meaning of the whole component word. Thus, plain root words are coined practically without any changes, the construction N+N being the most popular one for the purpose of nomination. Blending is one of the most productive ways of word-coinage in the English language. Although this linguistic phenomenon has been known for a long time, its productivity skyrocketed at the end of the XX century due to both linguistic and extra-linguistic factors. The main extra-linguistic factor is striving to achieve brevity and make the new coinage attractive and original. Blends are always motivated, but give enough space for imagination and intuition of every recipient. The article investigates groups of numerous blends containing morphemes coronа, covid, lockdown, epidemics as parts of blends. The author explains the mechanisms of choosing one or another element for blends coinage. To choose the morphemes being semantic centers of the blend’s components for better understanding of the new coinage looks quite logical. Thus, those morphemes either are untouched or minimally shortened. Fusion of morphemes is a phenomenon inherent to blending. There is some correlation between the word’s semantics and probability of its future assimilation in the language system. At initial stage of word’s coinage, it is hard to predict the future functioning of the word, but still neology in particular has elaborated some methods of predicting.