New Normal Words: An Analysis of Word Formation Processes of COVID-19 Neologisms
Keywords:
COVID-19, Coronavirus, new words, neologisms, word formation processesAbstract
New words always occur in a language since people have the creativity to develop and form new words. They are often produced for naming newly created things and concepts, or old ideas that have taken on a new cultural context, mainly as a result of historical and social changes (Lin, 2013). Such process of creating new words is called neologism. Nowadays, it could be noticed that there are a number of neologisms coined in reference to the global pandemic of COVID-19. Therefore, this study highlighted neologisms as a linguistic phenomenon that has been aroused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the study is to investigate the common types of word formation processes involved in creating COVID-19-related neologisms based on the framework proposed by O'Grady et al. (2005) and Yule (2006). The research data were collected from lists of words related to COVID-19 selected from five different websites, published from March to October 2020. The results revealed that blending, compounding, and multiple processes are the three most frequently employed processes in creating COVID-19-related neologisms. These three processes are the most productive ways for creating COVID-19-related words mainly because a newly derived word is meaningful consisting of two or more words combined together and its meaning can be deducible from its constituents. Moreover, most of the new words have a component that is related to a pandemic situation, so they are able to connect to people's lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, the study could illustrate how language adapts to new environmental conditions by creating new words using already existing words. It also established that the rise of the coronavirus pandemic has accounted for the recent increase of numerous neologisms in English. Keywords: COVID-19, Coronavirus, new words, neologisms, word formation processes
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