NEOLOGISMS

The English language constantly adds new words to its repertoire. After all, it possesses one of the richest lexicons in the world. This phenomenon takes place through different processes.

Neologisms and derivational morphology

There are two ways to create new words. Derivational morphology focuses in the recombination of existing morphemes. we will deal with the creation of new words and the way their meanings are changed.

Coined words

These are words created out of thin air. Sound sequences are created and assigned a meaning. Coined words must not be based on other words to be considered as such. Words like robot, cell and whatnot are examples of coined words.

Acronyms

Acronyms come into play to substitute groups of words, making it easier and faster to get across. People quickly forget the origin of these words: That is, they forget what each letter stands for. Other well-known examples of acronyms are UNICEF, ABBA, FEMA, and LASER.

Alphabetic abbreviations

Now, these ones are tricky. Alphabetic abbreviations are quite similar to acronyms, but these are pronounced individually as vowels and consonants in contrast to acronyms which are pronounced as words. Still there are certain words that make us wonder whether they are considered acronyms or abbreviations. E.g. ASAP, HTML, and DVD.

Clippings

Clippings are a kind of abbreviations in which we just take a part of a word., dropping the rest, usually the ending. Orthographic abbreviations (a subclass in clippings.)are shortened but not their pronunciations (usually).

These are instances of clippings: flu (influenza), gator (alligator), phone (telephone).

Examples of orthographic abbreviations e Dr. (doctor), Sgt. (sergeant), Col. (colonel)

Blending (Portmanteau words)

Blends consist of mixing two words and creating a new term. Blends are similar to clippings in that we take a part of each word. To exemplify blends, see the following instances:

Sitrep=situation report

Sitcom=situational comedy

Moped=motor pedal

Generified words

In generified words you take a specific word and make it generic. That is, from representing a single item from a category, it gets to signify the whole category. Generified words are quite common, and some of them have been in use for so long that we do not even realize they underwent this process.

Google, Catseye, Thermos, and Loafer are all examples of brand words of specific items which in time came to be so representative of their class, that people ended calling all similar products the same.

Eponyms (proper nouns)

Sometimes there are qualities, behaviors, and acts that transcend a person and become new words. Examples of eponymy are words such as Shakespearean, Dickensian, Achilles Heel, Guillain Barré syndrome, and SIMAN.

Direct borrowings

One of the effects of the tapestry of cultures that make up and influence the US is the richness of the language's vocabulary. It is quite common that words of the native languages of the people who make up the U.S. population provide words to the language; these words are what we call direct borrowings. These direct borrowings may or may not change in pronunciation in the English language.

Opera, bazaar, and cafe are examples of direct borrowings.

Indirect borrowings (calques, loan translations)

In this case, the expressions adopted are translated into the foreign language: breakfast from déjeuner, blue-blood from sangre azul, and rest in peace from requiescat in pace.

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