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Classification of language units according to the period of time they live in the language

 

  Words can be classified according to the period of their life in the language. The number of new words in a language is always larger than number of words which come out of active usage. Accordingly, we can have archaism that is word, which have come out of active usage, & neologisms, that is words, which have recently appeared in the language. 

                                      Archaism & historisms 

Archaisms are words, which are no longer used in everyday speech, which have been ousted by their synonyms. Archaisms remain in the language, but they are used as stylistic devices to express solemnity.

Most of these words are lexical archaisms & they are stylistic synonyms of words, which ousted them from the neutral style.

Some of them are: steed (horse), slay (to kill), behold (to see), perchance (perhaps), woe (sorrow), betwixt (between), to chide (to scold), save (except) etc. These lexical archaisms belong to the poetic style.

Sometimes a lexical archaism begins a new life, getting e new meaning, & then the old meaning becomes a semantic archaism, e.g. fair in the meaning beautiful is a semantic archaism, but in the meaning blond it belongs to the neutral style.

Sometimes the root of the word remains & the affix is changed, then the old affix is considered to be a morphemic archaism, e.g. beauteous (-ous was substituted by –ful), bepaint (be- was dropped), darksome (-some was dropped), oft (-en was added) etc.

When the causes of the word’s disappearance are extra-linguistic, e.g. when the ting is no longer used, its name becomes a historism. Historisms are very numerous as names for social relations, institutions, & objects of material culture of the past. The names of ancient transport means, such as types of boats, or types of carriages, ancient clothes, weapons, musical instruments can offer good examples. Here belong such transport means as brougham, berlin, fly, gig, hansom, phaeton etc, also such vehicles as prairie schooner (a canvas-covered wagon used by pioneers crossing the North American prairies), also such boats as caravel, galleon etc. Historisms also include such weapons as breastplate, crossbow, arrow, vizor etc.

                                                Neologisms 

Now English is developing very swiftly & there is so called neology blowup. R. Berchfield who worked at compiling a four-volume supplement to NED says that on average 800 neologisms appear every year in Modern English. It has also become a language-giver recently, especially with the development of computerization.

The two greatest influences on the formation, adaptation & use of English words over the last forty years have been the United States of America & the progress of different branches of science & means of communication: television, cinema & printed material. The number of new lexical units is great & no lexicographer can compile a dictionary, which keeps us completely up to date with new words & phrases, with changes in their meaning, slang, borrowings etc.

New words, as a rule, appear in speech of an individual person who wants to express his idea in some original way. This person is called originator. New lexical units are primarily used by university teachers, newspaper reporters, by those who are connected with mass media.

Neologisms can develop in three main ways: a lexical unit existing, in the language can change its meaning to denote a new object or phenomenon. In such cases, we have semantic neologisms, e.g. the word umbrella developed the meanings: авиационное прикрытие, политическое прикрытие, fishing — «рыбалка»; new meaning — «вид интернет-мошенничества с целью получения доступа к конфиденциальным данным пользователей»; whaling — «охота на китов», new meaning — «вид кибермошенничества с целью похищения конфиденциальных данных высокопоставленных людей». A new lexical unit can develop in the language to denote an object or phenomenon which already has some lexical unit to denote it. In such cases, we have transnomination, e.g. the word slum was first substituted by the word ghetto, then by the word-group inner town.  A new lexical unit can be introduced to denote a new object or phenomenon. In this case, we have a proper neologism, many of them are cases of new terminology.

                                    Semantic groups of neologisms 

We can point out several semantic groups when we analyze the group of neologisms connected with computerization, & here we can mention the words used:

a)  to denote different types of computers, e.g. PC, super-computer, multi-user, neuro-computer (analogue of a human brain), Ipad, Macbook Air, superminicomputer – «маленький портативный ноутбук», supersmart cart – «сверхумная карточка, в которую кроме микропроцессора встроены клавиатура и экран»;

b)  to denote parts of computers, e.g. hard-ware, software, monitor, display, screen, keyboard, vapourware (experimental samples of computers for exhibition, not for production), bells &whistles (gimmick – additional parts for a compute);

c)  to denote notions connected with work on computers, e.g. computerman, computerization, to computerize, to blitz out (to ruin date in a computer’s memory), cloud computing «облачное хранение данных», возможность хранения данных и информации на серверах, доступ к которым открывается через интернет.;  AFK ‘away from the keyboard’; second screening ‘the practice of watching television while simultaneously using a smartphone, tablet computer, laptop, or other screen device’, Zenware “специально разработанные компьютерные программы, позволяющие пользователю фокусироваться на работе, избегая отвлекающих факторов”, iFinger “палец, который мы специально оставляем чистым при еде, чтобы пользоваться смартфоном или планшетом”, socialbot (social (общительный) + bot (программа-робот) “автоматизированная программа, разработанная для имитации действий реального пользователя социальных сетей”; 

e) to denote notions connected with Internet: Google, website, hotspot – «точка доступа», wi-fi (Wireless Fidelity) – «беспроводная сеть Интернет», fiberhood (fiber-optic cable (волоконно-оптический кабель) + neighborhood (квартал округа) “район, у которого есть доступ к сети Интернет через волоконно-оптический кабель”, digital detox “цифровая детоксикация”, to follow – подписаться, to unfollow – отписаться, to friend – добавить кого-то в друзья, to unfriend – удалить кого-то из друзей, a blogaholic /ˌblɒɡəˈhɒlɪk/ = blog + alcoholic – человек, зависимый от своего блога, a netaholic /ˌnetəˈhɒlɪk/ = net + alcoholic – человек, зависимый от интернета.

There are also different types of activities performed with the help of computers; many of them are formed with the help of morpheme tele, e.g. telework, to telecommute (to work at home having a computer, which relates to the enterprise for which one works). There are also such words as telebanking, telemarketing, teleshopping (when you can perform different operations with the help of your computer without leaving your home, all operations are registered by the computer at your bank), videobank (computerized telephone which registers all information which is received in your absence).

In the sphere of linguistics, we have such neologisms as: machine translation, interlingual (an artificial language for machine translation into several language), guerilla proofreading “тщательное выискивание ошибок в тексте сообщений и затем публичное указание на них” & many others.

In the sphere of biometrics, we have computerized machines, which can recognize characteristic features of people seeking entrance: fingerprint scanner (finger prints), biometric eye-scanner (blood-vessel arrangements in eyes), voice verification (voice patterns). These are types of biometric locks. Here we can also mention computerized cards with the help of which we can open the door without a key.

In the sphere of medicine computers are also used & we have the following neologisms: telemonitory unit (a telemonitory system for treating patients at a distance).

With the development of social activities neologisms appeared as well, e.g. youthquake – волнения среди молодежи, pussy-footer – политик, идущий на компромиссы, Euromarket, Eurodollar, Europarliament, Europol, Eurogeddon ‘the catastrophic potential financial collapse in the Eurozone’ & other neologisms connected with European Community (Common Market), squeezed middle ‘the section of society regarded as particularly affected by inflation, wage freezes, and cuts in public spending’.

In the Modern English society there is a tendency to social stratification, as a result there are neologisms in the sphere as well, e.g. belonger – представитель среднего класса, приверженец консервативных взглядов. To this group we can also refer abbreviations of the type yuppie (young urban professional people), such as: muppie (middle-aged urban professional people), gruppie (grown-up ...), rumpie (rural ...), bluppie (black ...) etc. People belonging to the lowest layer of the society are called survivors, a little bit more prosperous are called sustainers, & those who try to prosper in life & imitate those they want to belong to are called emulaters. Those who have prospered but not belongers are called achievers. All these layers of society are called VAL (Value & Lifestyles).

The rich also belong to jet set that is those who can afford to travel by jet planes all over the world enjoying their life. Sometimes they are called jet plane travelers.

During Margaret Thatcher’s rule, the abbreviation PLU appeared which means People like us by which snobbistic circles of society call themselves. Nowadays PLU was substituted by one of us.

There are a lot of immigrants now in the UK; as a result neologisms partial & non-partial were formed (имеющие право жить в стране и его антоним).

In the USA in political sphere we can find - red states, blue states, swing states – «штаты, которые поддерживают республиканцев, демократов, и штаты без четко выраженной позиции», obamacare «реформа здравоохранения, начатая президентом Обамой», Irangate «военный скандал между Ираном и США», and on analogy with it watergate scandal «политический скандал, который закончился отставкой президента Никсона». The neologism the governator is connected with Arnold Schwarzenegger, the governor of California.

In political sphere of the UK appeared: Brexit ‘withdrawal of the UK from the European Union’; occupy ‘an international movement protesting against perceived economic injustice by occupying buildings or public places and staying there for an extended period of time’; hacktivism ‘the subversive use of computers and computer networks to promote a political agenda’.

The word-group welfare mother was formed to denote a non-working single mother living on benefit.

In connection with criminalization of towns in the UK voluntary groups assisting the police were formed where dwellers of the neighbourhood are joined. These groups are called neighbour watch, home watch. Criminals wear stocking masks not to be recognized.

The society has neologisms in their speech, such as: chat show «интервью со знаменитостью», inflight movies «фильмы на борту самолета», biopic «фильм-биография» to binge-watch ‘to watch multiple episodes of a television program in rapid succession’,       webisode ‘an episode of a series distributed as web television’, bedroom tax ‘a reduction in the amount of housing benefit if the property has more bedrooms than is necessary for the number of the people in the household’ & others.

In the language of teenagers there are such words as: Drugs! (OK!), sweat (бег на длинные дистанции), task (домашнее сочинение), brunch etc.

With the development of professional jargons a lot of words ending in speak appeared in English, e.g. artspeak, sportspeak, medspeak, education-speak, video-speak, cable-speak etc. Another group of neologisms connected with professions is babble (jargons are formed by using a synonym of the word speak), e.g. ecobabble (terminology connected with ecology), eurobabble (language style of documents used in Euromarket), psychobabble (terminology connected with psychobabble), technobabble (technical terminology) & many others.

There are different semantic groups of neologisms belonging to everyday life:

a)  food, e.g. starter (instead of hors d’oeuvres), macrobiotics (raw vegetables, crude rice), longlife milk, clingfilm, microwave stove, consumer electronics, fridge-freezer, hamburgers (beefburgers, cheeseburgers, fishburgers, veg-burgers etc), wine o'clock ‘an appropriate time of day for starting to drink wine’; cidery ‘a place where cider is made’; a foodfie /ˈfuːdfi/ = food + selfie – селфи с едой,

b)  clothing, e.g. catsuit (one-piece clinging suit), slimster (one-piece bathing suit), string (miniscule bikini), hipster (trousers or skirt with the belt on hips), completenik (a long sweater for trousers), sweatnik (a long jacket), pants-skirt (combination of a mini-skirt & pants), bloomers (lady’s sports trousers) showrooming ‘the practice of visiting a shop or shops in order to examine a product before buying it online at a lower price’;

c)  footwear, e.g. winklepickers (shoes with long pointed toes), thongs (open sandals), backsters (beech sandals with thick soles);

d)  bags, e.g. bumbag (a small bag worn on the waist), sling bag (a bag with a long belt), maitre (a small bag for cosmetics).

e)  telephones, e.g. smartphone, Iphone, speaker-phone (a special phone for entering the door of a house), selfie ‘a self-portrait photograph’, gloatgram  — «фотографии в сети Instagram, демонстрирующие отличную жизнь их автора, путешествия или еду», Phablet «phone + tablet» `a big telephone`, narcisstick (narcissistic (самовлюбленный) + selfie stick) “уничижительное название штатива для селфи”, selfie stick “штатив с одной опорой для смартфона, разработанный для удобства пользователя делать селфи на расстоянии’, a relfie /ˈrelfi/= relationship + selfie, a couplie /ˈkʌpli/ = couple + selfie «селфи с женой», a shelfie /ˈʃelfi/ = shelf + selfie «шелфи: фотография содержимого полок», a felfie /ˈfel.fi/ = family + selfie «семейное селфи», a groupfie /ˈɡruːpfi/= group + selfie, an ussie = us + selfie «групповое селфи».

f)          people; moblivious ‘staring at your phone whilst walking or driving and oblivious of your surroundings’; sapiosexual ‘a person who finds intelligence a sexually attractive quality in others’; adorkable ‘unfashionable or socially awkward in a way regarded as appealing or cute’; hangry ‘being so hungry that the lack of food causes a person to become angry and frustrated’, a textrovert /ˈtekstrəˌvɜː(r)t/ = text + extrovert “текстраверт (человек, которому писать текстовые сообщения легче, чем общаться по телефону или вживую)”,

There are also such words as: dangledolly (a dolly-talisman dangling in the car before the windscreen), boot-sale (selling from the boot of the car). 

 Ways of Forming Neologisms

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

Phonological neologisms are formed by combining unique combinations of sounds they are called artificial, e.g. rah-rah [`ra:`ra:] (a short skirt which is worn by girls during parades, because girls repeat in chorus rah, rah when they are marching), zizz «недолгий сон» (imitation of sleeping people’s sound), to buzz «звонить по телефону» (имитация работы телефонного зуммера). These are strong neologisms.

Strong neologisms include also phonetic borrowings, such as perestroika (Russian), solidarnost (Polish), dolce vita (Italian), angst «экзистенциальный страх, сильная тревога» (germ.), inemuri «короткий сон сотрудника на рабочем месте» (jap.), emoji «эмодзи, язык смайлов, используемый в социальных сетях, электронных сообщениях» (jap.), dacha (дача), glastnost (гласность), to knout (бить кнутом) etc.

Morphological & 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 many compound words of different types, such as free-fall (резкое падение курса акций) (on analogy with free-fall of parachutists, which is the period between jumping & opening the chute). Here also belong call-&-recall (вызов на диспансеризацию), rat-out (betrayal in danger), x-rated (about films terribly vulgar & cruel), Amerenglish (American English).

Among neologisms, there are many compound nouns of different types. Most of them are of neutral types that consist of two stems without any joining element, e.g. hashtag (hash+ tag), smartwatch - наручные часы, которые поддерживают различные приложения, имеют доступ в Интернет, могут содержать несколько датчиков; smartglasses - очки, которые содержат функции персонального компьютера, включая доступ в Интернет, приложения, дисплей, камеру, датчики и антенны для таких технологий как Wi-Fi и GPS, thumbstopper (thumb+stopper “когда нечто привлекательное и интригующее заставляет человека прекратить просматривать список постов, используя при этом большой палец (на сенсорном экране)”, moonflight – полет на Луну, ringway – кольцевая дорога, sheepskin – дубленка, shelflife – срок хранения, moonfall – прилунение. There are words with the first element in with the meaning the most fashionable, modern, e.g., in-language – современный язык. The element in can be used as the second component of a compound word with the meaning protest, strike, e.g. sit-in – сидячая демонстрация teach-in (a meeting of students with the aim of protesting against smth.) Other nouns were formed on the analogy with this noun, e.g. laugh-in (organized laughing during a speech) etc.

Compound-affixed words with the suffix –ship are of great interest because it is usually merged (сливаться) with the second noun – man & constitutes a compound suffix –manship with the meaning ability, skill, knowhow, e.g. gamesmanship (ability to win by using doubtful means). In Modern English, there are a lot of nouns with the second element basher (убийца): Commie-basher (a person who gives a shattering (сокрушительный) accuses of communists). A British specialist in slang E. Partridge wrote that bash was formed by blending the verbs bang & smash.

There is also a group of compound verbs of neutral type, e.g. to bottle-feed (to feed a baby with a bottle).

Compound verbs can be formed by means of conversion from attributive-nominal phrases, e.g. to frontpage (помещать на первую страницу) etc. Many compound verbs are formed by means of backformation from nouns or nominal phrases, e.g. to bookhunt (from bookhunting – collecting valuable books) etc.

There are also compound adjectives of neutral type which are formed in most cases by means of analogy & the second component is repeated in a number of words with the same meaning, e.g. nuclear-free, weapon-free There are also adjectives with the second element happy, e.g. trigger-happy (воинственный), power-happy (мощный), second element proof, e.g. burglar-proof, germ-proof.

There are also compound-affixed adjectives among new adjectives, e.g. short-staffed (неукомплектованный штатом), monster-talented, etc.

There are also adverbs among compound neologisms, e.g. anytime, someplace, anyplace, etc.

As far as compound words of syntactical type are concerned most of them are adjectives because it is typical of English compound adjectives to be formed very easily. Their structural types are:

a)  two main stems are joined with a conjunction stem, e.g. here-&-now, hole-&corner (тайный).

b)   two main stems are joined with a preposition stem, e.g. free-for-all (соревнование, дискуссия, в которой может принимать участие любой), up-to-date (современный), right-of-way (право прохода по чужой земле);

c)  three stems of different types are joined, e.g. penny-&-liner (газетный писака, литературный поденщик), off-the-cuff (неподготовленный (о речи), on-the-spot (на месте);

d)   stems of different types are joined, e.g. up-to-the-minute (ультрасовременный).

Compound nouns of syntactical type usually have suffixes in their structure, e.g. do-it-yourselfer (умелец), nine-to-fiver (тот, кто работает с 9 до 17), me-too-ism (использование лозунгов противной политической партии).

Among compound words there are also compound-shortened words. Some of them have the shortened form of the first component (apocope), e.g. autofail (autocorrect fail or autocomplete fail) “ошибка в тексте (сообщении), допущенная автоматическим программным обеспечением для проверки правописания. Такая ошибка обычно некорректна или бессмысленна”, mini (from miniature), miniskirt, minicycle, minication (mini + vacation) «мини-отпуск». There are also words with maxi (maximal), e.g. maxi-tax, maxi-sculpture; with midi (middle-sized), e.g. midi-skirt; tele (television), e.g. telecourse, telelecture. In other compound-shortened words the second component is clipped, e.g. a textpectation /tekstpekˈteɪʃ(ə)n/ = text + expectation “чувство, которое человек испытывает, ожидая ответ на свое текстовое сообщение”, wasband (was + husband) «бывший муж»;  fanzine (fan + magazine) «журнал футбольных фанатов», staycation (stay + vacation) «оставаться дома в отпуске»; kidvid (a video film for kids), Skylab (Sky laboratory, US space laboratory), blends: instafamous (Instagram +famous) «звезда сети Instagram», genervacation (generation + vacation) «отпуск с родителями»), jeggins (jeans + leggings) «джеггинсы», frenemy (friend) + enemy) “человек, который притворяется вашим другом, хотя на самом деле намерения у него далеко не дружеские”, Phubbing /fʌbɪŋ/= phone + snubbing «игнорирование кого-то из-за непрерывного пользования телефоном».

There are also abbreviations of different types, such as resto, teen, dinky (dual income no kids yet), LBD (little black dress) маленькое черное платье; OTP (on the phone) по телефону, HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), LDR (long distance relationship) «отношения на расстоянии», NSFW (not safe/suitable for work) «не безопасный для работы». A special type of initial abbreviations are acronyms which are becoming more & more productive in Modern English, e.g. SCUM (a self-centered urban male who has no interest in marriage or children), SINK (single independent no kids), yolo (you only live once) — «жизнь одна», FOMO (fear of missing out) «боязнь пропустить что-либо»; MOOC (massive open online course) “крупный открытый онлайн курс, разработанный с целью общения с огромным количеством студентов со всего мира”.

There are also some graphical abbreviations of native origin. As a rule they are used in advertisements: des res (desirable residence), all mod cons (all modern conveniences), apt (apartment).

Quite a few neologisms appear on the analogy with lexical units existing in the language, e.g. snowmobile (automobile), airtel (hotel), cheeseburger (hamburger).

There are many neologisms formed by means of affixation, such as: to deconflict (предотвратить конфликт); to disclude (исключать); to mistext (отправить сообщение по ошибке другому человеку); pre-heritance (финансовая поддержка детям); pro-life (prohibiting abortions), pro-choice (allowing abortions) cybercrime «киберпреступление», cybercafe (интернет-кафе); to defriend «удалить кого-либо из списка друзей в социальной сети», nonversation «бессмысленный разговор».

There are neologisms, which are native & highly productive, e.g. –ie which forms affixed nouns: a foodie (a person fond of food), a winie (a person fond of drinking wine). Some suffixes obtain new meanings: casualization («кэжуализация») «тенденция к созданию более непринужденной атмосферы в офисе, особенно в том, что касается требований к одежде»; googlable «то, что можно найти в поисковых системах», lookism «предвзятое отношение к человеку из-за его внешнего вида», peopleology «наука, изучающая людей», bookaholic (человек, любящий читать); braniac (асоциальный умник); facebookian (пользователь социальной сети Facebook); villagistic (относящийся к деревне); lookism (предвзятое отношение к человеку из-за его внешнего вида); obesist (человек, предвзято относящийся к полным людям); dollarization (долларизация); adland (рекламное дело); rainbowlicous (яркий, красочный).

The suffix ster (native) which was rather archaic now has become highly productive. It is used to denote:

a)      types of cars, e.g. jeepster (a small lorry);

b)  names of people having a hobby, e.g. a popster (a fan of pop music), a punkster (a fan of punk music);

c)  names of people fond of joking, e.g. funster (шутник), jokester.

d)  names of objects of clothing & footware, e.g. hipster, backster names of people connected with crime, e.g. gangster, mobster, gadster.

There is a tendency in Modern English to use ellipsis (syntactical abbreviation) when one component of a nominative binominal is used instead of the whole phrase. In some cases the first element of the phrase is retained, e.g. Shadow (Shadow Cabinet), zebra (zebra crossing). In other cases the second component is preserved, e.g. Market (common Market), Hill (Capitol Hill).

Phraseological neologisms can be subdivided into phraseological units with transferred meaning, e.g. to buy into (to become involved), fudge & dudge (avoidance of definite decisions), sleeping policeman (speedbumps), to nose out (to find out), success theater “размещение таких изображений и историй, которые бы убедили других пользователей в том, что этот человек  проживает более успешную и насыщенную радостными событиями жизнь, чем есть на самом деле”, helicopter parent  “родители, которые постоянно следят за своими детьми и не отходят от них на шаг»; boomerang child  «дети, которые, достигнув совершеннолетия, съехали от родителей, но ввиду сложного финансового положения вновь вернулись к ним»; kitchen pass «разрешение, получаемое от супруги на посещение какого-либо мероприятия (поездки, рыбалки и т. д.)»; parallel parenting «форма воспитания детей, при которой разведенные родители делят обязанности по их воспитанию, а контакты между собой сводят к минимуму»; tiger mother «строгая и заботливая мать, требующая от детей послушания, уважения и отличной успеваемости»; askable parent «родитель, готовый ответить на вопросы ребенка, в том числе и такие, которые касаются секса», child supervision “явление, когда дети, хорошо разбирающиеся в современных «гаджетах» помогают родителям в их использовании”, pancake people “поколение активных интернет-пользователей, которые на первый взгляд знают много, но на самом деле все их знания довольно поверхностны”. & set non-idiomatic expressions, e.g. electronic virus, Rubic’s cube, acid rain, personality spam “непрекращающиеся онлайн посты и сообщения, касающиеся личной жизни и интересов”, ugly selfie “это автопортрет, умышленно сделанный автором непрезентабельным”, a smartphone zombie “человек, одержимый своим смартфоном”, digital amnesia /amˈniːzɪə/= a google effect “склонность забывать информацию, которую можно легко найти в интернете, используя поисковые системы”.