New words. Reasons for the formation of new words. Neologisms are lexical and semantic. Neologisms and occasionalisms. "Potential" words. Dictionaries of new words and meanings.
New words entering a language are usually called neologisms.
Neologisms(Greek neos - new, logos - word) - these are new words that, having appeared in the language as certain significant units, have not yet entered the active vocabulary. Consequently, these are words that sooner or later enter the active vocabulary, sometimes quite quickly. As soon as neologisms become common, they are included in the active vocabulary. Therefore, it would be incorrect to classify as neologisms words that were such half a century (or even more) ago, as is often done (even if only with an indication of the period of occurrence). After all, neologisms existed, of course, at all times: in the Old Russian language, and in the 18th century, and in the 20th. Therefore, there were attempts to describe them in explanatory dictionaries. For example, the “Dictionary of the Russian Language of the 18th Century” indicates the period when the word entered the vocabulary of that time, and for that era new words were neologisms. Among the explanatory dictionaries of the modern Russian language, only in the “Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language” by D.N. Ushakova (1940) made an attempt to include new words marked “new.”: agitation, activist, accordion player, godlessness, white guard, non-party, brother, budenovka, potbelly stove and under. But soon they all entered the active dictionary, and some are now outdated. Since then, new words (as the most dynamic in the vocabulary) are not described in explanatory dictionaries: they are recorded in special dictionaries, which will be discussed below.
New words appear in a language (just as old ones disappear) for two different reasons:
1. linguistic(a new synonym name appears for an already existing thing, a concept that was called differently; often such a new name turns out to be a non-literary word or borrowing): disco(dancing), disk(plate), makeup(cosmetics), voyage(journey);
2. extralinguistic(for the name of a new thing or concept, a phenomenon that did not have a name): designer, starship, intervision, felt-tip pen, turtleneck, lunar rover, supermarket.
There are also neologisms lexical(new words) and semantic ( new values).
Examples of semantic neologisms from different times are the words: satellite(artificial), window(bottleneck on the rafting), dragonfly(helicopter), walrus(bather in the ice hole), kangaroo(pocket), etc.
Thus, the formation of new words is associated with the concept nominations(i.e. naming new concepts, forming new names) and its methods. Nomination methods are quite general (universal) in many languages, although your own ways are also possible.
The appearance of neologisms is always historically and socially conditioned. The breakdown of the old economic structure and socio-political system that is happening before our eyes leads to a rapid renewal of the vocabulary of the language. In modern Russian, new words appear as a result of:
1) borrowings from other languages ( manager, racket, image, presentation, conversion, broker, investor, manager, marketing, consortium, exclusive and many more etc. - this has already been discussed);
2) word formation based on the material of the native language using known methods: affixation ( putschist, post-perestroika, post-communist, riot police, gekachepist); addition and abbreviation ( special forces, demo-Russians, government structure, caprealism, commune property, people's deputies, riot police, State Emergency Committee, CIS, LDPR);
3) value changes - the formation of samantic neologisms by updating layers of political and economic terminology: commonly used words turn into terms ( perestroika, stagnation, detente, acceleration, chaos, recession, glasnost, disk).
Since explanatory dictionaries do not describe neologisms, and the vocabulary of the Russian language is constantly being enriched, the task arose of creating a dictionary of new words and meanings.
Such a dictionary appeared in 1971 under the title “New words and meanings. Dictionary-reference book on press and literature materials of the 60s." (edited by N.Z. Kotelova and Yu.S. Sorokin). It is clear that many “new” words and meanings have already ceased to be such and have entered the active vocabulary, such as avant-garde, air ticket, bus station, military service, judo, comic book, foam plastic, pentagon, playboy, reserpine, rheumatologist etc. The same can be said about the next, second and third, editions of the dictionary of new words - based on press materials of the 70s and 80s (1984, 1997). The concept of “new”, therefore, in these dictionaries (and in others too) is confined to a certain period, because many words go from “new” to “old”, i.e. actively used, or even outdated (already gone or leaving the language). Wed. examples from these dictionaries: nine-story building, deodorant, kopeck piece(a two-kopeck coin that could be called from a machine), inter-collective farm-state farm, player, povinol, teleworkshop, shadow, todes, tonic, hit and etc.
The dynamics of the lexical system of the Russian language of the 80s - 90s are presented in the “Dictionary of Perestroika” by V.I. Maksimova (1992). This dictionary covers only certain groups of vocabulary that came into the Russian language during the era of perestroika indicated in the name of the dictionary.
The dynamics of Russian vocabulary at the end of the twentieth century are reflected, as mentioned above, in the Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language of the End of the Twentieth Century. Language Changes" (1998). It records new (and relatively new) words and meanings using graphic notations, for example, the word publicity, as well as the actualization of words and meanings and the return of a word from a passive to an active: for example, words gallop(about prices) or lord(about the highest hierarch of the church). In 2001, this dictionary was republished with the addition of new words. Several dictionaries of Russian neologisms have been published abroad (in Berlin, Paris, London, New York).
It is necessary to distinguish from neologisms occasional vocabulary, or individual author’s new words and meanings ( occasionalisms). Such words appear as one-time individual uses in colloquial or artistic speech. Unlike neologisms, they will not enter the active vocabulary (with rare exceptions) and will forever remain “new” in the sense of unusualness and originality.
Many occasional expressions of artistic speech have authors, and this authorship remains for many years. Let us recall the neologisms of Mayakovsky ( many-footed, million-fingered, sickle-fingered, hammer-fingered, gnawing), Yesenina ( fluffy snow, vocal chants, ringing roll, shouting, leaflet, riot) and earlier Pushkin ( heavily ringing galloping, loud oak forests, potted, lady-like) and Tyutchev ( thunderous goblet), which are perceived as equally “new”. Occasionalisms are created according to unusual (unproductive) word-formation models or by analogy with them ( utreet, winter painting, sob, minnow, proletariat leader), or are used in unusual combinations ( villages for daughter, sleepy patient, starry night). They give imagery, brightness, and expressiveness to speech, but remain not linguistic, but speech formations.
Occasional vocabulary has been actively appearing in recent years both in journalism and in colloquial speech: privatization, Khrushchev, salaryization, underscraper, underturn, Duma members, cash and non-cash, demobilization, deza, unattended, vdribazon, verticulyasy etc., elements of a language game are often observed in it.
In colloquial and artistic speech, the so-called potential words - words that are freely formed according to highly productive word-formation models, but are not included in the active dictionary (for example, such as baby snake, baby crocodile, baby whale... or beetle, giraffe, scorpion etc.) Wed. examples of their use in speech:
“To make life easier for working people kitihe
With a working whale and a preschool baby whale"(Mayakovsky).
Thus, new words are one of the sources of replenishment of the vocabulary of the language. Their existence as “new” is short-lived: if they turn out to be really necessary and convenient to use, they quickly become an active vocabulary. It’s unlikely that the words will seem new to anyone now after school or jeans, and even more recently came into use sponsor And manager are becoming widely used.
1 Examples of words that were new in the last century and became commonly used, and some of them became obsolete:
- calculator
- collective farm
- Komsomol
- astronaut
- laser
- record player
- metro
- pioneer
- vacuum cleaner
- workers' faculty
- TV
- drummer
2 Examples of some neologisms that appeared at the end of the last century (nowadays we can say that the words have become commonly used):
- Wi-Fi
- default
- joystick
- dress code
- drifting
- goalkeeper
- Internet
- computer
- Xerox
- manager
- mobile phone
- playoffs
- rating
- roaming
- security
- skate
- tagline
- smiley
- training
- florist
3 Examples of neologisms in the modern Russian language that have appeared in recent years:
- big date
- blockchain
- vaper
- geopositioning
- hoverboard
- deadline
- life hack
- kiting
- quadcopter
- quest
- cleaning
- copywriting
- coach
- cryptocurrency
- mining
- navigator
- offshore
- tablet
- promoter
- selfie
- smartphone
- spinner
- trolling
- freelance
- hater
- electric car
Dictionary The meaning of these and other words can be found in our New Words Dictionary.
The emergence of neologisms
How are new words born in the Russian language? Experts name different sources, but there are two main ones:
- New words are borrowed from other languages (general linguistic neologisms);
- New words are created by writers and journalists (copyright neologisms).
Thousands of new words appear in the Russian language every year. Conventionally, they can be divided into the following groups:
- New words do not become widespread and “die”;
- New words are popularized and move from neologisms to common ones;
- New words do not become widespread and remain neologisms.
Many of the new words do not become widespread; a small part of the words “settles” in the vocabulary of the Russian language. This is due to the fact that technologies and concepts that are called words are not widely used in people's lives.
Over time, neologisms cease to be new and become common words. Once upon a time, the words TV, traffic light, astronaut, and landing on the moon were new. Now they are understandable to any Russian-speaking person.
There are words that remain neologisms and do not become commonly used. They are formed on the basis of morphemes existing in the Russian language and are constructed according to well-known models of word formation. Such words can be found in the works of Russian writers, for example, the words “hulk” and “merge” in V.V. Mayakovsky.
The development of society, technological progress, objects and processes in everyday life - all this is reflected in language, and specifically in the emergence of new words and phrases. It is they who will be called neologisms - which, translated from ancient Greek, means nothing more than “new word” (“neos” - new, “logos” - word).
Neologism is a word or phrase that appeared relatively recently in the language. Most often these are borrowed words from other languages. Over time, words lose their neologism status.
The specificity of neologisms lies in the fact that against the background of commonly used words they may not be understandable to everyone, they belong to the category of passive vocabulary, and at the same time they may look somewhat colorful and original. Dead languages do not have such new words, but developed languages are replenished with them not even annually, but monthly and daily. This is due to the very rapid development of progress, information technology, and the sphere of relationships, thanks to which these words appear in people’s everyday life.
Talking about what is a neologism, it should be noted that the word will only be in this status for a certain period of time. Having lost its innovation and incomprehensibility, having become a familiar word for most people, neologism moves into the category of commonly used concepts. And new words come to replace them, and this is how the language is updated.
Examples of neologisms.
Let's give an example of a few neologism words with their meaning:
Florist– a specialist in botany who studies plants (flora). Often applied to sellers in flower shops. In most cases, this means a person who understands flowers and works in the field of selling flowers and other plants.
Manager- an employee of a company who manages something. Currently used too widely to be precisely defined. Initially, a manager is a manager (from the English “manage” - to manage, direct, manage).
Security– security. The word borrowed from the English language is security, translated as protection. Borrowed as a fashion for “glamorous” job titles. This is just a security guard, not a security guard or a security manager.
– shoes from Christian Louboutin.
Types of neologisms.
Experts divide neologisms into several groups, highlighting:
- general language;
- copyright (words created by the authors of works of art).
There are also lexical neologisms themselves, and semantic ones - old words, but with a new meaning (menu, zebra).
Author's neologisms are unusual, but it is important that they are usually tied to a specific work of art and may not be understood in another context. Among the most famous authors who composed new words and phrases are such luminaries as V. Mayakovsky, V. Khlebnikov, I Severyanin, M Saltykov-Shchedrin.
Features of the appearance of neologisms
Neologisms in Russian, as in any other, appear constantly, but a particularly large influx of them is observed during special periods:
- changes in the type of society, forms of government, social structure (revolutions, wars, coups);
- modernization and technical progress.
Dramatic changes in society entail various changes in all areas, and language will be no exception. After October 1917, a huge number of neologisms appeared: Komsomol, workers' faculty, shock workers, collective farms and others.
The rapid development of technology at the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st centuries, various political and economic processes also caused the appearance of new words in the language: offshore, life hack, coach, selfie, roaming, security, spread, rating, catering and many others.
New words that have recently appeared in a language are called neologisms.
The term comes from the ancient Greek νέος (new), λόγος (speech, word). This term characterizes the enrichment of vocabulary in certain historical periods. Language is in constant development, and a certain historical era is always distinguished by its events, discoveries, inventions, which inevitably leads to the appearance of new words. This especially applies to developed languages; they are constantly replenished with neologisms. But not everything new is fixed for a long time - fashion passes, tastes change... Yes, language is also subject to fashion, unfortunately. There is even a term “fashionable words”; they are also called “glamorous vocabulary”. But what's behind this? Most often, this is simply a devaluation of the meaning of words. For example, it is now fashionable to use the word “elite” inappropriately and inappropriately, completely departing from its true meaning. The word “elite” implied selection, selection: elite wheat. Now, at every step we see advertisements for luxury housing and elite clubs. And off we go: luxury windows and doors, luxury apartments, luxury holidays... The same story applies to the word “exclusive”. The meaning of this word is intended for one single person. For example, an interview given to only one newspaper can be exclusive. But we hear around us: exclusive products (I wonder how many copies there are?), exclusive cheese, exclusive film, etc.
Language also does not always preserve new phenomena - it is known that “fashionable” words suddenly disappear from the language, and new ones appear. But some neologisms are fixed in the language for a long time, and sometimes forever. This happens if the concept that this word denotes remains relevant.
Let's talk about the types of neologisms and the ways in which they come into our language.
Linguistic neologisms
Linguistic neologisms are created mainly to designate a new object, concept or phenomenon. Moreover, neologisms do not remain as a new word for very long, but only as long as the word retains a touch of novelty. Then the word passes into the category of commonly used vocabulary or into the category of terms.
For example, some words that were neologisms not so long ago are no longer such: astronaut, nylon, supermarket. Instead, other neologisms appear: photocopier, nanotechnology, ATM, cell phone, server and etc.
Lexical neologisms
Lexical neologisms are formed according to the models available in the language: Venus rover, land on the moon or borrowed from other languages: makeup, sponsor, bobsleigh and etc.
Semantic neologisms
Semantic neologisms are new meanings of well-known words: zebra (transition), slider (zipper lock).
Semantic neologisms can also arise as new names for objects that already have names. Neologisms were, for example, words that replaced others: the word “helicopter” replaced the former word “helicopter”, the word “airship” replaced the word “zappelin”, the word “pilot” replaced the word “aviator”, etc.
Author's neologisms
Author's neologisms are created by writers and poets to create the imagery of a work of art.
Author's neologisms formed according to language models are called potential words: bedbug breeding, ober-admirer(M. Saltykov-Shchedrin), hammer-fingered, sickle-fingered, million-fingered hand(V. Mayakovsky).
Author's neologisms created according to unusual models are called occasionalisms(from Lat. occasionalis - random): philosophy(M. Gorky), sports copper forehead(M. Tsvetaeva). Such words rarely go beyond the context, are not widely used and, as a rule, remain part of an individual style, so that their novelty and unusualness are preserved. But sometimes the author’s neologisms become commonly used: for example, the title of T. More’s novel “Utopia.” The word "utopia" means something unrealizable.
M.V. Lomonosov enriched the Russian literary language with the words “atmosphere”, “substance”, “thermometer”, “diameter”, “minus”, “horizon”, “fire-breathing” (mountains) and others. N.M. Karamzin - with the words “industry”, “entertaining”, etc. I. Severyanin introduced the word “mediocre” into the Russian language.
Neologisms often appear in the speech of children under 5 years of age. K. Chukovsky collected these children's neologisms in a whole book called “From two to five.”
Seryozha, 2.5 years old, saw a fire for the first time. He clapped his hands and shouted.
By analyzing dictionaries of neologisms, it is possible to identify the basic principles of the development and expansion of the lexical system in the Russian language. The following ways of appearing new words are distinguished:
1. Morphological, in which new formations in the language are the result of derivational (word-formation) processes. For example: “mental”, “small things”. Derivation involves the formation of new words according to certain models from morphemes that already exist in the language.
2. Lexico-semantic. In this case, new meanings appear for known words. For example: “pencil case” (type of garage), “zebra” - pedestrian crossing.
3. Lexico-syntactic (non-productive). With this method, word formation occurs on the basis of phrases. For example: “today”, “now”.
4. Morphological-syntactic (unproductive). This is a way in which one part of speech passes into another. For example: “thanks to” (whom?) is a gerund, (to what?) is a preposition.
5. External influence. Borrowing is one of the ways of word formation. This includes words such as “felt-tip pen”, “know-how”, “ikebana”, etc.
According to researchers, the result of word formations in our language is more than 90% of all new formations of the last few decades. The main method today remains morphological, when new words appear from stems and affixes already existing in the language. They are usually created based on existing words. For example: “PR specialist” - by analogy “argumentator”.
