ECOLOGICAL NEOLOGISMS IN MODERN ENGLISH
Keywords:
ecological neologism (eco-neologism), affixation, word-compounding, abbreviation, telescoping, conversionAbstract
The article deals with the main ways of forming eco-neologisms which constitute a significant part of all innovations in modern English. Despite the fact that there is the large number of studies in the field of neology, the problem of the appearance, formation and translation of eco-neologisms needs careful consideration. Formation of a large number of new words in the field of ecology reflects the global exacerbation of environmental problems and the development of the ecological consciousness of people. An array of eco-neologisms (100 lexical units) was obtained in the process of analysis of entries of English dictionaries of neologisms and online dictionaries. The analysis of an array of eco-neologisms shows that they are mainly formed from elements that already exist in the language. The most productive ways of creating innovations in the environmental sphere are affixation (39 %), word-compounding (24 %) and abbreviation (22 %). It was discovered that eco-neologisms are mainly formed with the help of prefixes eco- (eco-porn, eco-anxiety), bio- (biocluster, bioinvasion), re- (rewild, regreen) and myco- (myco-diesel, mycoremediation). The most frequent derivational suffixes are -ation (ecologization), -ist (warmist), -ism (freeganism), -cide (adulticide), and -phobe (chemophobe). In the process of word-compounding the lexeme green is often used (e.g. green accounting, greenlash). Among shortened forms of words and phrases, abbreviations are the most common. The following types of abbreviations were singled out: initialism (CFC – chlorofluorocarbon), acronyms (SEEDS – Social Ecological Economic Development Studies) and mixed (PETA – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). It was shown that shortened forms of words in the sphere of ecology are characterized by the homophony of the word available in the language and acronymic unit (e.g. NOPE (Not on Planet Earth), GASP (Group Against Smoke and Pollution)). This facilitates recognition of neologism and its entry into vocabulary of the language. With the help of telescoping 12 % of environmental neologisms are built (e.g. pollutician (pollution + politician), freegan (free + vegan)). It was found that the least productive way of forming eco-neologisms is conversion – 3 % of eco-neologisms are formed using this method.
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