|
Five Factors of Neologisms Report 1 Author: Matthew Kudo Co-Authors: Chae Hyang Lim, Timothy
White PSY 409a, Fall 2008, Generation 28 Dr. Leon James, Instructor, What is a Neo? “The word “neo” is short for “neologism.”
This is defined as a new word, expression, or brief sentence, which a person
makes up. It’s possible that other people have also made up the same
expression or sentence, but it is not listed in Google or Yahoo (Dr. Leon James).
Not a lot of thought goes
into the meaning of the formation and nature of a Neologism. This is a short
research study on 24 subjects on a set of 28 Neologisms. Survey data was
taken and analyzed to find that people tend to base their assumptions of
Neologisms on 5 basic factors: experience; opinion; clarity; and, neo within
a neo. Research The
term "neologism" was coined in 1803. A neologism is derived from
the Greek neo which means "new" and logos which means "word”. A
neologism is a word that was devised recently during a specific time period.
A neologism hasn’t been accepted into any mainstream language. Neologisms are "new", and are
often related to a specific individual, publication, period, or event. In
the field of psychiatry, the term, neologism, is used to describe the
use of words that only have meaning to the person who uses them. They are independent of their common
meaning and are considered normal to children. The use of these can be attributed to a
symptom of thought disorder (such as schizophrenia)
in adults. Sometimes people with autism also may
create neologisms of free will. The
use of neologisms may also be related to aphasia. Aphasia is acquired after brain
damage resulting from a stroke or head injury. A
neologism in theology
is a relatively new idea. An example
given was the word rationalism. It is
considered that a neologist innovates in the area
of a doctrine. It is also believed
they are innovators in the belief system, and are often considered to be bad
by the mainstream clergy or religious institutions. Often
in cultures that change rapidly you are able to find Neologisms. They are also often in situations where
there is easy and fast propagation of information that is presented. The new terms that are created are often
created by combining existing words or by giving words new and unique suffixes or prefixes to them. Neologisms
often become popular through memetics. Memetics are when mass media,
the Internet, and word of mouth spread information or in this case neos. Every word
in every language was a neologism at one time. Only as time passes the ceasing to be a neo
is such do to the fact of the passing of time and eventually the acceptance. Neologisms
often become accepted in parts of language and in other cases they disappear
from normal common use just as fast as they appear. Even if a neologism
continues as part of the language everything depends on many factors to its
existence staying firm. Some are
acceptance by the public, acceptance by linguistic experts, and
incorporation into dictionaries. All
of the before mentioned items play a part, as do whether neologism remains
current, thus continuing to need a descriptor. It is unusual for a word to
enter common use if it does not resemble another word or words in an
identifiable way. When
a word or phrase is no longer "new", it is no longer a neologism.
Neologisms may take decades to become "old", however. Opinions
differ on exactly how old a word must be, to cease being considered a
neologism; cultural acceptance probably plays a more important role than time
in this regard. Newly-created words entering a
language tend to pass through stages that may be described as: ○Unstable
- extremely new, being proposed, or being used only by a small subculture
(also known as protologisms) ○Diffused
- having reached a significant frequency of use, but not yet having gained
widespread acceptance ○Stable
- having gained recognizable, being en vogue, and perhaps, gaining lasting
acceptance ○Dated
- the point where the word has ceased being novel, entered formal linguistic
acceptance and, even may have passed into becoming a cliché ○Passé - when a
neologism becomes so culturally dated that the use of it is avoided because
its use is seen as a stigma, a sign of being out of step
with the norms of a changed cultural tradition, perhaps, with the neologism
dropping from the lexicon altogether ○Many
neologisms have come from popular literature and tend to appear in different
forms. Most commonly, they are simply taken from a word used in the narrative
of a book; a few representative examples are: "grok" (to
achieve complete intuitive understanding), from Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein; "McJob", from Generation X: Tales
for an Accelerated Culture by Douglas
Coupland; "cyberspace", from Neuromancer
by William Gibson. ○Sometimes
the title of a book will become the neologism, for instance, Catch-22
(from the title of Joseph Heller's novel). Also worthy of note is the
case in which the author's name becomes the neologism, although the term is
sometimes based on only one work of that author. This includes such words as
"Orwellian"
(from George Orwell, referring to his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four) and "Ballardesque" or "Ballardian"
(from J.G.
Ballard, author of Crash). Kurt
Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle was the container of the Bokononism
family of nonce words. ○Another
category is words derived from famous characters in literature, such as
"quixotic"
(referring to the titular character in Don Quixote de la Mancha by Cervantes),
a "scrooge"
(from the main character in Dickens's A Christmas Carol), or a "pollyanna"
(from Eleanor H. Porter's book of the same name). James
Joyce's Finnegans Wake, composed in a uniquely complex
linguistic style, coined the words monomyth and quark. ○Lewis
Carroll has been called "the king of neologistic
poems" because of his poem, "Jabberwocky",
which incorporated dozens of invented words. The early modern English prose
writings of Sir Thomas Browne are the source of many neologisms
as recorded by the OED.” The problems with neologisms are
the risks of losing comprehension.
However it should be equally clear that neologism cannot be the same
as using old established words to describe new things. Some examples are
"suicide bomber", "global
warming" and "commuter flight.” Lastly any writing on a recent subject will
be effectively disallowed. Discussion After reading the master
neo chart and talking to people about it, I came to the conclusion that
neologisms do play a crucial part in communication. Our awareness of
neologisms adds on to topics to talk about, as well as increasing our
vocabulary. However, because the influence of both neologisms and their
origins within our lives is subtle at best, if only because of how frequently
and effortlessly we as individuals and as society form them. Effectively
classifying words and phrases as neologisms seems to become a moot point, to
the point where the entire concept of a neologism seems only necessary in the
eyes of a psycholinguist. Despite this, I feel that the circumstances are different
when it comes to its role in society. Scientists all around are coining new
phrases and terms that eventually reach out to the public enough that the neo
is used in everyday conversation. It demonstrates how the creation of a
single phrase will help people describe objects or their ideas and that will
ultimately allow them to create new neologisms for future use. We constantly see the
media create its own neo which encourages the public to use the neo and turn
it into a common phrase. For example, “wardrobe malfunction” was coined and
popularized around 2004, when Justin Timberlake accidentally ripped off a
part of Janet Jackson’s clothing which led to her exposing her breasts.
Despite the fact that the terms have been around only for a couple years,
there are currently over 800,000 hits on Google for this term. The sites that
show up do not all refer to that particular incident, but to other accidental
exposures as well. After having multiple discussions with different people, I
feel that regardless of how often they use neologisms, its existence is up in
the air. Even after multiple explanations most did not understand what a neo
is. However, I was able to
get a few people to have a conversation with me on neologisms. First of all,
the fact that anyone can be a neologist intrigued a
friend. He stated “I liked the fact that, at least insofar as what [the
Introduction] is telling us, there’s a clear way to differentiate between
neologisms and ritualizing formulaic expressions. This helps clarify what
exactly is a neo and what isn’t.” Also, another person stated
that the fact that everyone can become a neologist
is amazing. Due to the nature of language, the sentences we construct are
unique, regardless, many people are not aware that they are neologists every time they come up with a phrase
expressing their original idea. The subtlety of neo creation and expansion is a phenomenon
overlooked by most people. Linguists seem to be more able to discern the
origins of neologisms, if only through pre-acquired knowledge and
considerable practice. What makes neologisms interesting, then, is that the
same particular neo can potentially be created by multiple people, furthering
the community-based development of neologisms. Data Rating
Scale: 1=the
likelihood that this is a neo is 80 % or higher (looks like a neo) 2=the
likelihood that this is a neo is around 50 % (hard to tell if it is a neo or
not) 3=the
likelihood that this is a neo is less than 30% (doesn’t look like a neo) Neo
Prediction and Average Chart
Data Analysis 24
participants filled out surveys for the following set of neologisms. Each
participant was told what a neo was, and was then asked to read the definition,
rate each item as directed, and give an explanation as to their ratings.
However, most participants still did not seem aware of what I was looking for
insofar as the rating explanations went. “What
makes a vehicle a killing machine is not the person, but the emotions within
a person.” For this neo, I predicted a three (30% chance of being a neo)
since there are many slogans that are similar to this. The main message of
these slogans is generally that that the object itself is not dangerous,
therefore it is up to the person to handle the object carefully with
responsibility. The average answer was surprisingly a two (50% chance). While
one participant agreed with me that this neo is similar to many other slogans
(“guns don’t kill people, etc.”), others didn’t seem to notice this
connection. Another participant stated “I have never heard a person and his
emotions identified separately,” hinting that perhaps this separation of the
self and their emotion is a new expression. “Honking
ultimately has no positive effect on a driver.” My prediction for this neo
was a three. I wasn’t sure if people ever heard of something like this. The
average was a 2.14, which means that people had a hard time figuring out if
this was a neo or not. The reasons between participants were contradicting
(“too scientific sounding” versus “sounds like something from a report or
study”). One participant stated “I only hear horns sometimes,” and this may
imply that the less a certain condition occurs, the more likely the
expression using that condition is a neo. “The
most dangerous driver is the one that doesn’t go with the flow.” I thought
this neo is would get a three rating since this is common sense, and I figured
most people heard of something similar to this. The average answer was 2.57,
meaning most people heard of something like this. Most people just commented
that they’ve heard of something like this before, and not much more. One
participant wrote “go with the flow” is passé. From this, I believe that even
if the expression is a neo as long as it contains a cliché-like phrase, it is
seen as a non-neo. “Driving
isn’t a competition, it’s merely a method.” My prediction is a two, since
some people may have read this in a driving manual or something. Also,
because the language used is conversational, I thought that would make the
neo less unique-sounding. The average rating was a 1.86. Most people had a
hard time understanding what the neo meant, due to the ambiguous use of
‘method.’ Ambiguity seems to add on to the neo-ness of a phrase. Despite
this, many participants commented that they heard of this but ‘they weren’t
sure if anyone else has.’ “We
call it a traffic wave.” The word “traffic wave” sound s like a neo by
itself, so I figure that the neo would get a one (80% chance). The average
rating was 1.29, which suggested that most participants believed that the
phrase is a neo. Most people didn’t know what the word ‘traffic wave’ meant,
hence that may have affected the participants’ decision on their rating.
Interestingly, one person commented that, “the use of ‘we’ suggests a new
jargon.” “Automobiles
are powerful and obedient.” My prediction for this neo was a one, since many
people probably do not see their cars in that way. The average was a 1.29.
The participants all agreed that they have not heard automobiles being
personified in such a way, and a few went to the full extent of disagreeing
with the neo (both gave a one). The personification may have thrown some
people off, but I also believe that when one disagrees with the neo, they
think it is a new idea, but if they agree to it, they may think that the neo
was around from before. “Congestion
is often not caused by the road but by the way drivers are driving.” Since
this was extremely obvious to me, I thought that this neo would get a three.
However, the average of the participants was a 2.43. Similar to the above
example, people seemed to rate it according to their opinion. One participant
wrote, “There are too many potholes and weird merges, so some people will
half agree,” (this participant gave a two), again, rating the neo with their
opinion. Other participants just stated they’ve heard of something similar or
exactly like this before. “Many
people are driving around in a constant seething rage.” The use of the word
‘seething’ is uncommon, but the rest is semi-obvious, so my prediction was a
two. The average was a 2.43. The drivers gave the neo a higher rating than
the non-drivers. While the non-drivers wrote things like “I’ve kind of seen
it happen,” the drivers wrote “So true!” “It’s really common.” “I’ve seen it,
experienced it, it has to happen, so it can’t be a new idea,” and so on.
Interestingly enough, people weren’t thrown off by the word ‘seething’ and
based the neo on their own experience. Therefore, it seems that rather than
words within the neo, their experiences have more power when rating a neo. “Congestion
makes you feel frustrated and panicky.” I thought this would get a three,
only because it’s obvious. Many drivers experienced congestion, and they all
probably felt frustrated and panicky, hence, because the neo is something
they experience in everyday life, it will not seem like a neo. The average
rating was a 2.43, and most people commented that they have not only heard of
this a lot, but they also experienced it themselves, calling the neo “common
sense.” It seems that neologisms are also closely related to experience. “Driving
is a scream; holler, yell and occasionally a middle finger.” This is one of
the neologisms that I wrote. This neo
got an overall average of 1.57. This
neo received a rating of one 4 out of 7 times which means it got a rating of
one 57% of the time. Most of the
people chose to give this a rating of one.
Some said they gave it this rating because it looked like something
someone they knew would say. What I
learned from this is that with some of the responses I received most people
have a hard time grasping the concept of what a neo truly is. “Drinking
plus driving is the perfect equation for a car accident.” This neo got an
average of 1.86. For the most part the
raters of this neo decided to give it a one.
It received a rating of one 3 out of 7 times. This neo got a rating of one 42% of the
time. Again it is interesting that
they gave this a rating of one. I
learned that the neo I created was relatable and catchy due to the answers
that were provided by the subjects that I interviewed. Some things that were mentioned were
statements on how drinking and driving could impair someone ability. The statement does seem true. It seems the more truthful the statement
sounds the more likely people associate it to being a neo. “Dangerous
driving begins with the car and ends in death.” This neo I created got the
average of 1.86. The neo got a rating
of one 3 out of 7 times. This means it
got a rating of one 47% of the time. Again some of the subjects believed this
to be a neo because it seemed to be true. Someone actually wrote “Because
it’s quite true”, as an answer to why they chose that rating for this
neo. I learned that statements that
are ambiguous could be turned into a neo. “You
should never have a rubber neck while looking at an accident because you
never know you could cause an accident on your own.” This neo got an average
rating of 1.57. The neo presented is
something I made up. I wasn’t too sure
if people would see it as a neo or just if they would see it as a statement
that wasn’t a neo. When I looked at
the numbers the majority gave this neo a rating one. This neo got a rating of one 4 out of
7times. This neo got a rating of one
57% of the time. When asked why they
chose that answer, some people simply replied that it sounds like one. I guess if I think about it the answer to
why people say it sounds like a neo could be the fact a neo could be
considered a catch phrase or statement. “If
you brake do we not stop and if we stop do we not create a traffic wave?”
This is a neo I wrote and for once it didn’t have an average close to a rating
of 1. This neo got an average close to
1.85. Even though its average is 1.85
it got a rating of two 4 out of 7 times.
This particular neo got a rating of two 57% of the time. I can’t figure out why this statement
confused them. If I had to guess it
could be that the mentioning of a traffic wave probably wasn’t
understood. “Automobiles
are powerful and obedient” This is a neo that I didn’t make and was taken
from the neo chart given to us from Dr. James. The people I gave my survey to decide to
give this a rating of 3 for the most part.
The average for this neo was 2.14.
People chose the rating of three 4 out of 7 times. This neo got a rating of three 57% of the
time. Some of my subjects wrote that
cars aren’t obedient as an explanation for the rating they gave. Some even go further to say that they
aren’t obedient because the driver isn’t obedient. Something I learned from this is that most
of the people didn’t really agree with this statement. “Congestion
is often not caused by the road but by the way drivers are driving” This neo
chose from the neo chart they had an average of 1.57. The rating given was the rating of one 4
out of 7 times. This got a rating of
one 57% of the time. People chose to
give it this rating because they were convinced it was close to being a
neo. Some explanations were “Some
people can’t drive” and another person was quoted for saying “I experience
this every day.” The more I look at
these statements I start to realize that the more relatable the topic of the
neo the close the neo is to being a neo in the eyes of the raters. “We
inherit aggressive and dangerous driving patterns as children.” I chose this
neo from the master neo chart given to me from the neo chart provided by Dr.
James. The average of this neo is
1.71. This neo was rated one 4 out of
7 times. This rating got a rating of
one 57% of the time. Most of the raters
agreed with this information. One of
the raters actually said, “Children observe many things from adults (mostly
parents).” That was a pretty good
observation the subject made. I
learned that it doesn’t take a Psych major to make that observation but I
guess it would take one to explain it. “Congestion
makes you feel frustrated and panicky” This neo got an average of 1.57. This neo received a rating of two 4 out of
7 times. This neo got a rating of two
57% of the time. This neo was taken
from the neo chart. A lot of the
participants didn’t think that this phrase was a neo because it seemed out
dated and already heard but weren’t sure about their answer. Some examples for the explanation for this
rating include “I don’t know, it could have been said before.” Some people actually referred that
congestion makes you frustrated and impatient which is true. Overall most of the participants were
stumped if it was or wasn’t a neo. “We
call it a traffic wave.” I obtained this neo from the neo chart. Its average is 1.85. For the most part this was higher in the
rating of 2. It was rated two 4 out of
7 times. This neo received a rating of
two 57% of the time. All the people
who did the survey were unsure what a traffic wave was. I explained to them what it was after the
survey but they still didn’t understand what it was after my
explanation. I learned from this
experience that it’s hard to explain a neo to a person and it’s even harder
to explain what a traffic wave is. “Strap
on your emotional restraint” is a neologism, as it was made up just recently
so it was as a 1 on the rating scale. The statistical average was a 2.5 on
the rating scale. 30% of the participants ranked the phrase as a 1. 30% of
the participants ranked the phrase as a 2. The phrase was ranked as a 3 by
40% of the participants. These results indicate that on the average ranking
of 2.5, this phrase is not seen to be a neologism by most people. The
participants that ranked the phrase a 3 primarily ranked it because the
phrase sounded familiar. The participants that ranked the phrase a 2 stated
that the phrase sounds somewhat familiar. The participants that ranked the
phrase as a 1 primarily did so because they have not heard of the phrase. “Shift
into the right gear of mind”, a neologism that was made up recently and is
ranked as a 1 on the rating scale. The statistical average was 1.9 on the
rating scale. 40% of the participants ranked it as a 1. 30% of the
participants ranked it as a 2. The remaining 30% of the participants ranked
it as a 3. The statistical average of 1.9 on the rating scale shows that the
majority of the participants thought that this phrase could be a neologism.
This phrase was primarily ranked as a 1 because the majority of the
participants hearing a similar phrase. The ranking of 2 was primarily due to
the phrase sounding somewhat familiar. And, the ranking of 3 was due to the
participants thinking that the phrase sounded odd. “Apply
behavior for direction” is a neologism that was made up just previously, it
is ranked as a 1 on the rating scale. 10% of the participants ranked the
phrase as a 1 on the rating scale. The majority of participants ranked this
phrase as a 2 at 60%. And, this phrase was ranked a 3 by 30% of the
participants. The statistical average of rankings was at a 2.2 on the rating
scale. The participants that ranked the phrase as a 1 have never heard this phrase.
The ranking of 2 by the participants was ranked primarily because it sounds a
kind of familiar. The participants that ranked this phrase as a 3 did so
because it does not flow. “Drive
emotionally safe” is a neologism that was created just recently and is ranked
as a 1 on the rating scale. This phrase’s average ranking was at 2.2 on the
rating scale. 40% of the participants ranked this phrase as a 1. 30% ranked
this phrase as a 2. And, 40% of the participants ranked this phrase as a 3 on
the rating scale. The rankings of 1 and 3 on the scale had the same amount of
rating percentages. This phrase was ranked as a 1 by participants primarily
because they have heard of similar phrases, such as “drive safe”, but never
“emotionally safe.” This phrase was ranked a 2 on the scale by participants
because it does not sound cohesive. This phrase is ranked as a 3 on the
rating scale because the participants have never heard of it. “Turn
the emotional driving key” is a neologism because it
was just made up; it is ranked as a 1 on the rating scale. This phrase was
ranked as a 1.6 on the statistical average. 50% of the participants ranked
this phrase as a 1 on the rating scale. 30% of participants ranked this
phrase as a 2 on the rating scale. And, the other 20% ranked this phrase as a
3. Participants that ranked this phrase as a 1 did so primarily because it
sounds like a new simile. Participants that ranked this phrase as a 2 did so
because it sounds kind of familiar. The participants that ranked this phrase
as a 3 on the rating scale did so because it doesn’t flow grammatically. “Affective
driving skills” is ranked as a 3 on the rating scale because it has been used
prior to this report by Dr. Leon James. The statistical average ranking for
this phrase was a 2.2 on the rating scale. 20% of the participants ranked
this phrase as a 1; primarily because they say it sounds awkward. 40% of the
participants ranked this phrase as a 2; mostly because it sounds kind of
familiar. The remaining 40% of the participants ranked this phrase as a 3;
due to the fact that they have heard the phrased used in drivers education
classes. “Aggressive
driving turns on road rage” is ranked on the scale as a 3 because this phrase
has been used by Dr. Leon James prior to this report. The statistical average
of rankings by participants was a 1.9 on the rating scale. 50% of the
participants ranked this phrase as a 1 on the rating scale; this was
primarily reported by the participants because they have never heard it
before. This phrase was ranked as a 2 on the rating scale by 10% of the
participants; they reported that they ranked it as this because it sounds
true. The remaining 40% of the participants ranked this phrase as a 3; mostly
because they reported that they have heard it somewhere. “You
can’t change until you want to” is a phrase used by Dr. Leon James prior to
this report; it is ranked as a 3 on the rating scale. None of the
participants ranked this phrase as a neologism. 50% ranked this phrase as a 2
on the rating scale; they reported this ranking because they said it was a
familiar saying in movies. The other 50% of the participants ranked this
phrase as a 3; these participants have heard this phrase in a variety of
events such as pep talks and leadership seminars. The statistical average
ranking for this phrase was 2.5 on the rating scale. “Personality
undergoes a rapid transformation” is a phrase mentioned by Dr. Leon James; it
is ranked as a 3 on the rating scale. The statistical average was a 2.1 on
the rating scale. 30% of the participants ranked this phrase as a 1 on the
rating scale; primarily because they have never heard of it. 30% of the
participants ranked this phrase as a 2 on the rating scale; they ranked this
because it sounds vaguely familiar. The remaining 40% of the participants
ranked this phrase as a 3; mostly because they have heard this phrase in
various places like pep talks and motivational speeches. “Age
of Rage” is a phrase created by Dr. Leon James; it is ranked as a 3 on the
rating scale. The statistical average ranking for this phrase is a 1.7 on the
rating scale. 40% of the participants ranked this phrase as a 1 on the rating
scale; primarily because they have never heard it. 50% of the participants
ranked this phrase as a 2 on the rating scale; they reported that it sounds
like a video game or a lyric from a song by rap artist Eminem. The remaining
10% ranked this phrase as a 3; mostly because they have heard it somewhere. There
seems to be four elements that people applied when rating a neo:
Experience, the first one on the list,
seems to have the most power when the participants rated the neologisms.
Despite the fact that a neo is a new “word, expression, or brief sentence,”
when the participant actually experiences what the neo is describing, they
believe that the neo is not new. Some people seemed to misunderstand
neologisms and new ideas; hence they rated the phrase as less likely to be a
neo if they have already experienced it. Opinion is another factor that swayed
the ratings. When the subjects agreed with the neo they gave it a higher
rating, and vice versa. During the survey, when asked for the reason why the
subject gave a certain rating, the subject stated their reason for agreeing
instead. This may have been due to the fact the subjects did not understand
what a ‘neo’ is, since their opinion should generally have no effect on
whether an expression is a neo or not. Clarity of the expression in question
also seemed to have some role in the rating process. The ambiguity of the neo
made the meaning vague as well, which made the neo confusing and perhaps more
‘neo-like.’ When the subjects did not understand what the neo meant, they
assumed they never heard of something like it before, and rated it a lower
number. Finally,
when there was a “neo-esque” expression within the
short sentence then the subjects were more likely to believe the sentence was
a neo. For example, the word “traffic wave” was a new term for many people,
so the subjects rated the expression as being more neo-like. On the other
hand, the expression that used a cliché-like phrase “go with the flow,” got a
higher rating. Even though the subjects never heard of the sentence in
question, because of that commonly used phrase, the “neo-ness” of the neo was
in doubt. Taking
data on the phrase “we call it a traffic wave” twice was done in order to
check the validity of 5 factors of neologisms. Both sets of data were taken
from different sample groups and the data shows that the averages are different.
Thus supporting the 5 factors of neologisms hypothesis. The Issue of Neologisms Based
on the qualitative and quantitative data that was collected it is clear that
the mass majority of people do not think much about neologisms. This is to
say that the definition of neologism is not consistent from person to person
and everyone has their own interpretation of the word. When thinking of a
neologism, people use 5 functions to base their interpretations on their
meanings for words: Experience; opinion; clarity; neo within a neo. Experience relating to the action or
situation in which a neologism is describing causes people to identify more
with the definition and neologism so they are more likely to see the
neologism as not being a neologism, and visa versa. Opinion on the neologism,
in regards to the way it sounds, what it means, and its syntax, shapes the
thought that a neologism is a neologism or not. Clarity of the meaning of a
neologism also causes a person to either assume it is a neologism or not.
Having a neologism within a neologism causes people to believe that a whole
phrase is neologism rather than just that one word. This topic is not thought of very much
on a day to day basis. Neologisms are created instantaneously and infinitely
by every single person that speaks a human language; whether it be describing
something in a different way or hearing and learning a new word, phrase, or
idea. Although not thought of frequently, neologisms are a part of everyday
life in the sense that everyone is learning something new and interpreting it
all the time. Neologisms are infinitely forming as unstable (refer to
research) descriptions and forming into Passé (refer to research) phrases or
words. The issue of neologisms is an
important issue because it is a part of our human ability to communicate with
speech. Neologisms first started forming when humans first started to speak;
and now we have over 6,912 languages (http://www.nvtc.gov/lotw/months/november/worldlanguages.htm).
Neologisms are taking the past and forging it into the future while smelting
cultures together as words and ideas are borrowed and traded. This approach expands the view of neologisms
by giving it thought. With the knowledge that language is alive and
constantly changing and that every individual has their own perspective of
every single word; neologisms are part of our every day lives. This approach
causes us to look at language not as an unchanging constant, but as an
interpretation of how we think and interpret everything. References Neologism.
(n.d.) Retrieved This website contains the definition
of the word neologism. It also contains links to the history of neologism and
relevant words and phrases. Leon,
J. Half a Century of Science in
Psychology: Scientific Neologisms Coined by Leon James for the Period
1958-2008. Retrieved from http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/neochartp1.htm This
website is Dr. Leon James’ master neo chart and website. This site is the
basis and inspiration of this report. NTVC.
(2007). World
Languages. From http://www.nvtc.gov/lotw/months/november/worldlanguages.htm This site contains data on world
languages. It also contains sections of data from the Ethnologue.
This site contains data by continent about languages. |