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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 9, No. 6
Publication Date: June 25, 2022
DOI:10.14738/assrj.96.12470. Huseynova, A. M. (2022). English Neologisms and Borrowings in Media. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 9(6). 119-
125.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
English Neologisms and Borrowings in Media
Aynura Maharat Huseynova
School of Turkish World Economy
Azerbaijan State University of Economics, Azerbaijan
ABSTRACT
This article is divided into two main parts: neologisms and borrowings in media.
One of the main features of the modern spoken and written language has been the
use of borrowed words, primarily of American-English origin. The lexical
environment of a modern person, therefore, contains a significant number of
foreign words and neologisms, the use of which seems inevitable for successful
communication. Considering the features of the use of borrowings and neologisms
in the media is especially significant in modern conditions. The main purpose of this
article is to determine the role of its two themes, and to study the features of the
translation of neologisms and borrowings from English into Azerbaijani in
connection with the constant updating of the English dictionary against the
background of the current ever-changing environment.
Key words: neologisms, borrowings, media, communication, internet media
INTRODUCTION
The modern world is rapidly changing, and the language must reflect all these changes in
speech. The English language is, just as many other foreign languages, constantly evolving,
producing more and more new words, phrases and expressions every day that cover social
issues, new technologies, interests, lifestyles, and so on.
Neologisms are words or expressions that have appeared in language relatively recently. The
time frame for attributing a unit to neologisms from the moment the word appears in the
language varies from several years to several decades. The emergence of a neologism is most
often due to the pragmatic goals of communication at a particular moment in a particular
communicative situation. Most new words are associated with the development of science,
technology, culture and economics. The source of their origin can be considered both
interpersonal discourse and the discourse of the mass media.
A living language is dynamic: it constantly develops its internal and external resources.
Simultaneously, it is of course refusing the old ones, creating new forms and content, improving
its expressive means and techniques through their structural simplification or complication.
Changes in language occur at a variety of levels: morphemic, phonetic, lexical and syntactic.
Syntactic changes are somewhat slower, and we identify them mainly from written texts several
generations older than us. Any new era is accompanied by the introduction of new words
denoting new things, objects and phenomena. The most noticeable lexical changes include new
unknown expressions, which usually attract attention and make a person think or guess its
meaning.
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CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE OF MEDIA
Today, the question of which media format is the most readable is highly relevant. With the
advent of new technologies, people receive more and more information through news sites,
including online rather than printed versions of newspapers and magazines. Thanks to modern
technology, many media outlets are reaching a wider audience.
There is no exact definition of "new media". In fact, these are all modern interactive digital,
computer, information and network communication technologies that can instantly transmit
any information. That is, their main characteristics are that they are social, local and mobile,
which can be used to expand the capabilities of modern media.
The very concept of "new media" is recent as these technologies are about 20 years old.
Therefore, when creating a device (phone, tablet) for reading Internet media now, you need to
understand that the current generation, that is, in fact, the future or already real solvent
audience, is not just an active digital user, but considers this interactive type of communication
to be the main source information.
Many online publications have appeared, which different researchers classify depending on
whether they have traditional "ancestors". Some scientists adhere to the division into
exclusively network media and the representation of traditional media on the Internet (A. A.
Belyaev, Y. V. Kostygova), others divide the network versions of traditional media into “clones”
and “hybrids” (M. M. Lukina), where electronic versions that copy their print native content to
online publications are nominated "clones", while “hybrids” are those that expanded the
content and pursued their own information policy, different from the offline counterpart.
Internet media presents information to the reader in a different way, since electronic versions
of newspapers have completely new communication and technical capabilities. When
publications are transferred from offline to online, two shifts occur: technological and
typological [4].
Information agencies on the Internet can be described as the most efficient sources of
information. When an emergency occurs, the audience turns to the network i.e., to the news
feeds, and only then does it turn to messages from traditional channels. Therefore, another
important advantage of online media is the speed of the information provided.
To date, the issue of self-liquidation of the print media is relevant. Let us give several arguments
confirming the fact that the complete elimination of the usual printed publications is
impossible. Firstly, the Internet in most other countries is not widespread enough and is widely
available only in large metropolitan areas. Secondly, not all readers are computer literate and
even if they have access to the Internet, they do not use it.
Therefore, the question of the existence of printed periodicals does not arise. Today, the process
of mastering new network capabilities is underway. The electronic version of the newspaper
does not just combine music, video, 3D, and so on, but attempts to combine different ways of
seeing and comprehending events [6].
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Huseynova, A. M. (2022). English Neologisms and Borrowings in Media. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 9(6). 119-125.
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The language of the Internet media is changing increasingly faster, and for the first time do we
meet colloquial vocabulary or phraseological units in this source. Information that appears in
print, in most cases, was once in the newsfeed on the Internet. Modern media is the source of
most neologisms in the lexical composition of the language. Both English and Azerbaijani are
constantly being modernised with new words and expressions “updating” the language, while
maintaining its uniqueness. However, phenomena such as globalisation or intercultural
communication are the reasons for mixing languages, depriving them of their identity.
Language not only reflects the culture of its people, its social structure, mentality, worldview
and much more, but also stores the socio-cultural layer accumulated by it, which serves as the
most important and most effective way to form the next generations, that is, a tool of culture.
ENGLISH NEOLOGISMS IN THE MEDIA
Studying neologisms from a cultural point of view gives a better understanding of the
contemporary world. The emergence of new words allows us to observe how the business
world is developing, in what direction it is moving and what its purpose is. It is undeniable that
the economy will be transformed through innovation and technological development, and
therefore the language – be it jargon or the official language – will change accordingly. Refusal
to accept neologisms is tantamount to dissent from compliance with the improvement of the
entire business sector, including computing and science. No new science is possible without
neologisms or new interpretations of incomprehensible lexemes that describe and explain
reality in new ways.
Neologisms have received many different definitions. In dictionaries, neologism is usually
defined as "a new word or new meaning for a well-known word". To be more specific, Peter
Newmark defines neologisms as "newly introduced lexical or existing units that take on new
meaning" [5].
The creation of new words reflects, first of all, the needs of society in expressing new concepts
that constantly arise as a result of the development of science, technology, culture, social
relations, and so on [1]. At the moment, the English language, just as many other languages, is
experiencing a “neological boom”. A huge influx of new words and the need to describe them
led to the creation of a special branch of lexicology – neology, or the science of neologisms [9].
Neologisms or new words arise in connection with the appearance in different spheres of
human activity of new concepts, objects that need to be given new names.
The definition of neologism continues to be an unresolved problem, since linguists do not come
to a common point of view regarding the criteria for defining neologism as a new lexical unit.
The interest of linguists in the study of neology is only growing, and this is because new words
appear in the language continuously and currently with increasing speed. There is a need for
interpretation, definition of the functions of neologisms in the language.
Neologisms are associated with all areas of the English-speaking society, but a particularly large
number of new lexical units appear in connection with the development of computer
technology: multi-user – birdən çox istifadəçi üçün kompüter; hardware – kompüter hissələri;
software – kompüter proqramı; to blitz out – kompüterin yaddaşında olan bəzi məlumatların
məhv edilməsi.
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A relatively new semantic group are neologisms on space topics: space-bike, mini-bike –
təyyarələr; cargo modulе – kosmik gəminin yük bölməsi and so on.
In the field of fine arts, a turbulent process of experimentation is taking place, new writing
styles and style techniques are being created: АВС art – rəng və formanı sadələşdirən və
elementar hissələrə parçalayan sənət; Op art – optik effektlərdən istifadə etməklə sənət;
revivalism – ənənəvi forma və üsullara qayıdan müasir rəssamlıq məktəbi; action painting –
çiləmə (sprey) üsulu ilə rəsm and so on.
In the field of cinema, television and video technology, many new technical means have
appeared. Chat show – televiziyada məşhurla müsahibə; kidvid – uşaqlar üçün televiziya
proqramları.
A large number of neologisms appear in connection with social movements. Many new words
in the English language are for example owed to feminism: libbie – seçki hüququ, feminist.
It is thanks to the women's movement that some English words ending in man have changed to
a more gender-neutral form: policeman – police officer, chairman – chair person.
Neologisms are represented by several options according to their structure and method of
formation. The most characteristic ways of forming neologisms are word formation and
borrowings from other languages.
Compounding is the fusion of two or more stems to form a new word. For English compound
words, the most frequent are formations consisting of two stems: read-in – oxucuların rəqabəti;
recite-in – qiraətçilərin müsabiqəsi; swim-in – üzgüçülük yarışı; lobby-in – siyasi məsələlər üzrə
konfrans; push-over – asanlıqla aşıla bilən maneə; drop-out – məktəbdən xaric olunan gənc; build- up – hərbi qüvvələrin toplanması; high-rise – çoxmərtəbəli bina; be-in – dostluq görüşü and so on.
Another way of forming neologisms is affixation – the formation of new words with the help of
suffixes and prefixes. Often new uses are found for affixes that are unproductive in other styles
of speech. In many cases, such affixes develop new meanings that were previously
uncharacteristic of them, for example, the suffix -ship. This Anglo-Saxon suffix was once used to
form abstract nouns with the meaning of state, position; for example friendship, leadership,
lordship.
In newspaper vocabulary, the suffix -ship in combination with the morpheme -man forms
abstract nouns with the quality or knowledge attribute:
brinkmanship – müharibə astanasında balanslaşdırma;
craftsmanship – kütlələrə təsir etmək sənəti;
showmanship – malları gözə soxmaq bacarığı, gözə kül üfürmək;
statesmanship – dövlət xadiminin müdrikliyi.
The same should be said about the unproductive suffix -dom, which in newspaper vocabulary
began to be used to form new words and thus gained productivity, for example:
bogdom – bataqlıq; həyatın dibi;
officialdom – rəsmi dairələr;
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suckerdom – başqasının hesabına yaşayan, avara.
Recently, many words have appeared with the prefix non: non-access to nuclear weapons – nüvə
silahına yol verilməməsi; non-affiliated union – daha böyük həmkarlar ittifaqları birliyinə daxil
olmayan Amerika Həmkarlar İttifaqı;
non-beligerent country – müharibədə iştirak etməyən ölkə;
non-content – təklifin əleyhinə olan seçici (Lordlar Palatasında);
non-union, non-unionist – həmkarlar ittifaqının üzvü olmayan.
ENGLISH BORROWINGS IN THE MEDIA
Most borrowings are associated with the development of science, technology, culture, tourism,
economics and production relations. Many of these words are firmly established in life, and
then lose their novelty and move into an active vocabulary. One of the ways to enrich the
vocabulary is to borrow words of foreign origin. So, in the work of L. P. Krysin [3], E. Richter
considers the need for naming things and concepts as the main reason for borrowing words,
while other reasons are considered linguistic, social, mental, aesthetic and others. The
inscription on the clothes has a certain communicative orientation. Depending on the purpose
of communication, there are many types of inscriptions that have different meanings [7]. They
may include youth slang words, and each inscription differs from another in the manner of
writing and the presence of various lexical units. A word can be well-known or widespread only
in a certain circle of people or in a separate territory.
L. P. Krysin notes that: “It is customary to consider borrowing: 1) the transition of elements of
one language into the system of another language as a result of more or less long-term contacts
between these languages; 2) a word or phrase that entered the language as a result of such a
transition”, [3].
According to A. I. Smirnitsky’s theory, a borrowing is a language unit that passes from a donor
language to a recipient language as a result of economic, political and cultural ties. This
language unit is assimilated in the receiving language, that is, it is formed according to the rules
of the receiving language, using the means of this language, and then fixed in dictionaries [8].
One of the features of the use of loanwords is that these borrowings pass from language to
language.
Referring to the list of reasons for borrowing proposed by L. P. Krysin, the following can be
distinguished:
1. The need to name a new thing, a new phenomenon. For example, with the advent of new
technical means, the Azerbaijani language was replenished with words from the English
language, such as immobilizer – maşın üçün siqnalızasiya, thermal pot – termos və çaynik bir
yerdə (termos-çaynik), memory stick – video kamera funksiyasını yerinə yetirən alət.
2. The need to distinguish between meaningfully close, but still different concepts. For
example, image and character - imic və obraz. In some situations, it is appropriate to use
only “Anglicism” – the image of an employee, the image of a bank, in others – it is appropriate
to use the word character, for example, the character of Mukhtar, the character of a teacher.
3. The need for specialization of concepts in a particular area. For example: printer – printer,
cartridge – kartric, file – fayl, site – sayt, provider – provayder, server – server, monitor –
monitor, modem – modem and so on.
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4. Perception by everyone who uses a foreign word as more prestigious, "scientific", "beautiful
sounding", as well as understanding of this word by everyone who hears it.
5. The increasing the number of people who know English.
6. The use of borrowed words in the speech of famous and authoritative personalities –
politicians, artists, and so on [3].
If we consider the use of borrowings in everyday life, it should be emphasised that English
borrowings are most often used in the speech of adolescents. Young people believe that the
standard of living abroad is much higher, so they try to imitate this lifestyle using words and
expressions borrowed from English. Older people are less likely to use words borrowed from
other languages.
CONCLUSION
Summarising the above, we can conclude that the vocabulary of the media is quite emotional,
saturated with neologisms, phraseological units and colloquial vocabulary. However, the
vocabulary of modern Internet media is distinguished by a special way of word formation. In
this case neologisms and borrowings are a common and normal phenomenon for the
development of media language. As a result of cultural, political, economic ties between states,
there is an interchange of local realities that have their own names. The development of media
vocabulary has recently been influenced by Anglicisms and Americanisms.
Quite often, neologisms and borrowings are convenient to use in media, and sometimes one
concept can replace a whole expression in Azerbaijani with foreign borrowings expanding the
vocabulary of the language. On the other hand, there is a recent tendency to copy Western
patterns of thinking and realities, the excessive use of anglicisms. As a consequence, there is a
loss of interest in the native language, literature and culture, tongue-tiedness, a decrease in
literacy and culture.
The appearance of a large number of neologisms and borrowings in the media of Azerbaijan
should be justified; one should not, without special need, resort to foreign borrowings. The
thoughtless use of Anglicisms leads to the fact that we confuse our consciousness, litter the
language of media with superfluous concepts, calling ordinary things “beautiful” and
unnecessary intricate words.
References
[1] Budagov, R. A. (1977). What is the development and improvement of the language. Moscow: Nauka, 264 p.
[2] Crystal, D. (1997). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. – Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 506 p.
[3] Krysin, L.P. (2000). On some changes in the Russian language at the end of the 20th century. Studies in Slavic
languages. - No. 5. - Seoul, p. 63.
[4] Kunin, A.V. (2016). On the translation of English phraseological units. Samizdat. p. 13-19.
[5] Newmark, P. A (1988). Textbook of translation. London: Prentice Hall Longman, 292 p.
[6] Nikulina, N.Y., Zinoviev, T.A. (2016). Specific features of the translation of English-language newspaper and
journalistic texts. Young scientist. No.1. pp. 232-234.
[7] Retsker, Y.I. (2015). Manual for translation from English into Russian. Moscow: Education, 176 p.
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URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.96.12470
[8] Smirnitsky, A.I. (1956). Lexicology of the English language. Moscow: Higher school.
[9] Zabotkina, V.I. (2014). New vocabulary of modern English. Moscow: Higher school, 126 p.