THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF NEOLOGISMS AND THEIR TRANSLATION
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.66345/stj.v4i2.5004Keywords:
neologisms, lexical innovation, word formation, language change, translation strategies, corpus linguistics, semantic extension, compounding, blending, digital communication, translation studies, lexical borrowing, linguistic adaptation, intercultural communication, English vocabulary development.Abstract
The present study investigates the theoretical foundations of neologisms in contemporary English and examines their implications for translation practice within the framework of linguistic innovation. The research combines theoretical analysis of word-formation processes with corpus-informed examination of recent lexical developments in order to identify patterns of neologism formation and the challenges they pose in translation. The study demonstrates that modern English neologisms primarily arise through compounding, blending, derivation, conversion, and semantic extension, processes largely driven by technological progress and digital communication. The findings further indicate that translators frequently encounter difficulties when equivalent terms do not exist in the target language, particularly in cases involving culturally specific or rapidly evolving concepts. Common translation strategies include borrowing, calque formation, descriptive translation, and functional equivalence, with the choice depending on communicative context and audience familiarity. The analysis also shows that many neologisms remain unstable or context-dependent, requiring flexible translation solutions. By connecting linguistic theory with translation methodology, the study contributes to understanding how lexical innovation influences intercultural communication. The results underline the importance of combining theoretical linguistic insight with practical translation strategies to ensure clarity and communicative effectiveness in the transfer of new lexical items across languages in rapidly changing communicative environments.
Downloads
References
1. Aitchison, J. (2001). Language change: Progress or decay? (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press. (324 p.)
2. Baker, M. (1992). In other words: A coursebook on translation (2nd ed.). Routledge. (352 p.)
3. Bauer, L. (1983). English word-formation. Cambridge University Press. (328 p.)
4. Behera, B. (2013). The burgeoning usage of neologisms in contemporary English. IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science. (11p.)
5. Crystal, D. (2011). Internet linguistics: A student guide. (191 p.)
6. Hamilton, W. L., Leskovec, J., & Jurafsky, D. (2016). Diachronic word embeddings reveal statistical laws of semantic change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (13 p.)
7. Ibraheem, A. K. (2020). The effect of neologism on translation (conference/journal paper). Al-Maʾmoon University College. (26 p.)
8. Mattiello, E. (2017). Analogy in word-formation: A study of English neologisms and occasionalisms (Trends in Linguistics). (258 p.)
9. Newmark, P. (1988). A textbook of translation. Prentice Hall. (304 p.)
10. Oxunjonova, Y. O. O. Q. (2022). English neologisms and how to translate them. Texas Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 10. (3 p.)
11. Plag, I. (2003). Word-formation in English. Cambridge University Press. (240 p.)
12. Ryskina, M., Rabinovich, E., Berg-Kirkptrick, T., Mortensen, D.R., & Tsvetkov, Y. (2020). Where new words are born: Distributional semantic analysis of neologisms and their semantic neighborhoods. In Proceedings of the 3rd Workshop on Computational Modelling of Lexical Innovation (ACL Workshop). (10 p.)
