The Role Of Neologisms In The English Language

1. INTRODUCTION

Language as a dynamic structure is exposed to constant development, transformation and alteration. Media, society, culture, science, technology and politics are the core factors that contribute towards language evolution. Due to numerous linguistic and extra linguistic factors, newly coined units in the language are in the process of entering and influencing the English language. These new units, known as neologisms, serve as our guidance in understanding the never-ending evolution in the English language. Furthermore, neologisms ease each individual’s process of coping with changes by creating mental bridges between the old and the contemporary. The English language vocabulary is facing constant change, as neologisms enter in a blink of an eye through the media. The mass media being the major source and ground on which English neologisms are coined, plays a significant role of intermediary between the English population as active consumers and the language itself.
Neologisms are an essential

Neologisms are often directly attributable to a specific person, publication, period, or event. According to Oxford English Dictionary the term neologism was first used in print in 1772, and thus, is arguably a neologism itself.
In the light of linguistic observation, the main purposes of neologisms are to upgrade the existing lexicons and dictionaries with the newly coined words, and the analysis together with the description of the neologisms themselves in terms of distribution over word-classes, statistics on derivational methods, statistics on loan words origination etc.
Neologism as a linguistic phenomenon can be seen from four different aspects: time (synchronic), geographical, social and communicative. Thus neologism can be defined