Abstract

The study of neology is not only important from a metalinguistic point of view, but also from the perspective of language planning, because monitoring the lexical creation allows for new lexicographic and terminological proposals. Taking into account the singularity of Andorra within the Catalan language domain, in terms of demography and geography but also regarding politics and culture, the language can have lexicographic and terminological needs that are different from other territories. This work analyzes the patterns in morphology and formation processes of the Andorran neology, comparing them with the rest of the language domain. Furthermore, the Andorran specific neologisms (so-called hapax legomena) have been classified and analyzed semantically, which has led to the observation that specific lexical creation is determined by the social, cultural, political, and economic environment of Andorra.

Abstract

This text explores the incipient approach to the analysis of language change in specialized communicative contexts. From history of science and terminology, incursions have been made in the subject of the evolution of the specialized discourse, but neither the theory of change nor the methodology of the analysis of variation have been applied. In this first work we expose briefly the main items which regulate the study of language change and a synthesis of the main lexical changes (neology, loanwords, lexicalization and minor grammaticalization), to conclude what theoretical and methodological adjustments should be introduced and what kind of analysis that should be done with the purpose of analyzing initiated and stabilized changes in specialized discourses. This first approach focuses on the topic of change towards medical discourse, due to the relevance of the intersection between communication and health in the current research.

Abstract

Abstract: This text provides a comprehensive overview of neology as both a field of knowledge and a field of work. It also explores the relationships between neology and other areas such as psychology and sociology, and its connections with technology. Neologisms are the central object of neology as a field of knowledge. The paper shows the difficulty of clearly defining this object because it is a relative as well as a polyhedral object. Because of the relativity of neologisms, we are obliged to define them on the basis of a reference point from which a unit could be considered new: depending on its production, its reception or its social circulation. The paper also presents a set of principles which, if respected, could lead to the establishment of neology as a structured and stabilized field among different fields of knowledge.Key words: neology, science, theory, field of knowledge, scientific object, neologism, epistemology.

Abstract

Abstract: This work is an attempt to clarify the concept of syntactic neology with the aim of finding a working taxonomic device. My proposal is to use the label syntactic neologism to refer to those changes in verbal government that are not linked to semantic change (which would qualify as semantic neologism), nor to other word formation procedures. Thus, a syntactic neologism is not a lexical neologism, a new word, as indeed is the case with semantic neologism. Nevertheless, when we say that syntactic neologism excludes semantic changes, we do not refer to the meaning related to the structural properties (thematic roles and aspect) that determine regular syntactic alternations in verb classes. Therefore, if a new transitive causative variant is formed upon an unnacusative verb (which previously did not have that use) the result would be a case of syntactic neology. So syntactic neology reclassifies verbs, but does not create new verbs. In addition to that, syntactic neology can provide the verb with a new variant that places the verb outside established syntactic classes. In this case we would be approaching the sphere of syntactical change.Key words: neology, lexical morphology, semantics, syntactic change, verb alternations.

Abstract

Abstract: Colour words have symbolic meanings, which have been acquired over the years and through different cultures. This is why «colour» words are widely used to create new lexical units. In this article, the authors analyse an aspect of the names of colours that is relatively unstudied: their role in the shifting of meaning of a language’s new lexical units. This linguistic study is based on fundamental linguistic anthropology concepts and also on the theoretical assumptions of Cognitive Semantics. After establishing fundamental notions, the study analyses a corpus of lexicographical polylexical neologisms containing a colour word. It focuses on the analysis of those units that include the word «green». The authors’ objective is to determine the semantic mechanisms and conceptual relationships that have generated new meanings of colour words or containing a colour word. Key words: neology, shifting of meaning, semantic change, colours, metaphor, metonymy, cognitive linguistics.