Productive Strategies of Generating Neologisms in Sri Lankan Print Media

Abstract

Language mirrors the changes and development of present society. English language, especially, is spoken widely all over the world and survives the evolution in society by frequent addition of new vocabulary to meet its requirements. According to George Yule, a new vocabulary added to a language is called a neologism. Both print and electronic media, have contributed greatly to the introduction and widespread use of English neologisms in various fields. We encounter neologisms in English almost every day through news on television or reading the daily news from newspapers or magazines. At present, many Sri Lankans tend to use neologisms in their writing and conversation knowingly or unknowingly with the new advancements in society. Therefore, the objective of this study is to investigate the productive strategies of generating neologisms in Sri Lankan print media. 43 neologisms were gathered after a careful observation of all local news article headings of the weekly newspaper ‘Daily Mirror’. The data collection lasted for a period of one month beginning from 1st September to 30th September 2017. The selected neologisms were classified into their respective word formation processes. The results revealed that borrowing is the most productive strategy used in generating neologisms. Loan blending, loan translation, hybrid compounding and derivation are the other productive strategies evidenced in forming neologisms in producing local news articles. Clippings and acronyms are fairly productive while blending and coinage are the least productive strategies. In conclusion, it is evident that Sri Lankan English vocabulary has dynamically extended its numbers as well as the strategies of producing neologisms in Sri Lankan print media