WEB-ресурс научно-практических конференций

Ph.D Kosovych O.V.

Ternopil V. Hnatiuk National Pedagogical University , Ukraine

NEOLOGISMS VS. OCCASIONALISMS

Language is constantly developing its internal and external resources, adapting to ever changing circumstances of social, cultural, political and scientific life, generating new forms, improving its expressive means and devices through their structural complication or simplification. Language is one of those spheres of human activity that are the first to bring reaction to social and other kinds of changes in human life and activities.

Every social or political change is preceded by introduction of new words and terms, many of which are only occasional words. Any historical period has a factor or a group of factors that cause the appearance of new features and properties of a certain language. These factors both linguistic and extralinguistic play a crucial role in the research of the nature of linguistic changes, their inner essence and regularities.

The transformations within a language take place on different levels phonetic, morphemic, lexical, syntactic, etc. and the first three ones are the layers that are the most susceptible to change, which may be evident even to one certain generation. Syntactic changes are somewhat slower and we identify them mainly with the help of written texts several generations older then we are.

The most visible are lexical changes, for it is when we meet a new word, misunderstanding may appear. New unknown words as a rule draw attention, make a person think over or guess its meaning, denotative and connotative, it may as well puzzle or stir negative emotions.

New innovative lexical units are the witnesses of the language vitality. Every period in the development of a language produces an enormous number of new words or new meanings of established words. Innovative elements appear because of the author’s intention. The main objective of appearance on innovative lexical units is to represent the author’s attitude towards some objects, actions or events in one or another situation, and attract the maximum attention towards not only the object of depiction but often to his own, the author’s, person.

Traditionally innovative elements are divided into two big types: neologisms and occasionalisms .

Under the term ‘neologisms’ we understand new words, new meanings or new word combinations that appeared in certain period of time in language, text or act of communication. Stimulus for appearance of new meanings or words for old notions are first of all the objective of the speakers who want to find adequate forms for the expression of those certain peculiarities of phenomena, which hadn’t been noticed and touched by the old words towards this time. The second objective is the necessity to give a little bit new and fresh to well-known and exiting notion, long before the appearance of original one. As a result, the original substance shift takes place in the process of word formation. It allows us to replace the typical general meaning by the new one, more refined and seems to be more directly linked to certain specific situation.

The term ‘neologisms’ also means words or language constructions, which are created to denote new objects or to express new concepts. Since than, we use term ‘neologisms’ in reference to new formations in different languages of the world. Belonging of the words to neologisms is relative and historical characteristic. Still every new word that appears in the language, at the beginning of its existence is neologism. Under the term ‘neologism’, we understand an innovative lexical element, or new meaning towards some existing word, which denotes a well-known notion and has some connotational nuance meaning. To make more exact its semantic and stylistic shade meaning it is put on its major meanings, as a word in a new meaning.

Neologisms are compulsory elements of the periphery of the lexemic system. They correlate with centre differently and take singular place. This place depends on the level of usage (frequency) in language, functional goal direction, and valence (ability to unite with other words) and so on.

The notion of ‘ occasionalisms ’ is connected with the frequency of their usage. Such words are usually referred to as ‘occasional’ or ‘nonce-words’. Most of them do not live long. They are not meant to live long. They are, as it were, coined for use at the moment of speech, and therefore possesses a peculiar property – that of temporariness. The given word or meaning holds only in the given context and is meant only to ‘serve the occasion’. Sometimes occasionalisms are called ‘authors neologisms’ which form the less explored group of innovative lexical units.

The function of such words is a word game with a dimension of nonsense, and consequently intentional approaching to children language. But for the authors this is a process of experimentation and a source of creative linguistic pleasure.

Every occasional element is so called representation and the materialization of the category of occasionalism , which we outline in the frames of dichotomy ‘language-speech’ and determine as the possibility of appearance of new language fact. Let us look at the features that distinguish occasionalisms from neologisms. They are: 1) occasional words are created in speech directly for particular situation. Some authors can quote the most widespread occasionalisms ; 2) the novelty of neologisms disappears in some time and extraordinary and unfamiliar perception of occasional elements is their distinctive feature; 3) the appearance of occasionalisms in language is always unpredictable. They have so called facultative function;
4) occasional elements are very expressive because of unaccustomed perception and because of special concentration of content.

It is important to admit that every neologism has its own author. However, if we know the authors of occasional units the creators of neologisms remain unknown.

So, under neologisms we admit some stable innovative elements, which entered into communication of some group of people; while occasionalisms are understood as words, meanings of words, which are used once in any text, or process of communication.

List of references:

1. Каренко Ю.О. Вступ до мовознавства: Підручник / Ю.О. Каренко . – К.: Либідь, 1991. – 280 с.

2. Ребрий А.В. К вопросу об окказионализмах / А.В. Ребрий // Вісник Харк. ун-ту. – Х., 1995. – №384, Т. 2. – С. 139–141.

3. Ребрий А.В. О причинах возникновения инноваций в языке / А.В. Ребрий // Вісник Харк. ун-ту. – Х., 1995. – №384, Т. 2. – С. 136–139.

4. Galperin I.R. Stylistics / I.R. Galperin . – M.: Higher School, 1977. – 340 p.