Types of word formation and functions of English neologisms in 2015-2017

Abstract

The article is devoted to the notion of English neologisms. It defines this linguistic phenomenon as a word or word combination, used in the language in a specific period to denote something new or to acquire a new meaning in addition to existing ones. Derivation, abbreviation, blending, eponymy are the main productive ways of forming neologisms. Derivation is a process of creating new language units on the basis of the other ones by means of stem expansion with the help of suffixes and prefixes. Abbreviation is a process of forming units of secondary nomination, leading to multi-component nouns being shortened. It facilitates communication and compresses the meaning of the utterance. Blending results in forming a new word via incorporation of the stem of one word in a shortened basis of the other one or combination of the shortened stems of both words. Eponyms include any proper names that are used as components of words or word combinations to form a neologism. Nowadays neologisms have the following functions: nominative, compressive, expressive, diagnostic and euphemistic. Quite
often they are interrelated and a neologism performs several functions simultaneously.