A phenomenon of pandemic words in English political news texts
Татьяна Тарасовна Загайнова
Докладчик
студент 4 курса
Кубанский государственный университет
Кубанский государственный университет
Ключевые слова, аннотация
The article outlines the role of pandemic words in the language and political news texts. The author introduces the concept of pandemic words as a flow of neologisms in 2020. The article concludes that pandemic words enter the language rapidly through media, namely, political news texts, their adaptation process lasts a couple of years and their life span is expected to be rather long. The study advances our understanding of the role of neologisms in the political news texts, the language as well as their translation specificity.
Тезисы
The analysis of scientific literature shows that there are no works
devoted to studying pandemic words in political news texts. The objectives of the study were define
the neologism, analyze the introduction and usage of pandemic words in the
language and political news items, pay attention to their translation
specificity.
Political news texts have several specific features. Among them neologisms are mentioned. A neologism can be defined as a newly coined word or expression. According to previous studies, some neologisms appear in the language and die out quickly, while the others enter our life and language, gradually adapt and stay forever. It is believed that it takes up to 50 years for a neologism to adapt fully.
The year 2020 has been extremely prolific in new lexical units. Some old words have acquired new popularity and some new meanings. Among them we can mention Black Lives Matter — BLM, mail-in and conspiracy theory, bushfires, etc. Well-known political events produced them. The year 2020 left many of us speechless due to pandemic but filled the language with new words unlike any other. Every person on the planet has heard the words Covid-19, lockdown, anti-maskers, mask-shaming, frontliners, reopening, superspreader and so on. Oxford University Press say they have never observed such quick coining of new words. Pandemic words are entering the language, common use and penetrating all spheres of our life including the political one with lightning speed. They are used by famous leaders in their addresses to the public. The touching address of B. Johnson just before the introduction of the lockdown in the UK serves as an example.
The virus doesn’t go away, thus pandemic words are going to stay with us. They are adapting very quickly and we are getting used to them without noticing it. What is really unnatural, unlike other neologisms they have already entered every language on the planet practically at the same time. That really eases the process of their translation because there are lexical analogues in any language.
The year 2020 has been prolific in neologisms which entered different spheres of life, especially politics; pandemic words are appearing at an unprecedented speed and they are extremely numerous; pandemic words don’t die out, they all stay in the language; their adaptation process is much quicker than the one of other neologisms. We believe that in approximately a year they will stop being neologisms as they will deeply penetrate our languages; pandemic words rarely provoke difficulties during the process of their translation as they already exist in other languages.
Political news texts have several specific features. Among them neologisms are mentioned. A neologism can be defined as a newly coined word or expression. According to previous studies, some neologisms appear in the language and die out quickly, while the others enter our life and language, gradually adapt and stay forever. It is believed that it takes up to 50 years for a neologism to adapt fully.
The year 2020 has been extremely prolific in new lexical units. Some old words have acquired new popularity and some new meanings. Among them we can mention Black Lives Matter — BLM, mail-in and conspiracy theory, bushfires, etc. Well-known political events produced them. The year 2020 left many of us speechless due to pandemic but filled the language with new words unlike any other. Every person on the planet has heard the words Covid-19, lockdown, anti-maskers, mask-shaming, frontliners, reopening, superspreader and so on. Oxford University Press say they have never observed such quick coining of new words. Pandemic words are entering the language, common use and penetrating all spheres of our life including the political one with lightning speed. They are used by famous leaders in their addresses to the public. The touching address of B. Johnson just before the introduction of the lockdown in the UK serves as an example.
The virus doesn’t go away, thus pandemic words are going to stay with us. They are adapting very quickly and we are getting used to them without noticing it. What is really unnatural, unlike other neologisms they have already entered every language on the planet practically at the same time. That really eases the process of their translation because there are lexical analogues in any language.
The year 2020 has been prolific in neologisms which entered different spheres of life, especially politics; pandemic words are appearing at an unprecedented speed and they are extremely numerous; pandemic words don’t die out, they all stay in the language; their adaptation process is much quicker than the one of other neologisms. We believe that in approximately a year they will stop being neologisms as they will deeply penetrate our languages; pandemic words rarely provoke difficulties during the process of their translation as they already exist in other languages.