Lexical creativity reconsidered
GUI, cyborg, cred, pay-per-view, techno and cyber-
The present study complements and modifies Fischer (1998), who analyzed creative neologisms in the British newspaper The Guardian 1991–1996 and established a general model of lexical institutionalization. First, we will present and discuss relevant research in cognitive linguistics. Secondly, we will consider various corpus-based studies about neologisms published from the 1990s onwards, particularly about meaning cues and the life-cycle of neologisms. In an empirical part, we will then investigate novel coinages and constituents in the London Guardian from the 1980s until 2012, including the combining forms techno- and cyber-, whose productivity will be measured and compared as well. The findings allow a re-evaluation of the factors involved in the institutionalization process.
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