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On the formation of colloquial neologisms in the area of contemporary TV shows’ audience
Section 1. Linguistics
Barbora Vinczeova, Matej Bel University E-mail: Vinczeova.barbora@gmail.com
On the formation of colloquial neologisms in the area of contemporary TV shows’ audience
Abstract: In this paper we aim to explore the word-formation processes of colloquial neologisms relating to the audience of contemporary TV shows. Our research focuses on the scripted TV series, which were released or airing after the year 2010. Prior to the nature of television series, which is to appeal to the masses, many new words were created by the viewers. These words most commonly denote the audience of a particular TV show and may be considered colloquial neologisms. The word-formation processes of such words include mostly blending, affixation and shortenings resulting from the morphological, sematic or phonological bases.
Keywords: colloquial neologisms; TV shows; popular media; word-formation processes.
1. Introduction
The 21 century is an era of technology. The demand for movies and television shows has never been higher — as a proof, many television networks offer the viewers the possibility to watch movies and television shows on demand. As a consequence, the viewers have infinite possibilities to watch their desired television show. They also have almost an infinite number to pick from — the popular media agree the number is perhaps too high. “1,715 TV series aired in 2014" [1, 1] and all 1,715 were TV shows, not movies, airing in primetime.
All these television shows have viewership. This factor influences whether the show gets renewed for another season, or cancelled. If the ratings are low, the chances of cancelling are higher. In other words, we are talking about popularity, which is based on the audience of the specific television series. It is the audience we are most interested in — what are people’s lexicological reactions to new stimuli in form of television series? What words do they create, and how, in relation to popular media?
2. Word Formation Processes in English
To talk about word formation processes, we must firstly define what are they and what kinds do we generally recognize. There are many ways a new word may come into being; generally, we recognize the most common:
- Acronymy,
- Affixation,
- Clipping,
- Compunding,
- Blending,
- Borrowing,
- Back-formation,
- Word coinage,
- Reduplication
- Functional shift [2, 7-11; 3, 99-112].
2.1. Acronym is most commonly defined as a “word formed from the initial letters of two or more successive words, e. g. ASH (Action on Smoking and Health)" [4, 8] and it is considered a type ofblending. Words created by acronymy are usually pronounced as one word, however, there is also a type of alphabetisms [2, 8] pronounced as sequences of letters. It is a subtype of shortening.
2.2. Affixation is a word process, through which new words are created with the help of a prefix, suffix or infix.
2.3. Clipping is a word-formation process which reduces the longer form of a word to a shorter one. Rumsiene [4] mentions the example of a fan, original word being a fanatic. Like acronyms, it belongs under the type of lexical shortening.
2.4. Compounding, now regarded as the most productive word-formation process [4], is simply put, the ability of language to form new words from the already existing words.
2.5. Blending is defined as a “coinage of a new lexeme by fusing parts of at least two other source words of which either one is shortened in the fusion and/or where there is some form of phonemic or graphemic overlap of the source words” [5, 639]. Blending is a common word-formation process, and its results often become words used in everyday speech.
2.6. Borrowing, as the word itself suggests, means loaning or borrowing words from other languages, as, for
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Section 1. Linguistics
example, “tango, mango, taco, burritofrom Spanish; fiance, very (adapted from Old French verai), garage from French; pizza, mafia from Italian" [2, 9]. Consequently, we talk about borrowed words or loanwords.
2.7. Back-formation means deleting the affix of a certain word, which consequently becomes a new word. “Verbs peddle, edit, hawk, enthuse, stoke, swindle, televise, donate, sculpt, buttle have been created form the preexisting nouns peddler, editor, hawker, enthusiasm, stoker, swindler, television, donation, sculptor and butler" [2, 10].
2.8. Word coinage basically means creating new words to denote a certain thing. Whether intentional or unintentional process, word coinage is often related to brand names, such as Kodak or Xerox.
2.9. Reduplication is “based on the combination of two phonetically identical or similar morphemes or pseudomorphemes" [3, 112].
2.10. Functional shifts occur when there is no derivation included, however, the word changes its meaning or received an additional meaning through “changing or converting its original grammatical class to another class" [2, 10].
3. Neologisms and Television Shows
Our research focused on new words relating to the specific television series. We noticed a trend of “fans" grouping on social networks and creating new names for themselves as fans of a particular show. Suddenly, ever creators, writers, and directors of TV shows were using these new words for their audience — there were Fannibals (Fans of Hannibal) or Whovians (Fans of Doctor Who).
We researched 100 TV shows, choosing them according to IMDB’s list of Most Popular TV shows of years 2010-2015. Mostly, we focused on social networks, where we searched for such words, whether used by the directors, or the “fanbase" of a particular show. Of course, not every television show is suited for word play, or creating new words. Some are more prone to blending, others to acronymy. Some do not follow this trend — the view-ership simply calls themselves fans of XY. It is also possible we did not find all cases of new words related to the viewership of a certain TV series. We include those we found on the social network Facebook and on the official pages on the specific TV show, also on so called “fanpages" and groups relating to the specific TV series.
3.1. Affixation
The television shows in this category have similar pattern of creating word for their fans through affixation. Mostly, the suffix denoting plural -s is usually added. Also, other suffixes are used, such as -vian, -ian, -ites, etc. TV shows with affixation as a primary process for creating new words for the fans are listed here.
Doctor Who
Perhaps the most popular British TV show first aired in 1963 and its audience, or the fans of Doctor Who call themselves Whovians. Interestingly enough, this term is obviously so common that it was listed in the Oxford Dictionaries as an informal term for a “fan of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who" [6, 1]. From lexicological point of view, the word Whovians is created partly by word coinage, which can be said for most of our cases. However, we can see that the root of the word is Who. With the addition of a suffix -vian, we get a new term similar to e. g. Barrovian, Peruvian. Primarily, the word process is suffixation.
Sherlock
Airing since 2010, Sherlock is a re-imagination of the classic story. The audience calls themselves Sherlockians. While the adjective sherlockian is derived from the name of the main protagonist, and is commonly used [7, 1], the suffix -s denoting plural refers to the fans. The term Sherlockian as a singular is also found in the Urban Dictionary [8] as a “quick and simple way ofnaming a fan ofSherlock Holmes" The word-formation process is therefore suffixation.
Game of Thrones
Game of Thrones has many fans and interesting fact about the audience is that it refers to itself as both Thronies and Watchers on the Wall. While the former is a derivation from the word throne, adding the suffix -y (Throny) and the plural -s (Thronies). The lexicological process is word coinage through suffixation. In this case, we also find an entry on Throny in the Urban Dictionary [9] as “an obsessive fan of HBO’s Game of Thrones TV series."
Haven
A fantasy TV show with the audience calling itself Havenites. Again, we have a case of suffixation to the root Haven with the suffixes -ite and the plural -s.
Outlander
A series based on books, Outlander with the viewers calling themselves Outlanders seems like another example of suffixation by the morpheme denoting plural -s. This is true; however, we must mention the semantic implications of the word outlander in the context of the books/TV show — an outlander is not only a foreign person, but a person from another time, since one of the themes is time-travel. Therefore, the basis for using this word is also semantic, not only morphological.
Nashville
The case of Nashville and its Nashvillers is the same as with the previously mentioned Havenites or Outland-ers — the suffix -er suggests a person involved with Nashville, with the plural -s denoting the fans.
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On the formation of colloquial neologisms in the area of contemporary TV shows’ audience
Grimm
A TV series focusing on supernatural fantastical events, Grimm audience, Grimmsters, fall into the category of TV shows which simply use the process of suffix-ation to create a word to denote their fans. With the addition of -ster, the word does not change the word class.
Blindspot
A case like Grimm, the fans of Blindspot call themselves Blindspotters. Again, we notice suffixation without the change of the word class.
3.2. Semantic broadening
Television shows which use words created by semantic broadening for their audience are listed here. Usually, the meaning of an already existing word is shifted, however the word class remains unchanged. This process is often combined with suffixation of a plural -s. It is not the primary word-process in the following cases.
Suits
A comedy-drama focusing on the area oflaw and the world of lawyers, Suits is well-liked. The audience of the TV show calls itself Suitors. While this term is partly a derivation form the root Suit-s, we must not forget that suitor is a word by itself. The neologism is not based only on lexicological grounds, but semantics also plays a role. Suitors is a fitting term relating to the aspect of the show which focuses on the two leading male characters, who are often idolized by the audience, therefore the term Suitors. The process of word-formation is, again, suffixation, but we suggest that it be also broadening, as the word’s meaning shifts to include a new thing. Broadening, “or generalization (also known as extension or broadening, is the employing of a word or phrase in more diverse contexts than its historical application)" [10, 714]. We do not consider conversion, because the word class remained the same.
Game of Thrones
Watchers on the Wall have semantic rather than morphological origins. Primarily, it is a term invented by the author of the book George R. R. Martin to denote men who guard the kingdom from evil forces. Borrowed and used in a different sense, the term Watchers on the Wall had its meaning broadened, therefore we speak about semantic broadening.
Gotham
Related to the movies about Batman, the TV show Gotham does not have a term referring to the fans based on morphological word formation. However, there is semantic basis for the denotation People of Gotham, as the phrase has been used in the mentioned Batman films and its meaning has broadened to include the audience
of the new show. Therefore, we talk about semantic broadening of the phrase.
3.3. Blending
Perhaps the most interesting group of words, the neologisms falling into this group usually emerge as a result of the word-formation process which usually takes two words and combines them into one. Often, there is a combination of a certain word with the word fan, e. g. Donofans, Fannibals. Again, the suffix -s is commonly added to denote the plural.
Hannibal
Hannibal had many fans, who perhaps unsurprisingly call themselves Fannibals. Fannibal is “a person who greatly enjoys reading about or watching the fictional character Hannibal Lecter, created by Thomas Harris” [11]. In this case, we have two words: Fans and Hannibal, forming a Fannibal through blending. The phonetic aspect of the name and nature of Hannibal also plays some role. In the novels and TV shows, the character of Hannibal is a cannibal. Following the patters of this rhyme, Fannibal emerged as a denotation of the audience.
Veep
Veep calls its fans Veeple — an outcome of blending which is almost called for in case of having words veep and people. Not only do the vowels produce similar, if not identical sound in case of -ee (in veep) and -eo (in people), but also thanking to this phonological resemblance, there is a partial rhyme if we take veep and peop (le), which even end with the same consonant -p.
Ray Donovan
The audience calls itself Donofans — notice the partial clipping, omitting the first name Ray. The word-formation process is only applied to the second word, Donovan. This is a case where, as previously, the words are “meant” to be blended: Donovan and fan have similar phonological aspects, regarding the pronunciation of the last syllable -van and the word fan. Consequently, the suffix -s is added.
The Goldbergs
Goldbergs is a comedy which has the main character described as “geeky,” making it perhaps easier to understand why the audience calls itself Goldnerds. The word-formation process is interesting: it is another type of blending, the words Goldbergs and nerds creating a new word. The choice of the word nerds might be interpreted as related to the “geeky” aspect of the show, as the words geek — “An unfashionable or socially inept person” [12] and nerd — “A foolish or contemptible person who lacks social skills or is boringly studious” [13] have similar implications.
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Section 1. Linguistics
3.4. Word coinage
Not based on morphological derivation from the existing title of the TV show, word coinage is related to semantic transfer. The two television shows listed here follow the same pattern of creating new words to denote their audiences. We assume that alliteration is present in both cases because the new words must be easy to pronounce, easy to use in everyday conversation and to a certain degree, are humorous in the context.
The Strain
Instead of morphological word-formation processes, we noticed a trend of the fans calling themselves MastersMinions. The process of using this term has a semantic basis — the plot of the TV show indeed focuses on a master vampire and his “minions”, or slaves. The term was therefore coined to fit the purposes of finding a word to denote the fans of the TV show. Notice the repetition of the first consonant in Master's Minions, an alliteration which is also typical for the following TV series, Orphan Black.
Orphan Black
The denotations for the audience of Orphan Black bear similar resemblances to that of The Strain. While, again, we have no morphological word process, the fans call themselves Clone Club — again, a term based on semantic implications, as the main characters “the clones” form a sort of an alliance. Therefore, the audience created
this term, in which we can observe alliteration: Clone Club, just like in the case of Master's Minions.
3.5. Clipping
We found only one example of clipping, which reduces the title of a TV show to one word, consequently adding a suffix of plural.
Penny Dreadful
A name of a TV show derived from “penny dreadfuls” sold in the past as frightening “stories of adventure, initially of pirates and highwaymen, later concentrating on crime and detection” [14, 1]. Penny Dreadful falls into fantasy-horror genre. The fans often refer to themselves as Dreadfuls, creating this term by clipping. Therefore, the first word penny is omitted, leaving only dreadful with the addition of the suffix -s.
Conclusions. Based on one hundred contemporary TV shows, we present the ways new words emerge in relation to the audience of TV shows. These words are belong to the colloquial English; however, sometimes they find a way into a dictionary as in the case of Whovians, or a dictionary of slang words like Urban Dictionary.
The most common way of creating new denotations for the fans is suffixation, partly because some fans only add the suffix ofa plural -s to refer to themselves. Next, semantic broadening and blending are quite common, while word coinage is less frequent, but follows the same pattern of alliteration. We found clipping only in one instance.
References:
1. Fallon Kevin. There’s Too Much Damn TV. - 2015.//[Electronic resource]. - Available from: http://www. thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/01/21/there-s-too-much-damn-tv.html (October 10, 2015).
2. Zapata Becerra A. A. Handbook of general and applied linguistics. Trabajo de Ascenso sin publicar. - Merida, Venezuela: Escuela de Idiomas Modernos, Universidad de Los Andes, 2000.
3. Stekauer Pavol. English Word Formation: A History of Research (1960-1995). - Gunter Narr Verlag Tubingen, Chapter 3. - 2010.
4. Rumsiene Goda. Word formation patterns in internet english: neologism glossary. - Kaunas, 2009.
5. Gries Stefan Th. Shouldn’t it be breakfunch? A quantative analysis ofblend structure in English.//Linguistics. -2004. - (42)3: 639-667.
6. Whovian [Def. 1]. (n. d.). In Oxford Dictionaries.//[Electronic resource]. - Available from: http://www.oxford-dictionaries.com/definition/english/Whovian (Retrieved October 24, 2015).
7. Knox Monsignor Ronald A. Studies in the Literature of Sherlock Holmes. - 1911.//[Electronic resource]. -Available from: http://www.diogenes-club.com/studies.htm (October 12, 2015).
8. Sherlockian [Def. 1]. (n. d.). In Urban Dictionary.//[Electronic resource]. - Available from: http://www.mban-dictionary.com/define.php?term=Sherlockian (Retrieved October 28, 2015).
9. Throny [Def. 1]. (n. d.). In Urban Dictionary.//[Electronic resource]. - Available from: http://www.urbandic-tionary.com/define.php?term=throny (Retrieved September 29, 2015).
10. Kaburise Phyllis And Klu Ernest. Semantic Broadening and Its Implications for Meaning: The Case of English at the University of Venda in South Africa.//Int J Edu Sci. - 2014. - 8 (1): 711-718.
11. Fannibal [Def. 1]. (n.d.). In Urban Dictionary.//[Electronic resource]. - Available from: http://www.urbandic-tionary.com/define.php?term=fannibal (Retrieved October 14, 2015).
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Cognitive aspect of Ukrainian neologisms since the independence time
12. Geek [Def. 1]. (n. d.). In Oxford Dictionaries.//[Electronic resource]. - Available from: http://www.oxford-dictionaries.com/definition/english/geek (Retrieved October 14, 2015).
13. Nerd [Def. 1]. (n. d.). In Merriam Webster Online, Retrieved In Oxford Dictionaries.//[Electronic resource]. -Available from: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/nerd. (Retrieved October 24, 2015).
14. Flanders Judith. Penny dreadfuls. - 2015.//[Electronic resource]. - Available from: http://www.bl.uk/roman-tics-and-victorians/articles/penny-dreadfuls (October 15, 2015).
Berkeshchuk Inna Stepanovna, Kamyanets-Podilskiy Ivan Ohiyenko state university, Candidate of Philology, Associated Professor of Ukrainian language department E-mail: inna-berces@rambler.ru
Cognitive aspect of Ukrainian neologisms since the independence time
Abstract: In the proposed study considers the cognitive aspect of ukrainian language since independence. The derivatives are analyzed, their values and causes.
Keywords: world view, cognitive aspect, derivative, growth.
Беркещук Инна Степановна, Каменец-Подольский национальный университет
имени Ивана Огиенка, кандидат филологических наук, доцент E-mail: inna-berces@rambler.ru
Когнитивный аспект новообразований украинского языка со времен независимости
Аннотация: В предложенном исследовании рассматривается когнитивный аспект украинсого языка со времен независимости. Анализируются дериваты, их значения и причины появления.
Ключевые слова: картина мира, когнитивный аспект, дериват, новообразование.
По мнению ученых, исследующих современные деривационные процессы, «начиная со второй половины XX в., активизируются новые социолингвистические и коммуникативные факторы», определяющие специфику современного словотворчества в ряде типологически близких славянских языков [3, 39]. В результате возросшего влияния различных событий на коллективное сознание носителей языка, на существующий вербальный узус, «узус репрезентативного языкового употребления становится открытым для включений из узуса повседневного, непринужденного» [3, 38], из живой разговорной стихии; возрастает экспрессивность общения, «что свидетельствует о прагматической заинтересованности в обратной связи с адресатом» [3, 38]; наблюдается проявление языковой экономии, «в соответствии с которой отдается предпочтение использованию компактных семантически емких номинаций» [3, 39].
Указанные факторы определяют социокультурную специфику деривационных процессов в современном русском языке. В деривационных процессах активизируются прежде всего те аффиксы и модели, которые «передают социально и культурологически значимую семантику» [1, 139].
Внимание к исследованию мира в множественности его фрагментов и особенностям его отражения в языковой картине мира в современной лингвистической литературе актуализировалось в период последнего десятилетия.
Картина мира представляет собой фундаментальную составляющую феномена культуры и реализуется через мышление и язык, посредством которого формируются и распространяются знания об окружающем мире, порожденные этническим опытом. Именно с помощью языка культура выполняет одну из важнейших своих функций, которая заключается в наименовании всего сущего в окружающем человека
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