Creativity in Lexical Changes in Present—day English

【Abstract】：Languages are constantly changing. English is not exceptional， either. Changes of every sort in the present-day English have taken place concomitantly in different aspects. Lexicon， as the most active element and the mirror of the society and culture， changes most radically. This paper will explain two factors that contribute to the lexical changes. Besides， creativity in word-formation of lexical changes are analyzed in details.

【Key words】：lexical changes，; word-formation; creativity

Introduction

Reading through an English etymological dictionary and tracing the history of some active words， we can find dramatic differences between the English language inthe current use and in the past use， differences between modern English and old English（Yu， 2005）. It is changing constantly. The lexicon is the most changeable aspect of English in the present-day period （Fennell， 2005）. Word-Formation method is considered as the common way to acquire new words and achieve creativity. Therefore， word-formation method is adopted in this thesis to illustrate the creativity in lexical changes.

Contributing Factors of Creativity in Lexical Changes

2.1 Linguistic Factors

The following four linguistic factors are explored to illustrate the inner factor contributing to the creativity in lexical changes： language mechanism， language representation， language contact and concept categorization. Language mechanism is the internal organization of language， and it is the mechanism that accounts for the new words’ existence. Language representation doesn’t copy the world， but forms people’s viewpoints about the world. Language contact is the crucial factor in language change. According to Sapir （1981：192-206）， language contact produces some indirect or direct influence through the communications between two nations. Conceptual categorization is to arrange， know， and remember the material or things in the external world by its category. The scandal “watergate scandal”happened in June of 1972， breaking in the Washington Watergate building. Gradually， “-gate” is becoming a saying which refers to political scandal only in a period of time. The following words appeared and were all based on the prototype of “watergate”. For example， “Irangate”， “Controgate”， “Zipgate” and etc.

2.2 Non-linguistic Factors

In this thesis， non-linguistic factors are sunnarized in three parts： progress in science and technology， changes in political and economic situations， and changes in people’s life. The development of biology， genetics， and medical science has given rise to many new words， such as genetic code， DNA， open heart surgery， heartman， transsexual operation， test-tube baby， and etc.

Creativity in Word-formation of Lexical Changes

3.1 affixation Firstly， affix is a single morpheme. Secondly， affix is a bound form and can only attachés to a root or a stem. It is divided into two categories of prefixation and suffixation. Just as Quirk （Quirk， 1985：1520） said， “prefixes sometimes with， but more usually without a change of word class.” For instance， man with the prefix of “super-” becomes superman （N= perfix + N）. Taken “body” as an example， if the prefix “anti-” added before agree， either “body” or “anti-body” is a noun， while the only difference is that “anti-body” has an opposite meaning. On the contrary， suffixed often modify both word meanings and the word class. For example， “-aholic” adds to book， the base word book changes from a noun to an adjective. Meanwhile， the meaning changes from “book” to “bookaholic” are obvious.

3.2 compounding Compounds are the words that stems have two or more roots. The compounding words can be distinguished by three levels： phonetics， syntax and semantics. Wang Rongpei （1997：40-41） believed the compound is the oldest word formation method and the characteristics of old English vocabulary. Compounds are creatively formed keeping in pace of times， for example， web page， online shopping and download. The compounds that formed by two old words are also thought to be new compounds. For example， “hyper” is known to us and also “text”， but “hypertext” is new to all.

3.3 backformationBackformation， as another way of shortening existing words， is often seen in many lexicons nowadays. Quite a number of verbs， are formed by removing the suffixes of some existing noun forms. Such as， by removing the suffix “-ation” from“irritation”， we have a new noun （usually plural） “irrits”， as in the example Action films are my pet aversion. They just give me irrits. “Babysit” may be not strange to us， while we may not know the word “babysitter”. Creativity in back-formation reflects with the changes of times and displays its own dynamic features.

CONCLUSION

The world is changing rapidly all the time， and so is the English language. However， language change could not simply be described and its causes had to be explained. The present study aims to explore creativity in lexical changes in present-day English with the focus of neologisms. After the "review of relevant studies on lexical changes and creativity， contributing factors and word-formation have been analyzed. Contributing factors can be categorized into two aspects： "linguistic factors and non-linguistic factors. Creativity in word-formation of lexical changes can be "analyzed from the invention of new words by using affixation， compounding， back-formation， analogy， clipping， initialism， acronym， blending and so on.

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