A very important common feature of "living" languages is that they all change with the development of the times. This is true of English, and so are other languages. However, because the popularity and scope of English in the world are better than other languages, its changes are particularly fierce.
The changes in English are mainly manifested in grammar and vocabulary, which promote development and form the foundation of modern English. One of the most important advances in linguistic theory in recent twenty years is the emergence of "transformational generative grammar", which makes English more scientific. At the same time, the appearance of a large number of new words enhances the expressive force of English and enriches the forms of English, thus making English more vivid.
The emergence of new words
How do new words come into being?
When people discover new things, encounter new problems, sum up new experiences and develop new ideas, they need new words and expressions, because the old and inherited expressions are no longer appropriate or sufficient. On the other hand, because countries whose mother tongue and second language are English are all over the world, and their customs, living habits and social environment are very different, it is inevitable that different expressions and terms will appear, and many of these words will gradually be absorbed into the classic English dictionary and become a part of the language.
In today's increasingly progressive society, science and technology are the main suppliers of new words. Whenever a science develops to a new stage, a considerable number of new words will appear. Among these new words, many are special words of these sciences, which are rarely known by laymen, and only exist in specialized dictionaries and dictionaries; However, many of them are often used and quoted. As a result, they become popular expressions of ordinary people.
For example, when American astronauts landed on the moon successfully, a series of related words appeared in English, such as moonwalk, lunar rove, moonrock and so on. As many artificial satellites have been launched around the moon in recent years, it is necessary to create the words Apollo and perilune. Spacecraft and space station meet and dock in space, which adds a new meaning to docking (berthing) and is synonymous with linkup. Launching a spaceship is regarded as a symbol of the development of human science, so it has attracted much attention. Therefore, many words related to spacecraft are widely used, such as CM (command module), splashdown, space disease, space age and so on. When it comes to exploring space phenomena such as deep space, quasars (star-like radio sources), pulsars (pulsars), neutron srar (neutron stars) and mysterious black holes (space black holes) have become familiar terms.
In the past twenty years, the rapid development of genetics has created many refreshing words, such as genetic code, codon, DNA, transferrin, messenger RNA, transcription and so on. These new words are becoming more and more popular, even in general books and periodicals, so they have long been accepted by readers.
In recent years, the rapid development of computer industry has brought many new words. Commonly used are FORTRAM (Formula Translation Language), COBOL (Commercial General Language), ALGOL (Algorithm Language), BASIC (Beginner General Symbol Instruction Code), Absolute Address (Absolute Address), Database (Database), floppy dise (Push Down Memory) and so on. Old words such as keyboard, terminal and memorymbit have also added new usage.
The rapid development of medicine has also brought a large number of new words, including medical terminology and newly created drug names, newly discovered germs and viruses. Among them, optical scanning, open heart surgery, microRNA virus and microcirculation have all appeared recently. Some words such as birth control pills, IVF and transsexual surgery have become everyday words.
The development of nuclear physics seems to bring people into the micro-world. Kron(K meson), μ meson (μ meson) and π meson (π meson) were discovered one after another, and the difference between lepton (lepton) and baryon (baryon) and of course quark (quark) caused a sensation. Supposedly, the antimatter anti-world composed of various antimatter (antimatter) such as antiproton, neutrino and antiquark has also attracted much attention.
Mathematics and other disciplines are also developing constantly. In popular teaching and research and popular science books, it is NOT difficult to find the following terms: not (not), parameter equation (variable equation), newmath (new number) popularized in primary and secondary schools in recent years, artificial intelligence (artificial intelligence), and magnetic core scanning diagram (magnetic core scanning diagram). IC (integrated circuit), fish killing agent (fish extinction), hot mooner (thermophile), Sealab (submarine laboratory), radiation sterilization, etc. New disciplines are constantly forming, such as astrionics (bionics), cryosurgery (cryosurgery), macrometeorology (macrometeorology), ocean engineering (ocean engineering), phytochemistry (phytochemistry), bio-telemetry (bio-telemetry), astroelectronics and so on.
The fierce competition in arms and the rapid development of weapons naturally produce many new words. ABM (Anti-Ballistic Missile: Anti-Ballistic Missile), MIRV (Multi-warhead Divergent Reentry Vehicle), Bomb (Nuclear Deterrence), Helicopter Lifting (Helicopter Transportation), Green Berets ("Green Berets" Special Forces), grunt (Infantry, Beam Weapons (.
The improvement of traffic is also jaw-dropping. The sky is full of SST (supersonic transport aircraft), Airbus (Airbus) and air-taxi (air taxi); Concorde made in Britain and France undoubtedly plays an important role in aviation history. The birth of supersonic transport aircraft has made the aircraft industry have a new development. Some wealthy leisure people often travel and get together by jet, which has become a special class called jetset. Passengers who fly in jet planes sometimes feel uncomfortable in one way or another, which is collectively called jet syndrome. On water and land, new types of vehicles have appeared one after another, including ACV (air cushion vehicle), all-terrain vehicle (all-terrain vehicle), hovercraft (hovercraft), freight liner (container train), bullet train (bullet train) and air train (suspended train).
In addition to science and technology, turbulent political situation and changing social environment, cultures and various exchanges around the world are also the sources of English neologisms. For example, since the rise, transformation and development of the "-in movement" in the early 1960s, this "family" has expanded surprisingly. From the first generation of sit -ins (sit-ins) to the second generation of lectures (speeches), and even to the third generation of be-in (decadent social gatherings), there have been dozens of * * * words, and the speed of their evolution is really amazing.
In recent years, the world political situation has changed. In order to strengthen unity and develop trade, western European countries organized EEC (European Economic Community). Oil exporting countries in the Middle East, South America and Africa have also organized the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). After Watergate broke out in the United States, the word Watergate was widely used to refer to any political scandal. Within the government, those who advocate solving disputes by force are called hawks, those who advocate peaceful means are called doves, while dawk is among hawks, and those who advocate peaceful means are called doves. dawk is a passive anti-war person between hawks and doves. Other political terms such as establishment (government), atomic club (atomic club), advance personnel (pioneer, election assistant) and pilitical animal are also commonly used in newspapers and periodicals.
The world economic crisis, inflation and industrial and commercial development are also one of the important sources of new words. ASP (American selling price), Slump Flat (depressed inflation), value-added tax (VAT), Eurodollar (Eurodollar), petrodollar (Petrodollar) and revenue sharing are all recent products.
Social changes in the past two decades have had a great impact, and many basic ideologies have been impacted. The outbreak of the feminist movement produced new words such as Women'sLib (Women's Liberation Movement), chairman (Chairman), malesharvatm (Masculinity) and girlcott (Boycott), but it also contributed to the birth of men'sLib (Men's Liberation Movement). After the black power broke out in the American black movement in the late 1960s, many expressions of "…… movement" appeared in this way, including: brown power, flower power, student power, red power and so on. Some people even jokingly coined the word "green power", which means "the magic of money" (because of the dollar.
The change of moral concept has caused a generation gap, and the usage of the word generation gap has diversified, and new words such as credit generation gap, cultural generation gap and communication generation gap have appeared. The separation between the western youth's thoughts and the old vulgar society forces them to find ways to vent. So Mary Jane (marijuana), LSD (psychedelic drug), upper (stimulant), soft drug (soft drug), hard drug (hard drug), headshop (psychedelic shop), Community (hippie commune) and psychedelphia (psychedelic village) came into being. Decadence has also emerged from generation to generation: hippies (hippies), flower girl (philanderers), gentle people (gentle people), street people (street decadence), teenybopper (juvenile decadence), and so on.
In recent years, people have paid more attention to environmental pollution, which can be seen from the initiative of environmentalists to set up Earth Day and Green Week. The word "pollution" appears in newspapers and magazines every day. Newer words include environmental pollution, heat/heat pollution, internal pollution and visual pollution. Anti-polluters (anti-polluters), environmentalists (environmental experts), malnutrition (pollution of rivers and lakes), etc.
In education and language research, due to the reform of teaching methods and teaching tools, a series of new words have emerged, such as textbooks (textbook style), pass-fail (negative method), Cai (computer-aided teaching), audio-visual (audio-visual textbooks) and co-education (co-education). Preppie, open classroom, multi-university, megaversity, generative grammar, kernel sentencd, Chomsky theory and so on.
Entertainment and sports are also the main sources of new words. Audience ratings, incoming calls, sitcoms, soup operas, prime time, instant replay, video recorders, video recorders, etc. Radio and television are well-known terms. Colorful new sports have also enriched English vocabulary. Recent gadgets include skateboarding and skydiving. Land/beach yachts (beach boats, land sails) and hang gliders (flying kites) are advanced playthings. Some combination words, such as cyclo -cross, roller hockey, destruction derby, etc., also appeared one after another because of the rise of the new movement. Athletes have also invented slimming exercise, isometric exercise and other ways to keep fit. Of course, there are China's Kung Fu and Japanese Aikido, which are very popular overseas.
Many new words have actually entered people's daily life and every family. Now, many families have VCD (video recorder); And the TV set that used to be called TV set is now called TV set, and now it is called box, goggles box, idiot box and idiot lamp. Microwave ovens and automatic timers are new technological products. Videophones/videophones are also being produced on a large scale. The new words in the field of sound also include quadraphony (four channels), sensurrornd (Dolby system) and so on. Polarvision system came out in the late 1970s, and now it has become popular all over the world. Telegram (telex), which appeared in the early days, is an essential communication system for large companies and enterprises, and of course IDDD (International Direct Dialing). In the past few years, we have produced a canned beverage that can be opened by pulling open the lid. This disposable container, which leads to waste and waste products, also has a new name: thrwaway or diposable.
In order to strengthen their expressive ability, people have created many new everyday expressions. This kind of talk is very popular in recent years, and it is really difficult to talk to people in countries such as Britain and the United States without understanding it. For example, the new name of mental hospital is funny farm, and fat farm is a weight loss center. The policewoman who gives tickets to illegally parked vehicles in the parking lot is called Mimi, and the "big food truck" with high fuel consumption is called a gas truck. Easy money, especially money obtained by improper means, is called quick success and instant benefit, and so on.
In fact, the causes and sources of neologisms are very extensive, which can be said to be caused by various changes in the world, so it is impossible to list them as much as possible. In short, the emergence of a large number of new words shows that society is changing and English is changing.
The formation of new words
According to the results of research and statistics, more than 10,000 English neologisms appeared in 1960s and 1970s. But this figure only includes established and widely used words, and some words that are accepted by most people, too professional or rarely used are not counted. According to the study of more than 10 thousand new words, their word-formation methods can be divided into four categories.
& lt 1 & gt； Innovative method-that is, creating a brand-new English word. According to the research results, the proportion of new words created by this method is very small, because up to now, English has a quite strong and solid "team", and new words can be changed from old words and original roots. New words formed by innovative methods include.
(a) A few words used in social science and natural science, such as periapsis (near the arch), cladistics (genetic taxonomy), penetralium (core organization), ekistics (urban and regional planning), isomorphism (isomorphism) and quark (quark);
(2) brand names of new products that have been widely used (representing or used to refer to similar products) and proper names that have been used as common nouns, such as lasercomp (laser computer typesetting machine), dolby system (Dolby system), miniteller (mini teller) and rent train (taxi). Polarvision system (film system with instant shadow).
(c) Common parts of speech derived from proper nouns such as names and places, such as Hitchcock (Hitchcock style, suspense), Chandler swing (Chandler oscillation), cocacolonization (Americanization), a-go-go (Columbia Ballroom) and McLuhan style (McLuhan style, electronic);
(d) Acronyms and common abbreviations, such as STLT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) and COBOL (Business Oriented Language), Badge (Ground Environment for Base Air Defense), ACV (Air Cushion Vehicle), EEC (European Economic Community) and comsat (Communication Satellite);
(e) New idioms, including slang and colloquial expressions that were not included in the official dictionary before, such as: posh (very fashionable), bonkers (crazy), easy meat (easy to distinguish), like a lead balloon (useless), can of worms (messy), Merchant of death, go for broke, carry the can, and sell like shirts.
Among the new words created by this method, there is a new form that shortens the long words and keeps the original intention, such as deli (Deli), mod (Modern: Modern), nat (Nationalist: Nationalist), neut (Neutron Bomb: Neutron Bomb) and divi (Divide: Divide). This new form is as popular as the original word, even more popular than it.
After some brand names are accepted as common words, their usage, meaning and part-of-speech attributes have also changed. For example, telex was originally a noun (telex, telegraph user direct dial circuit), but now it can be used as a verb to mean "notify by telex"; Xerox was originally a noun (dry photocopying, electrostatic photocopying), but now it can be used as a verb; STP was originally a gasoline additive, but now it refers to hallucinogens; In the word "Tom it", it means "roll with the punches".
& lt2> Combination Method-On the basis of old useful words, add prefixes, suffixes or other word-formation components to form new words, or combine two old useful words or parts of old useful words to form new words, or combine two word-formation components to form new words. The proportion of new words formed by this method is large, and the meaning is easier to understand and deduce. For example: microelectronics (micro+electronics: microelectronics), anti-kidnapping (anti+kidnapping: anti-kidnapping), autocue(auto+cue: automatic reminder), electrofishing (electro+fishing: electro fishing), Photobotany(photo+botany), Educationese(education+ese: educational terminology), Pekingology (Peking Studies), Dulles(Dulles+Ian: Dulles style), robotesque(robot+esque: robot-like).
Houssrmanship(hous+manship Manship: eloquence of British parliamentarians), American DOM (American+DOM:: American World), cryptosecurity(crypto+security: Secret Security Department), Paint-in (Paint+In: Paint Democratization), Pedestrianization (Pedestrian+Industrialization), peacenik (Peace).
Diet pills (diet pills), easy meat (easy to distinguish; Easy-to-get), big society (big society), hard science (hard science, natural science), landmark (landmark), truck (typical), carpet (baking frame), boatel (steamboat hotel), chunnel (underwater train tunnel);
Electronic phobia (electricity+phobia), bionics (biology+electronics), quark science (quark+electronics).
Some prefixes, suffixes and word-formation components are particularly rich or active, including anti-, auto, bio, electro-, euro-, extra-, geo-, hyper-, -ian, immune-, in-, -in, inter-, intra-, -log, macro-and micro. -Nik, Non-, Prar-,-Phoebe-,Photo-, Poly-, Psycho- etc. These word-formation elements have played a very positive role in the process of forming new words.
& lt3> method of adding meaning-adding new meaning to old words. In recent years, many used old words have added new meanings. There are many words with old meanings and new meanings, so we should pay attention to them when we meet and use them, such as:
Occurrence: the old usage refers to an event, and the new usage refers to "Hapning Art" (a stage or other form of performance whose purpose is to surprise, surprise and attract the audience.
The new words in this part also include some old words that used to be used only as one part of speech, and now they can be used as another part of speech. For example, H bomb used to be a noun (hydrogen bomb), but now it can be used as a verb to mean "attack with hydrogen bomb"; Lookingglass used to be a noun, meaning "mirror", but now it can be used as an adjective, meaning "upside down" and "messy". Another example is the word soul, which not only adds a new meaning, but also can be used as an adjective, generally referring to "black", such as soul music and soul food.
A noteworthy word formation is inverse word formation, which is called "inverse word formation" or "inverse word formation". This is another part of speech in which the real suffix or the part that looks like the suffix of an existing word falls off to form the word. For example, there is free association first, then there is free association; One-up and one-upman are composed of the word one-upmanship. Laser is an acronym, but because it seems to be a noun derived from laser, people in Britain and America invented the verb laser, which means "to emit laser" and "to be exposed to laser".
& lt4> Borrowing Method-Borrowing or absorbing foreign words. This method has a long history. Many words and expressions in English are actually borrowed from foreign countries and eventually become an indispensable part of English. Many of these loanwords have retained their original appearance, some of them are spelled into English with Latin pinyin, and some are literally translated or translated into English. For example:
Disco < law >: recording nightclubs
Autostrada < meaning >: expressway
Autopista & lt West >: Expressway
Maotai & lt medium > Moutai
Sushi & lt day >: Sushi
Western policy & lt (of eastern European countries)
Samizdat < Russia >: underground publishing (things)
Slums < Portugal >; : Slums, log cabin areas
Haman < Arabic >: Haimam (Iranian public bathhouse)
Another example is black humor, which was originally a French humor noir, which was borrowed by the British and Americans and changed into formal English; Similarly, the objects found came from objet trouve, France. Kirin comes from Japanese Kirin, and Kirin comes from Chinese Kirin (the old spelling of Kirin).
(This article is the introduction written by the author for 10000 Dictionary of English Neologisms.)