[Lexicog] Conditions for Coinage

[Fritz Goerling]

I do not think that semantic shifts and reinterpretations can be considered
as coinages.

George Orwell’s newspeak (Ministry of Love = Ministry of Law and Order;
Ministry of Peace = Ministry of War) does not qualify. 

However, creation of new vocabulary/terminology is another matter. I have
been involved in a majority African language (Jula from Côte d’Ivoire,
Burkina-Faso) where massive creation of scientific vocabulary is in progress
(in domains like medicine, sciences, linguistics).

I refer to Kalilou Tera and Siaka Touré. 1983. Propositions pour la Création
d’un Vocabulaire Scientifique en Jula (Institut de Linguistique Appliquée de
l’Université d’Abidjan). Jula is a language that has been reduced to writing
not too long ago.

Here are a few examples of neologisms which were coined for different
domains: heterogeneous, claustrophobia, metabolism, antipodes, dichotomy,
hemisphere, etc. No paraphrases were used nor were the Greek/Latin prefixes
transliterated and combined with local words. Original words were coined
using word formation principles which are natural to the language. Here are
a couple of everyday examples which have been around longer: ironhorse (=
bicycle), heavenboat (= aeroplane).

 

Fritz Goerling

I'd like to hear others' parameters for coinage. This is a word 
bandied about rather loosely, and for good reason – it is a general 
term and even when defined by lexicographers in popular reference 
books, given a cursory treatment. Much like the 
words `archaic/obsolete/dated,' or `cliché'/'expression'/'saying' 
have different nuances and technical differences, they're used in 
very general senses by the general population. 
On the other hand, terms unused in the general public, but used 
in specific senses by linguists or academicians are quite well-
parametered. (e.g. `synecdoche' -- Almost never referred to in the 
common vernacular, but often used practically, we refer to something 
by naming a part that represents the whole (e.g. "I met some 
new `faces' today."); or by the whole that represents a part (e.g. 
Mexico defeated Turkey today in the soccer finals.") We know exactly 
how the rhetorical device functions, and only arguing whether a 
particular instance of the device is classified under `synecdoche' or 
perhaps overlapping with `metonomy' (referring to something by an 
associated part – e.g. "The White House today ushered a warning." 
or "Big Blue today came out with a new computer program.") 
The terms "coin"/"coinage" are simple enough in concept: new 
words in a language. Borrowing (loan words) is common. American 
English was built on the pillar of borrowing (1/3 of Am.Eng. diction 
from Middle French/Latin; and from Native Am. Indians; and from 
Mexicans; the list goes on. Normally, the pronunciation will change, 
becoming, in the case of America, "Americanized." In British English, 
the example of Shakespeare's "alligator," from Spanish "el ligarto." 
But a necessary condition has to be met [with same source 
language and target language]. That is a changed grammatical function 
(not necessarily form (e.g. noun to adjective -- "It can happen in "a 
New York minute.") Somewhere, sometime, someone used "New York" as a 
noun-adjective, and the rest is, as they might say, "New York 
history." But changes in meaning, semantic shift, [same source – same 
target language] is not a coinage. Poets, journalists, writers do it 
regularly, for its color and creativity, but they rarely catch on in 
general usage; or if they do, they generally aren't credited by 
linguists as true "coinages." In the case of localisms/regionalisms 
becoming coined, they are being done constantly, and exist 
universally, but if they never reach the general population, they are 
not "coined" in the general sense of the word. 
John Algeo, contributing to Tom McArthur's The Oxford Companion 
to the English Language, offers no specific parameters at all, though 
gives as an example a word that answers the contributor's query last 
week about the root of `google.' 
"The creation of words without the use of earlier 
words is rare: 
for example, googol, the term for the number 1 
followed by 
a hundred zeros, or 10 to the 100th, introduced 
by the American 
mathematician Edward Kasner, whose 9-year-old 
nephew coined 
it when asked to think up a name for a very big 
number." 
But there may be more, or more refined, conditions to 
defining "coin" or "coinage" – at least in the sense of words, not 
round things with trading value. I'd like to hear them. 

Scott Nelson




 

| 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lexicography/attachments/20070528/888a961d/attachment.htm>