26.3747, Review: Morphology; Semantics; Socioling; Syntax; Text/Corpus Ling: Cabré Castellví, Domènech Bagaria, Estopà Bagot (2014)

Mon Aug 24 21:21:22 UTC 2015

LINGUIST List: Vol-26-3747. Mon Aug 24 2015. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 26.3747, Review: Morphology; Semantics; Socioling; Syntax; Text/Corpus Ling: Cabré Castellví, Domènech Bagaria, Estopà Bagot (2014)

Moderators: linguist at linguistlist.org (Damir Cavar, Malgorzata E. Cavar)
Reviews: reviews at linguistlist.org (Anthony Aristar, Helen Aristar-Dry, Sara Couture)
Homepage: http://linguistlist.org

*****************    LINGUIST List Support    *****************
Please support the LL editors and operation with a donation at:
              http://funddrive.linguistlist.org/donate/

Editor for this issue: Sara  Couture <sara at linguistlist.org>
================================================================

Date: Mon, 24 Aug 2015 17:20:58
From: Besharat Fathi [besharat.fathi at upf.edu]
Subject: Mots nous en català / New words in Catalan

Discuss this message:
http://linguistlist.org/pubs/reviews/get-review.cfm?subid=36034337

Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/25/25-4437.html

EDITOR: M. Teresa  Cabré Castellví
EDITOR: Ona  Domènech Bagaria
EDITOR: Rosa  Estopà Bagot
TITLE: Mots nous en català / New words in Catalan
SUBTITLE: Una panoràmica geolectal / A diatopic view
SERIES TITLE: IVITRA Research in Linguistics and Literature 7
PUBLISHER: John Benjamins
YEAR: 2014

REVIEWER: Besharat Fathi, Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Reviews Editor: Helen Aristar-Dry

SUMMARY

“New words in Catalan” is the first attempt at publishing outcomes of NEOXOC network data analysis on Catalan neologisms from 2008 to 2010. NEOXOC is a network of different research groups in the field of neology; each group is responsible for collecting data and extracting new words in a certain Catalan dialect. This research network is “financed by the Institut d’Estudis Catalan and formed by the Universities of Alcant, Andorra, Girona, Lleida, Perpignan, the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, and Rovira i Virgili in Tarragona” (p: 4). 

The analysis carried out is a comparative study about neologism formation sources and tendencies in different Catalan dialects. In preface, a history of NEOXOC network establishment and its activities aligned with the objectives of “Observatori de Neologia” (OBNEO/Neology Observatory) is given. As the main goal of the network, authors numbered two general objectives: 1) “To contribute to the descriptive analysis of neology in Catalan language” and 2) “To learn about the linguistic sources that Catalan speakers use to create new words in different diatopic varieties” (p:14).  These two objectives can be considered the objectives of the current book as well, since it is an organized reflection of NEOXOC activities during three years (2008-2010). In terms of methodology for detecting new words, NEOXOC utilizes lexicographical criterion. Namely, any word that does not appear in the reference corpus is considered as neologism. This reference corpus includes three main dictiona
 ries in Catalan language:

- Diccionari de la llengua catalana. Barcelona: Institut d’Estudis Catalans, 2007
- Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana. Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, 1998.
- Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana. 2a ed. Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, 1992  

This book is an edited collection and consists of eight chapters originally written in Catalan (by different authors) with abstracts provided in English. Each chapter is dedicated to a specific formation source of new words extracted from the NEOXOC corpus. The book starts with brief biographies of authors and ends with two annexes related to the analyzed data. 

What makes this collection special is the organization of chapters. Although each chapter can be seen as an autonomous study, all chapters together give an interesting overview of the neologisms formation tendencies in different Catalan speaking regions. Moreover, the studies follow the same analysis structure, containing tables and information about frequencies, percentages, and examples (wherever needed). 

This book is useful for linguists in the area of applied linguistics for those who are interested in neology or in methodologies in general. On one hand, in terms of neologistic tendencies, it can be useful for those who work in Catalan language or those who have an interest in neologism formation. On the other hand, in terms of methodology, it gives all necessary information about the procedures, data collection, facts, issues, and solutions in the neologism extraction process. Furthermore, it shows that how the traditional view to new words is changing. This collection represents successfully the horizons of neology and shows evolutionary development of this domain, dynamically going beyond the boundaries of lexicography. New words are not merely lexical components for updating dictionaries, but they are also cultural and sociolinguistic components that may show different characteristics from a region to another even in a same language.  

With this introduction, I present chapters of this book, giving a brief description of each:

Chapter 1. Prefixation

In the collected data, prefixation is the second most productive word formation process after suffixation. The results show that there is no significant tendency in Catalan dialects in terms of the use of certain prefixes. However, from other lexical components, one can recognize those regional flavors. For instance in the word “interparroquial”, “parròquia” [en.: parish] refers to the civil administrative units in Andorra. Furthermore, there is no evidence about the use of a new prefix in analysed data.

Chapter 2. Suffixation

NEOXOC data show that suffixation in Catalan language is the most productive source of neologisms. Comparing various suffixes in different regions reveals that vernacular suffixes predominate. Moreover, there is no evidence of the use of a new suffix, and all suffixes regardless to their frequencies have been previously detected in other studies.

Chapter 3. Neoclassical compounding

Neoclassical compounding is ranked as the fourth most productive mechanism for neologism formation. The fact that neoclassical compounding is not sensitive to regional variations is reflected in the fact that the collected data show no significant difference among diatopic varieties of Catalan.    

Chapter 4. Vernacular compounding and syntagmatic compounding

Vernacular compounding is the fifth most frequent formation process in NEOXOC data, while syntagmatic compounding is ranked as the eighth. There is no significant difference among regional variations. The most frequent pattern for vernacular compounds is the NN pattern constituted from two nouns, and the NA pattern is the most frequent for syntagmatic compounds.  

Chapter 5. Spanish loanwords

Spanish loanwords are ranked as the fifth most productive mechanism for neologisms in Catalan language. One of the reasons for the high number of Spanish loanwords in Catalan is the similarity between these languages, or language interference. In many cases the user is not aware of using a Spanish word, considering it to be a  Catalan word. 

Chapter 6. English loanwords

The studies conducted on English loanwords show some interesting points: 1) In terms of quantity, Catalan dialects do not show any specific differences. 2) Words like ‘blog’, ‘play-off’, ‘lobby’, ‘ska’, and ‘spa’ are amongst the most frequent neologisms found in all regions. 3) Thematic analysis shows that geographical position of the regions has a significant influence on thematic areas. For instance in Andorra the majority of neologisms belong to sports and particularly to snow sport. 4) Expressive English loanwords are the least frequent among all formation sources. 

Chapter 7. Truncation

In this chapter three types of truncation mechanisms are observed: abbreviation, blending, and initialization. The data show that abbreviation is the most productive process. Like other formation mechanisms, truncation also does not show any significant regional tendency.  

Chapter 8. Semantic change

Semantic neologisms are ranked as the sixth most productive process. There is a significant tendency to use this process in Balearic Island, Barcelona, and Lleida. Recognizing semantic changes is more difficult than other processes since these neologisms might not show any spelling or formal phonetic variation. The data show that the most semantic changes occurred in masculine and singular nouns and adjectives, as well as transitive verbs. 

EVALUATION

The main purpose of this book is presenting the most significant outcomes of NEOXOC corpus analysis in terms of neologism types and regional tendencies in Catalan dialects. Although there are some works about Catalan neologisms (Cabré et al, 2009) or even studies carried out by Observatori de Neologia (1998, 2004), this book adopts a new perspective on neologisms by employing a comparative approach to regional variants. The data extracted from the NEOXOC corpus are fully analyzed upon different dimensions, from formal structure to thematic tendencies, at the same time considering the geographical impact on all neologism processes. This multidimensional analysis helps readers to learn useful information not only about neologisms but also about Catalan language and variations. The variety of neologisms discussed can provide new ideas for future studies for researchers in comparative studies and linguistics. 

The chapters are well-organized and coherent, following the same pattern. Although in some cases one can recognize different uses of words and terms, in general the writing style shows conformity in all chapters. Almost all tables provide similar types of information and this assists readers: by only comparing tables from different chapters the reader may grasp a wide range of interesting results. 

Useful links provided in the book: 
 1. Metodologia del traball en neologia: criteris, materials i processos [http://www.iula.upf.edu/repositori/04mon008.pdf]
2. Cercador OBNEO (60,000 neologisms in Catalan language with free access) [http://obneo.iula.upf.edu/bobneo/index.php]

REFERENCES

Cabré, M. Teresa; Estopà, Rosa (ed.) (2009). Les paraules noves. Criteris per detectar i mesurar els neologismes. Vic/Barcelona: Eumo Editorial / Universitat Pompeu Fabra.

Observatori de Neologia (1998). Descripció quantitativa dels neologismes documentats durant l’any 1995 a la premsa en català. Barcelona: Institut Universitari de Lingüística Aplicada (Papers de l’IULA. Sèrie Informes, 23).

Observatori de Neologia (2004). Llengua catalana i neologia. Barcelona: Meteora.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

PhD student in Terminology Planning, at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona. My research focus is terminology planning in Iran and Persian language; however my goal is to reach a general methodology for any language in terminology planning evaluations. Another line of my interest is LSP lexicography and terminography, which is also the subject of my master thesis.

----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-26-3747	
----------------------------------------------------------