A Study On Formation Of Neologisms In Business English

Since 1980s the integration of the global economy has entered a new period of an upsurge and accelerated development promoted by liberation policy. With the intensification of the global business, economic activities enrich the multi-level development of language and more and more new words come into being. Business English, the most widely used language in business world, has also been abundant than before. Hence, this thesis aims to study the English new words in business context since 1980.There are a lot of difficulties for businessmen and business English majors to understand and learn those new words which come forth in large numbers in business English. Based on the vocabulary available, new words in any language are formed under certain rules in some context rather than coined without foundation. Business English is no exception. This thesis analyzes the structures of these new words according to existing formation rules and finds the rules governing their formation by classification.All the new words studied here are extracted from professional dictionaries and magazines on-line or in print, including: The Oxford Dictionary of New Words (1991, 1997 and 2004 edition), Webster's New World Dictionary (3rd edition), The Random House Webster's College Dictionary, The Third Barnhart Dictionary of New English (2nd, 3rd edition), 20th Century Words, The Random House Webster's College Dictionary, American Speech: Among the New Words, http:www.wordspy.com, http:www.macmillan.com, http:www.yourdictionary.com and so forth.The thesis is composed of four chapters. Chapter one mainly focuses on introducing the aim, importance, research methods and arrangement of the study. Chapter two defines the English neologism in business context to confirm the scope of the objects and makes a comprehensive survey of the research background of neologism in business English. Chapter three, the keystone of the thesis, analyzes structures of the English new words in business context from the aspect of formation and explains the rules governing their formation through classifying neologisms in business English. Chapter four draws a conclusion and summary of the rules governing the formation of new words in business English. This thesis detects the recent trend of the business English vocabulary and makes some predictions of its future development.The innovation of this thesis lies in three points: first, the 1050 new words selected and studied appeared in English after 1980; second, they are used in business context; third, the formation characteristics of those words are systematically studied. Compounding, affixation, and shortening are the most frequently used formation methods.The thesis is of some help to businessmen in understanding the formation characteristics of English new words in business context and facilitating their mastering of the new words in doing business. It is also helpful in laying some foundation for business English teaching and research.