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A Study On The Word Formation Of EST Neologisms In CNN News English

Posted on:2007-06-16Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:Y Y ChenFull Text:PDF
GTID:2155360242462932Subject:Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
The idea of this thesis was originated from some books and articles about English neologisms and everyday news on science and technology in which EST neologisms found their appearance. Newspaper and websites, being the quickest and most widely spread medium, serve as a major cradle for the creation of new words. With the quick development of modern science and technology, the English language is also undergoing great changes, among which the most conspicuous one is in English vocabulary. More and more EST neologisms have come into existence, firstly appearing in the news media, causing some difficulty in reading the news, or even causing some serious consequences due to misunderstanding of the neologisms. So it is imperative to make an analysis on the EST neologisms to facilitate understanding of them and the news that involve these neologisms.Among all those media, either printed or electric version, the author chooses the source from the news about science and technology from June, 2005 till January, 2006 on CNN website, which involve about 500 items of news.In history, the previous researches on the English neologisms put the emphasis upon the collection and explanation of these new words. On the basis of previous research, this thesis explores the reasons and methods of the coining of EST neologisms. As for the methods of the production of neologisms, eight of them are mentioned in this thesis--compounding, affixation, shortening, blending, conversion, analogy, borrowing and old words putting on new meaning, etc. A quantitative analysis for each kind of coining method is done, with the result shown in tables. For those neologisms that do not fit any conventional word formation categories, the thesis also attempts to explain the formation process from the creator's psychological perspective.By studying some word elements with great productivity, the thesis tries to demonstrate that words do not exist independently but are related to one another, and that certain knowledge about word elements and word formation rules will facilitate the understanding and memorizing of English words.With all the neologisms and examples taken from the latest news in the past few months, the author tries to provide a new source for news readers, especially those interested in news on science and technology as well as English learners interested in enlarging EST vocabulary. The author also expects the thesis to be of some help for further research in this field, and stimulate English learners' interest in studying EST.
Keywords/Search Tags:EST neologisms, word formation process, sci-tech news
PDF Full Text Request
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