Types of neologisms

2.  Neologisms can be defined as newly coined
lexical units or existing lexical units that acquire a
new sense.
 Neologisms cannot be accurately quantified,
since so many hover between acceptance and
oblivion and many are short-lived, individual
creauons
 Neologism are perhaps the non-literary and the
professional translator´s biggest problem.

3. 1. Old words with new senses:
 An exiting word is used in a new sense.
 Tend to be non-cultural and nontechnical.
 They are usually translated either by a word that
already exists in the TL, or by a brief functional or
descriptive term.
 Ex: the word Gay in the 14th century was used to
express a person full of joy, marry, carefree, and in
the 20th century means homosexual.

4. 2. New Coinages:
 Nowadays the new coinages are brand and trade
names.
 How to translate:
a. Brand names are transferred
b. It should be replaced by the same or equivalent
morphemes.
c. Phonaesthetic equivalent.
Ex: Pril /piril/ - Calgonit /Kalgonit/

5. 3. Derived Words:
 Designate scientific and technological terms.
 Words derived from Greek and Latin morphemes
usually with suffixes: -ismo, -ismus, -ija. Etc.
naturalised in the appropriate language.
The way of translating is:
a. Consult the appropriate ISO glossary.
b. Are they permanent, functional, worth
translating?
c. Distinguish lexical parts (root and affixes)
d. Understand the referential basis.
Ex: computer- from compute

6. 4. Abbreviations:
 They have been a common type of pseudo-
neologism, more common in French.
 Abbreviations and company/institution
acronyms are transferred, with a descriptive
explanation or note until they become widely
known.
5. Collocations:
 (new compounds or adjectives plus nouns) are
common in the social sciences and in computer
language. Ex: lead time, sexual harassment.

7. 6. Eponyms:
 Any word derived from a proper name.
 Refer directly to the person or may refer to the referent´s
ideas or qualities.
How to translate:
a. Generic terms is added until they are widely known
b. Translate by sense.
Ex: Draconian from Draco
7. Phrasal Verbs:
 Restricted to English´s facility in converting verbs to nouns.
 Translated by their semantic (meaning) equivalents.
Ex: work-out / trade-off/ check-out/ die-off.

8. 8. Transferred words:
 Transferred words into SL
 Least dependent on context
 Can develop additional senses
How to translate:
a. Functional/descriptive equivalent.
b. Newly imported words are transferred with a
generic term.
Ex: cultural manifestations ( raga, Kung fu)

9. 9. Acronyms:
 Acronyms are increasingly common feature of all
non- Hterary texts, for reasons of brevity or
euphony, and often to give the referent an artificial
prestige to rouse people to find out what the letters
stand for.
 For other acronyms, standard equivalents or
descriptive term is used.
 For international institutions, acronyms switch for
every languages.
Ex: In USA, the UN= United Nations. In Europe, EU=
Europe Union.

10. 10. Pseudo-Neologisms:
 A generic word stands in for a specific word, ex:
rapports (d’engrenage)
 The translator should be neither favorable nor
unfavorable in his view of new words.
 The translator´s responsibility is to see that the
mental and the material world that is inhabited
by people should be accurately and where
possible, economically reflected in language.