Neologisms of COVID Era

This article is an attempt to analyze English neologisms that appeared in the language during the COVID-19 era. The authors examined a series of English-language publications, presented on open-access public domains such as BBC News, The Conversation, Business Mirror, The Economic Times, as well as Glossary on the COVID-19 pandemic, published on the website of the Government of Canada. The chronological scope of the study lies within April 2020 – February 2021. The analyzed glossary included 143 lexical units. The authors conducted content analysis, which helped to reveal five main groups of neologisms: neologisms that came into our speech from the limited use vocabulary; neologisms describing our new reality; neologisms formed by joining two lexical units with or without contamination; neologisms, which are phrases that either existed earlier, but experienced a semantic shift, or phrases that have appeared in the COVID era and are used to denote previously non-existent realities; neologisms formed by phonetic distortion of already existing words. The study showed that the most extensive groups of neologisms were those that have come from the limited use vocabulary, in particular from medical terminology, and neologisms describing a new reality, which include the very name of the virus (COVID or corona). It should be noted that neologisms that have come into general use from medicine require a special interpretation, since they are not always clearly understood by the recipients. Moreover, many neologisms, having arisen in English, have not got an adequate translation or analogue in the Russian language yet, therefore, these words require a further more careful study.

Achieving Semantic Consistency for Multilingual Sentence Representation Using an Explainable Machine Natural Language Parser (MParser)

In multilingual semantic representation, the interaction between humans and computers faces the challenge of understanding meaning or semantics, which causes ambiguity and inconsistency in heterogeneous information. This paper proposes a Machine Natural Language Parser (MParser) to address the semantic interoperability problem between users and computers. By leveraging a semantic input method for sharing common atomic concepts, MParser represents any simple English sentence as a bag of unique and universal concepts via case grammar of an explainable machine natural language. In addition, it provides a human and computer-readable and -understandable interaction concept to resolve the semantic shift problems and guarantees consistent information understanding among heterogeneous sentence-level contexts. To evaluate the annotator agreement of MParser outputs that generates a list of English sentences under a common multilingual word sense, three expert participants manually and semantically annotated 75 sentences (505 words in total) in English. In addition, 154 non-expert participants evaluated the sentences’ semantic expressiveness. The evaluation results demonstrate that the proposed MParser shows higher compatibility with human intuitions.

The Concept of Complexity in Philosophical Contexts: Semantic and Pragmatic Specifics

The present research featured the content of complexity in philosophical contexts in the aspects of its validity, consistency, and compliance with the pragmatics of philosophical comprehension of reality. The article considers both explicit and implicit attempts to define complexity as a philosophical concept. The author addressed the validity of using the term complexity in a philosophical context by standardizing its meaning, i.e. building a pattern in accordance with the basic linguistic denotations of this concept. A review of its ontological and epistemological use made it possible to identify some cases of redundancy, unreasonableness, and semantic shift. The article introduces some possible ways of using the concept of complexity. The limited implementation of its epistemic function makes it possible to establish the boundaries of its applicability. The concept of complexity is important for metaphysics; however, such ideas as "metaphysics of complexity", "ontology of complexity", or "epistemology of complexity" have no ground. The article also provides a comparative analysis of the concept of complexity in specific scientific and philosophical contexts. Based on the revealed discrepancies in its interpretation, the author speculates whether the so-called philosophy of complexity can act as a context for understanding the philosophical problems of complexity science with its ambiguous nature.

ICONIC ENCODING OF CORPOREALITY IN MODERN ENGLISH

The literature on the unity of emotional, volitional, intellectual, and physical states within the holistic cognitive-semantic context of corporeality shows a variety of approaches. The originality of our solution lies in the fact that the object of the prеsеnt study is the domain of Grеimassian sеmiotic thеory (including the so-called thymic category) that has been further developed: Taking into consideration that people use basic-level concepts regularly, we hypothesised that thymic category members can be selected, given that these category members are yielding information on the semantics of perception in the elementary concepts of Modern English. The data obtained suggests that the information on the thymic category is conveyed by the conceptual triad SENSE : FEELING : EMOTION. Furthermore, cognitive and onomasiological features of the basic-level concepts have been analysed. Thus, the previous research has been extended by clarifying the semiotic structure of the thymic category in Modern English and presenting the results on the distribution of cognitive-onomasiological capability within the framework of derivatives of the verbalized conceptual triad SENSE : FEELING : EMOTION. The iconic character of this conceptual complex is one of the means of naïve worldview reconstruction in word-formation. Notably, the iconic aspect is marked by cognitive-semantic shift of the thymic-neuter indices of the conceptual thymic information to its thymic-extremal analogues. This could be a result of the fact that the shift of a given type is based on the correlation of evaluation of the sign-motivator and expressive-gnoseological functions of perception performed by the native speakers. The reconstruction of the thymic composites domain reveals that the motivators of sensory type prevail. Besides, the cognitive-semantic shift was detected: the motivators are represented by the derivatives of the verbalized concept SENSE, while the concept EMOTION is lacunary, a fortiori the composite words with feel and sensation constituents are semantically more mobile and expressive. Key words: concept, corporeality, iconicity, semiosis, sign.

Bulaestian /по|ч’естне/ and some Ukrainian and Romanian analogies

The tradition (and, the lexeme also) of /по|ч’естнe/ ‘the preliminary gifting to bride and groom in the early stage of wedding’ exists among the Bulaestian Ukrainians. During the /по|ч’естнe/ guests entering the wedding hall come to the small table with wine and jam and/or sweets. They congratulate the bride / groom, throwing small money on the tray (which is denoted as /к’е|датеи на по|ч’естнe/, ‚to throw on pochestne‘), and then they are poured a glass of wine, offered jam or sweets for a snack. The task of the research is to analyze the term /по|ч’естнe/ and its analogues in the Ukrainian and Romanian areas. The analysis has demonstrated that a kind of semantic interference between the words [почесне] and частувати exists in the Carpathian-Ukrainian region. The closest analogies to the Bulaestian /по|ч’естнe/ addresses us to the South-Podolian Ukrainian dialects. The existence of ritual parallels that are structurally close to the Bulaestian почестнэ, and at the same time are denoted semantically (and, in some cases etymologically, like the Romanian cinste,) similar, albeit different, lexemes namely in the Romanian area, suggests that the appearance of the ceremony of почестнэ, as well as the semantic shift in the meaning of this word in the Carpathian-Ukrainian dialects occurred precisely under the Romanian influence.

A Diachronic Exploration of the Harvesting of the Marine Environment to a Distinctive New Zealand English Lexicon, 1796-2005

<p><b>This study examines the lexical contribution the harvesting of the marine environment has made to a specific New Zealand English lexicon from 1795 to 2006. It draws on a range of written sources including annual government reports, periodicals, and unpublished manuscripts. The identified words are compiled into a wordlist based on historical principles, which includes definitions and numerous citations of usage. The sea coast was an area of early economic activity in New Zealand, with whaling constituting one of our earliest industries, and its practitioners some of the earliest English speaking settlers. It remains an area of continued cultural and economic significance. Therefore, the compiled wordlist provides not just a repository of long forgotten words, but an historical account of a living language in an area of continued significance to New Zealand.</b></p> <p>The body of New Zealandisms identified in this study are analysed systematically. Firstly, the lexical items are examined in seven 30 year time periods from 1796 to 2005 to determine changes in the number of innovations over time. The results show that the largest numbers of New Zealandisms were identified during the stages of early settlement, and in recent years. This suggests that New Zealand English continues to flourish at the lexical level, despite the threat which globalisation is perceived to pose to regional variation. Closer examination also reveals that lexical innovation in New Zealand is linked with New Zealand's growing sense of independence, and a dynamic orientation to the marine resource. In addition, a regional typology is applied to the identified lexis based on Deverson's (2000) model which shows when and how the innovation occurs, via coining and borrowing, or semantic shift. New words are examined to identify which word formation processes are the most productive. The categorisation reveals that lexical innovation in the area of marine harvesting is strongly focused on referents which are unique to New Zealand, and this is constant throughout the period studied. However, this reflects ongoing changes in the way that we label our unique referents, rather than the sheer number of unique referents. While new words are slightly more prevalent than semantic shift as a means of innovation in the marine domain, there is significant variation in this over time. That is, borrowing as a significant feature of lexical innovation during early European settlement is replaced in dominance by semantic shift as colonisation progresses. Since the 1970s, new words again dominate the form of lexical innovation, especially through the use of multi-word items employed to construct a complex management system. This impacts on the nature of the fisheries discourse and also our perception of the marine environment.</p> <p>The study of the contribution of the marine harvesting lexicon to New Zealand English creates a cultural document in an area of social and economic importance. It also provides a body of words which is available for analysis. The results of categorising the identified New Zealandisms contribute to our knowledge of the nature of New Zealand lexical innovation, and how it has changed throughout the European settlement of New Zealand.</p>

A Diachronic Exploration of the Harvesting of the Marine Environment to a Distinctive New Zealand English Lexicon, 1796-2005

<p><b>This study examines the lexical contribution the harvesting of the marine environment has made to a specific New Zealand English lexicon from 1795 to 2006. It draws on a range of written sources including annual government reports, periodicals, and unpublished manuscripts. The identified words are compiled into a wordlist based on historical principles, which includes definitions and numerous citations of usage. The sea coast was an area of early economic activity in New Zealand, with whaling constituting one of our earliest industries, and its practitioners some of the earliest English speaking settlers. It remains an area of continued cultural and economic significance. Therefore, the compiled wordlist provides not just a repository of long forgotten words, but an historical account of a living language in an area of continued significance to New Zealand.</b></p> <p>The body of New Zealandisms identified in this study are analysed systematically. Firstly, the lexical items are examined in seven 30 year time periods from 1796 to 2005 to determine changes in the number of innovations over time. The results show that the largest numbers of New Zealandisms were identified during the stages of early settlement, and in recent years. This suggests that New Zealand English continues to flourish at the lexical level, despite the threat which globalisation is perceived to pose to regional variation. Closer examination also reveals that lexical innovation in New Zealand is linked with New Zealand's growing sense of independence, and a dynamic orientation to the marine resource. In addition, a regional typology is applied to the identified lexis based on Deverson's (2000) model which shows when and how the innovation occurs, via coining and borrowing, or semantic shift. New words are examined to identify which word formation processes are the most productive. The categorisation reveals that lexical innovation in the area of marine harvesting is strongly focused on referents which are unique to New Zealand, and this is constant throughout the period studied. However, this reflects ongoing changes in the way that we label our unique referents, rather than the sheer number of unique referents. While new words are slightly more prevalent than semantic shift as a means of innovation in the marine domain, there is significant variation in this over time. That is, borrowing as a significant feature of lexical innovation during early European settlement is replaced in dominance by semantic shift as colonisation progresses. Since the 1970s, new words again dominate the form of lexical innovation, especially through the use of multi-word items employed to construct a complex management system. This impacts on the nature of the fisheries discourse and also our perception of the marine environment.</p> <p>The study of the contribution of the marine harvesting lexicon to New Zealand English creates a cultural document in an area of social and economic importance. It also provides a body of words which is available for analysis. The results of categorising the identified New Zealandisms contribute to our knowledge of the nature of New Zealand lexical innovation, and how it has changed throughout the European settlement of New Zealand.</p>

English in a Time of Total War

This chapter focusses on the language of total war, and its consequences, in Britain. Total war is marked by the explicit renegotiation of the boundaries of conflict, alongside the participants it claims; as contemporary comment stressed, the people were, in effect, now to be the new front line. For Clark, the language of aerial attack, and domestic response, was, by extension, to be another area of marked lexical and semantic shift, whether in the rise of distinctive collocations such as Zeppelin nights and Zeppelin barometers, or in the domestic diction of gas warfare (and gas marks) alongside the emergence of dug-outs on the Home Front. Time itself, via British Summer Time or artificial time, changed too, as – at least intentionally — did the language of key British institutions such as ‘buying a round’.

Some temporal expressions in early Southern Min play scripts

Drawing on the data in early Southern Min play scripts, this paper explores temporal expressions—in particular temporal adverbials—which bear on the issues of their grammatical categories and syntactic placement. Considerable space is devoted to clarifying two kinds of distinctions of temporal adverbials on the strength of attested examples. A distinction is made between deictic temporal adverbials and determiner phrase-derived temporal adverbials. Similarly, durative adverbials are shown to behave differently from punctual adverbials. Finally, I argue that the metonymic semantic shift of deictic temporal adverbials denoting tomorrow and yesterday/the day before yesterday is grounded in the constraint of proximity to the deictic center of today in connection with the backdrop of diachronic development.

CAOSS and transcendence: Modeling role-dependent constituent meanings in compounds

Many theories on the role of semantics in morphological representation and processing focus on the interplay between the lexicalized meaning of the complex word on the one hand, and the individual constituent meanings on the other hand. However, the constituent meaning representations at play do not necessarily correspond to the free-word meanings of the constituents: Role-dependent constituent meanings can be subject to sometimes substantial semantic shift from their corresponding free-word meanings (such as -bill in hornbill and razorbill, or step- in stepmother and stepson). While this phenomenon is extremely difficult to operationalize using the standard psycholinguistic toolkit, we demonstrate how these as-constituent meanings can be represented in a quantitative manner using a data-driven computational model. After a qualitative exploration, we validate the model against a large database of human ratings of the meaning retention of constituents in compounds. With this model at hand, we then proceed to investigate the internal semantic structure of compounds, focussing on differences in semantic shift and semantic transparency between the two constituents.