Abstract
The corona virus disease has impacted virtually everybody in the world today by introducing various changes leading to what has come to be known as the new normal. This paper gives COVID-19 a new perspective from the medical one that is always examined. It analyses how the English language has been able to adapt to the changes that COVID -19 has occasioned. Because it is dynamic, language changes to accommodate new happenings in society for example introducing or coining completely new words into their vocabulary through word formation processes such as blending and acronymy or through old words acquiring new meaning (semantic shift) or old words gaining currency due to an emerging and trending situation. These word formation processes are examples of neologisms. This paper therefore is an analysis of language of social crisis and it examines neologisms in the wake of COVID-19 by shading some light on how some of the words and phrases being used in what we will call corona vocabulary came into existence or how they are used in the context of a catastrophic event that COVID-19 is. Through a descriptive qualitative method of analysis, we obtain and analyze information on what we consider a trending issue of global concern – COVID-19. Data were collected from different sources about language use in the realities of the pandemic. The words and phrases were obtained from social media, daily newspapers and other writings that revolved around the issue of COVID-19. Similarly, we draw from various theoretical approaches to neologisms discussed by Rets and others. We also account for the changes in language use that have been occasioned by COVID-19 by using MAK Halliday functional theory that posits that language changes are occasioned by the needs of its users.
Highlights
Language as a dynamic system can introduce new ways of referring to things that have always been there and those which come into existence later on
We account for the changes in language use that have been occasioned by COVID-19 by using MAK Halliday functional theory that posits that language changes are occasioned by the needs of its users
We do this through an analysis of neologisms which include new words that have been added to the English vocabulary through such processes as blending and acronymy; completely new coinages and old words that have acquired new meaning or have gained currency due to the pandemic
Summary
Language as a dynamic system can introduce new ways of referring to things that have always been there and those which come into existence later on. It is clear that languages can change their vocabulary very as compared to their syntactic and phonologic structures which are relatively unchangeable over time This means that in the course of using their language, users have the options of adopting new words, coming up with new meanings for existing words, or not using some words at all or not using them in particular meanings. These language changes serve to accommodate new happenings in society and occur through word formation processes such as blending and acronymy or through old words acquiring new meaning (semantic shift) or sometimes old words can gain currency due to an emerging and trending situation like COVID-19. This paper, discuses some innovations in language lexis and meaning by examining neologisms in the wake of the emerging and trending COVID-19 pandemic
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