Abstract
The article deals with the issues of ways of word-formation of neologisms naming COVID-19 phenomena in English epidemiological discourse. The novelty of the research lays in the fact that at the contemporary stage of linguistic studies we are witnessing a new turn, deeper and more detailed, to the investigation of neologisms formation because of a rapid increasing of their number. This affords grounds to define some changes and concrete tendencies in a word-formation system of a definite language, and of the English language in particular. The goal of the article is to reveal productive word-formation models of new words denoting COVID-19 in English epidemiological discourse. It has been worked out that the key features of the discourse under analysis are immanent influence, intermediality (usage of verbal, semi-verbal and non-verbal means) and suggestion. The article also deals with possible reasons of COVID-19 neologisms appearance (manufactories’ lockdown, business projects’ folding, changes in everyday life, essential modification of human’s activities), which found its wide realization of numerous verbal means of nominating COVID-19: new medical terms, neologisms naming new social phenomena, adding new shades of meaning to already known medical terms and their use not only in epidemiological discourse, but also in everyday speech, activation of metaphorization in the process of COVID-19 neologisms formation. It’s proved that among telescopic ways of COVID-19 neologisms formation we distinguish the following rather productive models: adjustment of the full form of the first word and a “piece” of the second; blending of the first part of a word and the final part of the second word; blending of a “piece” of a word with a full stem of another word. It’s also has been worked out that one of the important ways of COVID-19 neologisms formation in English epidemiological discourse is medical metaphor, which serves as a universal cognitive mechanism of transforming of scientific knowledge, as language representation of human ideas about risks. Among other kinds of metaphor which denote COVID-19 phenomena we distinguish: military metaphor, sports metaphor and journey metaphor.
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