Word-formation and word-creation: A datadriven exploration of inventiveness in neologisms

Abstract

Some neologisms attract our attention by their inventiveness, while others pass unnoticed. This article reports on an exploration of the concept of inventiveness in lexicogenesis. Inventiveness is not currently a notion present in morphological research, while the semantically related creativity is found in discussions of the opposition between word-formation and word-creation, i.e. the application of morphological rules vs. the extra-grammatical production of neologisms. The question is: Does inventiveness have anything to do with this opposition? One way of investigating a subjective notion like this is to ask informants to provide judgments. In two investigations, the informants read neologisms with short definitions and produced scores of inventiveness for each unit. The neologisms were rank-ordered by inventiveness scores and the ten most and least inventive units were compared. Transparent units, i.e. words with a simple form-meaning relationship, were generally judged less inventive than those with more complex relationships. Also, fabricated words, blends and units with splinters were judged more inventive. Overall, these observations confirm a prototypical distinction between word-formation and word-creation.