Филологические науки/7. Язык, речь, речевая коммуникация

Victoria Bushkova, PhD, Associate professor

East European University of Economics and Management, Cherkasy, Ukraine Semantics and Functions of English Buzzwords

The common tendencies of language stock replenishment include the appearance of buzzwords or popular words and expressions. They enter the vocabulary because of their significant role in everyday life of society. Due to mass media buzzwords become known, widely used and further popularized, mistly including colloquialisms, slang and jargon, as usually they are stylistically-marked and colorful expressions.

There are various linguistic and extra-linguistic factors determining buzzwords appearing, short or long-term usage, penetration into several categories of the word-stock. Usually some new words are formed according to different structural patterns – affixation, composition, abbreviation, back-formation, blending. Sometimes familiar words/phrases can be used in a new sense; they require explanations or context to make them clear. The cultural context is the domain of introducing and, often, fixing words or phrases identifying inventions, new phenomena or realizing new meaning. Borrowings, calques, loan translations can also serve as sources for buzzwords [2].

Among the spheres of life receiving the most part of newcoming buzzwords pop culture, communicating, politics, traveling, economy are defined as those rich in popular concepts, their new colloquial, colorful synonyms have become popularized due to their funny nature and topicality of these concepts, such as the oil spill topic which raised a lot of discussion, and as a result new word-combinations have appeared – containment dome, junk shot, static kill, bottom kill etc..

The sphere of pop culture is versatile and rich in funny, unusual words and expressions. For example, G.T.L. – “gym, tan, laundry” (the life philosophy of the Situation, otherwise known as Mike Sorrentino of the reality TV program “Jersey Shore”) [5]. This abbreviation is related and closely associated with another word – “guidos”. Guidos are a result of the rising fortunes of young Italian-Americans who found the way to use their money for their leisure and pleasure; their attempt to have their own place in the popular American culture [1]. It arises many pros and cons due to multifacet nature of this concept. Star whacker is one of the latest in celeb coinage. The actor Randy Quaid and his wife, Evi, said that they were afraid of star whackers, people who were chasing and had already killed some famous people. They thought the best and safe refuge for them would be asylum in Canada [5].

Communication is the sphere in which new words appear from different sources, but certainly mass media is the main facilitator of their populariztion. For example, mansplainer is a man who desires and can’t help explaining or giving an opinion about everything, to a woman especially. His manner is often condescending, even if he is ignorant about the topic or it’s not related to his business at all. An old term is a boor. Patronizing manner is determined by assuming ignorance of listeners. The mansplainer is sensitive to critical remarks and feels hurt when his mansplanation is not accepted as the true fact or even argued [5; 6]. Social graph is the personal networks structure, presenting the information about who people know and their relations, mostly online. The origin of the term is linked with the internal lingo at Facebook, but then it has become popular among technology companies [5]. A humorous development of the concept is traced in the expression social notworking – wasting time (spending it unproductively) on social-networking websites, especially when one should be working [6].

Politics is inevitably the sphere which absorbs and produces buzzwords, very often occasionally, like a slip of the tongue duting a speech, though some are carefully considered and used to achieve a certain, calculated effect. Government Motors is a present nickname for General Motors, the majority of which is now owned by the federal government. Wise Latina woman is a new term used by Judge Sonia Sotomayor in a speech before she was a Supreme Court justice, suggesting to some observers that she believed ethnicity and gender had a role in determining law [3].

Refudiate is not considered a real neologism, rather a buzzword (nonceword), associated with Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska. The Oxford University Press called it the word of the year (2010). This unusual word always evokes the name of Sarah Palin, who tweeted her way into a flurry of media activity due to certain statements posted on Twitter in July 2010. Sara Palin was heavily critisized for creating nonsensical vocabulary. There was a lot of speculation on whether she meant “refute” or “repudiate” [5]. The lexical interpretation of this word usage on the basis of the contextual analysis it is evident that neither “refute” nor “repudiate” is precise, and that “refudiate” has more or less its own meaning, suggesting a general sense of “reject” [4].

Thus, semantics and functions of buzzwords and catchphrases are related to the events that resonated, stuck, nationally-biased as well as universal due to the process of globalization and international mass media. The significance and useful nature of newly formed words are checked by the degree of their popularization and penetrating into the word-stock of the English language determined by the frequency of their usage and functioning.

LITERATURE

1. Cohen P. Gym. Tan. Laundry. Discuss : http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/ 21/gym-tan-laundry-discuss/?scp=1&sq=GTL%20Jersey%20Shore&st=cse

2. Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language : http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/NEOLOGISM.aspx

3. Grant Barrett’s buzzwords for 2009 : http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/20/weekinreview/20buzz.html

4. OUP USA 2010 Word of the Year: Refudiate : http://blog.oup.com/ 2010/11/refudiate-2/

5. The Words That Made the Year // The New York Times. – December 18, 2010 : http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/19/weekinreview/19sifton.html?ref=samsifton

6. Urban Dictionary : http://www.urbandictionary.com/