Investigation on Neologisms

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Karl Scadding

Investigation on Neologisms

Over time many different words are created, through technology, events, people and for no particular reason.  However, not all of these words are created from nothing, and there is often a reason with a method for the creation of a word.

The word mobile has recently been established in a new way.  For many years, the word “mobile” has been used as an adjective, as in “that person is mobile”.  However, with the introduction of new technology, in the form of a mobile phone, and it becoming a mass-market product.  The mobile had immediately gone through a word conversion, going from being an adjective to a noun.  Over time, the use of the “phone” part of “mobile phone” has been clipped, due to the constant need to be able to say words as quickly as possible, in a short amount of time.  It is likely that the “mobile phone” will continue to be known as the “mobile”, as long as the technology carries on.  With the popularity of them as high as it is now, and if the normal landline phone is anything to go by, it is likely that the word “mobile” will continue to be used in this sense, and even if the technology of them keeps on improving, it would take a great deal of time before the new technology would eventually lead to a complete change to the word “mobile” as it is currently known.

Technology is a very consistent source of new words.  With the introduction of the Internet, and its ever-increasing amount of use, has brought in new words for use in mainstream English Language.  One of these is the word “E-mail”.  In its full form the word means “Electronic mail” which has the meaning literally of “a message sent to one person to another over the internet.”  The word “electronic mail” had a very short shelf life, and the “-lectronic” part of “electronic” was soon clipped from the word, allowing the word to become more mainstream and easy to say than it was before.  It is somewhat unlikely that the word e-mail will keep in the English Language for a great deal of time.  As time goes by, there is a good chance that the e- part of the word will be dropped, in favour of it being just known as “mail”.  With what is considered “mail” now, becoming known as “snail mail”, and with the ever-increasing use of the Internet, it is plausible that “e-mail” will become the preference of delivery, rather than the more traditional post, which is currently received at this particular point in time.

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Two other technological advances that have led to the creation of new words are the initialisms of DVD (Digital Versatile Disc, or Digital Video Disc) and MP3 (an MPEG (Moving Pictures Expert Group) file made specifically for the use of sound files.  Through an increase in use, and the fact that DVD’s are quickly beginning to replace the older VHS videocassette, and the use of file sharing programs on the Internet increasing the amount music downloaded from the Internet, has increased the use of both DVD and MP3 in the English language.  Both words will have a relatively short ...

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