ON SOME COGNITIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF ENGLISH NEOLOGISMS

Abstract

The paper touches upon some issues connected with cognitive characteristics of English neologisms with special reference to the processes of generating a new linguistic sign. Some factors (such as different associations, folk etymology) which precondition the outer sound form of a newly emerging word are examined. Associations play a great role in the processes when a proper noun becomes a common noun – a phenomenon which is illustrated with the help of the descriptivist and the causal theories. Special attention is paid to blending as one of the most productive word-formation means in contemporary English in the light of conceptual blending theory, suggested by Gilles Fauconnier and Mark Turner.