Neologisms and nonce-word formations in English-language tweets

Abstract

This thesis investigated neologisms created on Twitter and their ways of formation. Such study is important in finding out the probable factors that influence the understanding of newly-coined words, especially in English language learners. Data encompasses a corpus of 826992 English-language tweets (‘English Tweet Stratified Random Sample’, 2012), and the lexical items collected were analyzed with the help of AntConc tool. The study considered qualitative and quantitative analyses. The findings from this research show that blending, conversion and semantic change are the most prominent word-formation types in Twitter. Mixed formations frequently occur, involving conversion as a key element. Such methods as conversion and semantic change, particularly when combined, affect the meaning of the word, creating a neologism that is difficult to decode. The end of the study suggests classroom activities for students. These exercises should train language learners to guess the meaning from the context and introduce morphological aspects of the language.