NEOLOGISMS IN THE CONTEXT OF GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE: SEMANTICS AND MECHANISMS OF CREATION

Abstract

The article is devoted to a comprehensive linguistic analysis of modern neolexics, which arose as a reaction to the global environmental challenges of the 21st century. The paper uses the method of continuous sampling of neologisms from the Cambridge English Dictionary. The process of formation of climatic lexical innovations, which reflect the transition of humanity from an era of stability to a period of climatic chaos, has been investigated. A thorough classification of lexical innovations has been carried out according to four content categories: CLIMATIC ANOMALIES, SOCIOPSYCHOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES, ECONOMIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES, CLIMATIC ADAPTATION AND RESISTANCE TO CHANGE. The CLIMATE ANOMALIES category examines terms that describe extreme natural phenomena and have been characterized by an increase in the emotional colouring of language, which is traced in the replacement of neutral terms with dramatic ones, and the use of metaphors. In the SOCIOPSYCHOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES category, words describing changes in the mental state of society and new everyday strategies have been analysed. The ECONOMIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL IMPACTS category explores the impact of ecology on the financial sector and migration processes. The CLIMATE ADAPTATION AND RESPONSE TO CHANGE category outlines vocabulary related to systemic solutions for humanity – from technological structures to new management positions. Examples of climatic neologisms have been presented. A semantic analysis of the features of selected lexical units and their interpretation in Ukrainian has been carried out. The reasons for the emergence of selected lexical innovations have been analysed. An analysis of the word formation mechanisms of the selected vocabulary has been performed, among which word compounding, telescoping, metaphorization, and affixation have been highlighted. The paper substantiates the importance of studying neologisms in the context of global climate change for tracking transformations in public consciousness, social behaviour, and technological consequences