LINGUISTIC AND TRANSLATION ASPECTS OF THE STUDY OF LEXICAL INNOVATIONS

Abstract

The article is devoted to a comprehensive analysis of lexical innovations in the English language. The article examines the peculiarities of the formation, functioning, and classification of new lexical units, in particular neologisms, occasionalisms, and neosemantisms that arise as a result of the development of digital technologies, the emergence of new professions, social phenomena, and communicative needs. It summarizes key scientific approaches to defining the nature of lexical innovations and analyzes the criteria for their identification, including denotative, temporal, structural, lexicographic, and subjective criteria. Particular attention is paid to the stages of formation of innovative vocabulary from its initial individual use to its widespread use, lexicalization, and consolidation in the vocabulary of the language. Particular emphasis is placed on neologisms as the most productive group of innovations that verbalize new social roles, professional niches, behavioral models, and personality characteristics. It is shown that such units often have culturally specific connotations that are difficult to reproduce in Ukrainian. The main difficulties in translating neologisms are analyzed, including the absence of equivalents, semantic ambiguity, contextual dependence, and pragmatic saturation. Based on empirical material, the most commonly used translation methods are identified: descriptive translation, functional analogue, calquing, transcription, semantic substitutions, and lexical-grammatical transformations. It has been proven that descriptive translation is dominant because it allows for the most accurate transmission of the meaning of units that have not yet undergone the process of normalization and remain poorly understood by native speakers of Ukrainian. The work emphasizes the importance of a systematic approach to learning new vocabulary and the need for further research into translation strategies that ensure adequate interlingual communication in the context of constant language system updates.