Neologisms, Nonces and Word Formation

Abstract

Neologism dictionaries celebrate the influence of science and technology on language - how scientists and technologists add to the stock of words, and occasionally, add new grammatical structures. There are two claims made in the literature on neologisms: First, that borrowings, from classical languages and prestige languages are widespread in the science and technology literature. Second that affixation is an ephemeral mechanism for forming new words. Bold claims? Let us look at some of the evidence for and against these claims.

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