With technological developments escalating rapidly, the learning of new terms has arguably become a regular activity for most language users. Neologisms, defined as words or phrases new to the language, or “newly coined” words (Oed.com, n.d), are so commonplace and used so frequently it seems that we are often unaware of how, and even when exactly, these neologisms entered our language and personal vocabulary. In this essay I will discuss the influence that perpetual technological advancements are having on the English Language and how particular neologisms have entered our dictionaries and crept into our daily conversations.
The arrival of the vacuum cleaner in the 1900’s brought about a new lexical item that, most commonly in the United Kingdom, nicknames the vacuum cleaner- the ‘hoover’ (The Conversation, 2015). This neologism of its time was coined after The Hoover Company rose to success in sales of vacuum cleaners. Interestingly, The Hoover Company started out marketing in The United States and Canada and it wasn’t until the 90’s that The Hoover Company gained a second headquarters in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales for sales in the United Kingdom (Company-histories.com). ‘Hoover’ was acknowledged as the 68th most recognised brand name in the world in the mid 90’s (Company-histories.com) yet, these days ‘Hoover’ is less-commonly known as a company name, but rather the label used in most British households referring to the vacuum cleaner. Moreover, ‘Hoover’ has been involved in a process called Anthimeria (Literary Devices, 2019). Anthimeria is when a lexical item takes the form of a different word class to serve a different grammatical purpose (Literary Devices, 2019); for example, the verb ‘to sleep’ can also be used as a noun in the utterance “I need a sleep”. ‘Hoover’ has not only transitioned from a proper noun (the company name) to a common, concrete noun (label for the company’s product, and later the label for similar products by different manufacturers), but furthermore, to an established verb (used to refer to the use of such products, for example, “Have you hoovered today?”, “I am hoovering the stairs”, etc.)
Another, more modern-day example of this would be the ever-so-recurrent phrase “google it”. The internet search engine company ‘Google’ was established in 1998 and, similarly to ‘Hoover’, this company name underwent anthimeria and was officially recognised as a verb in 2006 (Heffernan, 2017). It was previously announced the American Dialect Society Word of the Year in 2002, and in 2009 was declared Word of the Decade (The Conversation, 2015). Another decade later and the verb phrase “google it” stands as arguably the most popular phrase to express the act of ‘searching the internet’- it even seems to have become an automatic response to many of our questions. ‘Google’ has been involved in a process called Semantic Broadening- more simply known as generalisation- when the limited definition of a word is broadened, but its original meaning remains (ThoughtCo, 2019). Differently to ‘Hoover’, though, the meaning of ‘Google’ has broadened since becoming a verb (and only in its verb form has this process occurred). Demonstrating the verb ‘to google’ does not have to involve the ‘Google’ search engine in particular; other search engines can be utilised for the act of ‘googling’ to be achieved (The Conversation, 2015). The existence of alternative search engines like ‘Bing’ and ‘Yahoo’ has not seemed to have affected the popularity and use of ‘Google’ as a general term for searching the internet. Instead, ‘Google’ in its verb form, has unwittingly adopted the many other alternative options and become the umbrella term covering all internet search mediums.
The original meaning of a word can almost completely diminish, take for instance ‘hello’. Before the invention of the telephone in the UK by Alexander Graham Bell and in Italy by Antonio Meucci (Smith, 2019), ‘hello’ was not used as a greeting. Instead ‘hello’ was an expression used to convey surprise or notice; drawing attention to something (Runaway Daydreamer, 2015). Maybe this could suggest an explanation for the old familiar depiction of Policemen exclaiming “hello hello hello”- possibly the expression of notice of a particular suspicious activity, rather than a friendly greeting. Nowadays, we are likely to vocalise our surprise or notice with the interjections “oh”, “whoa”, “wow” or similar.
Furthermore, not only is spoken discourse influenced by technological advancements, but the development of mobile phones has, and is influencing our written discourse. When text messaging first became a possibility, the use of initialisms and acronyms was the only sensible solution to overcoming limited text allowances (Oxford Royale Academy, 2016). The charge of each text message was relative to the amount of characters used in the message; acronyms like WACI (what a cool idea), 4COL (for crying out loud) and SWIS (see what I’m saying), and initialisms like GHM (God help me) and N2MJCHBU (not too much just chilling how 'bout you?) were used to express desired messages without having to use several words (Oxford Royale Academy, 2016). The capacity of an early mobile phone would have been considerably less than that of one nowadays, and texts would have had a character limit, this therefore provides another reason for such abbreviations. As technology has advanced and mobile phones improved in the way of capacity and storage, abbreviations were needed less and soon became more of a hindrance than a help in text message communication (Oxford Royale Academy, 2016). Many acronyms and initialisms were neglected as their need declined; however, some old acronyms are still being used over text and internet messaging (Kleinman, Z. 2010). For example, OMG and TMI are amongst popular written abbreviations, along with arguably newer additions like CBA (can’t be a***d) and FFS (for f***s sake). It is most likely, though, that these abbreviations are serving the purpose of trend-related slang amongst younger generations, rather than their original purpose relating to technological limitations.
There is no question when it comes to the effects of social media on language use. Neologisms like ‘selfie’ and ‘fleek’ (Oxford Royale Academy, 2016) were coined through social media platforms and have become part of many young people’s everyday vocabulary. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first noted use of ‘selfie’ was in 2002 on a forum post by a young Australian man. Since then, the term defined as “a photograph that one has taken of oneself, esp. one taken with a smartphone or webcam and shared via social media” (Oed.com, 2019) was announced 2013’s Word of the Year (Love, R. 2014). Manufacturers even created a product specifically for the purpose of taking selfies- ‘the selfie stick’, a device used to aid larger group selfies. The newly-awakened adjective ‘Fleek’ is a further example of how the development of social media has influenced our vocabulary. ‘Fleek’ was first defined in the Urban Dictionary in 2003 as “smooth, nice, sweet”, although it was not popularisesd until over a decade later in 2014 following a video posted on social media with the caption “eyebrows on fleek”( Overby, K. 2016). Another particular neologism first noted around 2007 describes members of the social network Twitter as “tweeps” (O Gorman, B. 2016). “Tweeps” is a blend word deriving from the proper noun “Twitter” and the colloquial, collective noun “peeps” (Merriam-webster.com, n.d.) but it is dropping out of usage. It is believed that the reason for its decline is that Twitter has become so popular- with over 300 million users- that we are all assumed to be “tweeps” unless stated otherwise (O Gorman, B. 2016). This noun has simply become unnecessary, therefore is being neglected.
Language undoubtedly reflects and fulfills the needs of it time, and one obvious reflection of changing times is the developments and advancements of technology. With technological innovations being achieved incessantly, it is necessary for new terms to be coined in order to refer to new phenomena. Not only do technological advancements provide our language with an ever-broadening vocabulary, but the fact that our means of connecting via online platforms are becoming increasingly accessible inevitably provides a channel for new slang and colloquial expressions to develop rapidly. “The fast changing world of social media is also responsible for the coining and spreading of new words” (Horobin, S. 2015). Language is constantly being customised to keep up with and facilitate our busy, multi-social lives.
References:
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Smith, C. (2019). Who invented the telephone? Alexander Graham Bell, Antonio Meucci, Elisha Gray and other pioneers. [online] BT.com. Available at: https://home.bt.com/news/bt-life/who-invented-the-telephone-bell-meucci-gray-reis-ericsson-cooper-11364256543584 [Accessed 2 May 2019].
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