Ways of forming neologisms

Neologisms can be classified according to the ways they are formed. They are subdivided into: phonological neologisms, borrowings, semantic neologisms and syntactical neologisms. Syntactical neologisms are divided into morphological (word-building) and phraseological (forming word-groups).

Phonological neologisms are formed by combining unique combinations of sounds, they are called artificial, e.g. rah-rah (a short skirt which is worn by girls during parades, because girls repeat in chorus rah-rah: when they are marching.

Strong neologisms include also phonetic borrowings, such as perestroika (Russian), solidarnosc (Polish) etc.

Morphological and phraseological neologisms are usually built on patterns existing in the language, therefore they do not belong to the group of strong neologisms.

Among morphological neologisms there are a lot of compound words of different types, such as free-fall (різке падіння курсу акцій), bioastronomy (search for life on other planets,) x-rated (about films terribly vulgar and cruel), Amerenglish (American English).

Among neologisms there are a lot of compound nouns of different types. Most of them are of neutral type that consists of two stems without any joining element, e.g. moonlight - політ на Луну, ringway – кільцева дорога, sheepskin – дубленка, shelflife – термін зберігання etc.