Words are added to the English dictionary constantly, everyday, due to writers giving themselves freedom to capture their thoughts; thus, they take liberty in creating new words. This is due to the fact that the English language is the most spoken language in the world. As a common language used among humans, therefore it calls for users to make words to convey or reveal their meaning so as to express themselves evenly. Human beings do not live in the objective world alone, nor alone in the world of social activity as ordinarily understood, but are very much at the mercy of the particular language which has become the medium of expression for their society (as cited in Salzmann, 1993, p. 153). Thus, one can sense the importance why new words need to be created. This attitude easily gives English the advantage to have more lexicons than some other languages.
There are four different levels of linguistics, and these levels are: phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. The branch of phonology studies the language and the distinctive sounds, known as phonemes, embedded in them. On the one hand, morphology studies the internal composition of words and their word formation. The latter level of linguistics will be examined fully later on. On the other hand, syntax studies the structure of sentences and their constituents’ part. Furthermore, semantics examines the “meaning of meaning” (Michael Halliday). Examining these levels of linguistics by giving a brief definition of each is to lay a premise of what lexical innovation is. But before diving into lexical innovation, it is a prerequisite for one to examine the field of Morphology.
Therefore, as defined above that “morphology studies the internal composition of words and their word formation”, as result of this definition one should shift one’s focus to the aspect of word formation. As discussed earlier that there is a need for the call of all language users to create or make new words from existing ones so as to capture concepts, ideas, meaning they are trying to express. Therefore, one needs to know the various ways that users can create words. These ways or processes are known as word formation process. These processes are:
Borrowing: this is a process whereby new words are borrowed from other language. This act brings words straight from their root language to the other language to increase the latter's vocabulary. Some English words are formed from this process. Examples are the words: rendezvous from French language; piano from Spanish and so on.
Compounding: can be defined as the “joining of two separate words to produce a single form” (Yule 2010: 55). For instance we have words such as ‘blackboard’, ‘green house and so on. Each lexical item in the compound word can stand on its own. Examining the first word black bird, one will find out that the components, black and bird can stand individually. The word black suggests colour and it is an adjective. The word bird suggests a winged creature. Thus, one is able to depict what the object is.
Blending: this is the act of fusing two words together to make a new one. Example is the word brunch which is derived from two words “breakfast and lunch”.
Clipping: this is a form of shortening words into a syllable. For instance, one has the word “bra” which is derived from the word brassier.
Conversion: this is a act of converting a word’s word class to another word class. This is done through the adding of affixes so as to have a different word class.
Coinage: this is the act of creating new words or making new words out of existing ones. This is sometimes referred to as neologisms.
Other types are: acronyms, back formation and so on.
(George Yule, 1985)
These are the processes used in creating new word. Therefore, one needs to define the term “lexical innovation”. Therefore, one can define the term lexical innovation as the creation of new words or making new words out of old ones. This one can said to be the act of innovation.
Furthermore, one needs to clarify the notion of neologism so as not to have a mixed up of the terms “lexical innovations” and “neologism. Neologisms stand for innovation in every language. According to Oxford Dictionary of English (2003: 1179) a neologism is “a newly coined word or expression that may be in the process of entering common use, but has not yet been accepted into mainstream language.” Also, Peter Newmark defines neologisms as “newly cum lexical or existing units that acquire a new sense” (Newmark 1988: 140). One can therefore state two points that Neologism draws from:
The use of new words or the process by which new words are created
A new word, usually created from previously existing elements
Therefore, one can assign the point of lexical innovation to word formation processes or to neologism. Furthermore, one needs to know that neologisms generally draw on traditional word formation devices such as affixation and compound. This has been carefully explained above. Thus, one needs to examine the use of lexical innovations in adverts. Advertisements are usually written to draw people to a product or turn them into prospective buyers. It is eminent for one to note that language is the most important medium of conveying meaning and dissemination of information. It is in this regard that it is important for any adverts to also pay cognizance to the language use. Apart from paying attention to the language use, it is also important for one to pay attention to the audience that the adverts are addressing. The part of paying attention therefore propels them to study the audience. As Weir (1960, p. 26) says, “The heart and soul of advertising are, and, in many opinions, will remain the creation of effective communication between producer and customer.” Therefore, in conveying meaning the adverts writers need to focus on the audience and by doing so they need to pay subtle attention to language use.
In creating innovations in language, the advert writers take freedom in expressing themselves. This freedom is to give them various options in using words to create ideas, concepts and other scope of meaning. The advertisers have an ‘advertising license’ just as the poets have a “poetic license”. The commercial advertisers like artists play with language creatively modifying the natural order of structure and form. (Anisha Chugh, 2012: 158).
Leech (1966) has talked about different aspects of advertising, viz, grammar, vocabulary, discourse, rhyme, and rhetoric of advertising. Here, one can assert that these different aspects are usually employed by adverts writers. For instance, focusing on billboard adverts, one can maintain the notion that a simple billboard advertisement can become a success not through using catchy visual representations alone but also through the use of words that help to reveal the message that the billboards is meant to pass across. This therefore shows the importance of language in adverts.
Subsequently, one will focus on the grammatical levels adverts focus on when it comes to lexical innovations in adverts. The levels are: lexical deviation and syntactic deviation. These two capture the morphological level of word formation or neologism. They are discussed below.
Lexical Deviation: These are deviation that occurs at the lexical level. The lexical level focuses on the words, vocabulary, and morphemes of a language. Lexis is subject to innovation and experiment. Advertisements have rich and colourful vocabulary that is, use of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, neologisms, clipping, acronyms, blending, and so forth. For instance, we have the “broken words” which also comes under lexical deviation. These words refer to separating words into smaller units. Such a technique is often applied to create an unexpected effect upon the readers.
Syntactic Deviation: includes violations in syntactic arrangement which could be described as “bad” or “incorrect” grammar. Here, words are misarranged to form a unique syntactic sentence construction. In linguistics, this aspect is known as thematic ordering.
Aggregately one can affirm that the creation of new words or getting creative with words is very compulsory since adverts have to engage in act of persuading people to get what they sell or offer. In relation to this, adverts writers are to use language to persuade in a gentle manner by laying more emphasis on creativeness so as to draw people’s attention.
REFERENCE
Crystal, David (2001). Language and the Internet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Crystal, David (2004). A Glossary of Netspeak and Textspeak. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University
Press
Crystal, David (1995). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
Crystal, David, Derek Davy (1969). Investigating English Style. London: Longman.
Halliday, Michael A. K., and Martin, John R. (1993). Writing Science: Literary and Discursive Power. London & Washington DC: The Falmer Press.
OGDEN C. K. & A. I. RICHARDS (1923), The Meaning of Meaning, London: Understanding trendy neologisms. Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Plag I. Word-Formation in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
The Oxford Dictionary of New Words (1997). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Weiner, E S C. (1987). ’The New Oxford English Dictionary: Progress and Prospects’. In (Ed.) Richard W Bailey. pp. 30-48.
There are four different levels of linguistics, and these levels are: phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. The branch of phonology studies the language and the distinctive sounds, known as phonemes, embedded in them. On the one hand, morphology studies the internal composition of words and their word formation. The latter level of linguistics will be examined fully later on. On the other hand, syntax studies the structure of sentences and their constituents’ part. Furthermore, semantics examines the “meaning of meaning” (Michael Halliday). Examining these levels of linguistics by giving a brief definition of each is to lay a premise of what lexical innovation is. But before diving into lexical innovation, it is a prerequisite for one to examine the field of Morphology.
Therefore, as defined above that “morphology studies the internal composition of words and their word formation”, as result of this definition one should shift one’s focus to the aspect of word formation. As discussed earlier that there is a need for the call of all language users to create or make new words from existing ones so as to capture concepts, ideas, meaning they are trying to express. Therefore, one needs to know the various ways that users can create words. These ways or processes are known as word formation process. These processes are:
Borrowing: this is a process whereby new words are borrowed from other language. This act brings words straight from their root language to the other language to increase the latter's vocabulary. Some English words are formed from this process. Examples are the words: rendezvous from French language; piano from Spanish and so on.
Compounding: can be defined as the “joining of two separate words to produce a single form” (Yule 2010: 55). For instance we have words such as ‘blackboard’, ‘green house and so on. Each lexical item in the compound word can stand on its own. Examining the first word black bird, one will find out that the components, black and bird can stand individually. The word black suggests colour and it is an adjective. The word bird suggests a winged creature. Thus, one is able to depict what the object is.
Blending: this is the act of fusing two words together to make a new one. Example is the word brunch which is derived from two words “breakfast and lunch”.
Clipping: this is a form of shortening words into a syllable. For instance, one has the word “bra” which is derived from the word brassier.
Conversion: this is a act of converting a word’s word class to another word class. This is done through the adding of affixes so as to have a different word class.
Coinage: this is the act of creating new words or making new words out of existing ones. This is sometimes referred to as neologisms.
Other types are: acronyms, back formation and so on.
(George Yule, 1985)
These are the processes used in creating new word. Therefore, one needs to define the term “lexical innovation”. Therefore, one can define the term lexical innovation as the creation of new words or making new words out of old ones. This one can said to be the act of innovation.
Furthermore, one needs to clarify the notion of neologism so as not to have a mixed up of the terms “lexical innovations” and “neologism. Neologisms stand for innovation in every language. According to Oxford Dictionary of English (2003: 1179) a neologism is “a newly coined word or expression that may be in the process of entering common use, but has not yet been accepted into mainstream language.” Also, Peter Newmark defines neologisms as “newly cum lexical or existing units that acquire a new sense” (Newmark 1988: 140). One can therefore state two points that Neologism draws from:
The use of new words or the process by which new words are created
A new word, usually created from previously existing elements
Therefore, one can assign the point of lexical innovation to word formation processes or to neologism. Furthermore, one needs to know that neologisms generally draw on traditional word formation devices such as affixation and compound. This has been carefully explained above. Thus, one needs to examine the use of lexical innovations in adverts. Advertisements are usually written to draw people to a product or turn them into prospective buyers. It is eminent for one to note that language is the most important medium of conveying meaning and dissemination of information. It is in this regard that it is important for any adverts to also pay cognizance to the language use. Apart from paying attention to the language use, it is also important for one to pay attention to the audience that the adverts are addressing. The part of paying attention therefore propels them to study the audience. As Weir (1960, p. 26) says, “The heart and soul of advertising are, and, in many opinions, will remain the creation of effective communication between producer and customer.” Therefore, in conveying meaning the adverts writers need to focus on the audience and by doing so they need to pay subtle attention to language use.
In creating innovations in language, the advert writers take freedom in expressing themselves. This freedom is to give them various options in using words to create ideas, concepts and other scope of meaning. The advertisers have an ‘advertising license’ just as the poets have a “poetic license”. The commercial advertisers like artists play with language creatively modifying the natural order of structure and form. (Anisha Chugh, 2012: 158).
Leech (1966) has talked about different aspects of advertising, viz, grammar, vocabulary, discourse, rhyme, and rhetoric of advertising. Here, one can assert that these different aspects are usually employed by adverts writers. For instance, focusing on billboard adverts, one can maintain the notion that a simple billboard advertisement can become a success not through using catchy visual representations alone but also through the use of words that help to reveal the message that the billboards is meant to pass across. This therefore shows the importance of language in adverts.
Subsequently, one will focus on the grammatical levels adverts focus on when it comes to lexical innovations in adverts. The levels are: lexical deviation and syntactic deviation. These two capture the morphological level of word formation or neologism. They are discussed below.
Lexical Deviation: These are deviation that occurs at the lexical level. The lexical level focuses on the words, vocabulary, and morphemes of a language. Lexis is subject to innovation and experiment. Advertisements have rich and colourful vocabulary that is, use of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, neologisms, clipping, acronyms, blending, and so forth. For instance, we have the “broken words” which also comes under lexical deviation. These words refer to separating words into smaller units. Such a technique is often applied to create an unexpected effect upon the readers.
Syntactic Deviation: includes violations in syntactic arrangement which could be described as “bad” or “incorrect” grammar. Here, words are misarranged to form a unique syntactic sentence construction. In linguistics, this aspect is known as thematic ordering.
Aggregately one can affirm that the creation of new words or getting creative with words is very compulsory since adverts have to engage in act of persuading people to get what they sell or offer. In relation to this, adverts writers are to use language to persuade in a gentle manner by laying more emphasis on creativeness so as to draw people’s attention.
REFERENCE
Crystal, David (2001). Language and the Internet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Crystal, David (2004). A Glossary of Netspeak and Textspeak. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University
Press
Crystal, David (1995). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
Crystal, David, Derek Davy (1969). Investigating English Style. London: Longman.
Halliday, Michael A. K., and Martin, John R. (1993). Writing Science: Literary and Discursive Power. London & Washington DC: The Falmer Press.
OGDEN C. K. & A. I. RICHARDS (1923), The Meaning of Meaning, London: Understanding trendy neologisms. Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Plag I. Word-Formation in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
The Oxford Dictionary of New Words (1997). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Weiner, E S C. (1987). ’The New Oxford English Dictionary: Progress and Prospects’. In (Ed.) Richard W Bailey. pp. 30-48.
Oluwole, Taiwo Adebowale
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