Compound neologisms as used by young Malaysians on X and their classification

Abstract

Neologisms, which are newly coined words or phrases, are increasingly prevalent in contemporary language usage due to rapid technological changes. This linguistic phenomenon mirrors the rapid adoption of technology in various aspects of society. For instance, as reported by Wok and Mohamed (2017), 90% of the total population in Malaysia are reportedly users of various social media platforms. Understanding the structure and classification of compound neologisms is crucial for linguistic analysis, as it sheds light on the creative processes underlying language formation and evolution (Barrot, 2020). Hence, this paper aims to identify the compound neologisms created by young X users in Malaysia and determine how those words are classified based on the categories by Bisetto and Scalise (2005), who categorised compound words based on the relationship of the constituents and according to the presence or absence of the head word. The research method employed is content analysis where all the data were retrieved from the postings of 30 Malaysian X users from January to March 2023. The results show that compound neologisms are mostly exocentric. This contrasts with Bauer’s (2008) idea that most English compound words are endocentric. Furthermore, the newly created compound words are more likely to be under the category of subordinate type than the other two types, attributive and coordinate. There are also compound words that do not fit under any of the proposed categories. These compounds may combine elements in ways that defy easy categorisation. Many of these words are created in a new or innovative grammatical and semantic way that do not align with the traditional structures (Gruda, Haimovich & Sullivan, 2023). Moreover, certain compound neologisms have complex structures that involve multiple layers of meaning or relationships between the constituent parts. These compounds do not fit neatly into the simple existing categories. Despite encountering instances where compound neologisms challenge traditional categorisation, the findings underscore the ongoing evolution of language beyond conventional boundaries and also suggest promising avenues for future research.