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Published
01.05.2020
Section
Research Articles
How to Cite
Social Crisis and Lexical Innovation: The Context of the Covid-19 Crisis
Dr Arun Behera
Associate Professor of English, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Whitefield Campus, Bangaluru
Keywords: Social crises and language development, Covid pandemic, lexical innovation, linguistic creativity
Abstract
Language is dynamic and fluid – not rigid and constant. It keeps evolving and changing with time. And extraordinary times result in extraordinary innovations and inventions. In the context of the current COVID-19 spread, its users also invent and reinvent ways to use the language effectively to suit the needs of the hour. Throughout history, difficult times or changing scenarios have made people find new ways of expressing themselves. It is also true that such linguistic creativity manifests itself in times of serious social crises such as this. It would be an understatement if it is said that lexical innovation in relation to corona virus is unprecedented. An attempt has been made in this paper to examine how language changes or behaves during social crises like the covid19 pandemic.
References
Behera, Arun. 2012. World of portmanteau words. Chennai: Vijay Nicole Imprints Pvt. Ltd.
Carter, Ronald. 1999. “Common language: corpus, creativity and cognition.” International Journal of Stylistics. 8 (3). pp.195-216.
https://www.dictionary.com/e/s/new-wordswe-created-because-of-coronavirus/#1
https://www.kff.org/glossary/covid-19outbreak-glossary/
Lawson, Robert. 2020. “Coronavirus has led to an explosion of new words and phrases – and that helps us cope.” The Conversation.
