Theme: Word Formation Processes and the Viability of the Words Created in Your Project
Length: 3-4 pages
Double Spaced
Standard Margin
You are now all experts on the words that you created for the New Word Project, but how do these compare to other words that have been created by other groups or even the new words that enter a language every year? Which words are likely to survive? Which words will fade away? As we learned in class on Monday, December 6, the words you voted as the best were: “fudgile,” (Pretend to work when you are goofing off), “D-hell’ (nickname for our dining hall because it is terrible), and “worked” (weekend full of doing homework) Why did these words resonate among the members of the class and with other members of the student body? What makes a word durable? Are the word-formation processes that you used productive ones for speakers in general? Does ease of understanding or ease of pronunciation affect the adoption of new words? What about factors such as prestige, solidarity, humor? Do they affect how people adopt new words? You won’t be able to answer all questions in your essay, so you’ll need to find a focus.
