Our team member Karolina Ryker has published a new paper “Lexical creativity in online music reviews: A corpus study of hyphenated neologistic compounds” in Półrocznik Językoznawczy Tertium. Tertium Linguistic Journal. The study focuses on neologisms used in Pitchfork album reviews. The neologisms subject to analysis are multi‑word units linked by hyphens and coined specifically for the review context, for example, all-proceeds-to-charity wine, the last-real-gangsta-standing attitude, and smartphone-sucking lives. The following research questions are addressed in the study: 1) What is the structure of hyphenated compounds in the corpus? 2) What parts of speech are the compounds used as? 3) What are the word formation patterns employed in the creation of neologistic compounds? According to the number of elements, 2-, 3-, 4-, and more than 4-element compounds can be distinguished, with two-element compounds being the most frequent in the corpus. They can be used as adjectives, nouns, verbs, and adverbs, with the majority of compounds functioning as adjectives. Analogy plays a pivotal role in the creation of these neologisms, as they are created based on already existing words or expressions. The neologisms carry a distinctly humorous, ironic, or sarcastic tone, helping reviewers convey their stance, mood, and personality as well as engage in ludic wordplay.
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