In
linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
, a protologism is a newly used or coined
word
A word is a basic element of language that carries semantics, meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no consensus among linguist ...
, a
nonce word
In linguistics, a nonce word—also called an occasionalism—is any word (lexeme), or any sequence of sounds or letters, created for a single occasion or utterance but not otherwise understood or recognized as a word in a given languag ...
, that has been repeated but has not gained acceptance beyond its original users or been published independently of the coiners. The word may be proposed, may be extremely new, or may be established only within a very limited group of people.
A protologism becomes a ''
neologism
In linguistics, a neologism (; also known as a coinage) is any newly formed word, term, or phrase that has achieved popular or institutional recognition and is becoming accepted into mainstream language. Most definitively, a word can be considered ...
'' as soon as it appears in published press, on a website, or in a book, independently of the coiner—though, most definitively, in a dictionary. A word whose developmental stage is between that of a protologism (freshly coined) and a neologism (a new word) is a ''prelogism''.
Overview
Protologisms constitute one stage in the development of neologisms. A protologism is coined to fill a gap in the language, with the hope of its becoming an accepted word. As an example, when the word ''protologism'' itself was coined—in 2003 by the American
literary theorist Mikhail Epstein—it was
autological: an example of the thing it describes.
About the concept and his name for it, Epstein wrote:
According to Epstein, every word in use started out as a protologism, subsequently became a neologism, and then gradually grew to be part of the language.
There is no fixed rule determining when a protologism becomes a stable neologism, and according to Kerry Maxwell, author of ''Brave New Words'':
In science
It has been suggested ''protologisms'' are needed in scientific fields, particularly in the
life science
Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, organisation, metabolism, growth, adaptation, respon ...
s, where very complex interactions between partially understood components produce higher order phenomena. Nevertheless, until the unappreciated concept in question has been thoroughly investigated and shown to be a real phenomenon, it is improbable that the term would be used by anyone other than its creator and achieve the status of ''neologism''.
See also
* ''
Hapax legomenon
In corpus linguistics, a ''hapax legomenon'' ( also or ; ''hapax legomena''; sometimes abbreviated to ''hapax'', plural ''hapaxes'') is a word or an Fixed expression, expression that occurs only once within a context: either in the written re ...
'', a word occurring only once in a given context, such as in the works of a particular author
*
Neologism
In linguistics, a neologism (; also known as a coinage) is any newly formed word, term, or phrase that has achieved popular or institutional recognition and is becoming accepted into mainstream language. Most definitively, a word can be considered ...
, a relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but that has not yet been fully accepted into mainstream language.
*
Nonce word
In linguistics, a nonce word—also called an occasionalism—is any word (lexeme), or any sequence of sounds or letters, created for a single occasion or utterance but not otherwise understood or recognized as a word in a given languag ...
, a word created for a single occasion
*
Sniglet, a humorous word made up to describe something for which no dictionary word exists
Notes
References
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Further reading
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External links
List of protologisms
List of protologisms by topic
{{Use dmy dates, date=September 2020
2000s neologisms
Lexicology
Terminology
Linguistic theories and hypotheses
Literary theory
Linguistic morphology