The study on term formation presented in this paper is related to the problem of determining the function of neologisms in scientific communication and to the issue of processing the concomitant variation, typical of such new denominations. Our analysis of scientific texts shows that neologisms can have quite a different role in scientific communication than they are generally credited with in terminological studies. The well-known referential role, consisting of the creation of a new designation for naming a new concept is overshadowed in scientific texts by a more rhetorical role. Here the scientist resorts consciously to variation, hence creating a “neology effect”, specifically for the reason of emphasising various novel aspects of his thought. This function of neology as a rhetorical device is generally glossed over in terminology studies, in much the same way as the analysis of variation used to be, due to the expected stability that neologism should eventually gain in line with well-established terms. Consequently, in this article, we try to place the phenomenon of neology within the framework of discourse analysis.
2018. Análisis de la función cognitiva de la variación denominativa en la Lexicografía brasileña: patrones conceptuales de variación y distancia semántica entre las variantes1. Meta 63:2 ► pp. 467 ff.
Joan Casademont, Anna
2018. Variation dénominative avec conséquences cognitives : quelques exemples détectés autour de « musée ». Meta 63:2 ► pp. 444 ff.
2019. The Cognitive and Communicative Functions of Term Variation in Research Articles: A Comparative Study in Psychology and Geology. Applied Linguistics 40:4 ► pp. 624 ff.
Pecman, Mojca
2014. Variation as a cognitive device. Terminology. International Journal of Theoretical and Applied Issues in Specialized Communication 20:1 ► pp. 1 ff.
Bordet, Geneviève
2013. The Rhetorical Role of ‘Collocational Chains’ and their Implications in the Building of Scientific Discourse Strategies. European Journal of English Studies 17:3 ► pp. 235 ff.
2024. References. In Popularizing Science, ► pp. 171 ff.
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