The Application of New Words

李洪雙

Abstract：In the entire process of human social development， new wordsemergence and old words disappearance both have certain social backgrounds.There is a wide application in Culture. New words in languages to some extent summarizes the categories of thought which changes with cultureand values.

English new words are the cultural media of a society. New words new meaning shows us cultural changes.

1. It shows the openness of a society.

Since English language occurred， it has constantly absorbed words from other languages， even 85% words are foreign words. Absorbing foreign words shows openness of English-speaking countries. Today， English-speaking countries have millions of English words， but they still go on borrowing， from Japanese， like karoshi， karate； from French， like dujour； from Chinese， like Jiaozi， Dama， Kong fu， Mahjong. English has taken in words from Polish， Russian， Italian， Arabic， Spanish， and Afrikaans recent years. Those increasing foreign words enhance its expressive force and show the openness and the capacity of a society.

2. It shows the social psychology of seeking differences.

In using language， English-speaking countriespursue new style and interesting things， so many words of new concepts occur. Western developed countries are involved in a intensive market competition. Companies try to express their brands in an attractive way in order to build their brands， occupy market and causing a sensation. For example， “Microsoft” is the combination of “micro” and “software”， “twitter” is a bird call. The cosmetic brand “Glo &Ray;” sounds like “glory”， and another brand “Ponds” shows their advantage of moisturizing. An electrical equipment brand is called “Sharp”. “Pepsi” comes from Greek， which means “digestion”. A diaper brand “pampers” means “dote on your child”. A bath foam brand is called “Zest”， and another is called “safeguard”. A bicycle brand is called “Giant”. A beverage brand is called “Robust”. An oil brand is called “Mobile”. A watch brand is called “Swatch”， which means “second watch”. They are cases in point， showing the social psychology of seeking differences and cultural connotation.

3. It shows the social psychology of seeking elegance.

The spiritual civilization degree of English nation is relatively high. They continue to create elegant euphemism to express those words sound indecent， which reflects the elegance they pursue and the taboo they avoid. It is their social phenomena and cultural psychology. English new words appeared in a large number of occupational euphemism to people's status and work， imposing exaggerated titles on people.

People use “sanitation engineer” to express "cleaner" and use “chimney consultant” to refer to "chimney workers". “Household executive” means "housewives"， and “mortician” is "funeral workers." Females prefer to use “slender”， “slim” to replace “thin”. Americans use “plain” or “ordinary” to replace “ugly”. Now， the most popular expression of "pregnant" is “expecting” or “anticipating”. These gentle words reflect the people's social psychology of seeking elegance in the use of language in the civilized western society.

4. It shows the gender equality that people pursue.

In western society， the gap between women and men status is narrowing， which is sure to be reflected in the language. Language is the mirror which reflects the society. Changes in gender equality shows a changed social attitude—the respect for women， which influences the development of a language. More and more words ended with -man are replaced by -person. Salesperson replaced salesman， mail person replaced postman， firefighter replaced fireman， newcomer replaced freshman， businessperson replaced businessman. Some words which are used to describe men could be added a “woman”， such as woman lawyer， woman professor. Besides， pronoun is tend to be more neutral. In the past， people may use “he” to replace “a person” or “a child”， but now they use “he or she” to replace them. The appearance of neutral English words to some extent shows the values and thinking modes. Due to the change of the gender equality， the language follows it naturally and realized the developmental trend of neutralization. This trend is the concentration of minds liberation and modern values in language. Although it is showed by the pattern of language， it is rooted in social culture and pushes forward the social progress greatly.

Work Cited

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