The Problem of Term Selection for a Dictionary of Neologisms (Based on the Material of Contemporary Periodical Popular Science Publications)

A number of today’s neography problems related to selection of new terminological lexis into neological dictionaries are described in the article. First, the nature of the sources involved in the material search is determined. As the discourse of popular science is a stage in the formation of the average meaning of terminological lexis and the most sustained and long-lasting area of functioning after a special discourse, in order to obtain vocabulary for neological dictionaries, the author recommends tracking terminology units in popular science publications and articles on scientific and technical achievements in the resources targeted to the average addressee. Second, the main criterion for the selection of neologisms-the “time of first fixation”-is insufficient in relation to terminological innovation. Due to the diffusion of the boundary between common and special areas, during the work on the vocabulary for neological dictionaries, it is necessary to exclude from consideration accidental occurrences of terminological lexis in mass sources as special cases of terminological “noise”. This is why the frequency of occurrences of terminological lexis should be monitored when compiling dictionaries that record long-term changes (ten, thirty years) in lexis and dictionaries that cover one-year periods, and low-frequency cases should not be included in the vocabulary. Therefore, the main condition for the inclusion of terminological lexis in a dictionary of neologisms should be the moment of the activation of its uses in popular science discourse in texts of mass publications. Special lexis introduced into a new functional environment, common language, is regularly accompanied by discourse indicators: the neoterm is surrounded with words denoting novelty; translation, definition, synonymous substitution, explanation, reference to analogy, comparison, list of properties, decoding of new abbreviations, enclosing the neoterm in quotation marks, its accompanying with the collocation tak nazyvaemyy (so-called). Such markers draw attention to the novelty of the notion and offer its proper interpretation. From the moment of its introduction into non-special texts, the term functions both in professional or scientific discourse as a precise term and in common language as a general idea of the term, which indicates that the term’s determinologisation begins. The research has also shown a significant heterogeneity of the terms. Terms of the beginning of the 21st century are discrete in composition: but for Russian-language terms (hoverbayk [hov-erbike], gorod-gubka [sponge-city]), nominations in the source language (Big Data, NISQ) and word-formation components in foreign language (Bitcoin-koshelek [Bitcoin-wallet]) function in texts.

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