Game Word-Making: Morphological and Neosemantic Transformations (a Case Study of the French Language)

Abstract

This article is devoted to a special method of word formation in the French language – telescoping, a complex mechanism of truncation and fusion of which forms a monolithic structure of a new word. The authors analyze the factors under which extragrammatic processes act on the structural elements of the sign so that the phonology and semantics are implemented in the word according to their task, while for conventional units or units derived from coded languages (argo, verlan) the semantics is fixed and remains fixed in the original sign.

The relevance of this study is due to the steady scientific and social interest in occasional phraseology, the study claims that in addition to saving linguistic resources and gaining new mean- ing, the contaminated lexeme reveals an expressive message designed to have an emotional impact on the addressee. The study showed that the dynamic nature of the telescoping processes implies the penetration of the neological lexeme into various types of discourses such as colloquial, advertising and political, while linguistic creativity of the French media language offers new connotations both meliorative, approving and derogative, expressing irony or contempt. Such word combinations strengthen interactive contact flattering the readers language skills and enhancing the memorization of the transmitted message at the same time.