Neologisms in Mass Media on Selected CNN TV Programs during Coronavirus Epidemic: A Morphological Analysis

This study aimed to investigate the neologisms used on selected CNN TV programs during the coronavirus epidemic. Adopting a descriptive method in analyzing the corpus of the study, we collected (286) neologisms. We analyzed them according to the types of word classes, their topics, and the morphological processes involved in forming these neologisms. The study revealed that 88 percent of the neologisms were nouns and the most prevalent morphological processes were compounding, affixation, and blending, respectively. The study also pointed out that 46 percent of the new words were medical neologisms. Findings revealed that the types of word classes and morphological processes abided by English word formation rules. Besides, all neologisms belonged to English open classes of words.