DYNAMICS AND INNOVATIONS IN THE LEXICAL SYSTEM IN THE MEDIA REPRESENTATION OF COVID-19

VOL. 60, BOOK 1, PART А, 2022, pp. 470 – 484 Full text (Bg)

Author: Elitsa Topalova

Affiliation: St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Tarnovo

Abstract
The paper explores new words and meanings considered to be connected to the outbreak of COVID-19 and its subsequent spread. The object of research is the language of the online media, while the subject of research are new words (and neologisms) and (metaphorical) meanings. The examples are excerpted
from media texts on COVID-19, published in Bulgarian online media during the pandemic. The choice of online media as a source of the examples is motivated by the wider popularity of online media in comparison with the so-called traditional print media. The various examples presented in the article prove the potential of the coronavirus topic in terms of coining new words.

Key words: neologisms, new meanings, the online media, the coronavirus pandemic