IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON THE FORMATION OF ENGLISH ENVIRONMENTAL NEOLOGISMS 2020–2021

Abstract

The article identifies and describes the impact of climate change and its consequences on the behavior of both millennials and generation Z, who are concerned about environmental pollution and finding new ways to overcome it. These generations, characterized by the formed environmental consciousness, are actively influencing the emergence of new concepts that require nomination, understanding, systematization and classification in English. Therefore, the language is enriched with neologisms (words or phrases used and understood by native speakers in a certain period to denote a new or existing concept in a new meaning). Due to the development of ecology as a science in the late twentieth century a large number of lexical items and collocations have appeared in the language to denote concepts related to environmental change and overcoming it. In particular, such word-forming components as eco-, -free, bio-, green, -friendly became rather popular. The study examined 2020–2021environmental neologisms selected in the online Cambridge Dictionary. The article classifies them according to the following thematic groups: 1) environmental pollution (words and phrases denoting new forms of environmental pollution), 2) nature conservation and preservation (neologisms to denote new ways of protecting the environment), 3) reduction of carbon footprint (lexemes, which indicate a reasonable consumption of meat, clothing and energy), 4) adaptation to climate change (nominations that reflect current forms of society adaptation to climate change) and 5) introduction of green marketing (environmental neologisms to denote a) new ways of producing goods and growing crops, b) packaging and labeling of organic products, c) methods of selling green products, d) full or partial recycling of waste).