A morpho-semantic analysis of Mfantse neologisms in some radio stations in the Central Region

Abstract

This thesis sought to investigate the semantics and morphology of Mfantse neologisms, to highlight the most common word formation process used in their formation, the neologism type common in Mfantse and the meanings that are attributed to these neologisms since neologisms form a highly relevant linguistic category for such reasons as follows: they are the elements that make a language living and dynamic rather than dead, they are indicative of language change and they help to show productive morphology of a language. A thematic analysis of eighty Mfantse neologisms collected from four radio stations in the Central Region by the processes of psychology, lexicography and interview methods of neologism identification was done to Digitized by Sam Jonah Library © University of Cape Coastiv show the characteristics of such neologisms. Stekauer’s (2002) onomasiological theory of word formation formed the theoretical basis for the study. The study showed that compounds are the most common in Mfantse neologisms. The most common word class that neologisms belong to is the class of noun. Morphological neologisms are the neologism types common in Mfantse. It was also revealed that native speakers face comprehension problems. However, the context of usage of neologisms aids their comprehension. Given the important role neologisms play in language development, it is recommended that a further study on the acceptability of these neologisms be conducted to assist lexicographers to in updating their dictionaries.