Coining the Crisis: Neology and Word Formation in the Climate-Change Lexicon

Abstract

Climate change is a highly mediatized, interdisciplinary and internationally coordinated domain whose lexis is co-produced at the science-policy interface and then recontextualized in wider public discourse. Treating climate change as a non-prototypical specialized domain, this paper examines neology in contemporary English climate discourse and answers six questions: (1) which grammatical types predominate; (2) which word formation processes are most prevalent; (3) is innovation chiefly lexical or semantic; (4) which communicative functions do neologisms serve; (5) how does productivity vary across time and institutional settings; and (6) where does creativity concentrate. Empirically, the analysis draws on a bounded, replicable institutional corpus (Climate Neology Corpus-Institutional, 2015-2023; 217,132 word tokens). Results show a marked nominal bias: multiword nominal units and transparent compounds dominate institutional texts, while verbs are comparatively scarce and arise mainly through prefixation and conversion. Compounding and prefixation are the most productive and portable processes in the corpus; blending and other playful formations are marginal, surfacing primarily at the edges of institutional uptake. A functional typology links processes to discursive work: referential terms name emergent entities and processes; operational terms package metrics and governance; evaluative terms develop systematic semantic prosodies; and identity labels index actors and practices. The paper argues that hypostatized nouns facilitate coordination and accountability while risking the erasure of agency, and it concludes with guidance for terminologists, translators, and educators on monitoring semantic drift and favoring transparent formations.