ENGLISH CONVERSION NEOLOGISMS IN THE MILITARY-POLITICAL SPHERE

Abstract

The article examines English neologisms formed through conversion in the military and political spheres. The study aims to identify the semantic, cognitive, and sociocultural factors underlying the emergence and development of conversion- based neologisms a nd to determine their role in reflecting changes in the conceptual worldview of English- speaking society. The research material comprises 358 conversion neologisms selected from dictionaries of new words and analysed within two chronological periods: the 1950s–1970s and the 2000s–2020s. The study employs semantic interpretation combined with elements of cognitive -discursive analysis. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between the meanings of the source nouns, adjectives, or compound bases and the meanings acquired by the converted verbs. The analysis demonstrates that conversion serves not only as a productive means of expanding the English lexicon but also as a mechanism for conceptualising and verbalising new social, political, economic, and military realities. The emergence of conversion neologisms is associated primarily with the need to name new phenomena, enhance expressiveness, and respond to significant sociopolitical and historicalchanges. The comparative analysis reveals a considerably higher frequency of military and political conversion neologisms in the 1950s–1970s than in the 2000s–2020s, with military vocabulary predominating in both periods.