Роберт Барнхарт –
известный американский лексикограф, работающий в области неографии,
– планировал принять участие в конференции. К сожалению, в этот раз приехать в
Санкт-Петербург не позволило состояние его здоровья, но Р. Барнхарт и его супруга надеются наладить научно-творческие
контакты с российскими учеными. Публикуем присланное ими в адрес конференции
приветственное письмо.
A Greeting to the Conference on Neologisms
R. Barnhart, C. Barnhart
barnbuks@gmail.com; barnbuks@westnet.com
USA
It is with regret that I must send you greetings
instead of being with you myself. Mrs. Barnhart and I had looked forward to
discussing aspects of language development with members of your conference. Now
I can share only a few thoughts and my experience in a way far removed from
your presence.
We have seen our society cope anew with its internal
social problems, develop international political relations and prosper from
scientific achievements, technical advances and innovative business practices.
These phenomena and events generated a new vocabulary. A short list will serve
to refresh memories:
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blog samizdat apparachik peristroyka website
In my experience, the collecting of evidence showing
growth and change of language with as much accuracy as affordably possible is
difficult. It requires careful consideration of material and sound judgment
based upon the monitoring of publications of general circulation that reflect
actual popular usage. This body of material must be subject to measures of
frequency (number of occurrences), range (number of different publications),
duration (length of time occurring), and cruciality (importance of a term). When
properly measured, these factors tell us a great deal of relevant information
about a new word or phrase.
Clearly I have only begun to scratch the surface of
the subject of your conference, and I would very much like to share in your
experience. Perhaps some of you will have the time to write to me with
questions and comments. This happened to my benefit with Prof. Kabachki a few years
ago, when he pointed out that permafrost
is an English loan translation from Russian. Such information is of great
interest.
I look forward to corresponding with those of you who
will contact me and perhaps in the future I will be able to come to one of your
conferences.
Thank you once again for your invitation.
