348 | nº 31, pp. 341-360 | doxa.comunicación
July-December of 2020
The digital ecosystem during the COVID-19 Crisis: new normality and lockdown easing and lifting
ISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978
in which the freedom of speakers permits them to broaden their language corpus by recreating or creating new words and expressions depending on their needs, creativity and social environment. In this way, novel situations in the social environment of speakers produce creative speech acts.
In this study, the vocabulary employed during the public health crisis triggered by the COVID-19 disease is analysed from two perspectives: its formative origin and the semantic-pragmatic analysis of type-tokens, while taking into account the contexts of use. Firstly, considering the formative origin of this vocabulary it is possible to identify some common characteristics, which are shown in the following table:
Table 1. Common characteristics of the vocabulary relating to the COVID-19 disease disseminated on digital platforms
Common characteristics of the vocabulary relating to the COVID-19 disease disseminated on digital platforms
The majority are analogous euphemisms or inconsistent euphemistic expressions.
They are associated with a technical healthcare vocabulary.
They derive from instances of mathematical variables.
Due to their semic features, they allude to warlike situations.
They imply immediate optimism.
They are disseminated on a mass scale.
They have entered into the common vocabulary, regardless of whether or not the Real Academia Española (hereinafter RAE) –the Spanish cultural institution responsible for safeguarding the correct use of the Spanish language– has recognised them or whether or not they end up being lexicalised.
They display and denote an ideological bias towards an encouraging view of the pandemic’s denouement.
By and large, they imply improvement, progress, getting over something and freedom.
Their purpose is to convey a sensation of control to alleviate or counter an unpleasant and precarious situation.
Source: own elaboration
Although it is impossible to offer a comprehensive overview of the formative processes of new terminology due to the fact that, in this case, they are still ongoing and, therefore, necessarily incomplete, the aim of classifying them here is of an unassumingly preparatory and exploratory nature. At any rate, this study focuses on the most frequent processes, namely, those involved in the creation of euphemisms, analogies and language employed in the digital context:
