350 | 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

And as to ‘normality’, it is defined as the quality or condition of normal which, for its part, has the following definitions:

1. It pertains to that which is found in its natural state.

2. That which complies with certain pre-established rules.

Furthermore, it is also appropriate to highlight the definition of ‘to normalise’ in the dictionary, due to its closeness to the periphrasis ‘new normality’:

1. To regularise or to place in good order that which was not.

Referring to the search performed in the online version of the DLE (2014), ‘new’ is defined as:

2. adj. That which is perceived or experienced for the first time.

3. adj. Repeated or reiterated so as to renew it.

4. adj. Distinct or different from that which existed or was learned before.

5. adj. That which ensues or is added to something that existed before.

And ‘normal’ has the following definitions:

1. adj. Pertaining to a thing: that which is found in its natural state.

2. adj. Habitual or ordinary.

3. adj. That which serves as a norm or rule.

In light of the comparative analysis of the definitions appearing in the two consulted sources, the following can be concluded:

1) That ‘new’ diachronically maintains a meaning close to ‘experienced for the first time’, as opposed to ‘what existed before’.

2) That ‘normal’ diachronically maintains a character of regular normativity that is related to ‘the natural’, ‘the ordinary’.

These conclusions are useful for performing a pragmatic analysis on the periphrasis ‘new normality’, in which the following features stand out: