A Morphological Analysis of Sri Lankan English Neologisms in Youtube Content

Language evolves through neologisms in response to individuals' societal circumstances. This study intends to conduct a morphological analysis of the Sri Lankan English neologisms identifiable in selected Sri Lankan YouTube videos in English. In this mixed method study, the purpose was to identify the Sri Lankan English neologisms that are apparent in Sri Lankan YouTube videos in English and to identify what are the Sri Lankan English morphological processes that are frequently used in the formation of identified neologisms and how they help to enhance the Sri Lankanness of the content. Data was collected from a purposive sample of 100 Sri Lankan YouTube English videos selected from 4 Sri Lankan YouTube channels. A content analysis was conducted through which data was analyzed according to the morphological framework built based on the research findings of the scholars; Gunasekera (2005), Senaratne (2009), and Fernando (2012). The analysis yielded 88 Sri Lankan English neologisms, which were used to convey context-specific meanings. Borrowings, compounding, loan blending, and semantic change are the most frequently used Sri Lankan English morphological processes incorporated in creating new words while affixation, clipping, backformation, acronyms, and loan translations have less productivity in creating neologisms.