Beyond timelines: the challenges of combining theoretical premises and speakers’ insights about the assessment, validation and inclusion of Spanish neologisms in dictionaries

Abstract

Lexicographic exclusion filtering as a strategy to determine the suitability of neologisms to be included in dictionaries has proved to be insufficient. As a consequence, a methodology to rank neologisms in a more objective and quantitative way, based on their most distinctive features as new words is put forward here. In addition, the results of applying this methodology to a sample of more than 3,000 units compiled from Spanish newspapers over a specific time span (2009-2016) are contrasted along with the insights provided by a representative group of native speakers collected by means of a crowdsourcing strategy. By combining theoretical approaches and speakers’ insights, the validity of the suggested methodology is partially corroborated. Moreover, insights given by the speakers involved concerning their prescriptive conception of neology and its place within dictionaries are outlined.