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Philology. Theory & Practice
  • Original research article
  • August 29, 2025
  • Open access

Features of holophrastic structure formation in contemporary English

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Abstract

The paper is dedicated to the study of the formation of holophrastic constructions in contemporary English. The aim of the research is to identify the mechanisms of new lexical meaning formation in holophrastic structures during the process of holophrasis. The subject of our research is multi-component lexical units of a complex derivative type in the language of internet communication. By holophrastic structure, we mean multi-component lexical units constructed from word combinations or phrases based on semantic condensation. Models are distinguished by their generative base. In our study, we considered structures of the colloquial sphere of the English language created in the process of internet communication, recorded by dictionaries as newly coined words, and used in various functions within the sentence. The scientific novelty of the research lies in identifying word-formation holophrastic structures, classifying holophrases according to their generative base and function in the sentence, and determining semantic transformations during the process of holophrasis in the language of internet communication. The research findings showed that the formed unit possesses the meaning of a word combination or phrase in a “condensed” form and has a set of implicit meanings that are fully revealed when the complex is “unfolded”. However, the meaning of the new unit is not a simple sum of the meanings of the components of the generative base, although it is synonymous to them to varying degrees. Furthermore, such a unit may contain multi-level elements. These neo-derivatives can belong to various parts of speech and be used in various functions within the sentence.

Research materials

  1. Cambridge Dictionary. https://dictionary.cambridge.org
  2. Collins Dictionary. https://www.collinsdictionary.com
  3. Merriam-Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/
  4. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com
  5. Reverso. https://context.reverso.net
  6. Scribbr. https://www.scribbr.com/
  7. SME Bulletin. SME business news & features. https://www.smebulletin.com/
  8. Springer Nature Link. https://link.springer.com/
  9. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/
  10. The Coyote Country. https://coyotecountrylv.com/
  11. The Curbed. https://www.curbed.com/
  12. The Daily Star. https://www.thedailystar.net/
  13. The Esquire. https://www.esquire.com/
  14. The New York Post. https://nypost.com/
  15. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/
  16. The Variety. https://variety.com/
  17. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

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Author information

Maria Valerievna Spasova

PhD

Kuban State University, Krasnodar

Olga Gennadievna Savelieva

PhD

Kuban State University, Krasnodar

About this article

Publication history

  • Received: July 5, 2025.
  • Published: August 29, 2025.

Keywords

  • голофраза
  • голофразис, голофрастическая структура
  • семантическая конденсация
  • словообразовательные модели
  • лексико-семантические изменения
  • holophrase
  • holophrasis
  • holophrastic structure
  • semantic condensation
  • word-formation models
  • lexico-semantic changes

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© 2025 The Author(s)
© 2025 Gramota Publishing, LLC

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)