Neology in practice

The COST Action ‘European Network on Lexical Innovation’ (ENEOLI) has conducted a comprehensive survey in October-November 2024 regarding the methods, practices, tools, and resources used in the study and documentation of lexical innovations, including neologisms and novel senses. The 249 respondents from 50 countries represented linguists, lexicographers, terminologists, translators, software developers, and educators. Respondents could indicate more than one field of expertise, and 169 noted theirs as linguistics (70%), 107 lexicography (44%) and 105 terminology (43%). In this paper, we focus on the responses of those indicating their field of expertise as lexicography and/or terminology, and we analyzed their approaches to the identification and documentation of neologisms, the composition of project teams and the use of corpora and digital tools. Special attention is given to training pathways and professional needs, offering insights into the evolving skills required in the field of lexical innovation.