Media neologisms as a factor of communicative risks

The paper analyzes media word creation in the context of its risk potential. On the basis of the modern socio-political press materials the author shows that unmotivated use of expressive neologisms can negatively affect the communication process and reduce its effectiveness: word-building neologisms can complicate the perception of a media text, distort the meaning of the information message, cause negative emotions in the recipient, lead to violation of ethical and aesthetic norms, etc. The risk potential of occasionalisms is considered in connection with their inherent and adherent expressiveness. The inherent expressiveness is stipulated by the structural and semantic features of the occasional words. Adherent expressiveness is connected with functional and discursive factors. The study of media neologisms allows not only identifying and characterizing the structural and functional features of the occasional lexemes, but also giving their social and ethical evaluation. It is necessary to draw attention of the linguistic community to the problem of communication risk potential since the consequence of communication risks can result in social, professional, political, and cultural risks. The research materials contribute to the further study of media discourse, word-formation neology and communication theory. They can also be used in the development of special courses for students of higher educational institutions, specializing in Journalism and Philology.