PANDEMIC AND POST-PANDEMIC NEOLOGISMS: CHANGES IN THE VOCABULARY OF ENGLISH AND UZBEK LANGUAGES

Abstract

This study provides a comparative sociolinguistic and structural analysis of lexical innovations generated within the English and Uzbek vocabulary systems during the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent post-pandemic era. Serving as a massive global catalyst, the pandemic demanded immediate linguistic adaptation to articulate unprecedented biological, socio-behavioral, and digital realities. By analyzing specific word-formation mechanisms – such as direct lexical borrowing, conceptual compounding, morphological blending, and neosemantization – this paper illustrates the distinct pathways of language evolution under crisis. The findings reveal that while English acted primarily as a global lingua franca and conceptual donor, the Uzbek language dynamically synthesized native structural elements with international loanwords to construct a highly localized, functional vocabulary system that continues to shape post-pandemic communication.