NONCE WORDS MOTIVATED BY POLITICIANS’ PROPER NAMES IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE MEDIA DISCOURSE

Abstract

This article analyzes anthroponymically-motivated nonce words that emerge in English- language media discourse with politicians’ proper names. Nonce words are defined as “words for the occasion,” created for expressivity and evaluation, often through language play with the names and surnames of prominent public figures. Particular attention is given to the case of Donald Trump, whose surname has generated forms such as Trumpism (via suffixation, denoting an ideology) and Anti-Trump (via prefixation, signaling opposition), as well as branding derivatives including Trump- branded goods and Trump-mobile. These examples illustrate how a politician’s name may evolve into a media symbol, functioning simultaneously as a marker of ideological identity, a vehicle of satire, and a tool of commodification. The nickname Bibi for Benjamin Netanyahu (formed through clipping with reduplication) likewise demonstrates the role of anthroponymic wordplay in amplifying media criticism, particularly in the context of reporting on Gaza. A further example is the transformation of the acronym DOGE into DOGEY (through affixation and homophony with doggie), which parodies an institutional framework associated with Elon Musk. Overall, the article highlights a range of word-formation processes (suffixation, prefixation, blending, clipping, acronymization) and their ideological, satirical, and pragmatic functions. It concludes by emphasizing the impact of media discourse on contemporary language evolution and the ways in which such nonce words contribute to shaping public perceptions of political figures.