Cendikia : Media Jurnal Ilmiah Pendidikan
Vol 16 No 6 (2026): Education Science

Semantic shift of crisis neologisms in digital media: a sociolinguistic study

Mella Narolita (Politeknik Negeri Jakarta, Depok, Indonesia)



Article Info

Publish Date
31 Jul 2026

Abstract

This study provides a sociolinguistic analysis of how crisis neologisms reconfigure their meanings in response to structural societal stress. Utilizing a descriptive qualitative method and Geoffrey Leech’s framework of seven types of meaning, this research investigates five prominent terms: burnout, quiet quitting, job hugging, hustle culture, and underconsumption. By analyzing linguistic data extracted from the News on the Web (NOW) Corpus, this study offers empirical evidence of significant semantic migration across the entire sample set. The findings reveal that these neologisms do not remain static; rather, they shift beyond their original conceptual definitions into affective, collocative, and connotative realms to reflect modern pressures such as labor instability, mental health crises, and changing consumption patterns. This research contributes a novel framework for digital lexicography, offering practical applications for media analysts and communication experts to better identify, decode, and interpret the linguistic indicators of emergent societal tensions.

Copyrights © 2026






Journal Info

Abbrev

Cendikia

Publisher

Subject

Education Languange, Linguistic, Communication & Media Mathematics Other

Description

Cendikia : Media Jurnal Ilmiah Pendidikan is a high-quality open-access peer-reviewed research journal that is published by the Institute of Computer Science. Cendikia : Media Jurnal Ilmiah Pendidikan is providing a platform that welcomes and acknowledges high quality empirical original research ...