Morphosemantic Pathways of English Neologisms in Digital Culture: A Qualitative Lexicographic Study

This article examines how contemporary English lexical innovation emerges through word formation, semantic specialisation and social diffusion. A purposive set of ten expressions documented by Oxford University Press and Cambridge Dictionary in 2024–2025 is analysed using a qualitative morphosemantic framework. The comparison distinguishes formally new constructions from established forms acquiring renewed meanings or broader registers. Rage bait, delulu, brain rot, slop and parasocial illustrate contrasting pathways. The analysis relies on institutional documentation rather than an independently compiled usage corpus; no population-frequency claims are made.