Abstract: Neologisms refer to the words created to express new things, new concepts and new ideas in written and oral communication. Since the 1980s, the world has entered into an information age with its science and technology developing rapidly at an unprecedented speed. Great changes are appearing in political, economic and cultural fields etc. This essay applies comparative approach and sociolinguistics theory to analyze new words in English and Chinese, makes a brief probe into the similarity in social and cultural features of English and Chinese neologisms. This essay also aims to ensure the foreign language learners to have a clear understand of the culture of the language, to know different expressions of neologisms in English and Chinese, to understand the cultural integration of English and Chinese in the 21st century.
Key words: neologism, comparative study, cultural features
摘要: 新词是指为了反映新事物、新概念、新思维等而出现在书面语及口语中，表义明确、利于交际的词汇。二十世纪八十年代以来，世界进入信息时代，科学技术以前所未有的速度向前发展，世界政治、经济、文化等领域发生了巨大变化。本文运用比较语言学和社会语言学理论对中英文中出现的新词进行归纳分析，探讨中英文新词的共同社会文化特征，同时加深对英语与汉语的认识，进一步了解语言的发展规律。通过比较分析英汉新词，使外语学习者加深对语言文化的认识，了解英语和汉语新词不同的表达方式，加深对新世纪文化大融合的理解。
关键词: 新词，比较分析，文化特征
