On the 3rd of December 2015, the Institute for Catalan Studies and the Neology Observatory of Pompeu Fabra University, in collaboration with the programme La Tribu of Catalunya Ràdio, organised the second edition of the contest “El neologisme de l’any” in order to choose the Catalan neologism of 2015.
From the 21st of December to the 14th of January, it was chosen, through popular voting among the ten finalists, the neologism dron, which has been the favourite for the 28.9 % of the voters. The second finalist was the neologism cupaire (with the 26.7 % of the votes), which kept an almost total draw with dron until the voting last hours. Thus, dron and cupaire are, with a huge difference, the neologisms which represent the most the year 2015 according to the voters (some 1500 people).
A dron is a “Remote-controlled or programmed pilotless aircraft” (Source: Cercaterm) and has been one of the most gifted toys of these Christmas holidays. Though the Termcat initially admitted this English loanword without adapting it (drone), the decision has been revised and now the adapted form to the Catalan pronunciation dron has been proposed, as other languages such as Spanish and Italian have done.
Now the Philological Section must study whether the neologism dron can be included in the normative dictionary of the Institute for Catalan Studies just as the neologism of 2014, estelada.
Press release (CCMA): Campanya “La paraula nova del 2015”
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