From Brexit to Veganuary, new words, or neologisms, play an important part in our language. Most of them are short-lived and quickly sink into obscurity but a few eventually become part of our vocabulary. So why do some words survive while others do not? What makes us, as speakers, decide on whether to use a new word? Join PhD student Sabrina Link as she discusses the factors which might influence a word’s success or failure, what makes a word attractive to speakers and what impact real-life changes have on our vocabulary.