Le futur en mots : néologie écofictionnelle et fabriques d’imaginaires écologiques dans les discours prospectifs contemporains

This contribution examines the role of neologisms in the discursive construction of future imaginaries within contemporary ecofictional and foresight narratives. Building on the theoretical framework of Futures Studies and interdisciplinary research in environmental neology, the study investigates how lexical creativity contributes to the reconfiguration of the relationships between language, society, and ecology. The analysis draws on two corpora : the magazine Usbek & Rica and the participatory editorial platform Ateliers des Futurs, both conceived as spaces of lexical experimentation where ecological neologisms are coined and circulated. Using Sablayrolles’s (2019) lexicogenic model, the study examines the morphological, semantic, and functional structures of these lexical creations, highlighting their performative dimension. Far from being mere stylistic innovations, these neologisms generate cognitive and affective effects that make the unprecedented nameable, render new world configurations conceivable, and foster future literacy. The ecofictional neologism thus emerges as a key discursive and heuristic device for understanding how language contributes to the collective elaboration of possible futures within a context marked by ecological crisis and global uncertainty.