metawords in medical discourse

7/30/2019 Metawords in Medical Discourse

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June 2011, Volume 8, No. 6 (Serial No. 79), pp.

Journal of US-China Medical Science, ISSN 1548-6648, USA

Metawords in Medical Discourse

Ivaylo Dagnev

Department of Comprehensive Studies and Foreign Language Teaching, Medical College, Medical University, Plovdiv, Bulgaria

Abstract: Background: The aim of this article is to provide insights into the meaning of key words referring to medicinal states.

Methods: The methodology employs semantic analysis as a means of research into the semantic features of the words at lexical

level. It seems that although the proposed words belong largely to one semantic field, an adequate categorization is difficult to

achieve. The notions of belonging exclusively to the medical discourse, causality, duration and others form the underpinnings of the

suggested classification. Conclusion: Both on an abstract plane and on the basis of usage, notable differences can be discerned,

bearing in mind the semantic relationships which underlie each concept respectively.

Key words: Medical discourse, metawords, causality, duration, relationships, state oh health, symptoms, disease, illness, disorder.

1. Introduction

Medical discourse, defined by Wilce [1] as

discourse in and about healing, curing, or therapy,

including expressions of suffering and relevant

language ideologies, operates through a number of

key words referring to health-related concepts. The

words under scrutiny in this article are often used to

denote concepts of health abnormalities. Depending

on the research approach, various classifications can

be formulated but it should not be forgotten that it is

the actual representations of these lexical items that

really count in the words of J. Lyons [2]. What is

more, as J. Leech [3] states, lexical items can never be

effectively studied on one level only, so that this fact

further compounds the process of analysis. One way

to delve into the semantic intricacies of the above-

mentioned lexical items involves exploiting the

method of semantic features representation. Ascribingsemantic relationships to these words makes it

possible to define their meanings and actual

representations in utterances. Analysing the

abovementioned terms in view of conceptual meaning

can furnish us with some insights into their subtleties

of meaning. CAUSALITY, RELATIONSHIPS,

STATE OF HEALTH, ascribe meaning to words such

as disease, while EXPERIENCE, PART-WHOLE,

relate to illness, etc. Field of discourse and medium, as

Quirk et al [1] point out, are also relevant in terms of

the actual representations of the words being

discourse-dependent.

I have also presented the relative force of the

metawords in terms of key concepts relating to both

the medicinal and non-medicinal domains,

respectively [7]. I should underline that the lack of aPLUS in the table 1 does not indicate complete

absence from the respective category but relative

weakness of force in comparison to other categories.

Also, terms which are not directly related to academic

field of discourse, are none-the-worse included

implicitly in the denotational system, so there is left-

to-right directionality of potential meaning.

I have tried to define the concepts in the light of

denotation/connotation analysis and accordingly

abstract (truth-conditional) and experiential basis. The

table 1 also reflects this idea but it should be noted

that the concepts provide an ad hoc division and the

meanings of the proposed metawords should be

viewed in a continuum, from complex network of

causality relationships to analog meanings outside of

the medical domain.Correspondence author: Ivaylo Dagnev, MA, lecturer,research fields: methodology of ESP, semantic networks,cognitive linguistics, text analysis. E-mail: [email protected].


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Table 1. Relationships of metawords in the medical discourse

Words State of health,causality

State of health,experience

Degrees of experience Experience,outside medical

discourse

Disease + + + +

Disorder + + + +

Medical Condition + +

Morbidity + +

Incidence + +

Prevalence + +

Syndrome + + + +

Failure + +

Distemper +

Sickness + + +

Illness +

Ailment

Malady + +

Indisposition +

Infirmity + +

Affliction + +

Unsoundness + +

Unhealthiness + +

2. Defining the Concepts: State of Health,

Causality, Relationships

We can view the concepts disease, disorder,

medical condition, morbidity, incidence, prevalence,

syndrome, and failure in terms of CAUSALITY,

GENERAL HEALTH CONDITION, relation to

SYMPTOMS, and RATIO. Thus, disease can be

defined as an abnormal condition of an organism that

impairs bodily functions, associated with specific

symptoms and signs. It is often used more broadly to

refer to any condition that causes pain, dysfunction,

distress, social problems, and/or death to the person

afflicted. In terms of field of discourse, disease

pertains to the scholarly domain, as it also refers to the

progress of ones condition of health, signs relating to

causes, diagnosis, etc.

Ex: The diseases of the kidneys are on the increase.

The relationship between unhealthy eating and the

development of disease is undeniable.

Disease [6] has only one polysemy count, no

antonyms (if we do not take into consideration the

word health), which brings it closer to the concept of

term - a lexical unit consisting of one or more than

one word which represents a concept inside a domain

as defined by Besse, Nkwenti-Azeh & Sager [4].

A medical condition is a broad term that includes

all diseases and disorders, but also encompasses

injuries and normal health situations, such as

pregnancy, that might affect a person's health, benefit

from medical assistance, or have implications for

medical treatments. It is a more scholarly oriented inview of usage, hence its presence in the academic

discourse.

Ex: Law enforcement sources tell the murderers

medical condition was purely psychological and that

he was in peril of having a nervous break down

Disorderis a functional abnormality or disturbance

which can be categorized into mental disorders,

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physical disorders, genetic disorders, emotional and

behavioral disorders, and functional disorders. The

word does not function exclusively in the medical

discourse, although its synonyms enter into similar

paradigmatic relationships.

Ex: Anorexia nervosa, commonly referred to simply

as anorexia, is one type of eating disorder.

Much like disorder, failure can be categorized into

coronary failure, left ventricular failure, etc.

Likewise, the term enters into many collocations and

refers to the inability to perform or to function

properly.

Morbidity applies to a diseased state, disability, or

poor health due to any cause. The term may be used to

refer to the existence of any form of disease, or to the

degree that the health condition affects the patient. It

is also used to referring to the proportion of sickness

or of a specific disease in a geographical locality.

Ex: The study concludes that further research

should focus on understanding the impact of delays in

diagnosis on morbidity and

Incidence is a hyponym of morbidity as it also

represents ratio but underlies the number of newlydiagnosed cases during a specific time period. The

notion ofincidence is distinct from prevalence which

refers to the number of cases alive on a certain date.

In medicine and psychology,syndrome refers to the

association of several clinically recognizable features,

signs (observed by a physician), symptoms (reported

by the patient), phenomena or characteristics that

often occur together. While disease, disorder and

medical condition are value-neutral in terms of

pragmatics and functional perspective, syndrome is

more oriented towards the process of medical

treatment and doctor-patient relationship.

Distemper involves a derangement of the health;

mental derangement or perturbation. The word is

mostly applied to the morbid state of the animal

system. For example, canine distemper is an

infectious viral disease occurring in dogs.

Ex: We call it a strong mental distemper. Our dog

suffered from distemper (a very serious viral disease).

3. State of Health, Experience

Illness and sickness stand the middle ground in that

they are also abstract nouns used in the medical

discourse, but are connected more or less with the

experience of being ill or sick. Illness is occasionally

used to refer specifically to the patient's personal

experience of his or her disease.

Ex: From the flu to nosebleeds to broken bones,

we've got you covered from head to toe with tons of

info about common illnesses and injuries.

In this model [8], it is possible for a person to bediseased without being ill, (to have an objectively

definable, but asymptomatic, medical condition), and

to be ill without being diseased (such as when a

person perceives a normal experience as a medical

condition, or medicalizes a non-disease situation in his

or her life). Illness is also often a collection of evolved

responses. The adjective ill which is the root

morpheme of illness also enter into numerous

phraseological units, directly or indirectly relating to

medical states: to be ill, ill-disposed, ill-at ease, etc.

Illness is also used to indicate occupational disorders:

industrial illness, but occupational disease

Sickness denotes a pathological condition of mind

or body; the condition of being sick; like illness it is

more oriented to the symptoms, to the actual

experience.

Ex: These symptoms could also be due do more

serious sicknesses, so you might want to consult a vet.

Sickness is derivative of sick, which has meaningoutside the medical context, although pertaining to the

same semantic domain: be sick of, on sick leave,

etc.B. Textural Scars:

4. Experience, Acuteness, Permanence,

Strength, Age

Ailment, malady, indisposition, infirmity,

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unsoundness, unhealthiness also belong to the medical

domain but are more oriented towards the feeling of

being ill. Most of these words are related to the

strength or permanence of the condition or are

localized in terms of bodily perception, thus

representing the relationship PART-WHOLE. Ailment

is a bodily infirmity, more often appled to chronic

than to acute diseases. It applies to mental uneasiness,

to disorders that are not voilent.

Ex: No, you cant call thiss cold in the head

malady. It is simply a slight ailment and will be over

in a day or two.

Malady is a physical or mental disorder of any kind,

especially a lingering and deep-seated one. It refersmore to the suffering than to the state of the body.

Ex: Work in the open is the cure for most of the

maladies of man (sufferings).

Indisposition is a minor illness, especially one of a

temporary nature; the state of not being disposed or

inclined; the condition of being sick.

Ex: She was back in her place at Raggett Street

after a temporary indisposition.

There was a general Aramaic indisposition to

literary composition at the time in question.

Infirmity is a physical weakness or defect; frailty or

ailment, as from old age; a moral weakness; defect.

Ex: Thirst, hunger and weariness are natural to the

flesh, not infirmities of the flesh.

Affliction is a condition of pain, suffering, or

distress, something responsible for physical or mental

suffering, such as a disease, grief, etc.

Ex: Our merit and progress consist not in many

pleasures and comforts but rather in enduring greatafflictions and sufferings.

Unsoundness means being not mentally or

physically healthy; "no one can be a poet without a

certain unsoundness of mind; a condition of damage

or decay; a misconception that is fallacious and not

true or valid. In this sense, the concept oversteps the

boundaries of medical discourse and has general truth

values.

Unhealthiness relates to being in a state of ill-

health; sick, or characterized by or symptomatic of ill-

health: an unhealthy pallor. Causing or conducive to

poor health; unwholesome: an unhealthy diet.

5. Conclusion

Although the presented analysis by no means

exhausts the innumerable semantic aspects of the

words in question, it serves its purpose of gaining an

insight into the matter. Having in mind, though, the

multiplicity of relations and levels the notions work at,we can nevertheless conclude, that in general, the

terms in question fall into two major groups. The first

one is more oriented towards the analysis of the

problematic area in this specific field of discourse, or

the diagnosis, as it is more abstract and denotative,

while the second deals mostly with the process of a

certain condition, and is more connotative, thus

referring to the course of therapy.

References

[1] Wilce J., Medical Discourse, Annual Review of

Anthropology, October 2009, Vol. 38, Pages 199-215.

[2] Lyons J., Linguistic Semantics: An introduction.

Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1995.

[3] Leech J., Semantics, Penguin, Harmondsworth,1974.

[4] Quirk R., Greenbaum S., Leech G., Svartvik J - A

Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, UK,

Longman Group Limited, 1985.

[5] Besse, Nkwenti-Azeh & Sager 1997, "GLOSSARY OF

TERMS USED IN TERMINOLOGY", Terminology

(4)1, p 117-156.

[6] Krusteva, E., Trenev, B, Iliev, Ts. English Synonyms.

St.Kliment Ohridski University Press, Sofia, 1995.

[7] . .

. :

. , 2005.

[8] Dokova A, Trendafilova S., English for Medical

Purposes, Varna, 1999.

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metawords in medical discourse

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