Medical neologisms in the british mass media discourse

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Higher State Educational Establishment of Ukraine

Ukrainian medical stomatological academy

Lysanets Yu.V., Havrylieva K.H.

Лисанець Ю.В., Гаврильєва К.Г., Медичні неологізми в британському медійному дискурсі

У статті досліджено механізми неологізації у британському медійному дискурсі на матеріалі періодичних видань “The Guardian” та “The Daily Telegraph”. Розглянуто одну з найпродуктивніших моделей формування медичних неологізмів -- афіксацію за допомогою латинських та грецьких терміноелементів. Проаналізовано прагматичні інтенції та комунікативні стратегії використання авторами конкретних медичних суфіксів у процесі неологізації.

Ключові слова: засоби масової інформації, англомовний дискурс, медична термінологія, неологізми, афіксація, комунікативна стратегія

Лисанец Ю.В., Гаврильева К.Г., Медицинские неологизмы в британском медийном дискурсе

В статье исследованы механизмы неологизации в британском медийном дискурсе на материале периодических изданий “The Guardian” и “The Daily Telegraph”. Рассмотрена одна из самых продуктивных моделей формирования медицинских неологизмов -- аффиксация с помощью латинских и греческих терминоэлементов. Проанализированы прагматические интенции и коммуникативные стратегии использования авторами конкретных медицинских суффиксов в процессе неологизации.

Ключевые слова: средства массовой информации, англоязычный дискурс, медицинская терминология, неологизмы, аффиксация, коммуникативная стратегия.

Introduction

Modern languages constantly develop neologisms to name new objects, phenomena and processes, and therefore there is a need for their study and description. Neologism is a lexical unit which is deliberately introduced into a language as a means of expressing critical attitude or enhancing the literary style. Neologisms can fall into two categories: stable (which have gained common usage and are included into slang dictionaries) and unstable (which are proposed by individuals or are used in a limited subculture) [1]. Moreover, protologisms (from Greek protos, “first” + logos, “word”), i.e., “newly created words which have not yet gained any wide acceptance <...> before they may become current in writing or speech” [1] are defined as a separate subgroup within this classification. However, as soon as a protologism appears in published press or online, it is automatically transformed into a neologism. In other words, mass media is an important means for reflecting the up-tothe minute neological processes in a language.

Analysis of recent researches and publications

Medical neologisation in this research is considered as an integral part of medicalisation process, i.e., the spreading impact of medical terms upon the other, “non-medical” spheres of life [2; 12; 16]. The term “medicalisation” first appeared in Michel Foucault's The Birth of the Clinic (Naissance de la clinique, 1963), where the philosopher described “the dogmatic “medicalisation” of society, by way of a quasi-religious conversion, and the establishment of a therapeutic clergy” [6]. Irving Zola interprets medicalisation as the “process whereby more and more of everyday life has come under medical dominion, influence and supervision” [3]. According to Peter Conrad, medicalisation consists in defining behaviour or a problem in medical terms, “using medical language” and “adopting a medical framework” to describe and understand this problem, or to “treat” it [4]. Among the reasons for spread of “medicalised definitions” [7], researchers mention the improved quality of life, overall expansion of technical capabilities and dissemination of information in the communication space, increased interest in physicality, active study of medicine as a social institution [5]. The linguistic factors of medicalisation embrace the basic principles of modern languages development: expansionism, anthropocentrism, functionalism and explanatory nature [13].

Medicalisation in the British mass media discourse is observed at four linguistic levels: (1) at the level of morphemes: “And it's not just workaholism that marks contemporary life, it's hobbyaholism, activity-aholism and fun-aholism”; (2) at the level of lexical units: “Xenophobia can metastasize like cancer unless society is on guard against the pernicious tendency to view others as less than humans”; (3) at the level of phrases: “It is hardly surprising that we have begun to suffer from mass attention deficit disorder”; (4) at the level of sentences: “The economy is severely ill and needs an immediate dose of budget and tax proposals” [15].

As one can easily observe from the examples given above, medical neologisation in the British mass media discourse is most commonly observed at the level of morphemes combination. In particular, affixation, i.e., adding prefixes or suffixes to word stems, is one of the most productive ways for creating medical neologisms. Affixed medical neologisms are formed by using morphemes according to the word-building models which are wellestablished in the language system. For instance, andrologist (the doctor who deals with men's health, especially their reproductive system); rawism (raw food diet); on-call-ogist (the doctor who often works on calls); overprescription (prescription of excessive amounts of drugs) [14].

The aim of the research is to analyze the features and functions of medical neologisms in the British mass media discourse as exemplified by The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph. The research is relevant due to rapid development of the vocabulary of the English language and significant spread of medical neologisms which are used to denote the most crucial societal issues.

Results and their discussion

The analysis of The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph issues revealed the following productive word components of medical neologisms: “-itis” (“inflammation”); “-osis” (“a state of disease”; “destructive process”); “ectomy” (“excision”, “cutting out”) [11].

The affix “-itis” is used to criticize an overwhelming tendency or an annoying practice which becomes recurrent. Hence, the communicative strategy of skepticism expression is effectively implemented: “The world of the singer is much more afflicted by cancel-itis than any other area of classical music” (The Guardian, 2008); “Former press secretary reveals his warning to Tony Blair about “worldleader-itis” and his views on Cherie Blair's pendant” (The Guardian, 2011); “Referendum-itis: beware the soft options” (The Guardian, 2011); “It can take a few weeks for the muscle to repair itself and the pain and stiffness to subside, though for some the symptoms can persist for many years, resulting in chronic disability. There is no obvious explanation for this, as X-rays and MRI scans are normal, prompting the suggestion that this might be a form of accident neurosis or “compensation-itis”, for which the only cure is an injection of a large cheque into the victim's bank account” (The Daily Telegraph, 2013); “...the 2016 sample test for key stage 2 English grammar, punctuation and spelling <...> suffers from a severe case of terminology-itis” (The Guardian, 2015); “The only thing she's suffering with is a severe case of Bone-idle-itis" (The Daily Telegraph, 2015).

Occasionally, the “-itis” component is also used to describe an unusual condition of behaviour: “Friday-after-Thanksgiving-itis is a disease second only to the bubonic plague in its effects” (The Daily Telegraph, 2016); “Speaking at the New York Public Library as part of a series celebrating William Shakespeare, Mirren said she gets “Queen-itis” whenever she comes face to face with the monarch she famously portrayed in The Queen, the 2006 film. “It's a bit like when you meet a big movie star, and I also get a bit of movie star-itis," she explained. “And I get Queen-itis, what I call Queenitis, when I meet the queen. You're suddenly quite self-conscious about where your hands are and weird words come out of your mouth that you say, `I don't talk like that'” (The Daily Telegraph, 2016). medical neologization latin greek term

As the condition exacerbates, the affix “-osis” becomes relevant: “Children's fiction goes down with a plague of cliffhanger-osis. Young readers are being seriously short-changed by the fashion for breaking plots into separate volumes” (The Guardian, 2009); “With a fleet of thousands cars, a hundred permutations and scenarios quickly unfold, and it becomes a cesspool of administrosis” (The Daily Telegraph, 2009). The authors aspire to alert the readers, to focus their attention on the burning societal problems by means of “diagnosing” them.

Another widespread way to criticise the pernicious tendencies of the modern society is the use of affix “-ectomy”. Quite often, these medical neologisms denote the loss of something essential for mankind: “Facade-ectomy” -- there's a new word. And even if it's actually the opposite of what it means, it's a word that's been gaining some sort of currency recently. It describes the practice of retaining a building's historic facade, but building something new behind it (technically a “building-ectomy”) and it's the becoming the standard technique for replacing damp, crumbling old apartments or offices with glossy, lucrative new ones” (The Guardian, 2007); “Our greatest fear is the gradual emasculation known as a man-ectomy, where we lose all say on how we dress, what we eat, and who we see. It's most clearly seen when a man holds a woman's purse for her, leaving him manstrapped” (The Daily Telegraph, 2012); No “Compassion-ectomy” required <...> I think that pure journalistic neutrality is more suited to the college classroom than in the real world, although it does cause listeners, viewers and readers to wonder if we are forced to have a “compassion-ectomy” in order to do our jobs” (The Guardian, 2015). Furthermore, the following medical neologisms serve for manifestation of national interests and self-preservation of the nation: “America needs to safeguard its tradition of effective economic and cultural integration. But as my own immigration to the United States proceeds, I tend to worry much more about Europe. For Mexicans are not Moroccans. And the US has not yet suffered a Blunkett-style History-ectomy" (The Daily Telegraph, 2005); “Satirical wagsters Andy Zaltzman and John Oliver have never been more on the ball, pretending that they've farmed out the writing of their jokes to a 10-year-old Indonesian boy and pithily encapsulating Britain's collective amnesia regarding past foreign policy blunders with the coinage “history-ectomy” (The Daily Telegraph, 2005). By using these medical neologisms, journalists aspire to emphasize the unnatural, pathologic and traumatic character of the above-mentioned tendencies in the modern society.

Yet another widespread affix is “-aholic (-oholic), -aholism (-oholism)” (“addicted to something” or “addiction”, “overengaging”). This affix is relatively new: it was first abstracted from the word “alcoholic” in 1965 (“sugarholic”), followed by “foodoholic” (sic., 1965); “workaholic” (1968), “golfaholic” (1971), “chocoholic” (1971), “shopaholic” (1984) [8] and so on. The contemporary society is in a compulsive need for certain phenomena or processes. Hence, medical neologisms are used to reveal anddenounce these addictive agents: “No one but a dedicated pork-aholic would go to Cuba for the cuisine” (The Guardian, 2003); “No, I'm not a shopping person at all. But I am a shoe-aholic and a bagaholic" (The Guardian, 2007); “When I lost my mother, father and brother in quick succession, I tipped over from normal spending to spendaholism"

(The Guardian, 2010); “I'm a shoe-aholic, so I'd pick the Giuseppi Zanotti shoes for Christopher Kane's show, Ј765 (were Ј1,530), or the Laurence Dacade biker boots, Ј465” (The Daily Telegraph, 2010); “It always depresses me when people moan about how commercial Christmas is. I love everything about it. But then you're dealing with a complete Christmas-aholic" (The Daily Telegraph, 2010); “Confessions of an earring-oholic: With a pair of sufficiently ornate earrings a girl can do just about anything in life” (The Daily Telegraph, 2012); “Somewhere between the flourless chocolate gateau and the probiotic after-dinner tea, the divorceaholics always kick off” (The Daily Telegraph, 2013); “no business is immune from the lure of workaholism'' (The Guardian, 2015); “A selfconfessed “art-oholic”, he and his wife have forsaken holidays and a car to indulge their passion” (The Daily Telegraph, 2016).

Conclusions

The affixation way of neologisation is a productive source for enrichment of British mass media discourse. It involves the combination of root and affixal morphemes by using the standard wordformation models, rules and trends that exist in a language at present stage of its development. Medical neologisms are constantly being created and used to describe new phenomena of reality, new objects or concepts. These lexical units constitute an integral part of the medicalisation tendency which prevails in the modern English language. The most productive medical affixes in the British media discourse as exemplified by The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph are “-itis”, “-osis”, “-ectomy” and “aholic (-oholic), -aholism (-oholism). This list is by no means exhaustive it stipulates further development and elaboration. The abovementioned cases of neologisation effectively implement the following communicative strategies and pragmatic intentions: skepticism expression; alerting and attracting the readers' attention; revealing and denouncing the addictive phenomena and processes of the present-day world; manifestation of national interests and self-preservation of the nation. Moreover, the affixation way of neologisms formation provides the newly created words with a vivid stylistic shade. This allows the journalists to transfer their messages to readers immediately and effectively, thus serving as an important means of time and space saving.

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