Determinologization as One of the Means of Enriching the Language Lexis

Abstract

From the linguistic point of view, it is of special interest to observe the process of migration of a lexical unit from the literary language to the special terminological branch and vice versa. Such processes are characteristic of any scientific branch, as lexis is the most dynamic part of a language. In such cases, some semantic shifts can be observed in the lexis of the language, namely, the lexical meaning of the lexical units becomes broader or narrower. Sometimes the meaning can change metaphorically.

The process of the above-mentioned determinologization is also characteristic of medical terminology in the Georgian language, resulting in transferring the special terminology into literary language, through the mass media or literary texts. This process is universal and is more or less characteristic of the special lexis in any language.

Observation of the modern mass media in Georgia shows us that even today, the same lexical units are more often undergoing deter-minologization, namely, the terms of such specific areas as the lexical units denoting symptomatic signs or syndromes of illnesses, the organism's reaction, disease agents, medicinal products and medical instruments.

It is clear that the metaphoric potential of the mentioned lexical layer is quite broad and the negative colouring is strong and brought forward. Some foreign terms are employed in non-medical contexts, such as bakt'eria ‘bacteria’, mik'robi ‘microbe’, diagnozi ‘diagnosis’, abi ‘drug’, t'ok'sik'ozi ‘toxicosis’, shizoprenia ‘schizophrenia’, and shok'i ‘shock’... Some medical terms of pure Georgian origin also underwent determinologization (k'ibo, ‘cancer’, ch'leki ‘tuberculosis’, dambla ‘paralysis’, tsieb-tskheleba ‘fever’, khortsmet'i ‘skin growths’, ‘wart’, simsivne ‘tumor’…).

The medical terminology is used in figurative meaning as well; for example, the term agonia ‘agony’ is met in the texts of social-political or economic character to describe such terms as regime, government, economics, religion, a city; the term k'olapsi ‘collapse’ is usually met with such nouns as systems, institutions, education, course of the dollar or euro, urban problems, criminal problems, transport, financial, jurisdiction and other fields problems; met'ast'azi ‘metastasis’ is usually addressed to something that is associated with the Soviet period, communist party or something concerning the society, such as Russophobia; there are also such terms as dambla ‘paralysis’ (of economics); nevrozi ‘neurosis’ (of society, of economics), psikozi’ psychosis (pre-elections psychosis) and others.

Medical terms are used in poetic texts as a metaphor. An unpoetic, inexpressive, at first glance even rude medical term sometimes emphasizes the peculiarity of the poet's style and creates an effect of surprise, e. g. agonia ‘agony’, hormoni ‘hormone’, trombi ‘thrombus’…

Determinologization of the terms of any branch (including medical terminology) is represented as one of the means of metaphorization, which enriches the lexis of the literary language and makes it more expressive.