Lexemic change and semantic shift in disease names

Abstract

The lexicon of illness terms used by Mexican American women is affected by the practice of speaking both Spanish and English and by the coexistence of several health systems. When there is changning participation in various health systems, with increasing interference and code switching, linguistic evidence for these changes may be found. In some cases an English disease name is borrowed. In others, a cognate is coined from an English disease name. Some terms, now no longer useful, are dropped. Finally, some Spanish disease names which do not have equivalents in English or in scientific medical theory may be retained, but there is a shift in the meaning of the words themselves. The direction of the shift is towards semantic correspondence with the concepts of scientific medicine. In these ways the medical lexicon is changed, with the changes reflecting a new medical culture.

Ethnic Differences in Quality of Life in Persons With Heart Failure

“…Others have noted that the lexicon of illness terms used by Hispanics in the United States is affected by the practice of speaking both Spanish and English and by their experiences with different health systems. 23 It is also possible that social desirability of responses among Hispanics influenced the results. That is, it could be that the Hispanics in the sample felt inclined to present themselves in a manner that would be viewed favorably by others.…”

Human Taste and Cognition in Tzeltal Maya Medicinal Plant Use

“…Studies of childhood learning indicate that living things are particularly good for human inductive development because they conform well to children's expectations about essential attributes of living organisms, and biological domains are the earliest to take form as children develop (Keil 1994, Markman 1989, Stross 1973. Illness experiences have also been shown to form domains that include prototypes (D'Andrade et al 1972, Kay 1979, Young 1981. Medicinal plant prototypes may serve as powerful inductive tools helping to structure concepts of disease by highlighting attributes of illness experiences.…”

A Transcription and Translation Protocol for Sensitive Cross-Cultural Team Research

“…We identified another necessity in working with translators: The importance of deep familiarity with Mexican and Mexican American culture. Given lexemic change, semantic shift, and idiomatic subtleties (Kay, 1979), a few translations early in the study were done by native Spanish speakers from countries other than Mexico, and their translations necessitated substantial modification.…”