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Aspects of Meaning of Words Relating to Health in the Medical

Discourse
Ivaylo Dagnev, Irina Mitarcheva
Medical University - Plovdiv
Abstract
The aim of this article is to provide insights into the meaning of key words referring to
medicinal states. The methodology employs semantic analysis as a means of research into the
semantic features of the words at lexical level. It turns out 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. 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.
Introduction
Medical discourse, defined as discourse in and about healing, curing, or therapy, including
expressions of suffering and relevant language ideologies, Wilce (2009), 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 forgotten that it is the
actual representations of these lexical items that really count, J. Lyons (1995). What is more
as J. Leech points out, Leech (1974), lexical items can never be effectively studied on one
level only, so that 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. Ascribing semantic 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, Quirk et al (1985), are also relevant as the actual
representations of the words are discourse-dependent.
Defining the concepts: state of health, cause, 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 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

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more than one word which represents a concept inside a domain as defined by Besse,
Nkwenti-Azeh & Sager (1997).
A medical condition is a broad term that includes all diseases and disorders, but also includes
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.
Ex: Law enforcement sources tell TMZ Paris Hilton's medical condition was purely
psychological and that she was in peril of having a nervous breakdown,
Disorder is a functional abnormality or disturbance which can be categorized into mental
disorders, 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
newly diagnosed cases during a specific time period. The notion of incidence 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.
Experience
Illness and sickness stand the middle grounds 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, it is possible for a person to be diseased 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, illdisposed, ill-at ease, etc. Illness is also used to indicating 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.

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Sickness is derivative of sick, which has meaning outside the medical context, although
pertaining to the same semantic domain: be sick of, on sick leave, etc.
Experience, acuteness, permanence, strength, age
Ailment, distemper, malady, indisposition, infirmity, 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.
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).
Malady is a physical or mental disorder of any kind, especially a lingering and deep-seated
one. It refers more 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 great afflictions 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.
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.

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