Leidinys apie prancūzų medicinos terminiją

Group, subgroup | Dress | Suit | * | number |% | number |% | number 2) literary characters | — | — | 1 | 14,29 | 2 3) mythological names | 1 | 5,00 | 2 | 28,57 | 5 4) miscellaneous | 1 | 5,00 | 3 | 42,85 | 5 Total | 20 | 100,00 | 7 | 100,00 | 37 VII. Concepts of human spiritual activity and creativity: 1) music | — | — | 1 | 50,00 | 2 2) art | — | — | — | — | 1 3) sports | — | — | — | — | 1 4) human spiritual states, thoughts, feelings | — | — | — | — | 1 5) miscellaneous | — | — | 1 | 50,00 | — Total | — | — | 2 | 100,00 | 5 A. Montvilienė A Publication on French Medical Terminology Širkienė V. Prancūzų kalbos medicininė terminija. – V., 1977, 88 p. [Lietuvos TSR aukštojo ir specialiojo vidurinio mokslo ministerija. Kauno medicinos institutas]. The foreign-language lecturers at Kaunas Medical Institute have compiled and published a number of instructional medical terminology glossaries intended for the Institute’s students. This activity by the lecturers is entirely worthy of support and encouragement. Instructional terminology dictionaries and glossaries are not only important reference works for students—they can help to organize and standardize terminology, introduce normative, correct terms into usage, remedy deficiencies in terminology, and identify its gaps. Thus, an appropriately prepared terminology glossary, coordinated with specialists in the relevant field (in this case, medicine) and with linguists specializing in terminology, can effectively help improve the terminology of that field. This is especially true of terminology in those scientific fields (including medicine) for which there are no substantial Lithuanian explanatory dictionaries or normative terminology dictionaries translating from the relevant languages. 240 Table 4 (continued) Coats | Robes | Furniture | Total% | number |% | number |% | number |% 5.41 | 6 | 50.00 | — | — | 9 | 11.84 13.51 | 1 | 8.33 | — | — | 9 | 11.84 13.51 | 2 | 16.67 | — | — | 11 | 14.48 100.00 | 12 | 100.00 | — | — | 76 | 100.00 40.00 | — | — | 1 | 25.00 | 4 | 36.36 20.00 | — | — | 1 | 25.00 | 2 | 18.18 20.00 | — | — | — | — | 1 | 9.09 20.00 | — | — | 2 | 50.00 | 3 | 27.28 — | — | — | — | — | 1 | 9.09 100.00 | — | — | 4 | 100.00 | 11 | 100.00 Unfortunately, instructional terminology dictionaries are generally neither reviewed before publication nor reviewed after publication. Consequently, the value and significance of these publications for organizing the terminology of the relevant field and for teaching have so far not been discussed more broadly. V. Širkienė’s *French Medical Terminology* is intended for senior-year students. The publication consists of three sections. The first section, “French Word Formation” (pp. 5–30), presents the principal methods and types of word formation in French (first and foremost, in medical terminology). Here the reader will find a substantial number of prefixes and suffixes used in French; characteristic types of compound-word formation are illustrated; and a list is provided of international term elements used in medical terminology, together with examples of words containing them. The second section, entitled “Appendices,” includes a small selection of French phraseological expressions and examples of prescriptions and abstracts. Also useful are the lists of abbreviations used in prescriptions and of abbreviations found in medical literature. The third and largest section of the booklet is a “French–Lithuanian Medical Dictionary.” In the preface, the author writes that this glossary is a continuation of the 1966 publication “Dictionnaire franco–li- 241 tuanien de médecine” and that it contains words “frequently encountered when reading original medical journals: ‘La nouvelle presse médicale,’ ‘Science et vie,’ and others.” The author has given careful thought to the structure of the publication. A medical student, and ultimately a physician, reading French medical literature will gladly use this publication in the hope of finding the necessary information. Undoubtedly, much of that information will be found, although, naturally, it is severely limited in a relatively small booklet. For this reason, the selection of information to include in such publications is particularly important. It is also important to establish a sound relationship with general bilingual (French–Lithuanian) dictionaries. An instructional terminology dictionary (especially a glossary) should supplement a general dictionary, primarily by providing specialized vocabulary that is not included in general dictionaries at all, or is included only to a very limited extent. Ultimately, the value of such instructional publications depends directly on the accuracy of the material they contain and on the care and consistency with which it is presented lexicographically. Naturally, one must also not lose sight of linguistic correctness. Every instructional resource should help develop skills in correct language use, including in the native language. It is therefore every author’s duty to ensure a high standard of language in the publications they prepare. In Lithuanian, the field of terminology, as well as the field to which the vocabulary under discussion or presentation belongs, should be expressed not by an adjective but by a noun in the genitive case. The publication’s title is therefore objectionable; “French Medical Terminology” would be the best choice. The phrases used in the publication’s “Preface”medical (=of medicine) words, medical (=of medicine) abbreviations, medical (=of medicine) literature likewise need correction. The title of the third section, “French–Lithuanian Medical (=Medicine) Glossary,” and the phrase used on p. 12, anatomical (=anatomy) terms, also require correction. Various other matters that need linguistic refinement can readily be found in the explanations of the terms’ meanings. For example, the noun absence is often used where lack would be more appropriate; compare abrachie f – absence of arms1, assite f – lack of appetite 50, and so forth. In linguistics, the terms abbreviation and shortening are distinguished. Prescriptions most often use shortened forms. The publication also includes a small selection of French shortened forms used in prescriptions, but the author unjustifiably calls them abbreviations (p. 36). The booklet also uses a number of other awkward terms or terms that are altogether unfamiliar in Lithuanian linguistics. For example, in terminology literature, such word-forming elements as auto-, -graphe “-graph,” -logue “-logue,” macro- “macro-,” micro- “micro-,” pneumo-, and so on, are called international term elements. The author’s various descriptions of these elements as “combining forms of compound words of Latin and Greek origin” (p. 3), “combining forms of international compound medical words” (p. 20), or “word-forming components of international compound medical words” (p. 20) are wholly inaccurate, do not correspond to the usage customary in linguistic literature of the corresponding words or terms (e.g., form), and are therefore unacceptable. Another novelty in current terminology (and an entirely unnecessary one) is calling compounding, or the formation of compound words (terms), word joining (pp. 5, 19). 1The numbers given alongside the examples indicate the pages of the publication under review on which those examples appear. 242 There is much that can be criticized in the explanation of word formation. The publication, it seems, does not fully take account of synchronic word formation in French itself, and consequently singles out certain affixes that cannot exist synchronically, since the corresponding words are not morphologically segmentable and therefore cannot be regarded as derivatives. This applies to the prefixes listed in the booklet: abs- (abstinence f 6), ac- (accablement m, accident m, accouchement m 6), ana- (anabiose f, anatomie f 7), ante- (antecedent, antenatal 7), apo- (apocrine, apophyse f 7), cata- (catabolisme m, catamnèse f 7), di- (diplégie f, dipode 8), méta- (métabolisme m, métaplasie f, métastase f 9), péri- (péricarde m, périoste m 10), sym-, syn- (symbiose f, synchrone, syndrome m 11), etc. In the literature on French word formation, the affixes cited are generally not distinguished, since words containing them are unsegmentable borrowings. The author herself, apparently, also lacks a clear understanding in some cases of how certain terms should be analyzed morphologically. For example, the term anatomie f is treated in one place as a derivative with the nonexistent prefix ana- (p. 7), and elsewhere is classified among derivatives with the suffix -ie (p. 13). French suffixes are classified somewhat more accurately in the publication, but clear errors occur here too: for example, invistigateur m has the suffix -ateur, not -eur (p. 11); allaitement m, amaigrissement m, développement m should be assigned the suffix -ement, not -ment (p. 14); auscultation f, dégénération f (=dégénération), excoriation f, inhalation f are formed with the suffix -ation, not -ion (p. 14). The derivatives denture f, fracture f, jointure f, ligature f, teinture f, with the suffix -ure, cannot be considered verbal abstracts. Thus, of all the words assigned to that suffix on p. 15, only brûlure f (=brûlure) is genuinely derived from a verb. The derivative denture f is a collective noun. The words fracture f, jointure f, ligature f are regarded as borrowings from Latin; the suffix distinguished here is the learned suffix (-a)ture². The verbs certifier, justifier, vivifier have not the nonexistent suffix -fier (p. 18), but -ifier. An inaccurate understanding of French derivational relationships is also evident in cases where the word-formation method of individual words is incorrectly identified. For example, in the booklet comparaison f and coopération f are apparently treated as derivatives with the prefixes com-, co- (p. 7), but these words are clearly verbal abstracts, formed with the suffixes -aison and -ation. Réanimation f, treated in the booklet as a derivative with the prefix ré- (p. 10), and the term transplantation f, listed as a derivative with the prefix trans- (p. 11), should also be assigned to the same -ation word-formation type. There are rather more such incorrect morphological interpretations. Nouns have also been included among the examples of adjective-forming suffixes, e.g.: absorbants m pl “absorbent substances” 15, antibiotiques m pl “antibiotics” 17, diabétique m “a person with diabetes” 15, cardiaque m “a person with heart disease” 17 (incidentally, it is unclear why the last example is considered a derivative with the suffix -ique). Nouns are also included among the examples of compound adjectives—both examples intended to illustrate the type with an adjectival first constituent and a nominal second constituent (clavie-voie “opening, gap”, rouge-gorge “bullfinch” 20). ² Штейнберг Н. М. Affixal Word Formation in French. — Л., 1976, pp. 62, 64. 243 The author of the publication treats terms containing international term elements as compounds, but some of the examples given are suffixal derivatives, e.g.: cardiaque “cardiac”, cardiaque m “a person with heart disease” 21, entérite f “inflammation of the small intestine” 22. The method used to explain the meanings of these elements is highly questionable: in the publication, word parts that function as morphemes are translated into Lithuanian using words, e.g.: -algie “pain, ache” 20, anthropo- “human being” 20, auto- “self” 22, bio- “life” 21, -fuge “property” 22, -gene “origin” 22, etc. It is also noteworthy that a certain proportion (in some cases a fairly large one) of the examples in the relevant section are not medical terms, e.g.: condisciple m “pupil” 7, illettré “illiterate” 6, contradiction f “contradiction” 8, Géorgien m “Georgian” 11, Italien m “Italian” 11, Lituanien m “Lithuanian” 11, courtoisie f “courtesy” 13, colossal “colossal” 15, développement m “development” 14, blanchâtre “whitish” 16, grisâtre “grayish” 16, annuel “annual” 16, pensif “thoughtful” 17, barbu “bearded” 17, poilu “hairy, shaggy” 17, balayer “to sweep” 17, caractériser “to characterize, describe” 18, douzaine “dozen” 18, vingtaine “about twenty, twenty years” 18, millénaire “millennial, a thousand years” 18, triple “triple” 18, batterave “beetroot” 19, timbre-poste “postage stamp” 19, portemanteau “coat hanger” 19, après-midi “afternoon” 20, hexagone “hexagon” 23, insectivore “insectivore” 30, etc. It would seem more useful for a specialized teaching aid to provide a wider range of examples of term formation. The inclusion of a large amount of nonterminological vocabulary can also mislead someone consulting such a booklet for answers to obscure questions—after all, it cannot provide every word that might be needed. Incidentally, the same criticism can be made of the glossary, which constitutes a larger part of the publication. It too contains a relatively large number of general scientific terms and even ordinary words that can easily be found in general translation dictionaries, but without which a student or qualified medical practitioner would be unable to manage even with the publication under review. For example: amplifier “to expand, increase” 49, anfractueux “winding, uneven, crooked” 49, assurance f “assurance, guarantee; insurance” 50, attrait m “attractiveness” 51, bab(e)urre m “buttermilk” 51, bénéficier “to benefit” 51, by-pass m “detour; bypass road” 52, bref “short” 52, chaux f “lime” 53, chute f “fall, collapse” 53, compte-rendu m “report, minutes” 54, craquement m “crackling, rattling” 55, crépitations f “1. crackling, creaking; 2. rattling” 55, déclenchement m “onset, occurrence” 56, dôme m “dome, vault” 58, embarras m “difficulty, obstacle” 59, envisager “to envisage” 60, équin “equine” 60, estival “summer” 61, état m “condition, state” 61, ethnie f “nation” 61, jouissance f “enjoyment of pleasures, having fun” 68, laps m de temps “short period of time” 69, mesure f “1. measurement; 2. measure; size; 3. means” 71, monstre m “monster” 72, moyen m “means” 72, moustique m “mosquito” 72, néfaste “unfortunate” 73, obsédant “annoying” 74, plan “even, flat” 77, plat “flat, even” 77, quadragénaire “forty-year-old” 79, qualité f “quality” 79, quantité f “quantity” 79, récent “recent, latest, new” 79, souche f “strain” 82, taux m “1. percentages; 2. proportion; 3. coefficient; 4. rate” 83, volupté f “sensuality” 85, zéro m “zero” 86, etc. 244 Users would probably never think of looking for many such words in this glossary. Bearing in mind that the glossary is quite small—it explains only nearly 1,100 French words—it would seem best to have included only specialized medical terms, focusing chiefly on those not found in general French–Lithuanian dictionaries. Such a selection of the terminology (the terms included in the dictionary) would be very convenient and useful for users: they would know clearly what to look for and where. The nonterminological vocabulary and general scientific terms included in the terminology list of a small glossary reduce the publication’s informativeness with respect to the terminology of the relevant field and, at the same time, its value. Therefore, the terminology lists of dictionaries of terms and other specialized dictionaries, including textbooks, must be compiled by carefully sifting the available vocabulary. The same principle for compiling dictionaries of the type under discussion is also violated when no selection is made of Lithuanian equivalents for words in another language (in this case, French). Words, as is well known, are usually polysemous. It is not appropriate in a specialized terminology dictionary to list every meaning of a word included in the terminology list. Only terminological meanings belonging to the relevant field should be included; in other words, a term in one language should be given its equivalent in the second language. Clearly, this does not mean, for example, that every French medical term must necessarily have only one Lithuanian equivalent. Because terminological systems have developed under differing conditions, the scope of word meanings differs, and the lexicons and internal naming conventions of the languages themselves have their own particular features; in many cases there is more than one equivalent, and it is necessary to subdivide the meanings of the terms being translated, and so on. On the other hand, one inevitably has to take account of common synonyms or doublets, and these, too, are often neither entirely identical nor capable of being so across different languages. However, the equivalents provided must belong to the same terminology or branch of it, while other meanings—above all, nonterminological ones—should be left out. In this respect, V. Širkienė’s glossary of “French Medical Terminology” is, to be sure, not greatly at fault, but there are nevertheless cases in which meanings of words (not terms) that do not belong to medical terminology are also given, e.g.: attitude f “1. body position; 2. posture; behavior; 3. attitude” 50, concevoir “1. to conceive, become pregnant (=pregnant); 2. to perceive, understand” 54, débordement m “overflow, flood” 56, délai m “1. delay; hindrance; detention; 2. time, deadline” 57, dénuement m “1. lack; 2. poverty” 57, dépôt m “1. storage; 2. sediment” 57, écaille f “1. scales; 2. film” 58, nébuleux “1. cloudy, overcast; 2. gloomy, sad” 73, terrain m “1. area; 2. soil; 3. (of an organism) constitution” 83, tournesol m “1. sunflower; 2. litmus paper” 84, tranche f “slice; plate; edge” 84, etc. A considerable shortcoming of the reviewed educational publication is that, relatively often, it gives not Lithuanian equivalents of French terms but certain explanations. This is done not only when no Lithuanian term exists (in such cases a language teacher should not coin terms without the help of specialist physicians. The compiler should obtain proposals endorsed by the best-known specialists in the relevant field and by the terminology commission), but also when established terms that are in common use already exist. The author of the publication deserves criticism for apparently not consulting spe- 245 cialists and, finally, for failing to explain in the principles for compiling the dictionary (indeed, those principles were not included at all) how and in which cases a meaning is explained, and how this is presented in the dictionary so that it is not confused with actual equivalents. The author herself, of course, should not have created or coined new terms, or introduced loanwords, even if Lithuanian medical terminology had not named concepts denoted by French terms such as abréaction f “the emergence into consciousness of a forgotten emotion” 47, aéropéritoine m “accumulation of air or gas in the abdominal cavity” 48, atélectase, atélectasie f “lack of air in the pulmonary alveoli” 50, catamnèse f “information about a patient after discharge from hospital” 53, dipsomanie f “pathological craving for alcohol, periodic drunkenness” 58, électrocution f “injury to the body by electric current; death from electric current” 59, gâtisme m “inability to control urination or defecation” 63, hypoxémie, hypoxie f “insufficient oxygen in the tissues” 66, kopiopie f “rapid fatigue of the eye muscles when looking at objects close up” 68, linkage m “linkage of two or more genes on the same chromosome” 69, monopagie f “headache confined to one spot” 72, oestromanie f “pathological sexual desire in women or men” 74, péripwème m “formation of an abscess around an organ” 76, réinversion f “restoration of an organ to its normal position” 80, etc. However, consultation with recognized medical specialists is essential in such cases too—they can at least help establish precisely whether a term for that purpose is already in use3. It is entirely unjustifiable to resort to term descriptions when terms are already in use (sometimes even very widely known ones). For example: déontologie f — physician’s ethics, the study of physicians’ rights and duties 57 (=deontology), écologie f — the study of the relations between an organism and its environment 59 (=ecology), électrophorèse f — movement of electrically charged colloidal particles caused by electric current; introduction of medicines into the body by means of electric current 59 (=electrophoresis), gériatrie f — the study of diseases of old age 63 (=geriatrics), orgasme m — the highest degree of sensation of pleasure 75 (=orgasm), zoonoses f pl — infectious diseases of animals transmitted to humans 86 (=zoonoses). There are plenty of such examples in the word-formation section as well, e.g.: amylase f — an enzyme that breaks down starch 12 (=amylase), asystolie f — dysfunction of the right ventricle of the heart 13 (=asystole), carboxylase f — an enzyme that separates carbonic acid from ketonic acids 12 (=carboxylase), cardiogramme m — a graphic representation of heart movements 21 (=cardiogram), cytologie f — the study of cells 22 (=cytology), diabétique m — a person with diabetes 17 (=diabetic), gastroscope m — an instrument for examining the stomach 28 (=gastroscope), gynécologue m — a specialist in women’s diseases 23, a physician for women’s diseases 24 (=gynecologist), hémoglobine f — the coloring matter of blood 23 (=hemoglobin), otoscope m — an instrument for examining the ears 28 (=otoscope), pédiatrie f — the study of children’s diseases 27 (=pediatrics), pharmacopée f — an official handbook for pharmacists 27 (=pharmacopoeia), stomatologie f — the study of diseases of the organs of the oral cavity 29 (=stomatology), etc. Such disregard for well-known and widely used terms (some of them are used constantly even in ordinary language), their 3 Incidentally, V. Astrauskas, S. Bizulevičius, S. Pavilonis et al.’s “Medical Terminology Glossary” (V., 1980) gives international terms in almost all the cases mentioned here. Thus, both those concepts and their names are familiar to specialists. 246 Replacing them with explanations confuses the less experienced reader (for example, a student), who may well think that these international terms are for some reason not used in Lithuanian medical terminology (incidentally, almost all these terms appear in the publicly available Dictionary of International Words (V., 1969), and are used in popular science literature and periodicals). Thus, this practice of presenting the terms in question in the glossary hinders the adoption and teaching of standard terms. Since the terms and explanations of their meanings are not lexicographically differentiated in the publication, students will not know whether the explanations provided are some kind of expanded synonyms of the terms or not (incidentally, it is unclear how the author herself understands this). In the publication, commas are used to separate all sorts of things, which leads to considerable confusion. For example: aéropathie f — an illness caused by changes in atmospheric pressure, caisson disease 48, cafard m — gloomy mood, depression 52, caquesangue f — bloody diarrhea, dysentery 53, cinération f — cremation of a corpse, cremation 53, clearance f — renal filtration coefficient, clearance 54, sepsis f — severe infectious disease, blood poisoning 81, cardiologue m — cardiologist, heart specialist 24, éthologie f — ethology, the science of character 61, incrétologie f — endocrinology, the science of the endocrine glands 67, intercadense f — palpitation, cardiac arrhythmia 67, mogiphonie f — spasm of the vocal cords, difficulty speaking 71, sudamina m pl — prickly heat, a rash of whitish blisters 82, etc. If it was assumed that users of the publication would not understand these terms and that they needed explanation, why is this done so inconsistently (in some cases the term comes first, in others the explanation), and why are these explanations (if the author herself distinguishes them from the terms) presented in the same way as the terms? This is a major shortcoming in the compilation of the publication under review. The publication contains a handful of idioms. The author is content to explain their meaning and makes no effort to find Lithuanian equivalents. This, of course, helps learners understand idioms in another language, but does not help them learn to translate them into Lithuanian. Thus, in this respect the publication does only half the job (of course, this applies only to genuine idioms; not all the examples presented in the publication are idioms, and translating the latter, naturally, poses no additional difficulties). Thus, the teaching aid prepared by V. Širkienė has gaps and shortcomings in its lexicographic work. It must also be added that the Lithuanian equivalents are presented without stress marks. Given the rather poor command of stress placement among medical practitioners, there is absolutely no justification for publishing glossaries without stress marks. Although the publication under review is intended for teaching a foreign language, it is, broadly speaking, a language-learning aid. Publications of this kind should help learners master not only a correct foreign language but also exemplary use of their native language. In closing, it must be added that teaching aids of this kind are much needed, and it is certainly a good thing that university instructors are taking on the task of preparing them. St. Keinys 247