Gina KAVALIŪNAITĖ

A FEW NOTES ON THE LANGUAGE OF MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS

Why is pogimdyminis laikotarpis? wrong?

In Lithuanian, there are adjectives formed through a mixed process, using both prefixes and suffixes. They denote the type of thing and distinguish it from other things. Such adjectives most often have the suffix -inis and some prefix, e.g.: popietinis posėdis, ikimokyklinis amžius. It seems that, following this pattern, the medical term pogimdyminis laikotarpis. should also be acceptable. However, adjectives are not usually formed with the suffix -inis from abstract deverbal nouns formed with a suffix. But pogimdyminis is derived from gimd-ymas with the prefix po- and the suffix -inis. Therefore, one should say laikotarpis po gimdymo.

How should diseas due to the other disorder? be translated from English?

It should be translated as a disease arising from another disorder, or a disease caused by another disorder. Medical literature often contains language errors when indicating the cause of a disease, e.g.: mental and behavioral disorders arising from (=occurring as a result of; caused by) somatic disease or alcohol use. The verbs duoti, iššaukti, are also not to be used in the sense of “to cause,” e.g.: the severe contusion gave (=caused) bleeding, (one can also say it differently, e.g.: bleeding began because of a severe contusion; bleeding arose (occurred, began) because of a severe contusion); infection вызвала (=caused) inflammation (or: infection arose (occurred, began) because of inflammation.) These are literal calques from other languages, e.g.: сильный ушиб дал кровотечение, инфекция вызвала воспаление; beating gave rise to extravasation, infection gave rise to inflammation.

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Anxiety or anxious depression?

Adjectives derived from nouns with the suffix -ingas most often express an abundance of the quality associated with the base word, e.g.: a rainy autumn, an intelligent person, an anxious look. Much less often, derivatives with this suffix indicate not an abundance of a quality but simply possession of it, or an association with the thing denoted by the base word, e.g.: a person in debt, necessary papers. Therefore, by saying an anxious mood we would not make a serious mistake, but when discussing depression and using the phrase as a term, a descriptive genitive of quality would be more appropriate here: depression of anxiety (cf. mood disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder). In a phrase, the genitive of quality is always the modifier and indicates what is characteristic of the thing denoted by the modified word, what distinguishes it from other things in the same category.

Moreover, nerimastingas is defined in the “Dictionary of Contemporary Lithuanian” as “agitated,” “worried.” Could we really say an agitated depression?

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