Reflection on the Social and Psychological Consequences of the Coronavirus Pandemic in the New Vocabulary of the Non-professional English Language Medical Discourse

Abstract

The article is concerned with neologisms of non-professional English language medical discourse, devoted to the social and psychological consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. It analyzes the reflection in the new medical vocabulary of such social realities created by the pandemic as observance, violation and easing of the quarantine regulations; creation of a strategy of public behavior aimed at containing the pandemic growth; growth of mood of panic and conspiracy theories; and the stigmatization of patients with coronavirus. This layer of everyday and colloquial medical vocabulary is considered from the standpoint of semantic, stylistic, linguopragmatic and axiological analysis, revealing the pragmatic potential of new words and expressions reflecting the pandemic impact on public consciousness. In particular, the humorous, ironic, satirical plans of this new medical vocabulary are considered, serving the purpose of creating a new value system aimed at overcoming the consequences of the pandemic through psychological compensation. The links between nonprofessional medical and political discourses are also identified, reflecting the extreme politicization of modern media, which affects the reality perception by common participants in the discourse. The combination of these vocabulary items provides a comprehensive picture of the specifics of public life in mass psychology during the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. The study material is the articles of the Urban Dictionary online dictionary of Internet slang devoted to various aspects of the coronavirus pandemic impact on public and private life. Based on the analysis of this constantly updated material, we deduce the regularities of the attitude evolution towards the coronavirus pandemic of a significant part of the international community.

Linguistic potential of COVID-19 neologisms in the metaphoric language of socio-political discourse

“…The new coronavirus vocabulary encompasses the semantics of a wide range of social problems that arise during a pandemic or the exaggeration and the metaphorical context of existing problems (Katermina & Lipiridi, 2020).…”

“…For example, “Dear colleagues, we have adopted covexit strategies to improve offline work.” In addition, this neologism may be a reference to another concept, brexit , which means the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union. Based on the examples of word-building models, it can be concluded that lexemes related to Covid-19 and created through blending and compounding constitute the largest number of neologisms in the languages; this finding is shared by most scientists who have studied this issue (Katermina & Lipiridi, 2020). It is also worth talking about “re-purposing,” which is where previously existing words get re-purposed in the corona context to have globally stable new meanings, like “social distancing,” “work from home,” “anti-vaxxer,” and so on, which may not be new lexemes but are semantic neologisms nevertheless.…”

“…The address of the heads of state to citizens in a time of difficulties, public discussions of politicians from different countries on the fight against coronavirus, statements by the ministers of health on the measures taken, interviews with certified anti-covid doctors, cooperation of states during the pandemic can become not only a sensation in the hands of journalists but also a vivid example of the work of sources disseminating new medical terms among the masses of people. These terms are introduced and modified, which leads to the emergence of neologisms (Katermina & Lipiridi, 2020).…”

“…The basis for the creation of neologisms, which have become a part of everyday communication, was medical terminology. This vocabulary was disseminated by the mass media, primarily the public political discourse associated with the pandemic (Katermina & Lipiridi, 2020; Alekseev et al, 2021).…”

Tourism-related Coronaneologisms

“…It has already been observed in numerous publications that the outbreak of COVID -19 was followed by a wave of neologisms reflecting the socio-cultural struggles of the time. Katermina & Lipiridi (2020) conclude that the neologisms of non-professional discourse in the coronavirus pandemic "fully reflected the functioning of mass consciousness in the period of catastrophic social changes" (ibid. : 48).…”