Semantics in the time of coronavirus

“Virus”, “bacteria”, “germs”, “disease” and related concepts

Bibliographic Data

ID22248121
AuthorsC Goddard (0000-0003-2523-2855, Griffith University), A Wierzbicka (0000-0002-6074-7865, Australian National University)
Year2021
Volume25
Issue1
Pages7-23
Publication date2021-12-15
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueRussian Journal of Linguistics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2686-8024 • E-ISSN: 2687-0088
PublisherPeoples' Friendship University of Russia (PUBLISHER • RU)
DOI10.22363/2687-0088-2021-25-1-7-23
OpenAlexW3147032232
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited1

This study proposes Natural Semantic Metalanguage semantic explications for the English words virus (in two senses), bacteria, germs, and for the related words sick, ill, and disease. We concentrate on their nave or folk meanings (Apresjan 1992) in everyday English, as opposed to scientific or semi-scientific meanings. In this way, the paper makes a start on uncovering the folk epidemiology embedded in the English lexicon. The semantics of words like virus, bacteria and germs is not, however, a purely academic matter. It is also a matter of effective health education and health communication. To reach people at a time of an epidemic, explanations need to connect with ordinary peoples ways of thinking and speaking. This paper argues that the simple and cross-translatable words of NSM, and minimal languages based on it, can be effective tools not only for linguistic semantics but also for education and communication everywhere - at the local school and in the world at large

Lexical item · Lexical Semantics · Lexicon · Linguistics · Metalanguage · Programming language · Sociology · Communication · Computer Science · Empathy and Medical Education · History · Humor Studies and Applications · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Philosophy

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