Abstract
March 2020 has become a moment of change in communication mode and quality. Previously, the media paid attention to the current affairs, however, never earlier the journalistic discourse has been so influentially affected by the ongoing phenomenon as in the case of COVID-19. Almost overnight the new terminological phenomena with specific legal or medical reference were introduced into everyday language mainly via mass media and become an important part of a pandemic related narration. The strong influence on the shape of the mentioned linguistic changes has mainly the adoption of new legal regulations due to the unexpected outbreak of the pandemic. The aim of the following paper is to investigate how COVID-19 pandemic affected the specialisation of the journalistic discourse and how different domains (law, medicine) are being influenced by new terminology and in other way round, how for example law and medicine influence new “COVID language”. In order to take the interdisciplinary nature of the issue into account, the degree of hybridity of the selected texts will be examined by means of selected material analysis. The methodology applied in the paper uses an empirical approach and comparative analysis. The material used for the analysis comes from the selected Polish quality and boulevard press. The paper concerns the linguistic influence of the “invisible enemy” on the language presented in press. The main findings reveal the intense use of neologisms, borrowings, and it shows that the discourse was changed linguistically thanks to Student’s t-test.
Highlights
The unexpected outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic paralysed the functioning of basic state institutions and greatly affected the lives of individuals worldwide
The authors will discuss COVID specific terminology used in newspapers and boulevard press
Each specific domain has its own jargon or specialized terminology. Is it just a mixture of different domains where in everyday life we are using terms that we already know but in different context? It appears that COVID terminology is partly based on medical language but in majority cases new terms and collocations have been created as this type of virus was not very well known in previous decades
Summary
The unexpected outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic paralysed the functioning of basic state institutions and greatly affected the lives of individuals worldwide. The prevailing pandemic has revealed weaknesses in the health system in most countries It is worth mentioning the sudden change in the education system from traditional face-to-face education to digital solutions. The new reality has forced the governments of many countries to regulate many new phenomena by means of legislation, which has contributed significantly to the constitution of the new reality. According to de Saussurean semiology, colour semantics means “[t]he means by which languages communicate the types of visual impression” ([4]: 9). According to Kauppinen-Räisänen and Jauffret the basic premise of colour semantics is that “colour is any sign, verbal or visual, that signifies something other than itself” ([22]: 10). Colour semantics constitutes a platform to understand and explain colour meanings and relations with the object or context as a form of not Penetration of COVID‐19 Related Terminology into Legal,
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
