SHELL WORDS IN ANATOMY A CONTRASTIVE STUDY OF BULGARIAN AND ENGLISH ANATOMICAL SYSTEMS

Abstract

Shell words are a particular category of lexemes that make up an open-ended functionally defined class of abstract nouns having the potential to be as conceptual shells for complex, proposition-like pieces of information. Examples include: “fact”, “case”, “idea”, “problem”, “position”, “cause”, “situation”, “something”, etc. The idea of a particular class of words that group semantic features, but are not related to a referent is also found in many authors. Such words have greater reference potential and thus become useful for naming different referents (onomasiological salience). From a theoretical point of view, the need for a context to determine the meaning of a single lexeme is in fact equivalent to deleting the difference between polysemy and vagueness. Shell nouns are indexical words or "hollow words, envelopes" because their meaning is incomplete; they only point to what can fill the envelope, but still give it some structure. Thus, the meaning associated with these shell units is both context-related and in turn generates a linguistic context. At first glance it seems strange that generalized words such as shells are not hyperonimic, but in connection with the nature of the anatomical terms (physically perceived) it is important to note that it is precisely words from the basic level that are conceptualized as sensory and functional gestalts. The eventual clash between the specificity of the object and the abstract nature of terms causes the conflict in terminology. Once again, the choice of a linguistic rather than a terminological approach to the names of the anatomical objects is argued. The current research assumes that shell function may be applicable to specific nouns, i.e. anatomical terms, the so-called termini generales. In both Bulgarian and English anatomical terminologies, there are about 190 such terms that are head words in anatomical expressions and occur in all parts of anatomy, e.g. terms such as: glava (en – head), greben (en – crest), gynka (en –fold), klon (en – branch), list (en – leaf), plocha (en – plate), sloy (en – layer), tyalo (en – body), vryzka (en – “link”, “connection”), etc. What is special about them is that with their help are formed the names of organs in the different systems. Their semantic value is contextually defined. They "mark” large branches in the anatomical terminology system and are expressions of terminological multiplicity. Obtained through specialization of commonly used nouns, general terms are a manifestation of re-terminologization through metaphorical projection. In our view, termini generales have lost their metaphorical status (if they have one) and some of them serve as shell nouns. We also perform a cross-linguistic Bulgarian – English analysis of shells in both anatomical systems.