Synonymy In Medical Terminology: Language Necessity Or Redundancy?

Abstract

In this paper, the authors make an attempt to define the status of synonymy in medical terminology that accumulates linguistically expert knowledge and opinions in an important area of human activity as treatment and saving a human life. The use of synonyms in terms' definition indicates, firstly, that there is regularity in appearing synonymic relationships in medical terminology and, secondly, there is a need for such relations since terms acquire the meaning in most cases through synonymous terms, through a "place” that they take within one family of terms. Followed by some philosophical and linguistic research, we decided to consider the possibility of applying the idea of describing the meaning of linguistic expressions to determine the semantic scope of medical terms. Due to the fact that identical and simultaneously different components co-exist in the semantic scope of synonymous terms, it seems possible to compensate for the incompleteness of a meaning transmitted by one term with the help of its synonyms. Finally, we conclude that the study of synonymous relations between medical terms is of particular importance in systemizing medical terms necessary for their standardization. The latter is capable of reliably ensuring specific information structuring, its dissemination and adequate perception. Considering into attention that the semantic content of synonymous terms largely determines collective actions in the professional activity of physicians, there is a firm reason to make synonymous relationships in medical terminology much more relevant to study in linguistic research.