Categorical modeling of the sublanguage of homeopathy

Abstract

The article considers the categorical modeling of the sublanguage of homeopathy. The sublanguage of a professional area of knowledge and/or activity is a means of verbalizing its notions, concepts and categories, and serves as a form of creation, interpretation, storage and communication of special knowledge. On the material of 1258 terms and general literary words from homeopathic dictionaries, monographs and tutorials on homeopathy, 8 universal ontological and epistemological categories are distinguished (categories of agent, state, processes, occupations, properties, values, sciences and branches, tools) and one category, characteristic for this sublanguage, – “Medication”. These particular categories are conceptually significant for this sublanguage, they form the “framework” of homeopathic knowledge. Universal categories are inherent in any scientifi c field, while the specific category “Medication” is a unique mental construct due to the distinctive characteristics of the concepts constituting this category and the prevailing means of their verbalization. From the point of view of verbalization of homeopathic concepts that form the identifi ed categories, the sector-specifi c (general medical, anatomical, clinical) terminology has the largest share, which results from the youth of homeopathy as a professional knowledge and its status as a branch of medical science. General literary vocabulary is also present in homeopathic texts and represents a part of everyday knowledge that is inevitable for any scientifi c and professional fi eld, due to the necessity to communicate not only within the framework of the “specialist – specialist” scheme, but also within the “specialist – non-specialist” scheme (for example, “doctor – patient”). The smallest share is the layer of highly specialized, homeopathic terminology per se, verbalizing unique concepts created by homeopathy. The results of the study make it possible to enrich the knowledge of the relationship between universal  and specific categories in professional sublanguages and the relationship between the means of verbalization of the corresponding concepts.  

Keywords

• category
• categorical modeling
• sublanguage
• lsp
• concept
• term
• sector-specifi c terminology
• highly specialized terminology