A Socio-cognitive Study of Jargon in Al-Najaf Medical Community

Abstract

This study investigates the concept of jargon from a socio- cognitive approach. The research seeks to decode the dimensions of localizing English medical terms, jargon, in Al- Najaf medical discourse, depending on Van Dijk’s socio-cognitive perspective. Although the fact that the language of the staff in the medical field is Arabic, they use English when they communicate about medical cases because the language of their academic study was English. The study aimed at exploring the different terms of jargon used in Al-Najaf medical community, investigating the types and functions of jargon, and identifying the hidden ideologies of the medical staff behind employing the medical jargon. It has been observed that they use terms that cannot be understood by the surrounding people. They manipulate English words in different ways to create new modified ones. The data was collected by conducting some interviews with ten members of the medical community in Al-Najaf hospitals. Finally, the research concluded that the medical staff utilizes jargon when they interact with each other about medical cases, such as the use of مشَوِّكْ instead of “in shock “. Their usage is restricted only to the word form of jargon. Moreover, they have hidden intentions behind using jargon, such as separating themselves from anyone who does not belong to their profession to create a closed and highly prestigious linguistic community known as “in-group”, and isolate the patient in an area that constitutes “out-group”. Besides, jargon is one of the most powerful clues that help the medical staff to achieve numerous functions concerning proficiency, time saving, reproducing language, and as a result, social dominance over other language users around them.