The concept of plastic word. On the relation between scientific usages and daily language in the framework of language criticism

Authors

  • Ricardo Renwick Campos Pontifical Catholic University of Peru image/svg+xml

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31637/epsir-2024-716

Keywords:

scientific language, daily language, terminology, language criticism, plastic word, scientization, semantic, lexicon

Abstract

Introduction: Since their origins as specialized investigation fields, sciences have progressively come closer, mostly in recent times, to people’s everyday life. This has produced a contact situation between daily language and scientific language, which is manifested in the entry of scientific terminology into everyday use with consequences at the level of meaning and its conditions of application, particularly in a group of words, which due to their lexical characteristics are called plastic words. Methodology: The methodology is framed in the theoretical and methodological principles of modern language criticism and in a semantic lexical exam based on the notion of plastic word. Results: A different functionality acquired by terms of scientific origin can be observed in their entry to speaker’s everyday usage. Discussion: Semantics and conditions of application of words considered in their new usage environment are examined from a linguistic point of view. Conclusions: It is verified that there’s a loss of the semantic specificity in words with scientific origin, now used in daily language.

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Author Biography

Ricardo Renwick Campos, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru

He completed his Bachelor's studies in Linguistics and Literature, with a specialization in Hispanic Linguistics, at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. From 1994 to 2001, he pursued doctoral studies at the University of Freiburg (Germany), with a major in Romance Philology and minors in German Studies and General Linguistics (with a special emphasis on Indo-Germanic studies). During this time, he participated in research projects on the topic of language in 16th-century Spanish chronicles at the universities of Freiburg and Munich. Reincorporated into the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru since 2001, he currently serves as a tenured professor of linguistics at both the undergraduate and master's levels. His main areas of interest include: language theory, historical-comparative linguistics (Indo-European languages, particularly the Romance and Germanic groups), the history of medieval and modern Spanish, linguistic norms and the variation space of historical languages, spoken language and its relationship with written language, the relationship between scientific languages and everyday language, and linguistic universals.

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Published

2024-09-11

How to Cite

Renwick Campos, R. (2024). The concept of plastic word. On the relation between scientific usages and daily language in the framework of language criticism. European Public & Social Innovation Review, 9, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.31637/epsir-2024-716

Issue

Vol. 9 (2024)

Section

Humanism and Social Sciences

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Copyright (c) 2024 Ricardo Renwick Campos

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