Formation of health science terminology by users in general malay language texts

Abstract

The emergence of terminology in various fields contributes to the enrichment of Malay vocabulary, and is crucial in supporting the development of the Malay language as a language of knowledge. However, studies on terminology in general Malay language texts are still somewhat lacking. Most studies focus more on the aspects of formation and acceptability of terminology. Apart from that, the phenomenon of excessive borrowing of foreign terminology in Malay language vocabulary, especially in the field of science and technology, also indicate that society nowadays frequently coin terms easily through the absorption of foreign terms for current needs. Thus, this study describes the formation of terminology in Malay language medical (health science) field texts. The first objective is to identify health science terms in general texts, namely newspapers. The method used in identifying the terms is by making comparisons between terms in general texts, and the existing terminology data bank which are terms in the Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. The analytical definition approach is used to explain terms in the texts through the clues given by the general text writer. The second objective is to describe the terminology corpus in terms of frequency and presence of the terms in the Malay language general corpus. Then, the relationship between the terms and existing terms is described based on the form generated, and description of the term in the text that is being studied. This study used the textual analysis method which involves medical field (health science) text corpus from online newspapers, namely Berita Harian, Harian Metro, Utusan, Kosmo, and Info Sihat, from January 2015 to February 2018, involving 41000 words. The TextStat texts analysis program is used to display study data in the form of word frequency, and concordance for terminology identification. The various Malay language medical health science terms by related field users, and their methods of formation were documented. In conclusion, this study has shown that terminologies are readily created by users in general texts and can fulfill the requirements of standard terminology in the field of health science.