Professionalism in the speech of morgue workers

Chelak Elena Anatol'evna ORCID: 0000-0002-7128-2522 PhD in Philology Associate Professor; Department of Higher School of Humanities; Yugra State University 16 Chekhov St., Khanty-Mansiysk, Khanty-Mansiysk, 628012, Russia savelana@rambler.ru Other publications by this author

Savina Tamila Olegovna Graduate student, Higher School of Humanities; Yugra State University 628012, Russia, Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug, Khanty-Mansiysk, Chekhov str., 16 e_chelak@ugrasu.ru

Forensic medical examination plays an important role in justice by providing objective and scientific data on the causes of death, the mechanisms of damage to the corpse, and other significant facts. The specifics of their work determine the use of certain vocabulary, which reflects the specifics of their activities and interactions with other specialists. A professional worldview with a special worldview and values is reflected in their speech.

In the works of Russian scientists, special attention is paid to the image of a medical worker, since "it is valuable because it expresses certain mental ideas about the state of the medical profession and medicine in general, their social status and cultural purpose" ^{[6, p. 6]}. The speech of a medical worker often becomes the object of scientific analysis ^[2-7], however, in recent years, few works have been devoted to the study of informal (non-standard) professional speech, which is an important component of this image. O.I. Nedelyi in his article explores the functioning of medical slang in forensic medical discourse, which, according to the author, "I have not yet received a systematic linguistic description" ^[8]. The work of R.H. Khairullina et al. examines Russian and English professionalism using component and comparative analysis ^[9]. M.A. Trostina, K.N. Shishkanova consider the folklore of representatives of the medical community. Highlighting the "main paremic genres of medical folklore," the authors conclude that medical folklore reflects a special ("medical") a picture of the world, the specificity of which lies in the organic synthesis of rational and creationist components" ^[10]. The article by T.V. Rodionova and I.V. Privalova analyzes the structural and functional differences between professional and everyday medical discourses, as well as the ways of using slang words and expressions ^[11]. E.E. Kottsova's article on the professional vocabulary of "medical workers of Arkhangelsk in terms of its thematic connections and sources of education" ^[12] became interesting for comparative analysis.

Professionalisms and terms are among the key elements of communication in the professional environment. N.K. Garbovsky identifies two types of professionally colored units of the lexical and phraseological level: a) special professional terminology and b) uncodified units of language that function in informal communication on professional topics - professionalisms ^[13]. A.V. Kalinin defines professionalism as "a semi-official word that is common (more often in colloquial speech) among people of a profession or specialty, but is not, in essence, a strict, scientific designation of the concept" ^{[14, p. 140]}. At the same time, the scientist distinguishes professional jargonisms (informal words that exist only in the oral speech of representatives of a profession) and semantic jargonisms (due to "the functioning of the national word in a special meaning" [ibid.]).

The morgue staff's speech is full of professionalism. Of course, the terms are also present in colloquial speech, but more often they are transformed into truncated versions that facilitate communication. Each profession has its own vocabulary with an ironic, evaluative connotation, including specialists in the field of forensic medical examination; moreover, it is precisely this vocabulary that prevails in their speech and is a characteristic feature. This is due to the difficult work in extraordinary conditions, as morgue workers face death every day.

The professional vocabulary of morgue workers, mythologized and tabooed, is specific, cynical and even cruel, which is a consequence of working in a constant stressful environment.

The specificity of the vocabulary is reflected, for example, in the names of unique tools and processes peculiar only to this field of activity: changing clothes (changing clothes of the deceased), cargo 200 (a term that came from the military sphere, but is also used in civilian).

Constant contact with death and the bodies of the dead can lead to the formation of a protective mechanism in the form of cynicism and even cruelty in speech. So–called black humor, sarcastic or ironic comments (the body has undergone significant postmortem changes - the corpse has crumbled, turned sour, expired, well preserved) are a way to avoid emotional overstrain.

In addition, brief descriptions of the causes of death (died of heart failure, died of heart failure, passed the watch, the whole grandmother's heart attack) simplify information, help to communicate effectively within the team, although they deprive it of "humanity"; brief, nevertheless, accurate, unambiguous, names of corpses (electrician, dentist, ugolek, 3) allow to eliminate ambiguity, and also provide understanding between the expert and other participants in the process. Truncated names of medical devices, rooms, etc. (long, short, box, anatomical box) allow you to solve professional tasks faster and more clearly.

During the field information gathering, two main informants, orderlies, who have been working at the Nizhnevartovsk Forensic Medical Examination department for more than ten years, were interviewed for two hours. Also, during the production break, a conversation was held with three laboratory assistants, during which it was possible to record less significant in volume (due to time constraints), but no less significant for the study material. Thus, 102 professional qualities were identified.

Next, thematic groups of professions will be given, as well as interpretations for each of them. The article provides the most vivid, representative examples. The style of the authors' statements has been preserved.

1. Names of corpses

Before turning to a more detailed semantic differentiation, it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that the lexeme "corpse" itself has variants-professionalisms, for example, the series corpse/ blind man/client. "What do you call the dead? "Blink and blink." In addition, the corpse may have a specific marker indicating the need for additional protective measures. These are corpses with HIV infection. Tubics are corpses with tuberculosis infection. "Tuba and vich are those who have HIV and tuberculosis." AIDS patients are corpses with AIDS. "Mostly drug addicts, AIDS addicts."

An autopsy may be accompanied by some unexplained interference; in this case, corpses whose autopsy process is inconvenient are called nasty. "There are nasty ones, that's what we call them, no matter how hard you try, the thread gets tangled, then it breaks." People who die in a hospital are called hospital patients. "Children rarely come to us, they rarely come to the hospital, mostly falling out of the window." An unclaimed deceased is a deceased person whose burial has not been undertaken by relatives or other persons. "They brought a man, a corpse, we opened it, there are no relatives, no one takes it away - unclaimed."

1.1. Names motivated by the reasons that led to the death of a person

A hangman is a person who died as a result of mechanical asphyxia due to hanging. "A hanged man is a hanged man."

A pilot is a person who died as a result of a fall from a height. "Is it any different from how they died? "Pilots are falling from a height."

Frozen is a person who died as a result of hypothermia. "Those who were found on the street are frozen, lying, melting."

Fire / ember - a person who died as a result of exposure to fire. "Those who have burned down are a fire, there is still an ember."

Traffic police officers are people who died as a result of a traffic accident. "Traffic police officers are those who are involved in an accident, as it were."

Crunchies/ one–dayers / meat - motor vehicle drivers who died as a result of an accident. "Crunchy motorcyclists are coming to us. People even call them crispy/one-day/meat in different ways."

Fishermen / hunters are people who died as a result of non–compliance with safety regulations during hunting or fishing. "In spring and autumn, fishermen come to us, hunters, mostly go under the ice."

Drowned people / divers / divers are people who died as a result of drowning. "We call drowned people divers, and divers also."

Heart patients are people who have died as a result of a heart disease. "Heart patients with heart diseases."

1.2. Names motivated by appearance

Grandma God's dandelion is a deceased elderly woman of pleasant appearance. "There's Grandma God's dandelion, that's what we call it when we're a little, neat grandma."

The galleries are corpses with tattoos. "...it's with tattoos; sometimes it's just galleries."

Stargazers are corpses of people who have made so–called prison tattoos. "Those with tattoos are called stargazers. These are the ones who were sitting; there is a star here, here."

Kislyak / sour is a badly decomposed corpse with a characteristic odor. "If, for example, they work with Kislyak, then they put on glasses.… And also, when I work with sour, I put on a special mask, there is a very specific smell."

A mummy is a mummified human corpse. "Mummies are like sour cream, just already mummified."

A cracker is a dried–up human corpse. "The cracker... was lying in a dry place and the skin dried up, turned to stone."

A rotten corpse is a corpse with putrid changes that emits a bad smell. A man whose death occurred long before admission to the morgue. "Rotten meat emits such a smell, with putrid changes already."

Crystal corpses are corpses that break their skin when they interact with them. "Crystal is when they tear, sometimes you take your hand, and the skin peels off."

2. Causes of death also have specific names.:

The whole grandmother's heart attack is death as a result of a heart disease. "The whole grandmother's heart attack is also a heart problem."

Cancer of the whole grandmother is death as a result of cancer. "The cancer of the whole grandmother is cancer."

Drunk – death as a result of alcohol intoxication. "Well, when you overdose on alcohol, (it's) a drunk."

Biological death is death by natural causes. "If she's an ordinary biological woman, her grandmother or grandfather is at home, they went to bed, she woke up, and her husband is still asleep."

He opened up and cut his veins. "I opened my veins there, I just opened them."

Alcohol dependence, which can cause death, is understood metaphorically.: Harmonicas are torn up by people who are waiting for death. "Well, they're drinking, they're tearing up the harmonicas, that is, they're waiting for death." The result of a human life as a result of any impact on the body is indicated by the lexeme to crumble – to die. "Due to weather changes, and that's it, hypertensive patients can get sick."

3. Names of medical instruments, devices, interior items, premises

The long one is a large dissecting knife designed for autopsy. "Big sectional is already a scientific name, we have a long one, we don't call it that, we need to go faster - long."

A short is a small dissecting knife designed for autopsy. "There is a short one, there is a medium one, and a short one is a small sectional one."

The tray is a pull–out shelf of a refrigerator cabinet on which a corpse lies. "We take out the tray from the refrigerator - this is what the corpse is lying on."

Pica – Pica myeloma, a knife designed to cut the spinal cord when extracting the brain. "This is what pica looks like, scientifically called Pica myelot."

Muffle furnaces are equipment that burns human tissue. "A special organization arrives, which wins the tender, they have special muffle furnaces."

Pathanatomy is the pathology departments within hospitals where the causes of nonviolent deaths are determined. "And pathanatomy is specifically a person who was in the hospital, had a certain disease, died, goes to them."

Sectionary is a room where an autopsy is performed. "The dissection room is where all the action takes place."

The forensic morgue of the forensic medical examination. "We have a trial going on, we have all the hangings, murders, something else, they bring everything to us."

A hearse truck. "Any corpse can be transported, it's just an ordinary corpse truck."

Cargo-200 – any transportation of a dead body. "These are the ritualists, they all have 200 cargo written on them, 200 cargo is any corpse they transport, it's just an ordinary corpse truck."

A rotten refrigerator with badly decomposed corpses. "A rotten refrigerator is a separate refrigerator for the unclaimed, so to speak."

Refrigerator – cold storage rooms for corpses. "The corpse turns out to have a phone in his pocket, someone called him, starts talking there, and it's a bit fast when someone is talking in the refrigerator."

4. Names of employees of medical and other organizations related to the provision of social assistance or funeral services

A laboratory assistant is a specialist who records the autopsy process. "The lab assistant sits at the computer and types everything that the expert tells her."

Nightgowns are night morgue workers who take in corpses. "The night shift, we call them nightgowns because they work at night."

Laying hens are ritual agents who take away a corpse. "What do you call the ritual agents?" –Laying hens."

Zhmurovoz/ zhmuronosy – social services that deliver corpses to the morgue. "The social services that bring them to us, we call them zhmurovoz or zhmuronos."

Ritualists are ritual agents, employees of a funeral home or funeral agency. "We only wash, the rest are ritualists."

5. Vocabulary reflecting the work process

Measuring is the process of measuring a corpse. "It all starts with measuring."

(For)cutting is the autopsy of a corpse. "We measure the corpse, after the planning we cut it."

Rolling is the process of transporting a corpse to an autopsy table. "We're rolling a corpse on the table." "We have special wheelchairs, we just rolled them up."

A typo is a list of injuries that caused death. "While you're making a typo, you need to describe everything, where, what went in, how and where, what got damaged."

The list is a list of corpses received overnight. "We arrive in the morning, look at the list; the one who enrolled overnight, nightgowns are entered into the magazine - we have a list."

These groups do not include all the lexemes identified during the collection of the material, as they are unique in their thematic representation. So, for example, the degree of roasting can also be determined – the degree of burn. "It all depends on the degree of roasting." And human skin is called a skin. "I opened the bathroom, and there the skin has already peeled off, floating in the tub." The things that were with the corpse at the time of its delivery to the morgue are referred to as zhmurdyak / shmurdyak – "Stuff and things – zhmurdyak or shmurdyak. The clothes that were with the deceased." The motor is the heart. "The motor has failed, that is, the heart has failed." "Even if the engine just failed, well, the person died."

It should also be noted that some of the words (laboratory assistant, pathology) are general medical vocabulary.

So, at this stage of the study, an analysis of contexts was carried out, which made it possible to determine the features of the meaning and functioning of professionalisms, as well as their relationship to common vocabulary. Specific groups of professionalism have been identified, reflecting different aspects of the activity.: "Names of corpses" (44 units), "Names of medical instruments, devices, etc." (18 units), "Causes of death" (11 units), "Names of employees of medical and other organizations" (11 units), "Vocabulary reflecting the work process" (9 units). In addition to the lexemes that were included in the groups, professionalisms such as "skin", "degree of roasting", "opened", etc. were also recorded. (9 units).

A study of professionalism in the speech of morgue workers has shown that this vocabulary is a complex system that performs several important functions.: 1) accuracy: allows you to accurately describe the facts, the mechanism of damage, causes of death and other data important to the case; 2) unambiguity: eliminates ambiguity in the interpretation of the data obtained and ensures the objectivity of the expert opinion; 3) efficiency: helps to communicate effectively within the team in order to solve professional tasks faster and more clearly; 4) communication: provides understanding between the forensic expert and other participants in the process (investigator, prosecutor, court, lawyer); 5) maintaining emotional distance: professionalism helps to separate the work area from the personal and maintain emotional balance in a difficult work environment.

Further research may be aimed at a comparative analysis of mortuary staff from different regions, countries and cultures, studying the dynamics of professional vocabulary changes over time, as well as developing recommendations for optimizing professional communication and psychological support for mortuary staff, which can be implemented using an interdisciplinary approach.