Deconstructing the Contact-Induced Morphophonological Change in Medicines' Names in Algeria

Abstract

This study examines the contact-induced change in the names of medicines amongst the pharmacies' community of practice at Tiaret Speech Community (hereafter TSC). The study endeavours to unravel the phonological, morphological, and orthographic modifications that take place in medicines' names by investigating the factors influencing or leading to the changes, such as patient perceptions, pharmacist practices, sociocultural associations, etc. To offer a robust framework for examining the morphophonological adaptation, a mixed-methods approach was employed. The research combined 80 patient questionnaires and interviews with 10 members of the community of practice, including pharmacists, delegates, and pharmacy sales assistants, besides observations at Tiaret's most known pharmacies, to investigate how medications’ names have been adapted and transformed to suit the local linguistic and cultural context. The findings show that the morphophonological changes in medicines' names have become prevalent linguistic features in the speech of the Algerians as a whole and in particular in our respondents' daily life speech due to the co-existence of a lot of language varieties in Algeria. This study sets the stage for subsequent studies on language variation and change in nicknaming medications and drugs since the standardization of medicines' names has become a must.