English in Specialized Communication and its Impact on Spanish Medical Lexicon

Abstract The use of English-written publications (articles, books, book chapters, etc.) in university Medicine classes, in Spanish-speaking settings, results in a direct influence on lexical units in written text and oral discourse, particularly, with respect to prototypical terminological units. The extent of said influence has not been evaluated until now in the Colombian Spanish-speaking university context, which is, like in most countries in the world, a context that responds to the dynamics of the Internationalisation of Higher Education. As we will see in the following empirical study and its results, the use of English-written materials in university Medicine courses in Colombia has an impact on the presence of Terminological Anglicisms in both written texts and oral discourse in Spanish. And this, not surprisingly, does not promote the creation of new native Spanish vocabulary, on the contrary, it is detrimental to the specialized communicative suitability of the local language.