Drug Naming : Morphological Formation and Structure

Abstract

The researcher examined how pharmaceutical drugs are named by brands using morphological processes. Naming is a global phenomenon and it is applied in various fields. Names are given to
give life and make an object a referent. Naming is not limited to human beings alone, drugs also have their names. The focus of the article was on pharmaceutical drug naming morphological
processes as a practice in linguistics. The theoretical framework used for the study is the onomasiological theory. Document review related to pharmacology such as textbooks and online journal articles were used for data collection for the drug names. It was revealed that non-proprietary drug names are constructed out of affixes and stems that the drug classes belonged. The researcher concluded that most names are compound names which reveal various morphological processes.