STMPJM is a lexicon of health- and medicine-related terms compiled in Polish Sign Language (PJM) and written Polish. It contains several hundred entries — terms selected based on their relevance to situations where Deaf individuals may encounter them in interactions with medical professionals or while reading texts related to health issues.
The dictionary is intended for a range of users, including: medical professionals, such as doctors working with Deaf patients; PJM interpreters providing services to Deaf clients; Deaf individuals themselves, who wish to better understand medical terminology. Comprehension of these terms directly impacts everyday health and safety.
Each dictionary entry includes the following components:
- The headword or multi-word expression in written Polish.
- Any available PJM variants of the term (video recordings), presented directly below the Polish entry.
- A transcription in the HamNoSys system (shown above the video).
- The equivalent term in Polish Sign Language, consisting of one or more signs (video).
- A definition or explanation in PJM, sometimes translated literally from Polish, and sometimes adapted to PJM grammar. When possible, definitions in PJM avoid circular references to the defined term and instead use commonly known, non-specialist signs and concepts.
- A definition in written Polish, based on specialist sources — sometimes quoted directly, sometimes rephrased to be more accessible to non-experts while maintaining precision.
- Example sentences showing how the PJM term is used in context, adapted from written Polish examples.
- Authentic usage examples drawn primarily from a variety of medical and health-related texts, which serve as the basis for the PJM examples.
The dictionary includes only medical meanings of Polish words and PJM signs — other meanings are excluded.
Medical terms are organized into more specific thematic categories. Category assignment is one of the parameters of each entry. A small number of terms could not be clearly classified into a single category and were therefore assigned to the “Other” category. This categorization is essential, as the dictionary defines the meaning of a term within the context of its specific category.
The remaining parameters of each entry relate to the way the sign is produced. These include:
- the handshape of the dominant hand,
- the handshape of the non-dominant hand (if the sign is two-handed),
- the location, that is, the area of the body or signing space where the sign is performed (for two-handed signs, this refers to the location on the non-dominant hand where the dominant hand articulates the sign),
- an indication of whether the sign is two-handed.