L.I. Pochynok
Буковинський
державний медичний університет, Україна
Terminological Motivation of Lexical Units of the
English Sublanguage of Stomatology
The scientific
terminology is known to be a large layer of the vocabulary with an intensive
development and active interaction with the rest of the vocabulary units, with the words in general use,
in particular. It stipulates the significance of the research of the regularity
of term-forming by modern linguistics.
While studying
term-forming the main accent is being made on semantics and the way of
word-forming which define its inner form conditioned by the semantics of the
components of a lexical unit, their inter-relationship and their grammar
structure.
The problem of
motivation of scientific terms is in the centre of attention of scientists, the
direct connection between the contents of the notion of a term, its signs and
structure being underlined. First and foremost it concerns the scientific
terms. The comparative characteristics of the contents and the meaning of the
term, a strict definition of their motivation parameters require a precise and
objective analysis.
The notion of
motivation of the term is inseparably linked with the notion of its inner form
which is considered to be a motivation sign being the basis of the nomination
of a subject, and which is a common meaning of the motivator and the motivated,
the conceptual sign fixed in the word.
The scholars
differ motivation of the term by its outer form (phonetic motivation), which is
based on the similarity between the sounds that make up the word and those
referred to by the sense, and motivation by the inner form of the verb. The
latter is defined by the structure of the lexical unit and envisages taking
into account its both morphological and semantic properties that is we say
about morphological and semantic motivation. The first may be quite regular.
For example, the Latin prefix anti- when added to an adjective (antiviral,
inti-inflammatory,
antifebrile,
antiscorbutic,
antibacterial,
anti-allergic,
antiblastic,
etc) has the meaning of "against". Alongside with these cases there
is another use of anti-, as in the word antibiotic where the prefix anti-
loses its meaning and the word having the Latin prefix anti- and the Latin stem bio(t)
+ the English suffix -ic is
not perceived as a sum of two notions ("проти
життя") and as an adjective, but
as a specific category of drugs used to fight pathogenic microorganisms. We may
also compare to re-cover (to cover again) and to recover (to get well)
–a similar example of losing by prefix its initial meaning of repeatedness and
fading motivation of the word.
The morpheme
analysis of the derivative terms, especially internationalisms, can be of great
use when defining the inner form of the term. For example, –odontology
(гр. odont – зуб + гр. logos –наука, вчення) – одонтологія –1) наука про
зуби; 2) стоматологія, лікування зубів; stomatorrhaphy
(гр.
stomat
– рот + гр. rrhaphia –зшивання
) – стоматорафія – зшивання ротових
структур; dentoprosthetics (лат. dens – зуб + гр. prosthesis –протез, протезування) – протезування
зубів; buccoaxiogingival (лат. bucc – щока + лат. axi –вісь + лат. gingiva – ясна + англ. суфікс
al) – щічно-ясенно-вісьовий.
Motivation and
the inner form
of the word are the basis of the semantic meaning of
the term; they give associative impulses for developing new shades of the
metaphoric origin.
So, the word in
general use to glove acquires a metaphoric meaning in its derivative degloving
when used in stomatological literature – оголення (при ортодонтичних
операціях), and the two-component term a
porcelain jacket has nothing to do
with the word in general use jacket (жакет,куртка) and is
figuratively used to render the notion of "the covering of a
tooth" – фарфорова коронка, that is the derivative and multicomponent terms have a more
transparent inner form and are more motivated: another example of a semantic
type of the motivation of terms based on the co-existence of figurative
meanings of the same word within the same synchronic system is as follows: wisdom
(мудрість), a wisdom tooth –зуб мудрості,
третій моляр (since this tooth is often preserved to a very old age,
when a person becomes wise).
One more
stomatological unit, namely "a needle tooth" has
undergone the similar process of terminolization and inclusion into the
terminological system of stomatology as a single notion denothing a very sharp
tooth, in which the word needle has lost its primary meaning,
and one of its signs, namely "sharpness" is figuratively transferred to the object in discussion. Also: a cup
– чашка, a pulp cup –захисне
покриття коронки зуба; a socket –анат.
западина, заглиблення,
лунка; a dry socket –лунковий
постекстракційний альвеоліт;
a
seal – печатка, клеймо (загальновж.) –потовщення, ущільнювальний
шар; ізоляція,
герметизація (терм.)
–a palatalal seal
– ізоляція
піднебінного торуса зйомного протеза; a posterior palatal seal –задня
піднебінна межа повного зйомного протеза, лінія протезного ложа; a double seal – тимчасова пломба
з лікувальною прокладкою; a seat – місцезнаходження
(загальновж.) – опора, опірна поверхність (техн. терм.) –a lug seat – сідло зйомного
консольного зубного протеза; a hawk –яструб (загальновж.) –halk incisors – великі центральні
різцеві зуби (ін. назва: shovel-shaped incisors); lupus (лат. вовк) –dens lupines – вовчий зуб, перший
премоляр і т. ін.
The same
is true of
the multicomponent terms periodontal (peridental) membrane – періодонт, коренева
оболонка, перицемент; mucous membrane –слизова оболонка (ротової порожнини), oral membrane – глоткова перетинка, in every of which the word membrane becomes motivated and
acquires a monosemantic meaning.
Some more
examples: "reconstruction" (перебудова, реконструкція,
реорганізація) –
повне
відновлення структур ротової порожнини.
While studying
medical terms, stomatological ones, in particular, it was shown that the type
of a semantic pattern can to a certain degree limit their motivation. So, the
terms of the lexical-semantic category of "substances"
appeared to be more motivated compared with those of the categories of
"movement" and "characteristics". With the use of
abbreviations, numerals, scientists' names etc. in the structure of complex
terminological units the parametres of motivation of a term fade. The terms formed in the way of their reinterpreting are also less
motivated. In a certain semantic model more motivated are the terms presented
by a most frequently used structural pattern.
The linguistic
analysis carried out by scientists prove the possibility of working out in
future general structural –semantic patterns for a precise forming of new terms
and standardizing this or that terminological system. Since the structural
pattern of the term is in close dependence with the number of its components,
the number of the latter can also influence the degree of the term motivation.
Parametres of motivation increase from one- to three-component terms and then
they fade, as a rule, which can be explained by terminology regulations and
scientists' claim about a less motivation of multicomponent terms, in
particular, by the premise of D. S.
Lobbe, the founder of the terminological school, about the preciseness and
shortness of terms (if possible) as the inherent term properties (the fact
being valid enough to select for analysis mainly one- and two-component
stomatological terms).
The motivation of
terms, as scientists present it, also depends on their belonging to different
terminological branches. The more motivated are considered to be the terms
which belong to scientific spheres and which have been used for a long period
of time. The empowerment of the terminological spheres having been arranged by
scientists is also greater.
Thus, while
evaluating a degree of motivation of terms one should take into consideration
both the functional "loading" of semantic elements and their position
in the structure of the meaning and the inner form which coincide, and the
degree of specificity, their importance in the lexical – semantic system of the
language, since the motivation of terms also depends on the fact, whether the
compared meaning and the inner form of the word belong to the vocabulary of
words in general use, or to a special terminological one.
Evaluation of
preciseness and fullness of term motivation of terminological word combinations
can be a criterion to assess the quality of a translation, and the correct use
of the motivation phenomenon is of great importance in teaching foreign
languages, since it is necessary to define whether the form of unfamiliar words
prompts us their meaning, whether this or that language has numerous associated
word families and whether the given language is a non-motivated system in the
given sphere.
To sum up it can
be underlined that the modern English language has powerful productive means of
word-building for forming and enriching terminological systems of the language,
the stomatological one, in particular, using both linguistic and
extralinguistic factors.
Literature:
1. Блинова О.
Термин и его мотивированность // Терминология и культура речи. –М.,
1981. –c.28-37
2. Д'яков
А.С. та ін..
Основи термінотворення: Семантичні та соціолінгвістичні аспекти. –К.: Вид. дім
"КМ Academia", 2000. –218 c.
3. Кияк
Т.Р. Мотивированность лексических единиц. Количественные и качественные
характеристики./Тарас Романович Кияк. –Львів:
Вища школа. 1988.
4. Шелов
С.Д. Терминология, профессиональная лексика и профессионализмы (к проблеме
классификации специальной лексики) // ВЯ, 1984. –№5. –с. 76-84