ІI Международная научно-практическая конференция «Научная индустрия европейского континента – 2010» Сроки проведения: 27.11-15.12.2010

 Филологические науки/Синтаксис: структура, семантика, функция

V. Ishchenko,  А. Khvan

Poltava University of Economics and Trade, Ukraine

MULTICOMPONENT BUSINESS TERMS: STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS

 

English business vocabulary has grown over the last decades and reflects the process of language adaptation to the new needs of communication. This development causes the importance of linguistic analysis of the ways and means in which English business vocabulary has grown. 

The phrase business term implies that a word or phrase is a typical one within a particular field of business and people within this field of business will be familiar with and use the term.

Business terminology exists in a continuum of formality. Precise business terms and their definitions are formally recognised, documented, and taught by educators in the field. Business terminology evolves due to the need for experts in this field to communicate with precision and brevity. Business terms represented by word-combinations with adjectives of different derivational complexity and origin have been used as a material for the analysis. The directions, qualitative and quantitative classifiers of valency links of the mentioned adjectives were the subjects of our study.

          The problem of internal and external valency of adjectives in present-day English term-formation is one of very important and interesting. That’s why the basic possibilities of adjectives to form business terms as well as peculiarities of their usage in the texts of different functional styles have been contemplated in this research. Business terminological word-combinations may be defined as special lexical units with manifest motivation.

On the material of business terminology the analysis of the structure of English business terminological word-combinations and its modeling was carried out. The main models are as follows: 1) Adv +A (readily discountable), 2) A + Vinf (possible to account), 3) A + Vger (easy managing), 3) A + N (foreign debt), 4) N + A (accounts receivable), 5) A + N + N (foreign trade turnover), 6) A + A + N (free economic zone), 7) Adv + A + N (mutually beneficial business), 8) A + A + N (capital external national debt), 9) N +A + A + N (capitalist enterprise balance sheet), 10) A + N + N + N (international accounting monetary unit), 11) A + conj. + A + N (long and heavy goods), 10) A + A + A + N (real gross national product).

The most widespread models of business terminological word-combinations in the texts of different functional styles (the style of academic texts, the style of newspaper articles and the style of modern literature) were determined. It was defined that English economic terms that were formed according to the models SA + SN (49,9% of the text) and SA + SN + SN (24% of the text) are the most widespread in the academic texts, for example:

For an undesirable product, the rate might be three domestic units for one foreign unit .[2, p. 159]

In the newspaper articles English economic terms that were formed according to the models SA + SN (61,5%), SA + SN + SN (12,3%), SA + SA + SN (9,1%) are the most widespread, for example:

Until recently newspapers and magazines overflowed with stories about the new paradigm – the nation that thanks to increased global competition and technological advances inflation and the business cycle are dead. [5]

Our research has shown that in modern literature the most widespread models of English economic terms are terms that were formed according to the model SA + SN (594 economic terms or 93,3%), for example:

“…I won’t feel my job has been completed until I hear your company described, especially by your detractors, as blue chip. [1, p. 327]

There were 43 cases of using English economic terms that were formed according to the models SA + SN + SN; SA + SA + SN; SАdv + SA + SN in the texts of modern literature, for example:

MITI regulates business practices, enforces industrial coordination, and guarantees that domestic and international commercial activity conform to its national goal [4, p. 25].

The analyses of the texts of different styles showed that the texts of different functional styles (the style of academic texts, the style of newspaper articles and the style of modern literature) contain metaphors, for example:

By doing after segments instead of the while market, companies have a much better chance to deliver value to consumers and to receive maximum rewards for close attention to consumer needs. Thus, Hewlett-Packard’s Computer System Division targets specific industries that promise the best growth prospects, such as telecommunications and financial services. Its “red team” sales force specialized in developing and serving major customers in these target industries. Within the chosen industry, a company can further segment by customer size or geographic location. For example, Hewlett-Packard’s “blue team” telemarkets to smaller accounts and to those that don’t fit neatly into the strategically targeted industries on which HP focuses [7, с. 172].

The number of business terminological word-combinations in the academic texts (15, 9% of the text) is higher than in the texts of newspaper articles (7,9 % of the text) and in the texts of modern literature (0,25%  of the text).

The results of this research may be used in developing courses for students majoring in linguistics.

References:

1.     Archer J. The Fourth Estate / J. Archer  – Glasgow: Caledonian International Book     Manufacturing Ltd, 1997. – 551 p.

2.     Cateora P.R. International Marketing / P.R. Cateora  – Boston, Massachusets: Irwin / McGrow-Hill, 1996. – 772 p.

3.     Kotler P.,Armstrong G. Principles of Marketing / P.Kotler, G. Armstrong – New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2001. – 523 p.

4.   Lathern E. East is East / E.  Lathern – New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991. – 268 p.

5.     The Economist – London: Economist Newspapers Ltd., 1997. – November, 15. – 106 p.