СТРУКТУРА И ОСОБЕННОСТИ ГЕОГРАФИЧЕСКОЙ ТЕРМИНОЛОГИИ

Nowadays the continuous development of science increases the interest for studying and streamlining special lexicon that is interconnected with the professional activity of people. As M.I. Fomina justly notes, “in special lexicon which includes words and expressions used by groups of people united according to their occupation and activities, i.e. professional community, two main layers of lexicon are allocated: professional terminological and professional” [4]. According to the researcher: “words and word combinations used for logically exact definition of special notions and their specific features refer to terminological lexicon” [4]. In spite of the great number of publications focused on different types of terminology, one universally accepted classification doesn’t exist. As a rule, in line with the goal and tasks of a certain research, authors consider some separate kinds of terms allocating them with a definite perspective; often there is no unity even in the used terminology.  

Taking into account the scientific and technical progress, more and more information in different spheres of knowledge is appearing that leads to appearance and functioning of new words, and to the increase of term number. Scientific and technical terms occupy the main position in special lexicon.  Words, which are used for characterizing special notions and concepts, are related to terminological lexicon. According to M.I. Fomina “terminology is one of the most flexible and quickly replenished parts of public lexicon” [4].

The universal scientific popular online encyclopedia “Encyclopedia Krugosvet” gives the following definition of terminology: “a set of terms of a certain branch of knowledge or production as well as a theory about terms formation, structure and functioning. The subject of the general theory of terminology consists of the study of formation and usage of special words, with the help of which human knowledge is accumulated and spread; the development of special words, with the help of which human knowledge is accumulated and sent; the improvement of existing terminological systems; the search of optimal ways of creating new terms and their systems; the search of universal features peculiar to terminologies of different fields” [10].

Along with F.P. Filin, we consider that “special terminology is the main source of vocabulary building of the literary language” [2]. In our opinion, this statement is difficult to deny because special lexicon not only enriches one’s vocabulary, but also makes the speech of native speakers brighter.

In the work “The Dictionary of the Russian Onomastics Terminology” N.V. Podolskaya writes that “a term is a word or a phrase from the special (scientific, technical, etc.) language, directly correlated to a scientific concept, serving for its exact expression (ideally)” [7].

The Linguistic Encyclopedic Dictionary edited by V.N. Yartseva characterizes the concept as follows: “A term (further T) is a word or a word combination denoting a concept of a special area of knowledge or activity. T. is a part of the general lexical system of a language, but only by means of a specific terminological system (terminology)” [5]. The author singles out specific traits of a term: “1) systematicity; 2) availability of a definition (for the majority of T.); 3) tendency to monosemy within the terminological field, i.e. terminology of a given science, discipline or scientific school (therefore such terms as “function” in mathematics, physiology and linguistics are called interdisciplinary homonyms); 4) lack of expression; 5) stylistic neutrality” [5].

According to O.S. Akhmanova, a term is “a word or a word combination  of special (scientific, technical, etc.) language, created (accepted, borrowed, etc.) for exact expression of special concepts and designation of special objects” [1].

On the basis of the above mentioned material we can conclude that the majority of researchers consider a term to be a special word or a phrase which has a specific feature, namely, the defining function characteristic for scientific and professional language.

Alongside with general scientific terms there are also such special lexical units as professional terms. It is worth agreeing with M.I. Fomina that “in special lexicon the words and expressions used by groups of people, united by the nature of the activity (by profession), are called professional terms” [3]. The author considers that “professional terms are characterized by a big differentiation in designation of special concepts, tools and means of production, in the name of objects, actions which have names in usual speech” [3]. Further, the researcher gives examples, which are characteristic of certain fields of activity of a person: “according to the distinguished types of snowflakes in meteorology there are several names of the phenomenon: asterisk, needle, hedgehog, plate, fuzz and column. In the hunting lexicon a lot of names of a fox (on color and breed) are known, for example, simple, red (or sivodushka), forest, pyralid, red-brown, etc. In the speech of carpenters and joiners a tool called carpenter’s plane can be expressed in one of the following words: struzhok, nastrug, gorbatch, medvedka, rabbet knife, etc.” [3].

According to O.A. Akhmanova, “a professional term is a word or expression peculiar to this or that group of professionals” [1]. V.N. Yartseva gives the following definition: “professional terms are the words and expressions peculiar to the speech of representatives of this or that profession or field of activity getting into the common-literary use (mainly into spoken language) and usually acting as colloquial and emotionally coloured equivalents of terms” [5].  

A number of authors believe that professional terms are typically used in a special sphere and are assigned to a group of people integrated by a certain profession, i.e. unlike terms, professional terms have a limited sphere of use. M.I. Fomina fairly notices that “narrowly-professional words aren’t usually widely adopted. Most often they are used in spoken language, as professional terms are semi-official names (and it is one of their differences with terms) fixed in the language of representatives of this or that profession” [3]. The terminology of a specific brunch of knowledge is tend to be considered as a system of terms of this science or industry associated with the system of concepts of the relevant brunch of knowledge.

Geographical terminology represents unique lexical material, which is constantly updated and changed. According to E.M. Murzayev, “terms are the fundamentals of toponymy, they are a part of difficult, compound place names which define the semantic content of toponyms. Terminology of the concrete area of knowledge can be considered as the system of terms of this science or branch of production correlated with the system of the concepts of the respective area of knowledge. In such names as Leningrad, Zailiysky, Ala Tau, Bash-bulak, Lovozero, Vudjyavr, Hamar-Daban, Rio Grande, Stara Planina, the main words define the names’ belonging to the geographical objects and by that reflect their nature, appear to be: grad (city), Ala Tau (type of mountains in Turkic-speaking areas), bulak (channel), rio (river), planina (mountain, ridge)” [6].

 It is pertinent here to mark out the value of geographical term understood by N.V. Podolskaya as “a word designating a certain geographical phenomenon. It originates from a geographical concept, for example, a river, a lake, a gulf, a valley, a cape, a village, etc.” [7].

It is difficult to imagine the modern world without geographical names. Geographical terms of various languages and times are the cornerstone of the majority of toponyms. Early Russian chronicles contain the interpretation of place names. They are of great interest among scientists, namely, among historians, geographers and linguists. According to A.V. Superanskaya, “the history of formation of place names reflects the development of human knowledge and evolution of a person’s relation to the outside world, both natural, created by an environment and social, formed as a result of interaction of various public institutes. Place names appear at the earliest stage of a society development because of the necessity to label surrounding objects, landscapes and grounds in the course of their development by a man, for the convenience of orientating and from the need to explain each other how to orientate” [8]. The science studying place names is called toponymy. D.N. Ushakov defines toponymy as “a set of place names in some country or district” [9].

Among geographical terms E.M. Murzayev distinguishes two categories: generic and specific. 1) “generic terms designate landscapes, large elements of a relief, hydrography, soil and plant cover, etc. Such terms generalize geographical phenomena and objects: river, lake, bog, mountain (mountains), ridge, height (taiga, tundra, steppe, desert). 2) specific terms characterize some more limited elements of environment, types of landscapes, but not their zone structure. The function of specific term is not generalization, but differentiation and definition of specific features of an object: urman, protein, loach, relka, crest, curia and counter” [6]. It should be noted, that in geographical terminology, there are common terms and professional terms (for example, the common term – “compass” and the professional term – “compass”).

Geographical terms are sometimes used so widely that it often leads to their reconsideration and the loss of initial special value. The revision of the attitude to this type of terms has occurred relatively recently as now geographical terminology has not only considerably expanded its volume, but has also actively begun to get into a household discourse. 

It should be noted that geographical terminology, which is an integral part of lexical structure of a language, develops gradually throughout a long time under the influence of social, economic and historical factors. The language value and the importance of any kind of terminology, including geographical one, is defined by the degree of its integration in the language system and in a mental lexicon and depends on a number of factors which are the purpose of our further research.