NOMENCLATURE OF THE ENGLISH THEATRE TERMINOLOGY

Research article
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18454/RULB.2022.29.1.1
Issue: № 1 (29), 2022
PDF

Abstract

The article discusses the features of the formation of nomina in the theatrical terminology of the English language. Various points of view on the issue of differentiation of nomenclature names, terms and words of the general literary language are presented. In the sample, 81 nomenclature names were found, making 10% of the total number of terms in 849 units. It was found out that these nomina belong to the following thematic groups: lighting and sound equipment, decorations and technical devices, names of theaters. The analysis of the nomenclature of theatrical terminology made it possible to divide them into two groups: proper nomenclature names and meta-nomenclature names. The research results are presented in the form of a table. The connection between nomina and terms has been established, which allows us to assert that nomina represent the next stage in the development of terminology and are the most accessible way of forming a large number of new names for various concepts.

Introduction

The most important type of special lexical units after terminology is nomenclature, nomenclature designations, also called nomenclature names and nomenclature signs, which were identified followed by terms in the 1930-s by G. O. Vinokur in the paper “On some phenomena of word formation in Russian technical terminology” [4]. Following the differentiation of the term and the word of the general literary language, a distinction should be made between terminology as a set of special lexical units to denote the general concepts of a certain field of science and nomenclature as a set of special lexical units to denote single concepts – specific subjects in this field [1], [9].

 There are many different views influenced by different scientific traditions.

 

Literature review

 The English philosopher and historian of science W. Whewell, whose views are presented in Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, proposed to refer to the nomenclature, as opposed to terminology, as a collection of terms for all the lower types of subjects considered by the given science [3]. Only the names of species in biology and only the names of elements in chemistry are recognized here as nomenclature. However, this approach does not accurately represent the views of W. Whewell, who believes that, on the one hand, the nomenclature is limited to the names of species, on the other hand, the nomenclature also includes the names of other biological taxons – genuses, families, orders, etc.

A famous Russian linguist, A. V. Superanskaya, believes that “nomenclature is more subject-oriented than terminology”, and that “the materiality or objectivity is the main thing for nomenclature” [15, P. 1-4]. O. S. Akhmanova [1] defines nomenclature as the identifying of a set of only lower names, however, comes to the conclusion about the relativity of the opposition "nomenclature – not nomenclature".

The Great Russian Encyclopedia gives the following meaning of the word "nomenclature": "a system of abstract and conditional symbols, the purpose of which is to give the most convenient from a practical point of view means for objects identification" [2]. This definition repeats the well-known position of G. O. Vinokur [4, P. 8], which was later developed by A. A. Reformatskij [11]. A. A. Reformatskij considers that “in the technical nomenclature, where things prevail, the nominative orientation of terms takes the first place... In science, the correlation of the term and the concept comes to the fore” [11, P. 5]. But such a qualification of the nomenclature raises the objection of A. I. Moiseev: “If a car has so many thousands of parts and each of them has its own name, it means that there are as many concepts. In this regard, the whole doctrine of the difference between terminology and nomenclature being deprived of serious grounds is devalued” [10, P. 133].

In the terminological literature, one of the first distinctions between terminology and nomenclature is presented in the paper of T. L. Kandelaki [7], where terms, nomenclature names and common names are distinguished as related to the general, singular and collective concepts, respectively. According to Kandelaki, nomenclature names are characterized by representing the individual concepts.

V. M. Leychik believes that “language has created the nomenclature names for representing the particular or special concepts” [8, P. 17]. According to V. M. Leychik, “the nomenclature can be defined as the designation system of objects classes included in a homogeneous series based on the consciously selected external features; the nomenclature can include the lists of product names of any enterprise (for example, all models of tractors of one plant), goods of any store, varieties, i.e. artificially created of botanical species (for example, fruits)” [8, P. 19].

S. V. Grinev has the same opinion on this issue. According to S. V. Grinev, “the definition of the nomenclature names as the names of specific mass products of the national economy, which are reproduced according to the same sample by a given number of times, as well as the names of individual concepts is the most precise" [6]. Besides, S. V. Grinev notes: “The vast majority of technical nomenclature are the names of the SB-5-24 type (a type of construction concrete block), i.e. the names of brands of materials and products, machines, mechanisms and equipment, industrial serial types of buildings and structures”
[6, P. 45]. Moreover, he believes that “the difference between a term and a nomenclature name is that nomenclature names represent the single concepts, while terms are the general concepts” [6, P. 86].

In our opinion, the definition of S. D. Shelov represents the concept of “nomenclature” most accurately. Thus, “a nomenclature unit (nomen) is a terminological representation of a particular special concept of any field of knowledge, which consists of two lexical and syntactic components. The syntactically main component is a term, word or phrase of a common language and denotes a special generic concept of the given area, while syntactically dependant component is a conditional, external (for the given field of knowledge and for representing the corresponding concept) sign (label) and serves to select this particular concept fixed in the special descriptions, interpretations, definitions, etc. from the generic concept. A syntactically dependant sign is a component of a nomenclature name (a metaphorically used word or phrase of a common language, an anthroponym or toponym, an abbreviation or a special alphanumeric notation) forms its nomenclature indicator (marker)”
[13, pp. 1–7].

 

Results

We have found out 81 nomenclature names in our sample texts, which is 10% of the total number of terms (849 units). These nomenclature names belong to the following thematic groups:

1. New lighting equipment: ArcSource 3 RGB 25° (6°, 15°) is a recessed luminaire with LEDs: 1 red, 1 green, 1 blue; beam angle is 6°, 15°, 25°; H.A.R.D. 45SPisa stage monitor with miniature dimensions (40×45×30 cm) and light weight, which saves space during transporting, as there is the possibility of placing inside the new suboofer Global Sub; PIXELPAR 90isa led spot light with 90 high intensity LEDs;

2. New sound equipment: Kanguro 1215 Ais the active acoustic system consisting of a satellite and a subwoofer (speakers are auxiliary unit - low-frequency one 1 × 12, high-frequency one 1×1, subwoofer 1×15); Butterfly CDL 1815 is a low-frequency section of a linear array system with a cardioid radiation pattern (FCASE 1815);

3. Setting and technical devices and techniques: StageBanner 50 AT

is an installation that makes it possible to show and rotate advertising banners on the stage in the theater; maximum load is 50 kg; StageBanner 10 AT multimedia is an installation that makes it possible to show and rotate advertising banners on the stage in the theater and has multimedia capabilities.

4. Names of theaters: The Courtyard Theatre, Jermyn Street Theatre, North Edinburgh Arts Centre, St David's Hall, Ustinov Studio, UCL Bloomsbury Theatre.

Therefore, theatrical nomenclature names are developed to represent light and sound devices, as well as technical devices of the stage, since the theater, namely, its stage equipment, certainly exists at the expense of the material base, part of which is various equipment and mechanisms. Nomenclature names are also represented by the names of theaters, since they are the main place of the performance [14].

The analysis of nomenclature of theatre terminology made it possible to divide them into two groups: nomenclature names and metanomenclature names.

The first group, (nomenclature names) consists of 50 terminological units including two parts: grapheme (alphabetic) and numerical [12]. Grapheme part is presented by the following examples: DigitalSpot is a digital projector; ArcLineisa LED ruler; ArcPowerisa power supply unit, and sets the place of the nomenclature name in a series of homogeneous units, indicates the thematic area to which it belongs. The numerical part of the nomenclature name indicates the main technical characteristics of the object and distinguishes it from a set of the similar objects: ArcLine 36 is a LED line with LEDs: 12 red, 12 green, 12 blue, which together makes up the nomenclature name indicator - 36; ArcPower 144 is a power supply unit with a maximum load of 144 LEDs.

Moreover, based on the proposition of S. D. Shelov that the "nomenclature names denoting, by means of proper names (anthroponyms, eponyms or toponyms) the separate provisions, statements, hypotheses, concepts, etc. of the corresponding field of knowledge, form the metanomenclature names of anthropological or toponymic type" [12, P. 1–7], it is possible to classify the following terminological units in metanomenclature nemes: the Courtyard Theatre, the Jermyn Street Theatre, the North Edinburgh Arts Centre, the St David's Hall, Ustinov Studio, the West Yorkshire Playhouse, the Novello Theatre. Furthermore, we consider this group includes the names of the theatres, which nomenclative component is expressed by the chrematonym, metaphorically used word or common language phrase, or by the abbreviation, because the given nomenclature names do not have grapheme component and numeric symbol, and its structure is similar to the anthropological and toponymic metanomenclature names, for example: The Door Theatre, the Lighthouse Theatre, the Corn Exchange Theatre.

In this study the concept of “chrematonym” following M. V. Gorbanevsky is referred to “the names assigned to inanimate objects and objects of material culture” , while “theonym” is referred to “the proper names of the gods” [5, p. 46].

It should be noted that the thematic group “theater names” is fully represented by metanomenclature names, the number of which is 231 units. We present below the groups of metanomenclature names by the nomenclative component in descending order of their number.

1. The metanomenclature names of the toponymic type are presented by 85 terminological units, for example, the Curtain Theatre, The Windmill Theatre, The Bush Theatre, The Greenwich Theatre, The South London Theatre, The West Cliff Theatre, The Belgrade Theatre.

2. The metanomenclature names of the anthroponymic type constitute 71 terminological units, such as The Alexandra Theatre, The Lyttelton Theatre, The Marlowe Theatre, The Anna Scher Theatre, The Stephen Joseph Theatre.

3. Metanomenclature names, the marker of which is expressed by a chrematonym, are 42 terminological units, for example, Sadler's Wells Theatre, the Warehouse Theatre, the Royal Exchange Theatre, the Watermill Theatre.

4. Metanomenclature names, the marker of which is a metaphorically used word or phrase of a common language are presented by 18 terminological units, such as the Hope Theatre, the Mayflower Theatre, the Tricycle Theatre, the Door Theatre, the Lighthouse Theatre.

5. Meta-nomenclature names, the marker of which is a toponym + a chrematonym are 4 terminological units, for example, The London Palladium, The Bradford Alhambra Theatre.

6. Metanomenclature names, the marker of which is a toponym + a metaphorically used word of a common language, make up 3 terminological units, for example, Oldham Coliseum Theatre, the Barrfields Pavillion Theatre, Medway Little Theatre.

7. Metanomenclature names, the marker of which is a toponym + an anthroponym, are represented by 3 terminological units, such as The Bristol Old Vic Theatre. The Hammersmith Apollo Theatre. The Litchfield Garrick Theatre.

8. Metanomenclature names, the marker of which is expressed by a title, are 3 terminological units and are as follows: the Prince of Wales Theatre, the Queen's Theatre, the King's Theatre.

9. Metanomenclature names, the marker of which is expressed by a theonym, are presented by 2 terminological units: The Fortune Theatre, The Neptune Theatre.

The study results of the nomenclative components of theaters nomenclature for the entire period of the theater's existence are given in the following Table:

 

Table 1 – Nomenclative components of nomenclature representing theaters names

Nomenclative component (marker)

I

period

II

period

III

period

IV

period

V

period

1) a toponym

5

25

19

28

8

2) an anthroponym

3

11

8

41

8

3) a metaphorically used word of the common language

3

4

4

4

3

4) a chrematonym

10

7

7

14

4

5) a theonym

1

 

 

1

 

6) a toponym +

a metaphorically used word of the common language

 

1

 

2

 

7) a toponym +

an anthroponym

 

1

 

1

1

8) a toponym +

a chrematonym

 

 

3

 

1

9) a title

 

2

1

 

 

 

Conclusion

Thus, the formation of nomenclature names of the modern period is characterized by the use of all nomenclative components presented in different periods, which indicates the productivity of nomenclature names. In that connection, one cannot agree more with with the statement of S. V. Grinev about the fact that the nature of the connection of nomenclature names with terms suggests that nomens represent the next stage in the development of terminology and are the most accessible way to form a large number of new names of various concepts.

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