Approaching Metaphorical Terms in Subject-specific Terminologies (Geologic and Geodetic): Semantic and Structural Aspects

Abstract

Terminological metaphors appear as a result of terminologisation, the process when commonly used words acquire special meaning, specific to a certain area of science. The mechanism of metaphoric representation of subject-specific concepts is based on certain associations (form, shape, function, structure, etc.). Terminological metaphors constitute an essential part of professional vocabulary being the means that help to facilitate nomination and understanding of subject-specific concepts, objects and processes for both specialists and non-professionals. This paper examines metaphorical terms in the domain of two subject-specific terminologies – geodetic and geological. The main objective of the research is to analyze terminological units of metaphorical character extracted from dictionaries and related reference literature in geodesy and geology, to determine their structural and semantic peculiarities, as well as their productivity. Metaphors under study have been investigated in accordance with semantic, structural and morphological approaches. The quantative analysis and the method of calculations have been applied to establish the productivity of different semantic and structural models of the terms. It has been found out that anthropological metaphorical terms prevail in geodetic and geologic terminologies. The vocabulary under study comprises one-stem terms, compound terms and terminological word combinations of metaphorical character. The latter ones turned out to be dominant. The results of the data analysis indicate that the number of noun models exceeds in both terminological systems.