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THE FEATURES OF THE SEMANTIC STRATEGY OF TERM COINAGE
IN POLITICAL TERMINOLOGY
ОСОБЕННОСТИ СЕМАНТИЧЕСКОЙ СТРАТЕГИИ ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ ТЕРМИНОВ
на примере политической терминологии
А.А. КОСАРИНА, филологический факультет МГУ им. М.В. Ломоносова,
А.Е. ФЕДОТОВА, филологический факультет МГУ им. М.В. Ломоносова
ФГБОУ ВО МГУ им. М.В. Ломоносова, филологический факультет 119991, Москва, Ленинские горы, ГСП-1, 1-й корпус гуманитарных факультетов
Современный мир в высшей степени подвержен изменениям, влияющим на любую область человеческой деятельности. Изменения в терминологии также происходят непрерывно с развитием данной области знаний или самой системы терминологии, например, тенденции к глобализации, лаконизму, семантической прозрачности, а также других основных тенденций современного терминоведения. В данной статье рассматривается одна из наиболее продуктивных стратегий современного терминообразования - семантическая (другими основными стратегиями образования новых терминов является заимствование и морфологическая стратегия, а также семантическая стратегия). Особенностями данной стратегии является изменение значения заимствованного слова (чаще сужение, чем полное изменение), полное сохранение плана выражения данного слова и консубстанциональность новых единиц терминологии. Источниками новых терминов становятся слова общего пласта лексики, единицы номенклатуры (номены), имена собственные, термины других областей знания (родственных, например, бизнеса, и не родственных, к примеру, религии) и других стран (например, французской терминологии). Сужение значения подразумевает сохранение основных сем оригинальной единицы лексики, так как значение нового термина основано на определении оригинального слова. Основными методами заимствования можно считать метафорический (по сходству) и метонимический (по смежности). В статье приводится анализ данной стратегии и ее методов на примере политической терминологии. Рассматриваются определения терминов ряда словарей политической терминологии и других источников, например, новостей ресурсов Би-Би-Си. Статья в особенности рассматривает метафоры, появляющиеся в политической терминологии, а также заимствованные из метафор общего пласта лексики.
Ключевые слова: политология, терминология, заимствование, стратегии заимствования терминов.
The development of terminology is a constant process. With the development of a given science new notions appear, and thus new terms are coined, and the old ones become outdated, making the term old-fashioned. The reasons why new terms appear also include certain processes taking place within the framework of the terminology system itself, for example, the trends to globalization, laconism, semantic transparency etc.
According to A.G. Anisimova, the main strategies of the term coinage are the semantic, morphological, syntactical strategy and borrowing [1].
The semantic strategy is one of the most productive, since in this case specific lexical units are borrowed from general lexis through metaphoric or metonymic criteria without any changes in the expression plane. A term can be based on a metaphor if there is‘a resemblance of two contradictory or different objects <.. .> based on a single or some common characteristics'[3], and one of these objects is denoted with a word of the general lexis and the other is denoted with a term. For example:
Light at the end of the tunnel - a
phrase often used in diplomatic negotiations, when there has been a deadlock or an impasse on reaching an agreement or an understanding, signifying that an end is in sight <.> [2, p. 284];
Palace guard - a ruling junta; or loyal followers; those who actually hold power in the state [2, p.357].
The term coinage is based on metonymy if ‘ the word we use to describe [a notion of the field of knowledge] is closely linked to [the general notion], but is not a part of it’ [3]. For example,
Paper trail - writing recorded on a paper, or a voice recorded on a tape, if preserved and retrieved when need arises, becomes a document. <..>A paper trail works to the detriment of lawbreakers [2, p. 359];
Ghost Vote - the practice of casting ballots in elections using the names of persons no longer alive [2, p. 192].
In either case, the meaning of a term is based on a meaning of a general lexical unit and thus in most cases corresponds to
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the main semes of the latter. For example, a term Trojan Horse (I) is based on the general language metaphor with the same expression plane (II):
Trojan Horse I - a term often used in practical politics to describe deceitful practices (i.e., the infiltration of enemy troops or agents into the territory of another state for hostile purposes) [2, p. 517];
Trojan Horse II - someone or something intended to defeat or subvert from within usually by deceptive means [4].
Thus, the main seme of a deceitful practice intended to harm someone is preserved both in the term and the general lexical unit, but the term has a significantly narrower meaning and a more accurate definition.
The same process of narrowing the term meaning takes place even in the case when the general lexical unit is not a metaphor itself:
Maverick [politician] - one who is
flamboyant in his political style, unorthodox, unusual, different from most; also, one who never follows a party’s line, but proceeds on his own; one who is doing things his/her way [2, p. 301];
Maverick - an independent individual who does not go along with a group or party [5]
Here the main meaning is also preserved, but the definition of a term is much more precise and reflects the fact that the term is part of a certain system of notions.
Yet there are also certain terms that completely changed their meanings during the process of terminologization:
Open Shop - a place of work where membership in a labour union is not required [2, p. 349].
As the terms are coined from general lexis, all of them are consubstantial, and as his strategy is one of the most productive in the English language, the high proportion of consubstantial terms is highly characteristic of political terminology.
The semantic strategy can also presuppose term borrowingfromthe specific lexis. The issue of the distinction between terminol-
ogy and nomenclature is of high importance and has been studied by a number of scientists [1; 5-9]. In this case the model is different: the term is not chosen by metaphoric or metonymy criteria and its meaning is usually not narrowed. Since a unit of nomenclature is already part of the lexis of a certain field of knowledge and is usually described by a term that is its genus proximum, its meaning is already limited to the framework of the given field of knowledge.
A unit of nomenclature may undergo the process of terminologization in casethat there have been changes in the system of the given field of knowledge. First, it can become a term if it acquires another meaning, which is more general than its original meaning and defines not an object of the extralinguistic reality or an event but a notion, a part of a system. For example:
Fifth column - the Spanish nationalist general, Emilio Molo (1887-1937), when asked at a press conference which of four army columns he expected to capture Madrid, answered ‘the fifth column, meaning organized sympathizers within the city. Hence: sympathizers within an opposition camp who organize its subversion [6, p. 249].
The unit appeared as a metaphor, then used to be a unit of nomenclature denoting one particular part of the war and then with time turned into a term and is now widely used to denote such a strategy, for example, in the BBC news: ‘the danger of fuelling public anger against a so-calledfifth column of traitors ’ [7], ‘The Fourth Estate in Pakistan is deeply penetrated by the Fifth Column[7].
The second case in which a nomenclature unit may become a term is if the science itself develops to an extent that the given unit becomes a genus proximum for other specific lexical units, thus becoming a more general notion.
For example, the unit civil rights appeared in Ancient Rome (as iuscivis) and referred to the rights of the Rome citizens. Yet the system of civil rights developed together with the world evolution and now is a sophisticated structure of ‘the political, social, and
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economic rights that each citizen has by virtue of simply being a citizen, and which are usually upheld by law ’ [8, p. 79].
The terms can also be borrowed from Proper names, usually either through the process of its transformation into the unit of general lexis and, then, terminologization.
For example, the word billingsgate had been a Proper name of a market in London but now is a word that is frequently used in texts on policy, which may sign that it is to become a part of specific lexis and then a term: ‘the billingsgate common to the lower political quarreling' [9].
Another example is the term boycott. We can see that the term originated from a unit of general lexis if we compare its definition in the political dictionary (I) and its description (I):
Boycott I- an orchestrated way of showing disapproval, such as by no attending a meeting or avoiding a country’s or company’s products, so as to punish or apply pressure for change of policy or behavior. The term originated with captain Boycott, an Irish landlord who was subjected to this treatment in 1880 [8, p. 51];
Boycott II - an instance or the use of boycotting; to boycott - to refuse to have dealings with (a person, organization, etc) or refuse to buy (a product) as a protest or means of coercion [10].
Dictionaries on political terminology also include a significant number of terms borrowed from other fields of knowledge. Borrowings of this kind first of all include terms of neighboring sciences, which are vital for understanding the texts of the given field of knowledge. The political dictionaries include terms borrowed from juridical terminology, business lexis etc. For example, juridical terms include:
Legislature - a law-making assembly of elected members in a formally equal relationship to one another [8, p. 303];
The examples of the business terms include: State capture - obtains when a small number of firms (or such entities as the military) is able to shape the rules of the game
to its advantage through massive illicit, and non-transparent provision of private benefits to officials and politicians [8, p. 509].
Another neighboring science which is a source for borrowings is economics:
Monetarism Name given to an economic policy which sees the control of the money supply as crucial to the control of inflation and which, by implication, condemns government attempts to reflate the economy through public spending (which must in normal circumstances increase the money supply) [8, p. 448].
In these cases the definition of the political dictionary is not much different from the definition of the dictionaries of the given field of knowledge. For example:
Original jurisdictionI- the right of a court, usually a minor or trial court, to hear a case at its inception [8, p. 617];
Original jurisdiction II- the authority of a court to hold a trial, as distinguishedfrom appellate jurisdiction to hear appeals from trial judgements [11].
These two definitions differentiate only in certain details, as the systems of notions of the sciences interweaved. Yet if a term is borrowed not from a neighboring science the meaning of the term broadened and less accurate. For example, terminology of philosophy can be illustrated by the following term:
Marxism - Marxism has two distinct parts: theoretical, and practical. Theoretically it involves adherence to the ideas of Marx, together with a political commitment to proletarian revolution of the kind described and foretold by Marx. Practically, it involves Marxist praxis, within the context of a ‘bourgeois’ state, <...>.[6, p. 425].
Examples of terms of other sciences include the following:
Play - The disposition to enjoy doing something with reason, but for no independent purpose: the essential human activity from which on one view (that of Schiller, Letters on Aesthetic Education, 1801) all aesthetic experience derives, and which forms an important underlying structure in leisure [6, p. 527] [aesthetics];
Cleavage - term borrowed from its geological meaning to denote the splitting of
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a political system along ethnic or ideological lines [8, p. 84] [geology];
Game theory - a branch of mathematics (developed by O. Morgenstern and
J. von Neumann), originally developed as a theory of the market economy, but offering a way of formalizing many social and political problems and activities.[6, p. 268] [mathematics];
Ritual - An action which follows a repeatable pattern, which has the sanction of custom, and whose meaning is symbolic, even though it cannot usually be captured by what the agent may say in explanation of it [6, p. 605] [religion].
All of these definitions are quite vague and its meaningsare simplified to the general scientific meaning.
The next group of terms are those that were borrowed from other languages. In political terminology a lot of terms are borrowed from French, for example:
agent provocateur - an official of police, secret police, or an intelligence service whose task is to entice one to reveal some secret information or to commit a crime, usually an offence against the state or the government
[2, p. 8];
raisond’Etat - in the French language «the reason of the state». Also, a political concept emphasizing the existence of the state as an end in itself, which, in the final analysis, has the right to employ any means it chooses for the protection of its citizens [2, p. 429];
laissez-faire - a guiding principle of free enterprise systems, laissez-faire is a French phrase which literally means «let do.»» It refers to the belief that government should not intervene in the conduct of trade and industry [12];
aide de camp - an officer who serves as confidential assistant and secretary to a higher ranking officer, such as a general [12];
Terms can be also borrowed from other languages, for example:
realpolitik - German term now used in English that means politics based on strictly practical rather than theoretical or
idealistic notions, and practised with a hard or cynical edge, without any sentimental illusions [12];
mugwump - in the language of the Algonquin Indians, «a leader»», «chief», «self-proclaimed chief», or «holier than you». A term often used in American politics to describe one who considers himself good enough to be a leader rather than a follower [2, p. 318].
Thus, one of the four main strategies of the term coinage isthe semanticstrategy which presupposes borrowing the terms from general lexis, units of nomenclature, Proper names, terms of other sciences and of other languages without changing their expression plane. The main tendency in such borrowing is the narrowing of the meaning, less often the meaning is fully changed.
Библиографический список
1. Анисимова, А.Г. Методология перевода англоязычных терминов гуманитарных и oбщественно-политических наук: дисс. ... д-ра филол. наук / А.Г. Анисимова. - М., 2010. - С. 60-120.
2. Walter John Raymond, ‘Dictionary of Politics: Selected American and Foreign Political and Legal Terms’. Brunswick Publishing Corporation, 1992.
3. http://literarydevices.net.
4. http://www.merriam-webster.com.
5. 5http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/maverick?s=t.
6. Roger Scruton ‘The Palgrave Macmillan Dictionary of Political Thought’, 3rd edition, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007, p. 249.
7. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31691946.
8. Iain McLean, Alistair McMillan ‘The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics’, Oxford University press, 2009.
9. http://slovar-vocab.com/english/websters-international-vocab/billingsgate-8450430.html
10. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/boycott
11. http:/dictionary.law.com/
12. American Spirit Political Dictionary (http://www. iamericanspirit.com/)
13. Гринев-Гриневич, C.B. Терминоведение / C.B. Гринев-Гриневич. - М.: Академия, 2008. - 304 с.
14. Мельников, Г.П. Основы терминоведения / Г.П. Мельников. - М.: Изд-во ун-та дружбы народов, 1991. - 116 с.
15. Olga Akhmanova, Galina Agapova «Terminology: theory and method», Moscow, MSU, 1974.
16. Кондрашов, В.В. О характере и системности единиц военной номенклатуры в странах английского языка / В.В. Кондрашов // Актуальные вопросы лексикологии. - Новосибирск, 1971. - С. 67-69
17. Суперанская, А.В. Общая терминология: Вопросы теории / А.В. Суперанская, Н.В. Подольская, Н.В. Васильева. - М.: Книжный дом «Либроком», 2012. - 246 с.
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THE FEATURES OF THE SEMANTIC STRATEGY OF TERM COINAGE IN POLITICAL TERMINOLOGY
Kosarina A.A., Faculty ofPhilology, Lomonosov Moscow State University; Fedotov A.Ye., Faculty ofPhilology, Lomonosov Moscow State University
[email protected] Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Philology Russia, 119991, Moscow, 1-51 Leninskiye Gory, GSP-1, 1st Corps Humanitarian faculties
With the intense development of a given science new notions appear, and thus new terms are coined, and the old notions become outdated, making the term old-fashioned. The reasons why new terms are appearing include certain processes which take place within the framework of the terminology system itself, for example, the trends to globalization, laconism, semantic transparency etc. One of the four main strategies of the term coinage is the semantic strategy (the other three are borrowing, morphological strategy and syntactical strategy) which presupposes borrowing the terms from general lexis, units of nomenclature, Proper names, terms of other fields of knowledge, neighbouring fields of knowledge, for example, business, and non-neighbouring ones, for instance, religion, and of other languages, for example, French, without changing their expression plane. The main tendency in such borrowing is the narrowing of the meaning, which is based on the meaning of a general lexical unit and thus in most cases corresponds to the main semes of the latter; less often the meaning is fully changed. The main methods are the metaphoric and metonymic borrowings. The article provides for the analysis of this strategy on the example of political terminology and a variety ofpolitical dictionaries and other political sources.
Key words: terminology, politics, nomenclature, term coinage, semantic borrowing.
References
1. Anisimova A.G. Metodologiya perevoda angloyazychnykh terminov gumanitarnykh i obshchestvenno-politicheskikh nauk [Methodology translation English terms being socially-humanitarian and political sciences: diss. ... Dr. Philology. Science]. Moscow, 2010. pp. 60-120.
2. Walter John Raymond, ‘Dictionary of Politics: Selected American and Foreign Political and Legal Terms’. Brunswick Publishing Corporation, 1992.
3. http://literarydevices.net.
4. http://www.merriam-webster.com.
5. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/maverick?s=t.
6. Roger Scruton, ‘The Palgrave Macmillan Dictionary of Political Thought’, 3rd edition, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007, p. 249.
7. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31691946.
8. Iain McLean, Alistair McMillan ‘The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics’, Oxford University press, 2009.
9. http://slovar-vocab.com/english/websters-international-vocab/billingsgate-8450430.html
10. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/boycott
11. http:/dictionary. law. com/
12. American Spirit Political Dictionary (http://www.iamericanspirit.com/)
13. Grinev-Grinevich C.V Terminovedenie [Terminology]. Moscow: Akademiya, 2008. p. 304
14. Mel’nikov G.P. Osnovy terminovedeniya [Fundamentals of terminology]. Moscow: Publishing House of the Univ of Friendship of Peoples, 1991. p. 116
15. Olga Akhmanova, Galina Agapova ‘Terminology: theory and method’, Moscow, MSU, 1974.
16. Kondrashov V.V. O kharaktere i sistemnosti edinits voennoy nomenklatury v stranakh angliyskogoyazyka [The nature of military units and systematic nomenclature in English-speaking countries]. Actual problems of lexicology. Novosibirsk, 1971. pp. 67-69
17. Cuperanskaya A.V., Podol’skaya N.V., Vasil’eva N.V Obshchaya terminologiya: Voprosy teorii [Common Terminology: Theory]. Moscow: Book House «Librokom», 2012. p. 246
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