VARIABILITY OF TECHNICAL TERMINOLOGY BY THE EXAMPLE OF METAPHOR AND METONYMY

The article deals with the problem of the secondary nature of the
meanings of prototypical terms-invariants. A detailed study of
variants of the terms-prototypes is carried out using the theory of
prototypes of E. Rosh. The prototype term is considered as an
invariant cognitive model of human thinking. The substantiation
of the presence of metonymy and metaphor phenomena in the
scientific texts of considered electric power industry term system
is given. A presentable series of examples, which is the evidence
base of the conducted research, is provided. It is proved that
terms-variants as well as invariants can enter the sphere of
fixation with equal ability and equal right, firmly entrenched as a
variant of the term-prototype, that is characterized only for this
particular terminological system. The presentational number of
examples is a fragmentary consequence of the analysis of more
than 350 texts in Russian, German, and French. Also there are a
number of examples in this work which most clearly demonstrate
the necessity of metaphorical transfer. It is proved by authors
that the presence of metonymic and metaphorical transfers in the
term systems of the studied sublanguage is a necessary and
unavoidable consequence of the dynamic development of the
language itself.
In the terminological systems of the languages analyzed in the
framework of this study, in the terminological system of the
German language, in particular, the frequency functioning of a
similar terminological combination (TC) in the scientific text is
less pronounced. This fact is explained by the desire of the
German language for a clearer, more limited polysemantic
variability of terms of the language for special purposes (LSP),
the so-called language savings, which corresponds to the
international requirements of INFOTERM regarding the
requirements of brevity and accuracy of the meaning of a term.
In relation to the subject of this study, we have taken as a basis
the principle of a unified category, according to which the
meanings of a word can be considered as forming a category.
The authors give a clear justification for the fact that, in relation
to each individual area of knowledge, a polysemantic term can be
unambiguous, and, conversely, an unambiguous term can acquire
a polysemantic character. The main meaning of the term, or
word, on the basis of which the term is created, is a semantic
support for its new meanings and uses (lexical-semantic variants
and contextual variants).
The same principle of nuclear, central importance is relevant for
the texts of science of the considered terminological system of the
French language. The unified principle of nuclear location,
otherwise, the Central invariant, in our opinion, the closely
related factor of the considered sublanguage as a term system one
of the Romano-Germanic groups. This fact is undoubtedly a
historically determined factor in the parallel development of
European scientific thought, which provoked the interpenetration
of both invariants and variants of the term systems of interest to
us.
On the basis of the foregoing, the authors put forward the
following hypothesis: “in the framework of the theory of
prototypes E. Roche, we have considered the secondary meanings
(narrowing of the value, expansion of the value, displacement) is
nothing more than variants of the terms of prototypes.
In this work, this postulate is considered in application to a fair
number of examples of the use of the scientific term LSP in the
term systems of the German, French, Russian languages.
Thus, the invariants – terms, which have metonymic and
metaphorical transfers, revealed in the course of the research, are
a natural aspect of the polysemantic variability of the terms
considered by us.
Key words: prototype, invariant, substitution, metaphor,
metonymy