Polysemy in Terminology

 
     Dniepropetrovsk University of Economics and Law 
 

  Translation Theory and Practice Department 

  Terminology 

     Polysemy in Terminology 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

  Group FL-07-1

     Tatyana Ivanova 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

     Dniepropetrovsk 2010 

 
    The question of whether one and the same term always has one and the same meaning or whether a term may have different meanings hot only remains open but also a question which is very often discussed mainly from a critical point of view, we know from the literature that ideally every term should possess one single meaning. Terms should serve to convey intellective information with as much precision as possible. Hence, the tendency towards the monosemy of a term, especially in a science like mathematics, where the scarcity of polysemantic words is quite obvious.

    Still, we cannot say that terminologies are devoid of polysemy. On the contrary, there is a large number of terms with two, three, four or even five meanings. In the Dictionary of Linguistic Terms we find a number of entries where one and the same vocable is explained several times under different figures which according to the lexicographic arrangement adopted in the dictionary means that a term is known to have different meanings. We can adduce examples from different terminologies. Thus, for instance, in linguistics the term "syntagm" is used to denote 1) binomial syntactic structure the members of which function as the definiendum and the definiens, 2) the result of a given "frazirovka", i.e. the result of a syntactic and stylistic articulation of a sentence, 3) it is a synonym of the combinative term "recevoje zveno" and 4) it can also be used to denote a word as the ultimate unit of a word-combination, 5) it can be used as a synonym for an inner syntagm and 6) loosely employed to

denote a word-combination.

      In chemistry the term "solution"has two meanings: 1) dissolution,i.e. the mixing of a solid, liquid, or gaseous substance with a liquid, forming a homogeneous mixture from which the dissolved substance can be recovered by physical processes; 2)the homogeneous mixture formed by ed by the operation of solution. "Saturation" has four meanings: 1) complete neutralization of an acid or base; 2) complete or maximum absorption of a substance by a solvent; 3) complete satisfaction of the valency bonds in a molecule; Ч-) a property of colour. In building terminology "column" may be used to denote' 1) an upright compression member, the vertical dimension of which exceeds three times its least lateral dimension; 2) a perpendicular supporting member, usually circular in section, consisting of a base, shaft and capital. "Bolt" is  1) a fastener, usually consisting of a piece of metal havinc a head and a threaded body for the receptacle of a nut, or 2) a movable bar, rod, or similar piece for securing a door,window, or the like. In the dictionary of mathematics we find that "segment" or "angle", or "tangent", for instance, are polysemantic because "segment" means 1) of a line, that portion bounded by two points; 2) of a circle, that portion of a circle plane bounded by an arc of the circle and its chord; 3) of a sphere, the solid formed between two parallel planes that cut through a sphere, while "angle" is 1) in plane geometry, the figure formed by a point and two distinct rays having the point as their common origin; 2) in trigonometry, a figure formed by the rotation of a ray around one of its end points; 3) in solid geometry, the term angle is applied to figures formed at the line of intersection of two planes, or at the point of intersection of three or more planes (see dihedral angle, polyhedral angle). A "tangent" is 1) a straight line or plane that touches a curve or curved surface at one and only one point; conversely, a curve or curved surface that touches a straight line, curve, or curved surface at one and only one point; 2) in trigonometry, the function of an acute angle of a right triangle defined as the ratio of the length of the opposite side to that of the adjacent side:

tan 0= opposite side

     adjacent side

3) when defined for any angle of a triangle, the tangent is the ratio of the ordinate to the abscissa, when the vertex

of the angle lies at the origin of a pair of rectangular coordinates. Abbreviation: tan (no period):

tan 0 = ordinate

Abscissa

In physical geography there are comparatively few polysemantic terms.

Nevertheless "col" is 1) a depression in a range of mountains or hills, usually providing a pass through the range; 2) the region situated between the depressions which face one another. "Creek" denotes 1) a narrow coastline inlet and 2) a small stream, tributary or branch of a river.

    We may generalize by saying that terms belonging as they do to natural human language display the same features as words of the common language and share with-the latter some of their features which from the point of view of terminology may be regarded as downright objection. Polysemy within one particular system of notions can be attributed to the fact that one and the same word is often made use of to denote different notions, each meaning being a concrete manifestation of some aspect of the underlying concept. The appearance of an object, some common characteristic, similairity of process, etc., may serve as "the selected feature "(izbrannyj priznak) which enables us to give one and the same name to different objects. The relations between different meanings of a given term may be those of action and its result, nomina agentis and nomina instrumenti. The meanings can also be differentiated in accordance with different spheres of use.

    These general principles manifest themselves differently in various terminological spheres. Thus, in the field of chemistry polysemy arises as a result of the following practices.

1. Concretization of one of the meanings, these meanings serving to denote both a class of compounds and its separate members. Thus, "alcohol" is the name of the "class of alkyl compounds containing a hydroxyl group" as well as the name of a concrete compound belonging to this class of substances— "ethanol". "Ether" means an "alkyl or aryl oxide derived from an alcohol by replacing the hydroxyl hydrogen", at the same time it is the name of a concrete compound, "diethyl ether."
2. The general character of the structure of elements which compose the terms in question. In this case one of the meanings is the name of a certain compound, while the other meaning is the name of the corresponding radical. For instance "dimethyl"--1. ethane; 2. prefix indicating two methylene radicals; "ethylene"--I. ethene; 2. acetene. The radical-- CK₂ • CH₂--; "salicylal"-- I. salicylaldehyde; 2. the radical 1,2-- C₆H₄ (OH)CH.
3. The vagueness, the non-definitional character of the variants which are expressed by abbreviations. So, "bromethane" is the reduced form of both bromethane and bromomethane.
4. The generality of the chemical process. This means that the process denoted by the term is of a very general character. The term "dehydration" means "removal of water from compounds and crystals"and also "removing of hydrogen from organic compounds by reducing agents (dehydrogenation) ". The term "reaction" may be used in three meanings: 1. that force which tends to oppose a given force (Newton's laws); 2. the acidity or alkalinity of a solution; 3. a chemical change; the transformation of one or more molecules (reactants) into others."Saturation"—1. complete neutralization of an acid or base; 2. complete or maximum absorption of a substance by a solvent; 3. complete satisfaction of the valency bonds in a molecule; a property of the colour.
5. The generality of the characteristics of properties. Terms of this kind are "diluent", "filter","orientation", "solvent", etc. In fact, the semantic structure of "diluent" is the following: 1. An inert solid or liquid, used to increase the bulk of another substance; 2. An inert substance used to increase the bulk of solution not necessarily a solvent for solute; 3- A liquid added to lacquer to increase flow and evaporation. "Filter"—1. A strainer or purifier. 2: Chemistry: a porous material through which a liquid passes for the purpose of a) removing a precipitate or suspended matter, or b) clarifying the liquid.3) Physics: an absorbing, semitransparent substance, e.g., light filter. "Orientation" —1) The structural arrangement of radicals in a compound in relation to one another and to the parent compound; 2. The determination of crystal structure. 3- The direction or position assumed by a molecule, due to an electric charge; adsorption, or other cause. "Solvent"—1. That component of a homogeneous mixture which is in excess. 2. A liquid which dissolves another substance (solute), generally a solid, without any change in chemical composition; ae, water containing sugar; 3. A liquid that dissolves a substance by chemical reaction; as, acids and metals.

6. The semantic association of the process and its result, e.g. "solution" is used to denote both the process of dissolution and the homogeneous mixture formed by the operation of solution.

7. Differentiation of meanings according to spheres of use to those particular subdivisions of the science in question where the particular meaning is used. This is further analysed into 3 different cases: a) one of the meanings is used in chemistry while the other meanings are used in adjacent scieneea; b) one of the meanings expresses a concept of inorganic chemistry, while the other denotes a concept of organic chemistry; c) the diatopic English and American variants. In accordance with what just has been said .ve have: "filter"; a term which is used both in chemistry and physics; "peracid": 1. a member of a group of inorganic acids containing peroxide oxygen, or an element in its highest valency; 2. organic peracids containing the hypothetical radical, -CO.O.OH; "ortho acid": 1. an inorganic acid of trivalent elements containing 3H atoms replacable by basic radicals; 2. an organic acid containing a closed chain and radicals in the ortho position; "syndet" — in Great Britain this word is used as a trade name for a detergent, whereas in the USA it is an abbreviation for a synthetic detergent,
8. There are cases where the polysemy of the term is the result of a historical accident, e.g. the "hyposulphide" is used in the following two meanings: 1. a compound containing the radical =S₂0₄• 2. Hypo or antichlor. Sodium thiosulphate used in bleaching and as a photographic fixing bath. The second meaning of this word was erroneously included into this term. And this erroneous application is at present widely distributed.

    As far as human morphology is concerned,the following cases of polysemy can be distinguished. 

    1. Polysemy is determined by the semantics of a definite category of stems which are widely used to form compound terms; such as "cyto-", "neuro-", "-blast-". They are never used as independent words but solely as parts of compounds. In addition, they have a generalized meaning denoting classes of objects. Their generalized meaning as well as the fact that they recur in numerous compounds lead to polysemy. In fact, the word "cytoblast", the most generalized meaning of which is "any cellular developing structure" may apply to 1. nucleus of a cell; 2, one of the hypothetical ultimate units of a cell; 3- any naked cell or protoblast.

      2. Not infrequently, polysemy results from the narrew- ing of the meaning of a word; in fact, the word "pons" denotes 1. any process or bridge of tissue connecting two parts of an organ, 2. (in the narroed sense) a convex white eminence situated at the base ox the brain, and serving to connect the various divisions with one another.

      3.Polysemy arises owing to the fact that the word in question can be used both as nomen agentis and nomen instrumenti; e. g. , "levator"; 1. that which raises or elevates as certain muscles; 2. an instrument used for raising a depressed portion of the skull.

    4. One of the meanings of the word is process, the other is the result of the process. For instances "projection": 1. the act of throwing forward; 2. a part extending beyond surroundings.

    So far the aspect of polysemy was treated in a way which may be described as extralinguistic or pragmatic. In other words, all the examples which were adduced were simply taken from dictionaries.

    Endless materials, however, show clearly that unfortunately dictionaries are not so far very reliable because dictionaries often confound two completely different aspects of the problem: the fact that a term should be differently translated into this or that language and the fact that the author of the dictionary assumes that there is a definite semantic difference. And this obviously is something that is linguistically untenable.

    In contrast with the specialist, the linguist cannot base his conclusions on the extralinguistic or pragmatic approach. He must approach it from a linguistically scientific point of view, and apply the methodology of semantic analysis which was worked out in detail by V.V. Vinogradov and which has been adopted by all Soviet lexicographers.

    To effect the correct scientific semantic analysis of a word the lexicographer must have objective criteria, objective methods which consist in discovering 1) the construc- tivno-obuslovlennyje sv'azi — colligation — the different meanings which are expressed by placing the same word in different grammatical constructions, in changing its grammatical behaviour and 2) discovering and inventorizing those "lexical phraseological situations or connections or types (collocation) which show that the Word in such and such a case is used in a different meaning because there are certain lexical sets or types of thematic groups in which the different meanings of the words are most clearly realized.

    For the building terminology we have chosen a large corpus of special reference materials. A close study of the occurrence and functioning of terms in texts shows that for the different meanings different environments must be recorded.

    Thus, for instance, with each of the meanings of the term "bolt" we find combined certain groups of semantical- l.y related attributes. In the meaning "a manual lock" (Russian " засов ") the word "bolt" is often combined with attributes which indicate the principles of mechanical functioning: foot bolt, head bolt, lever-operated bolt, chain-pull operated bolt, sliding bolt, spring bolt. These attributes never occur with the other meaning of the word "bolt" in the meaning "fastener".

    The same term meaning "a fastener" is combined with attributes which never occur with "bolt" meaning "Засов". Thus, rib bolt, turned bolt, unfinished bolt, hook bolt, hex-head bolt. It also means "fastener" in the case of: machine bolt, roofing bolt, flange bolt, anchor bolt, toggle bolt. It is noteworthy that in the USSR the Russian term " болт " with the same meaning combines with the analogous groups of attributes.

    When the term "cable" means "a conductor" it is usually combined with attributes the semantics of which is connected with measures taken to prevent accidents: insulated cable, sheathed cable, shielded cable, armoured cable, buried cable or with the purposes to which a cable is put as a conductor: aerial transmission cable, communication cable, control cable, heating cable, power cable, welding cable. When the same word "cable" ie used in the meaning "a tension member" it is combined with attributes characterizing its state: strained cable, stiff cable.

    When the term "vault" means "an arched structure" its attributes usually explain the architectural shape of the form of the vaults: barrel vault, domical vault, fan vault, ribbed vault, but when usee in the meaning "an enclosed space, intended for the safekeeping" it is combined with attributes which explain the purpose for which it is used: safety deposit vault, transformer vault, walk-in-vault (a security room), or its disposition: basement vault, sidewalk vault.

    These examples show that the meaning of the term affects the meaning of the attributes with which it is combined. There is a clear semantic interaction between the meaning of the definiens and the definiendum. It follows that when we come across a compound term like "a chain-pull bolt" or "a lever-operated bolt" we see that the compound adjectives "chain-pull" and "lever-operated" are combined only with the word "bolt" meaning "a lock".

    But it is not only the adjectives that help to distinguish the different meanings of a term. It may be done with the help of other terms with which the given words can occur in sentences in the function of homogeneous parts.

    The linguistic approach to the study of polysemy and the linguistic methods of distinguishing between different words and different meanings of one and the same word as well as drawing a sufficiently clear line between poly- and monosemantic words hes been exemplified above by means of examples borrowed from the field of building industry.

Although ideally, a term should be completely different from a word of the general language in that it should only have one meaning, which should be in one-to-one correspondence with a clear scientific definition, in actual fact historically and traditionally polysemantic terms occur not at all infrequently in most terminologies. This fact was illustrated by examples from chemical, mathematical, geographical and building terminologies. The technical specialist, the person whose subject is chemistry, mathematics, building industry, etc., as the case may be, understands very clearly the empirical value of this or that term, understands very clearly why such and such a term can be used to denote such and such things on the basis of plurality of its meanings. In contrast with the specialist the linguist can study terminology from this point of view, can investigate the semantic structure of his material only by applying a sufficiently rigid linguistic methodology, which, to the knowledge of the present writers, should and actually is in this country mainly based on the principples laid down in Vinogradov's well-known theory of lexical semantics.