On Researches Into Russian Terminology

The research on Russian terms involves a variety of fields of study and branches of learning. This text treats of problems concerning the property of terms, their semantics and their formation.The study of terms proves to be a comprehensive discipline, which mainly deals with specialized vocabularies and primarily terms. For 70 years the Russian terminological school has undergone tortuous developments. Eventually, it has set up a relatively perfect framework on the theory of terminology. Moreover, it has put forward and defined a series of terms in relation to the discipline of terminology.As a whole, terms indicate general concepts; any term belongs to a certain terminology and serves a certain theoretically established system. Other units of the specialized vocabulary (such as nomens, analogous terms, terms of a simple level, words used in certain professions) have special features, but they are not up to the criteria of the term in the real sense of the word.The semantic problems of terms are an important part of this dissertation under discussion. The meaning of terms is mainly determined by definitions, which establish concepts. To make sure of the preciseness of the meaning of terms, revisions of definition are to be made in accordance with the incessant changes of concepts.Terms are characterized by their semantic certainty, yet this does not mean one term expresses only one concept, and that one concept is expressed by only one term. A sign (term) expresses several meanings (concepts) (polysemy, homonymy); similarly, a meaning expressed by anumber of signs (synonymy) exists in the term vocabulary. What is different is that these semantic phenomena find different expression in terminology and general vocabularies. For instance, polysemantic terms are mainly inter-categorical and are sometimes used both in their broad sense and narrow sense.As compared with the general vocabulary, the meaning of terms can be expressed to a great extent in the form of terms; therefore, the formation of terms is a conscious process. Thus, it is necessary to study and analyze the commonly used build-up patterns of terms and their degrees of motivation. This is of guiding importance in the practical work of regulating and unifying terms.