Very often in explanatory dictionaries you can find a special mark next to the word - "special", which means special. These word forms are not used everywhere, but refer only to professional or terminological vocabulary. What is this vocabulary and what are the rules for its use in modern speech? Find out in this article!
Special vocabulary: terms
There are two lexical categories, the words of which are used by people of a narrow circle: one profession, the field of science and technology. These are professionalisms and terms.
Very often, next to a similar word, the scope of their use is also indicated, for example, physics, medicine, mathematics, etc. How to delimit these special words?
Scientific terms are understood as words or phrases that name various concepts of a certain scientific activity, or a production process or a field of art.
Each term is defined, that is, it has its own definition that helps to present the essence of what it callsobject or phenomenon. Terms are the most accurate and at the same time simplified or brief description of the reality that it denotes. Moreover, each industry has its own terminological system.
Types of terms
Scientific terms have several "layers", that is, they differ in the type of sphere of use. All this is explained by the peculiarities of the object that this term denotes.
General scientific terms
The first layer is general scientific terms. They are needed in different fields of knowledge. These words always belong to the scientific style of speech and often overlap in different books, as they allow you to describe different areas of life and, accordingly, different scientific research.
Examples of terms:
- The professor was conducting a physics experiment in the classroom.
- Scientists have found an adequate approach to solving the problem.
- Is there an oxygen equivalent on other planets?
- The graduate students found it difficult to predict what would happen next after a bad experience.
- That was a hypothetical question!
- Russian science is progressing day by day.
- The reaction of this reagent to nitrogen was too violent.
All scientific terms in the examples are in a special font. As you can see, these words form a common conceptual fund of different fields of science and have the highest frequency of use.
Special terms
The second layer is special terms that reflect the concepts of certain scientific disciplines.
Examplesterms:
- The subject in this sentence was defined incorrectly by the students (this word refers to linguistics).
- Periodontitis is treated within a month with open tooth canals (this word refers to medicine).
- Devaluation also affected our currency (this word refers to the economy).
- We won't be able to see a supernova until next month (this word refers to astronomy).
- The injector is junk again (this word refers to the automotive industry).
- Bollards on the pier were free (this word refers to shipbuilding and navigation).
All these words are used in their discipline and concentrate the quintessence of any science. These are the most acceptable types of language expression that are convenient for scientific language.
Pleonasm of terms
Terms always carry maximum information, that's why they are indispensable, formulating the speaker's thought extremely capaciously and accurately! However, excessive use or pleonasm of terminological vocabulary often destroys even the most interesting scientific work.
The degree of terminology of different scientific articles cannot be the same. Somewhere the terminological vocabulary of the Russian language is very frequent, but somewhere it will only have two or three examples. It depends on the style of presentation, as well as on who the text will be addressed to.
How many special words are allowed?
Sometimes the text of a scientific paper is so overloaded with terms that it is impossible to read itsimply difficult, and almost impossible, even for specialists. Therefore, when writing scientific papers, it is better to adhere to the rule of the golden mean: the work should contain no more than 30-40% of terminological and professional vocabulary. It is then that it will be popular among a wide range of readers, even those who are very far from the scientific fact described in it.
In addition, it is important to ensure that the terms used in scientific work are sufficiently known to a large circle of people, otherwise they will need to be explained all the time, and such work will turn into a continuous “scientific” explanation.
Expansion of terms
And, of course, it is important not to create one continuous pleonasm of scientific terminology from ordinary speech, as it will be difficult for listeners to understand you, and the whole speech will seem boring and even meaningless. This is associated with the frequent expansion of terms - the transition from scientific vocabulary to everyday speech.
Like borrowings, terms flood our usual everyday dialogue with new sentences and literally dominance of "scientific". It sounds very difficult and strange if teenagers suddenly try to artificially saturate their dialogue with similar words, replacing ordinary vocabulary with special words. Terms are needed not for replacement, but for designation and specificity. Use them only when you cannot do without special words.
Thinkingly using such words, we run the risk of making our speech poor, and the language too incomprehensible. This kind of overload is often experienced by first-year students when they start attending lectures.
Lectures of professors,who are too carried away and begin to literally retell the text of the textbook, as a rule, are incomprehensible, boring and have no result. Lectures by enthusiasts of their subject, who have made many discoveries in its field, are, as a rule, very simple and written in almost colloquial language. These scientists talk about something important, but so simply that any student can understand them, and not only understand, but also put into practice the knowledge gained.
Special vocabulary: professionalisms
Professionalism includes all words and expressions that are associated with a particular production or activity. These word forms, as well as many terms, have not become common. Professionalisms function as semi-official words that do not have a scientific character, unlike terms.
In any profession, such verbal forms are known only to narrow specialists, as they denote various stages of production, unofficial names of tools, as well as manufactured products or raw materials. In addition, professionalisms, as well as terminological vocabulary, are found in sports, medicine, in the speech of hunters, fishermen, divers, etc.
For example:
- This book has a lurid ending - publishing professionalism. Indicates a graphic decoration at the end of a book. In ordinary speech, the ending is just the end of the work.
- Passed mawashi to his head - sports professionalism. Means in karate a kick to the head area.
- The yacht veered in a strong gust of wind - sporting professionalism fromareas of yachting. It means she showed her keel - the bottom of the yacht, that is, turned over.
- Pushkinists arranged a literary evening - philological professionalism. Means people who have devoted their scientific activity to the work of A. S. Pushkin.
Professional vocabulary, unlike terminology, can have an expressive coloring and go into the category of jargon. And also become a common word, such as, for example, the word "turnover" that was previously a professionalism.
Thus, terminological and professional vocabulary is a special layer of the Russian language, which includes words and expressions related to a certain area of use. It can be associated with science, as in the case of terms, and with activities, production or hobbies, as in professionalism.
