Reconsidering the Definition of the Term

Abstract

Existing definitions of the term as presented in current terminological writings are analyzed in the paper. The linguistic material is the descriptions of the notion of “term” that could be seen in the works of leading terminologists; these descriptions exemplify the importance of the notion in question and at the same time highlight the diversity in interpreting its essence. Achieving the goal of the analysis - which is to reveal the reasons why the term is still being treated in such an ambiguous way and define the substantial features of this notion - promotes explicitness in the interpretation of the term and its usage in a universally recognized way. The result of the undertaken study achieved on the basis of comparative, diachronic, and contrastive approaches is working out the comprehensive definition of the troublesome notion “term” that could be treated as its main one. The theoretical significance of the research is finding out the most common features of the term as the basic notion of terminology studies. The results of the study further expand the ideas regarding the notion of the term that exist in current terminological theory and are believed to put an end to the unproductive multiplying of its definitions. The practical value of the study is viewed as using its materials and results in practical activities of scientists who work in the sphere of theoretical and applied terminology as well as educationists who teach general and special linguistics, terminology studies, lexicology, and anthropological linguistics.

Keywords

• term
• word
• lexical unit
• nomination
• term definition
• special vocabulary
• terminology
• terminology studies