Semantic Distinctions in Specialized Vocabulary (on the Example of Notional Terminological Oppositions in the Terminological System of Social Work)

Abstract

The article deals with the specificity of semantic distinctions in the terminological system of social work. The urgency of the study is determined by interdisciplinary relations between various fields of knowledge, by the role of a certain terminological system in the process of scientific research, and by the need to regulate and classify the terminological corpus of social work in order to study the semantic word building aspect of the given terminological system. The study is performed on the basis of component analysis of 77 notional terminological oppositions (NOTs). The continuous sampling method was used to select terms from special literature on the basis of notional criterion. The sample makes up a representative and reliable set. The substantiation of antonymic relations between the terminological units under study rests on the analysis of the semantic content of the terms constituting the NTO. Being a subsystem of the literary English language, the terminological system of social work undergoes the same semantic processes, and we can observe NTOs with complementary, contrary and conversive types of antonymy in them. Moreover, word building antonymy dominates over the lexical one. The results of the study can be of certain interest to specialists in general linguistics and in special terminological studies. They can be used in the theory and practice of social work and in creation of modern dictionaries on social work.

Keywords

• special terminology
• special terms
• terminological oppositions
• terminological studies
• complementary antonyms
• contrary antonyms
• conversive antonyms
• word building models
• word building
• social work
• lexicography. особенности