Functioning of the author's terms of the social sciences in professional discourse

Abstract

Today studying author terms in different fields of knowledge remains a highly topical issue since they form the basis of every LSP (Language for Specific Purposes). Though many terminological issues have already been studied, the status of author's terms remains ambiguous as well as their functioning within the professional discourse, i.e. professional communication in a particular field of knowledge. Having chosen the terminology of social sciences as the material for the given research, the authors of the article single out author's terms within its framework and make an attempt to describe the main functions of author's terms in different contexts. The methods of the research include the following: information analysis and synthesis, contextual and contrastive analysis, comparative analysis of definitions. Theoretical significance of the article lies in the fact that it allows to get a better understanding of what the author's term is and to distinguish between the term and the author's term. The described functions of author's terms in professional discourse are a step forward towards studying general terminological issues. The research has revealed that author's terms perform three main functions: the nominative one, the emotive one and the expressing polemics with the author, who coined or popularized a particular term.

Keywords

• author's terms
• emotiveness
• expressiveness
• professional discourse
• nomination
• author’s concept
• social sciences.