Compound Term-nouns in Electrical Engineering Texts: Structural, Semantic and Functional Peculiarities

Abstract

This article aims to analyze, systematize, and unify compound term-nouns in electrical engineering by several classifications. The report's significance draws on the modern linguistic trends towards research on the structural, semantic, and functional peculiarities of compound terminological units. Moreover, it is relevant to study compound term-nouns as specific lexical content of English electrical engineering texts. The article's scientific novelty is in integrated and systematic research of compound term-nouns in electrical engineering because of semantics, stylistics, and lexicology. The study used a continuous sampling method and drew on a collection of English scientific and technical texts with 10296 pages. Compound term-nouns have been systematized according to their semantics. In electrical engineering, they consist of seven micro fields. According to the degree of abstraction, compound term-nouns have been classified into abstract and concrete. We revealed that in the texts on electrical engineering, abstract compound term-nouns dominate. Concerning the degree of stylistic features, we have arranged compound term-nouns into stylistically colored and stylistically neutral. As to usage frequency, we have researched that science textbook is the primary source of functioning compound term-nouns in electrical engineering. In respect to functional coloring, compound term-nouns have been classified into neologisms, obsolete vocabulary, archaisms, occasionalisms, and borrowings. We have found that in texts on electrical engineering borrowings, prevail. The results of the study have been summarized in the concluding section.