Polysemy in Modern English Pump Engineering Terminology

Abstract

. This article focuses on the problem of polysemy in modern English terminology within the special subsystem of terms – pump engineering. A polysemantic lexical unit has a hierarchically organized structure of meanings. It consists of indivisible elementary semantic units and they are realized simultaneously in each context. The lexical units of the pump engineering terminological subsystem fulfill the requirements for terms. However, this subsystem terminology is not free from polysemy, which is considered undesirable for terminological vocabulary. The polysemantic terms make up 71.9% of the terminological units in our sample. Some pump engineering terms do not have clearly defined semantic boundaries and they enter into semantic relationships with other terms. Sometimes terminological units correspond to two or more different concepts, realizing several related meanings. Metonymy is the primary source of polysemy in the pump engineering subsystem. The metonymic transfer is carried out by transferring the name of a machine, device, tool to the worker who uses them, conveying the name of the whole to parts, transferring the name of a part to a whole, transferring the general name of a technical process to its components. With the ambiguity arising from the metonymic transfer, the connections between the polysemantic word meanings are understandable and visible. Different meanings of the same word complement each other, while each meaning illuminates the characteristics of different objects in its own way. Usually it is possible to trace the relationship between the various definitions of the polysemantic unit of pump engineering .