Word-formative Nomination in the English Terminology of the Mixed Martial Arts

Abstract

The research featured the English terms related to the sphere of mixed martial arts (MMA) and their word-formation. A detailed analysis of the structure of MMA terms made it possible to distinguish one-, two-, three-, four-, and polycomponential terminological units. One-componential terms were represented by linguistic units expressed by a word with different morphemic composition. Two-componential terms were represented by word-combinations with a noun, an adjective, or a verb (or its forms) as their core elements. Via complex contraction, three- and four-componential terminological units could be transformed into abbreviations. The polycomponential terminological units were few and expressed by gerund word-combinations. The research also revealed related principles of nomination and formation: semantic, morphological, and syntactical. The semantic way was realized via indirect nomination, i.e. metaphor and metonymy. The morphological way was represented by affixation, compounding, and abbreviation. The syntactic way was used to coin the MMA terms expressed by word combinations and gerund word-combinations. The paper focuses on the dominant models and the key types of terminological word-combination, e.g. substantive and attributive