The article are presented in the authors' edition

Olha Kocherga

Bogolyubov Institute for Theoretical Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev

Volodymyr Pilecky

L'viv Ivan Franko National University

INTERCONNECTION OF DIFFERENT-STRUCTURE VERB FORMS IN SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL TERMINOLOGY

© Kocherga O., Pilecky V., 2013

Розглянуто семантику й функціювання спільнокореневих дієслів з різними афіксами в сучасній українській науково-технічній термінології.

The article discusses the semantics and functioning of verbs with similar roots and various affixes in modern Ukrainian scientific and technical terminology.

Ключові слова: українська мова, науково-технічна термінологія, спільнокореневе дієслово, афікс, семантика.

Keywords: Ukrainian language, scientific and technical terminology, the verbs with similar root, affixe, the semantics.

Semantics and functioning of different-voice verb forms in scientific terms have been analyzed by many Ukrainian researchers. Many authors have emphasized that active-voice verbs should be used preferably and that constructions with passive-voice predicates with the postfix -ся are highly inadequate in many cases [1, 2, 3, 4]. Far less attention has been paid, however, to the interconnection of active- and passive-voice forms with the other two forms, i.e., the verbs of reflexive middle and zero voices. This results both in inappropriate expansion of passive constructions in scientific and technical texts and in the suppression of many inherently Ukrainian zero-voice verbs and derivative nouns (like більшати - більшання) by semantically apparently similar passive qualitive verbs with the postfix -ся and their derivatives (збільшуватися – збільшування, збільшитися – збільшення).

Another problem associated with the interconnection of different-structure verbs with the same root concerns the formation of adopted terms. Adding an interfix to the suffix -ува- may give rise to doublet terms (еволюціювати – еволюціонувати) or modify the semantics of the derivative word (каналувати – каналізувати). In this article we just make an attempt to clarify the semantic interconnection of verbs with similar roots and different affixes.

1. Verbs and their derivatives associated with induced and spontaneous processes

Grammatic presentation of terms associated with induced and spontaneous processes is abundant with systemic distortions that mostly had been caused by unscientific factors (see, e. g., [5]) and have become customary during last decades. Using the affix -ся in the verbs naming induced processes and in no way concerning spontaneous action is among the common repetitive errors. Even the 11-volume Dictionary of Ukrainian Language (СУМ) contains rather strange forms like репресуватися, експропіюватися, уособлюватися, уярмлюватися, очолюватися, симулюватися, ув'язнюватися, підбурюватися, упоюватися, перемагатися etc. Many scientific and technical texts use prefix-suffix-postfix passive-quality verbs of the type спричинюватися, оброблятися, розроблюватися, вироблятися, ви[від/пере/при/до/про]мірюватися that reflect static properties of a thing exposed to the influence of another thing. The former follow the model of Russian grammatical constructions with passive-voice verbs in the role of predicates. The letter in many cases are word-building calques of corresponding Russian passive-quality verbs (увеличиваться – збільшуватися).

To eliminate such inappropriate verbs terms with -ся, that have been imposed intentionally (in particular, by special clauses of the repressive terminological bulletins of the thirties years of the twentieth century), is an important problem; to solve it would be a considerable step to improving the general culture of scientific texts and speech. However, one should not expect that it would be somehow settled of itself. At least we have to stress that verbs with -ся in no case and by no means should be used in scientific and technical terminology if there exist special words naming the spontaneous or self-induced processes associated with the changes of object dimensions/quality/property. In other words, loan translations of Russian passive-quality verbs with the postfix -ся shpould not be used instead of shorter Ukrainian zero-voice verbs without this postfix.

Below we give some examples of verbs associated with induced processes that are improperly used instead of inherent verbs with the meaning of spontaneous action:

2. Morphological peculiarities of adopted verb terms

Ukrainian language usually adopts foreign verb terms by loaning (transliterating) the stem of the foreign word and adding its own proper affixes. In many cases, however, the adopted verbs contain also foreign suffixes which serve to form the relevant part of speech in the original language and have no meaning in Ukrainian words though make them longer and harder to pronounce. We have almost managed to eliminate the extra suffix -ир- (-ір-) that is the remnant of the German verb-forming suffix ‑ieren (ремонтувати, but not ремонтирувати). We are in process of eliminating the foreign suffix -он- (-on-) in adjectives and verbs derived from the suffix-free nouns that possess this suffix in the original language and are adopted in modern Ukrainian without it:

As concerns the adopted words with English verb-forming suffix -ize- that reduces to -із- (-из-) in Ukrainian, the situation is somewhat less straightdorward since in some cases this suffix modifies the meaning of the word:

(з)активувати (to start) – (з)активізувати (to intensify the activities);

йонувати (to introduce ions) – йонізувати (to transform into ions);

каналувати (to create or divide channels) – каналізувати (to provide with sewerage system);

екранувати (to shield) – екранізувати (to make movies);

гармоніювати (to be in harmony) – гармонізувати (to bring into correspondence);

телефонувати (to talk by telephone) – телефонізувати (to provide with telephone communication),

конвеєрувати (to transmit by conveyor) – конвеєризувати (to provide with a conveyor).

Sometimes this suffix produces the meaning of attributing or acquiring a new property or state: (де)натуралізувати, (з)матеріялізувати, (з)нейтралізувати, (з)локалізувати, (з)реалізувати, (за)амортизувати, (з)раціоналізувати, (за/по)схематизувати etc. It is appropriate in the derivatives of nouns that contain it (аналіз – аналізувати) or acquire ‑из/‑із due to the interchange of consonants (математика – (з)математизувати, ботаніка – (з)ботанізувати, електрика – (на)електризувати, автоматика – (з/по)автоматизувати etc.).

But this suffix is definitely abundant in the verbs that originate from proper names (ґальванувати, мерсерувати, пастерувати, рентґенувати, шампанувати) and from suffix-free nouns (стандарт – (за)стандартувати, магнет – (на/за)магнетувати, вітамін – (на/по)вітамінувати, карбон – (по)карбонувати, каталог – (по)каталогувати, катетер – (по/за/с)катетерувати, паспорт – (за)паспортувати, синхрон(ність) – (за)синхронувати, шаблон – (за)шаблонувати etc.)

We have to pay more attention to the semantics of verbs with similar roots and different suffixes that appear in the scientific and technical literature. Thus we will be able to avoid the neglected errors and eliminate the habitual distortions of proper Ukrainian terms, to follow the logic of word formation, and to provide clearness and expliciteness of our scientific and technical language.

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