Iryna Mentynska

Lviv Polytechnic National University

Lexical and genetic characteristics of modern computer terminology

© Mentynska I. B., 2014

The article deals with lexical-genetic characteristics of modern computer terminology. Te branch (computer) terminology is divided into three thematic groups with lexical-semantic subgroups. One can trace the origin, formation and present functioning of terminological units. The analysis of computer terms from the viewpoint of their origin helps to identify the main patterns and trends of their development as well as organize and unify modern computer terminology.

Кeywords: Ukrainian language, computer terminology, lexical and genetic characteristics, foreign borrowings, lexical and semantic analysis, secondary nomination, terms of mixed type, cross homonyms, translated terms.

Originally computer terminology is heterogeneous. Among the analysed material (2,500 units), 18% are Ukrainian unit names, 58% – foreign-language borrowings (including 25% – the old borrowings, 33% – new foreign borrowings), 24% – the category of mixed type. On the present synchronous section we distinguish the following categories of computer terms:

1. Specific Ukrainian terms. They are divided into the following subtypes:

a) sectoral terms: self-start, enter, cancel, etc.;

b) interdisciplinary terms. Computer terminology inherited such types of terms as: mathematical: binary adding, operational margin; physical: port, liquid-crystal, absorption band; radio engineering: power supply; linguistic: software programming language, title, suffixation;

c) terms formed due to secondary nomination, that is metaphorical and metonymical transfer with the help of which the additional lexical semantic variants of the word appear: desktop, recycle bin, window, mouse, expansion slot, mouse mat, screen saver etc.

2. The early foreign language borrowings compose the important category of terms as a part of computer terminology system. It consists of about 450 terminological units (of 2500 analysed). Borrowings from Latin and Greek were the basis for computer terms formation. These two languages had a great influence on the formation and development of technical terminology. In fact, these foreign words became internationalisms.

a) Latin: аргумент, атрибут, диз’юнкція, трансакція, об’єкт, модуль, індекс;

b) Greek: гіпербола, каталог, лексика, пауза, символ, тезаурус;

с) borrowings from other languages:

    ●  German: абзац, штамп, шрифт, інформатика, курсив, кегель, растр, панель;

    ●  French: фрагмент, рапорт, формат, пароль, планшет, сертифікат;

    ●  Italian: абревіатура, портал, трафарет.

3. Modern foreign language borrowings. The following borrowings in computer terminology are divided into such categories as:

a) original borrowings: адаптер, асемблер, байт, банер, біт, блог, браузер, дисплей, домен, драйвер etc.;

b) terms formed with borrowed elements. They’re divided into subtypes:

    ●  international stem + borrowed stem (terminological element): мікропроцесор, гігабайт, кілобіт, синхроноімпульс, пін-код, псевдоадреса, блок-схема, флоп-диск, циркумфлекс, чат-форум;

    ●  borrowed stem + borrowed affix (possible Ukrainian inflexion): трансфер, телетайп, табуляція, тест-програма, буфер-текст, відеоінтерфейс, деінсталятор.

с) dictionary equivalence – terms included into dictionaries; they are translated directly from the original language. Most of such terms are the terminological units:

pattern – графічний шаблон; icon – піктограма, графічний значок; value – значення; output – вивід; input – ввід; toolbar – панель інструментів; template – шаблон;

d) terms of a mixed type. Mixed type terms are divided into following groups:

    ●  borrowed stem + Ukrainian affix: тиражування, комп’ютеризація, гранулярність;

    ●  international stem (term element) + Ukrainian stem: перфострічка, сервоповерхня, відеосередовище.

    ●  foreignisms (alone or within a combined terminological unit): накопичувач СD-ROM, e-mail, web-cторінка, режим онлайн (офлайн), ІВМ-сумісність, Windows XP, www-видання, DOS-програма, HTML-код.

So, the modern Ukrainian computer terminology is characterized by genetic heterogeneity of its units, reflecting the long historical process of terminological system formation and the impact of various linguistic and extra linguistic factors. There are such categories terms as: specific Ukrainian terms; the early foreign languages borrowings; modern foreign languages borrowings. Structural analysis of these terms makes it possible to trace thoroughly and comprehensively the process of formation and functioning of terminological units and also helps to determine the main regularities and trends in their development.