Julia Chernobrov

Institute of the Ukrainian Languageof National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

Features of word combination terminology formation in Ukrainian linguistics

© Chernobrov Ju. A., 2014

The article deals with the history of formation of word combination terminology as a part of Ukrainian syntactic terminology. On the basis of historical sources it is possible to discover the contribution of Ukrainian grammarians in the development of syntactic terminology connected with the revival of theoretical achievements of the Ukrainian syntactic science since the second half of the nineteenth century. The presentation of term usage in linguistic works allows determining the main trends of term creation, one of which declares a Ukrainian basis.

Keywords: Ukrainian language, syntax of word combinations, syntactic terminology, terminology of word combinations, grammars of Ukrainian, calques, borrowings, specific vocabulary.

Systematic presentation of Ukrainian syntactic terminology requires describing the history of its formation and development, considering the accordance of terms with the basis of the Ukrainian language and establishing the role of different scientific schools in terminology creation. The article analyzes the features of formation of word combination terminology as a part of Ukrainian syntactic terminology in Ukrainian linguistics. Our research is based on historical sources of XIX century and more recent times which provide information on the contribution of Ukrainian grammarians in the development of syntactic terminology, which is connected with the revival of theoretical study of word combinations in Ukrainian syntactic science.

The history of word combination terminology formation in Ukrainian linguistics covers a long period due to the development of theoretical achievements that are characterized by different views on the status of the word combination in the system of syntactic units and different approaches to their classification. Word combinations are grouped into several types according to formal and semantic features. At present three definitions of the word combination as a nominative syntactic unit consisting of two or more meaningful words are most common. According to them, words can be connected by: 1) subordinate relation; 2) coordinate and subordinate relations; 3) coordinate, subordinate and predicative relations. Depending on semantic organization of concepts, linguists suggest classifications of terms for word combination types according to syntactic relations and forms, semantic and syntactic relations, structure and morphological-syntactic features.

Word combination terminology in Ukrainian linguistics started to develop in the grammar works of XIX – early XX centuries containing a theoretical study of the forms of subordinate relation. Terms denoting types of syntactic relations appear in some sources of the first half of the twentieth century and are connected with the sentence. The differentiation of word combinations according to types of syntactic relations is made in the 70's of the XX century. At this time scientists also suggested morphological-syntactic types of word combinations according to parts of speech and semantic-syntactic relations. This terminology develops up to the modern study of the Ukrainian syntax. Many terms from the works of N. A. Kahanovych and H. V. Shevelyov, Yu. Kudrytsky, L. A. Bulakhovsky, G. M. Udovychenko, O. S. Melnychuk etc. form the basis of modern word combination terminology.

Examples of term usage in different sources confirm the simultaneous use of a number of units that describe one concept (term synonymy) and the use of one term to describe a number of concepts (term homonymy). This illustrates the drawbacks of term formation in scientific literature due to complexity of the theory of syntax of word combinations and a variety of approaches in research. Due to the study of term usage in linguistic works it is possible to trace the main trends of term creation. During its development the word combination terminology has been affected by the Russian language (calquing), a lot of terms were coined from Ukrainian stems or using borrowed units together with Ukrainian terms. Word combination terminology is a part of syntactic terminological system and can be represented in the form of term groups, based on common generic features of concepts.