Terminology taxonimy in the Ukrainian biological branch

Abstract

Ukrainian biological terminology is an obligatory and important component of the Ukrainian vocabulary in general. The study of lexico-semantic groups and functional-semantic fields of the lexicon of a natural language proves the absence of a clear sequence and systematic character in the identification of hyper-hyponymic relations.

The relevance of the topic is due to the fact that the lexico-semantic characteristic of the Ukrainian biological terminology has its own features. That is why its study is relevant in linguistics today.

Hyper-hyponymic relations in specific terminological systems were the subject of the research in the scientific studies by S. Bulyk-Verkholy, N. Krasnopolskaya, A. Chernoy, and others.

The purpose of the article is to establish the regularities of taxonomic relations in the terminology of the Ukrainian biological branch, in particular, the names of green plants in the Plant Catalog of the Botanical Garden of the National Library of Ukraine (2011).

The principle of the genotypic characteristic of plants is used to create logical classifications of realities of objective reality, borrowed from logics. The ratio of the partial (individual) and the general is the philosophical basis of such a classification.

These relations are reflected in hyper-hyponymic structures, where hyperonyms express something in common, and hyponyms are individual.

The genotypic relations exist between terms, they express concepts. Biological terms, in particular, the names of trees and bushes, are combined into hyper hyponymic structures with such specificity: biological terms express the same semantic feature, but the degree of specificity varies.

In biological terminology, depending on the number of features for which generic term is specified, we distinguish the hyper hyponymic structures of the following types: 1) a simple hierarchical tree; 2) a complex (branched) hierarchical tree; 3) a combined hierarchical tree.

A simple hierarchical tree forms the main structural hyperonymic and hyponymic layers. It is worth emphasizing that the terms-hyponyms are clearly grouped around the hyperonym only by one feature. Example: red elderberry, black elderberry –hyper hyponymic structure formed by a combination of hyperonym elderberry and hyponyms: red, black, which are based on a common marker – a marker of color.

Additional layers of classification markers are elements of complex hierarchical trees between hyperonymic and hyponymic layers. Such markers can often be more from two to four.

The structure of the combined type is formed by the main hyperonymic and hyponymic layers, but between some of them there are additional layers of markers, and between the others there are none.

The basis of classification is based on taxonomic relations. There are two term notions: a hyperonym and a hyponym. According to the formal (quantitative) criterion of hyperhyponymic rows, three structural types are emerged into biological terms, in particular green plantations: a simple hierarchical tree, a complex hierarchical tree, and a combined hierarchical tree.

The adequate classification can be extended to all biological terms – the names of green plantations, which will reflect the hierarchy of the concepts of biological science, serving as an important factor in the systemic organization of Ukrainian biological terminology.