Some linguists believe that theoretically in translation, there shouldn’t be a place for such linguistic phenomena as complete synonymy, polysemy and homonymy [1; 3]. On the semantic characteristics of the term in the system-semantic plan attribute the consistency of semantics (correspondence of the term to the concept); unambiguity (exclusion of categorical polysemy), completeness (reflection in the meaning of the term of the minimum number of signs sufficient for identification of the concept); lack of synonyms.
As D.A. writes Kozhanov in "New approaches to the definition of the essence of the term in cognitive-discursive research”, earlier terminology paid attention to the issue of systematization of linguistic concepts, that is, to search criteria that would allow to distinguish between terms and “non-terms”: lack of synonyms, unambiguity, independence from context etc. With this approach, the content plan was considered as something ready and given, just waiting for its implementations in the language .
If we consider the term as a cognitive-discursive unit of language, then we can perceive the variability of the term in a completely different way — not as a violation of the norm, but as evidence of the development of terminology. And the presence of a synonymous series, units of which are borrowed from the general literary language leads to the conclusion that the terminological unit functions in speech as well as other elements in the language system. That is, cognitive-discursive nature of terminological units explaining the asymmetry in terms of the fact that the observed variability is often associated precisely with discourse.
It should be noted that when considering synonymous terms, it is necessary to choose one unique term- determinant for the concept. It will be central in the construction of the term system, since the relations in it are established, first of all, between concepts. However, in a specialized dictionary you must specify the entire synonymous series, as this will help the translator and any other user to work on the text. So, over time, in the language there is a natural selection from a synonymous series of lexical units in favor of one option, which is hereinafter used as the only term. On the other hand, it is possible that new synonyms will always appear, since this sphere of human activity directly related to a specific discourse, which, on the one hand, tends to a clear and capacious plan of expression (i.e. there is a tendency to select one-component units), and at the same time reflects the informal nature of communication (professional jargon, abbreviations, abbreviations, truncated are often used lexical units, etc., which are synonyms of terms).
On the example of mountaineering terminology, we see that in the synonymic series there is often a term used in reference books, instructions, etc., and in the speech of climbers when climbing, that is, in an unofficial situation, often associated with risk, another option is used, most often professional jargon, which carries its own special stylistic coloring:
- high altitude climber — big hill man (high-altitude climber);
- climbing helmet — helmet — brain bucket (helmet);
- D-shaped karabiner — pear-shaped karabiner — pearabiner (D-shaped carabiner, pear-shaped carabiner).
In the first case, the high mountain on which climbers climb is simply called "big hill", and, accordingly, this the phrase is part of the term mountain climber in English. The second row is interesting. Earlier for naming helmets that are worn during climbing, the two-component term “climbing helmet” was used, now more and more often its one-component variant is found — “helmet”, and among climbers the helmet is called “brain bucket”. Last the lexical unit in this synonymous series, bearing a certain stylistic coloring, reflects the main the function of this item of equipment is to protect the climber’s head from injury.
Synonymous with the term “D-shaped karabiner”, the professional jargon of “pear-shaped karabiner” and its variant "Pearabiner", formed by merging the foundations of the two components, arose in terminology due to different associations, different internal forms. Some climbers calling this form of carabiner compare it with the Latin letter D, others with pear shape. Both options fully exist, although the first one is found in directories, and the second is more likely in blogs climbers, which gives the right to distinguish it as a leading term. Especially a lot of synonyms are found in the names of nodes. We believe that this phenomenon can be explained by the fact that:
- Each mountaineering school has its own idea of the name. Synonymous terms are used for expressions of the same phenomenon within the framework of various directions, schools, concepts, points of view. So, climbers from the USA and Great Britain, as well as climbers belonging to different schools within these countries, use different names to denote certain concepts, which as a result lead to the formation of terminological synonyms. For example, figure-of-eight rewoven loop = rethreaded figure-of-eight = figure-of-eight follow through; Yosemite bowline = bowline with a Yosemite finish.
- The nodes themselves, and, consequently, their names, were borrowed from the maritime industry. So first a borrowed name was used, and as mountaineering developed, new ones were created. Flemish bend = figure-of-eight loop.
- Some nodes received a name by the name of their inventors, or depending on the place where they were first used. Since they could be created by representatives of different countries, the names of the same type turned out different. For example: Munter hitch (named for the inventor from Switzerland Werner Munter) = Italian hitch overhand bend = European death knot.
The authors of some dictionaries believe that the term abseil is used more often. However, in the sources we examined there are both options, including as part of the following two-component terms:
- classic abseil = classic rappel
- free abseil = free rappel
- pendulum rappel = pendulum abseil
- protected rappel = protected abseil.
We observe a similar situation in the following synonymous series, units of which describe the state of snow, which was formed as a result of the change of cycles of freezing — thaw: firn — neve — corn snow.