Special Issue INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES AND July 2016 CULTURAL STUDIES ISSN 2356-5926

English Gymnastic Terminology: Semantic and Structural Features

Natalia Nikolaevna Bobyreva Associate Professor Institute of International Relations, History and Oriental Studies Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University, Kazan, E-Mail: [email protected] Contact: +79033882044

Abstract

The importance of researching the material is determined by the fact that the sports terminology consists of many subsystems corresponding to particular kinds of sport. Each of them is characterized by specific features of form, meaning and functioning, as well as unique history and etymology of language items. This paper is aimed at covering the structural and semantic characteristics of English gymnastic terms. The leading methods applied within the research are description, component, structural and contextual analyses, alongside studying print and electronic dictionaries and glossaries of sports vocabulary, special literature of different styles and genres, interviews with people professionally involved in this sphere. The set of gymnastic terms is not homogeneous, and comprises one-word and multi-word items, eponymous terms, borrowings, etc. The research of gymnastic terms is of interest for terminological studies and sociolinguistics from the point of view of terminological systems development, role of gymnastic terms in the system of sports terminology, models of word and phrase formation and translation of special texts.

Keywords: gymnastic terminology, term, sports terminology, Language for Specific Purposes, sublanguage of sport, special discourse.

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1. Introduction In the modern study of language the research of the Languages for Specific Purposes is of high importance. The detailed and multi-sided study of the sports terms and discourse is necessary due to several extralinguistic reasons, such as prestige of the sport, popularization of volunteering at sports events, increase of number of people involved in amateur and professional sports, and general social interest in this area. English terminology is of special significance, as English serves as the main means of communication in the world sport community: alongside French it is an official language of the International Olympic Committee; it is used for reporting on sports events on the sites of International Federations, as well as when interviewing athletes by journalists of a different country. Vocabulary used for communication in sports has a number of peculiarities: well defined processes of terminologization and determinologization; availability for all the speakers of English; a variety of thematic branches. In modern linguistics various aspects of sport sublanguage have been exposed to investigation: issues of sport discourse [1]; aspects of sports journalism [2; 3]; historical aspects of terminology [4]; ways of nomination [5; 6]. Multi-sided research interest and a number of extralinguistic reasons explain the significance of the specified issue, connected with the principles of the semantic and structural organization of the English gymnastic terminology as a branch of sport sublanguage.

2. Methodological Framework 2.1. Objectives of the Research The paper aims at describing the formal and semantic features of gymnastic terms used in professional communication. The objective of the article is to identify the principles of systemic description of the concrete language subsystem in the synchronic aspect.

2.2. Factual Material of the Research The paper presents the results of the study persuaded on the material of approximately 2500 English gymnastic terms used in artistic , rhythmic gymnastics, trampoline and acrobatics. The researcher has taken into consideration the results of previously published papers on sport terminology in different languages as well as monolingual and bilingual dictionaries and glossaries of sport vocabulary. The gymnastic terminology is viewed as a dynamic, functioning and developing system, which is possible by studying a collection of texts belonging to different styles and genres. Thus, the research is based on the systematic, anthropocentric and deterministic approaches. The gymnastic terminology is a system of language means for naming actions, artifacts, sports events and people involved. This special language subsystem is studied with reference to a wide range of resources: codes of points, manuals, encyclopaedias, popular and scientific articles, sports press, etc.

2.3. Methods of the Research Within the research the following methods are applied: - the descriptive method including identification, observation and classification of the studied language items; - the method of data sampling which involves analyzing monolingual and bilingual dictionaries and glossaries of sports terms and collecting special texts in which the studied terms are used; - the component and structural analysis aimed at finding the sources and means of term formation;

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- the semantic analysis aimed at studying the meaning of the investigated material; - interviewing people professionally involved in sports and physical education.

3. Results 3.1. Semantic Aspects of English Gymnastic Terms: Current State The first difficulty facing the study of the gymnastic terminology is to identify what is called gymnastics. The history of this word is complicated, as for example, in the 19th century it was used to denote what now is called physical education [7]. So, the uniqueness of gymnastic terms, especially of those used to denote the concepts of calisthenics, is that people involved in physical education and all kinds of sport use them in professional communication. For example such words as split, bend, jump, turn, swing, etc. are familiar not only to professionals but to all native speakers of English. Thus, basic gymnastic terms are part of terminological systems of other kinds of sport and have a special linguistic status in the sports terminology. Nevertheless, the gymnastic kinds of sport possess their own truly specific units. Illustrating examples are eponyms, i.e. terms formed from proper names of athletes, which are used for naming new original elements in . For example, Yamashita – a named after Japanese gymnast Haruhiro Yamashita, – a vault named after Soviet gymnast . The English gymnastic terminology is formed on the base of the native language, i.e. general English. A group of words of the general English vocabulary have overcome a specification of meaning. Names of apparatus used in artistic and rhythmic gymnastics belong to category: bar, , beam, club, ribbon, ball, hoop, rope. The parts of the club are metaphorically named by the names of the human body: head, neck and body. The word balance is also an illustration of specification of meaning. This can be traced by analyzing two definitions, the first being is taken from a monolingual dictionary of General English: the second – from a textbook on rhythmic gymnastics: 1) the ability to remain steady in an upright position; a position in which your body remains steady and upright [8]; 2) Balance refers to keeping the body in various poses (shapes) on limited support, executed using various parts of the body [9]. Metaphorically created terms also find their place in the system. Metaphors possessing semantic capacity are productive in the terminological systems of kinds of sport involving execution of precise movements associated with different shapes and figures. Such terms are characterized by brevity, availability and expressiveness. Zoomorphic language means are a vivid example: snake, chest roll, fish-flop, snail, etc. Another source of gymnastic terms are names of artifacts borrowed from other language subsystems: scissors, mill, spiral, boomerang, etc. Metonymy is realized in the models: «quality → score» in the terms artistic score, difficulty score and «quality → action» in the terms difficulty and originality as in the sentence: In case the gymnast performs each Difficulty correctly but performs the connection with a technical fault (hop or interruption), both Difficulties are valid but the 0.10 point for the connection(s) is subtracted [10]. As gymnastics involves dance, it could not but influence its language. Gymnasts use choreographic terms, which come from French: demi plié, battement tendu, sur le cou-de-pied, rond de jambe par terre, arabesque, attitude, fouetté, cabriole, etc. In English some units may preserve or change the authentic form. For example, jeté en tournant and tour lent function in the English special discourse as jeté with (a) turn (changing the preposition and dependent element of the complex term for English equivalents) and slow turn (translating the whole term) respectively. Some terms of rhythmic gymnastics are also borrowed from French: the term échappé denotes one of fundamental apparatus technical groups in rhythmic gymnastics; tonneau – total body wave with spiral. We consider that a possible reason of these borrowings is the fact that up to the end of 2009 French was the official language of the Code of Points created by the International

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Gymnastics Federation (FIG). Since then English has been performing the function of the official language of the document [10]. Borrowings from the musical sublanguage have also penetrated into the sublanguage of gymnastics: accent, tact, upbeat, phrase. There are some words of Italian origin: andante, moderato, allegro, lento, etc. Terminology is a subsystem of language, and it demonstrates all the processes typical for normal language items. One of these phenomena is antonymy. Antonyms possess opposite meanings and promote to logical organization of the terminological system: backward jump – forward jump; throw – catch; wrapping – unwrapping. Polysemy of terms also occurs, for example roll is used to denote 1) a pre-acrobatic element with body rotations, and 2) the apparatus’s circular movements about its axis in rhythmic gymnastics.

3.2. Structural Features of Gymnastic Terms The variety of sources for the formation of the terminological system predetermines the variety of formal features. Sport is a sphere of the development of the human’s physical abilities, and motor activity is a base of it. So, morphologically gymnastic terminology is characterized by the existence of nouns denoting movements, which derive from verbs. The most productive suffixes used in the word formation model V → N are -ing, -tion: bend – bending; touch – touching; pass – passing; execute – execution; rotate – rotation, etc. Conversion is also typical: to swing – swing; to twist – twist; to roll – roll; to catch – catch, to sit – sit, etc. Using abbreviations realizes the law of economy of language means on the one hand, and becomes a source of synonymy, on the other. The examples of abbreviations used in gymnastics are: TRA Trampoline; TUM Tumbling; DMT Double Mini‐Trampoline; TR Technical Regulations; CoP Code of Points; CJP Chair of Judges Panel; TMD Time Measurement Device; JEP Judges’ Evaluation Program. Such concepts as difficulty, artistry and execution are expressed by the letters D, A and E respectively. Sport organizations are also normally named by abbreviations: FIG < фр. FIG Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique; TC Technical Committee; EC Executive Committee; LOC Local Organizing Committee, etc. Gymnastic terminology demonstrates active phrase formation processes, the evidence of which is a formation of terminological families. For example, the language item vault makes a terminological family including such elements as salto vault, round-off entry vault, Cuervo vault, Kasamatsu vault, etc. The syntactic way of term formation is widely realized in the studied language subsystem. The English gymnastic terminology has a variety of phrase formation means. The most typical of them are: 1) Adjective (adjunct) + Noun (kernel): triple somersault, double salto, still stand, static , vertical jump. 2) Noun (adjunct) + Noun (kernel): cross turn, side scale. 3) Participle (adjunct) + Noun (kernel); accompanied roll, mixed difficulty, synchronized execution. 4) Noun (kernel) + of + Noun (adjunct): time of flight, roll of the clubs, throw of the apparatus, elevation of the jump. 5) Noun (kernel) + prep. + Noun (adjunct): Difficulty with rotation, leap with turn, somersault with twist. 6) Noun (kernel) + Adverb (adjunct), the latter signifying the direction of movement: salto backward, roll forward, walkover forward. Two-component terms may have a metaphor both in adjunct and kernel functions. A metaphorical modifying element may be in preposition to the main component: scissors leap, cat

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leap, sheep jump, boomerang throw, Cossack jump, pike jump. Metaphorical element may also serve as a kernel: scissor forward, triple mills. Gymnastic terms may have three or more structural components. This is caused by the fact that gymnastic terms need to convey many details of the action denoted, as precision is one of the major requirements for the language items under study. Multi-component terms may have different grammar patterns and resemble clusters of terms: Split jump with 1/1 turn (360°) from cross position; forward with leg change in flight phase; flic-flac to land on both feet. Existence of such units is reasoned by a huge variety of combinations of physical actions, each of them having its own name.

4. Discussions Different aspects of the language of sport have been covered in various publications. Paper by S.А. Iakovleva is dedicated to the study of English borrowings in the modern Spanish sports terminology, covering the problems of their evolution, adaptation and periodization from the end of the 19th century to present [11]. There are also works within the frames of comparative linguistics: the thesis by Z. Mirzoev studying the sports terms of Tajik and English [12] and the monograph by F.Kh. Ismaeva about the Russian and English non-codified language of sport [13]. The thesis by V.E. Briginevich describes the English terminology of mountaineering [14]. The work of lexicographers also contributes to this field. One of publications of this kind is the Dictionary of Sports metaphors which contains units gleaned from conversations and speeches, mass media and books and has proved useful to researchers of language, interpreters, journalists, etc. [15]. As for gymnastic terminology, Yu. A. Sabirov compiled English-Russian (1985) and Russian-English (1988) dictionaries containing nearly 6000 terms of acrobatics, trampoline, artistic and rhythmic gymnastics meant for specialists of these kinds of sport, coaches, teachers, students, translators and journalists [16,17]. Our analysis has shown that gymnastic terms form a subsystem in a larger complicated system of sports language. Terminology of gymnastics is heterogeneous, and comprises thematically various words and phrases, simple and compound items, borrowed units and genuinely English ones. The structural feature of complex gymnastic terms is variation models. Terminological units used in gymnastics are formed on the base of native lexical means, as well as with the help of borrowed elements. The complicated nature of special concepts in modern gymnastic kinds of sport causes a high degree of productivity of the syntactic way of term formation and existence of multi-word terms of complex structure. Using of the second-order nomination, i.e. semantic ways of term formation is caused by the absence of a language item in English which would directly refer to the special concept. Gymnastic terminology also borrows elements from the sublanguages of related fields without any changes of meaning, e.g. choreography and music. Studying of the structural and semantic features of the English gymnastic terminology allows to say that the corpus of terms is not just a set of lexical units, but is a structurally organized system. The structure of the conceptual system of gymnastics is reflected on the language level – in the formation of logically arranged thematic groups of terms, which have hierarchic relations, relations of hyponymy, synonymy and antonymy. The research of gymnastic terms is interesting for terminological studies and sociolinguistics from the point of view of special languages development, role of gymnastic terms in the system of sport terminology, models of word and phrase formation and translation of special texts of different genres and styles. The findings of this research may be of interest for linguists who study terminological systems (in particular, sport terminology), sociolinguistics, theory and practice of special texts

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translation. The results may be used in the academic process while studying special linguistic courses of lexicology, terminology, translation practice, sports journalism. The results of the study may be applied for comparative analysis of English gymnastic terms with those of other languages for finding general and specific features.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The work is performed according to the Russian Government Program of Competitive Growth of Kazan Federal University.

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