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, Russia 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. http://www.ijhcs.com/index.php/ijhcs/index Page 118 Special Issue INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES AND July 2016 CULTURAL STUDIES ISSN 2356-5926 1. Introduction In the modern study of language the research of the Languages for Specific Purposes is of high importance.