Translation of polysemous and synonymous terms of the English language: the possibilities of a cognitive approach

The article describes the problem of translating polysemantic and synonymous investment terms and is studied from the perspective of cognitive linguistics, namely in the light of the prototypes theory, which presupposes the identification of the content core as the best representative of the word’s semantics. The subject of the research are the semantic processes taking place in the English term system reflecting investment activity. By the example of the research of term dealer and its synonyms broker and agent, the authors have defined that the meanings of polysemantic and synonymous terms are not isolated, but are united by a meaningful core and develop according to the laws of semantic derivation based on the common language nominative-non-derivative meaning. The authors found that the reduction of translation failures in the transfer of terms is possible due to the competent use of the cognitive context and the correct definition of the content core of the terminological unit. The research is carried out by means of such methods as the prototypical semantics method, a definitional and component analysis. When identifying the content core of a polysemantic term it is first of all necessary to define the average primary meaning of this term on the basis of dictionary definitions. As a result, the most frequent meaning is determined. Then etymological analysis of the meaning is carried out. At the next stage, in order to model the cognitive image of a word, contextual analysis is performed, and metaphorical comparisons are investigated. Based on the obtained data, a content core of the term is formulated generalizing all the derived meanings and demonstrating their connections. The results obtained allow the authors to prove that the meanings of polysemantic and synonymous terms are connected by a single content core and are developed on the basis of a common linguistic meaning. The practical value of the scientific research is in the possibility to use the results of the work in lexicographic practice when compiling terminological dictionaries, and when writing university courses in terminology and translation studies. The identification of a content core is necessary while translating polysemantic and synonymous terms, because it reveals the meaning of the term in the context and defines the choice of a right translation variant