Comparative-and-contrastive categorical analysis of the terminology systems ‘судостроение’ and ‘shipbuilding’

The article presents the results of a comparative analysis of the categories derived by the authors in the terminology systems ‘Судостроение’ and ‘Shipbuilding’. These terminology systems are historically established vocabulary strata in the corresponding languages and, at the same time, they are actively developing. During crosslingual professional communication, there arises an acute problem of inconsistency between terminology systems of the same subject area existing in different languages. It is often difficult to select an equivalent term while translating in shipbuilding area from English into Russian and vice versa or during international communication between naval engineers and shipbuilders. This problem requires a comprehensive linguistic analysis to be solved. The novelty of the study resides in the fact that terminological asymmetry is revealed by means of comparative-and-contrastive analysis, through which the phenomenon of the asymmetry of the terminology systems ‘Судостроение’ and ‘Shipbuilding’ is described as a complex issue. The methods used during the research include the following: definition analysis, categorical analysis, context analysis, quantitative analysis, logical- and-conceptual analysis, comparative-and-contrastive analysis. The study was conducted in five stages, starting with the selection of material, i. e., Russian and English shipbuilding terms, and the collection of statistical data for quantitative analysis, then proceeding to the categorical analysis of the collected material (at the third and fourth stages) and finally concluding with a comparative analysis of the categories and with the description of the identified terminological asymmetry. The structure of the terminology systems ‘Судостроение’ and ‘Shipbuilding’ revealed significant similarity, but the final stage of the study found discrepancies at a lower hierarchical level of categorization of the considered terminology systems.