The aim of the study is to optimize the classification of the types of the compound word-building with components of Greek and Latin origin; the research is based on the sample of 2882 substantive compound terms of the German clinical terminology. The researches apply the descriptive analytical and quantitative methods to the study. It is stated, that the words with complex morphemic structures can be formed by composite and non-composite types of word-building. The paper presents the complex classification of different ways of the compound word-formation considering following criteria: the type and the base of the word-formation process (morphological and morphological-and-syntactic ways of the compound word-formation), the number of the word-building processes, taking place within the compound word-formation (pure and mixed types of the compound word-formation). The analysis of the material reveals the dominance of the morphological compound word-building. In the medical terminology the following subtypes of the compound word-formation are distinguished: stem + terminological element, term + term, stem + term, with the latter two to be the most productive.The use of terminological units as structural elements of compounds and their employment in classification allows to avoid excessive extension of stock of morphemes used in the so-called intermediate zone. Further arrangement of word-building patterns is carried out according to the genetic criterion. In German clinical terminology the dominance of hybrid terms with German components has been established; among homogeneous compounds the terms consisting of Greek rather than Latin or German components are more widely represented. The proposed classifications are applicable to the material of medical terminologies in other languages and enable their accurate comparison.
Compound terms correspond to the criteria of compounds to a different degree, which allows the author to consider them as a fuzzy set, structured from the perspective of the field approach. Word formation fields of Russian and German clinical compound terms are structured in accordance with the different compliance degree of terms with compound criteria. The research objective is to structure the word formation fields of Russian and German compound terms vertically. The research material constitutes samples of 1545 Russian and 2882 German clinical compound terms. In the course of study, the qualitative-quantitative analysis of terms has been carried out and the compounds’ compliance degree with the criteria of the compound words has been established within the interval of [0; 1]. Compounds which fully comply with all criteria form the core of the field. Terms with the compliance degree less than 0,3 are identified as word groups. The interval [0,3; 1) contains word complexes, which belong to the fuzzy composite set to a larger or smaller degree, and which belong to different segments of the field depending on the set of criteria. The results are the following: the core of the field of Russian terms consists of 91,5% of all compounds, the core of the field of German terms – 73,4% of terms. In the circumnuclear area in the field of the Russian terms 2,8% of compounds are located, in the field of the German terms – 23,8% of all compounds. The border-line segment between the core and the periphery of the field of the Russian terms consists of 4,1% of all terms, in the field of the German terms – 2,4% of compounds. The periphery is represented by an insignificant number of compounds in both fields. The obtained results allow the author to draw the conclusion that the general structure of the fields of the Russian and German terms is almost identical (large core segment and small periphery), but some differences have been detected; for instance, in the core segment of the field of the Russian terms the core is dominant while in the field of the German terms the circumnuclear area is extensive. Some differences are also noted in the structure of the periphery.
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