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LECTURE 7
LEXICAL AND SEMANTIC PROCESES IN
TERMINOLOGY

7.1 Polysemy in Terminology.
7.2 Homonyms in Terminology.
7.3 Synonymy in Terminology.
7.4 Antonyms in Terminology.

Key terms: interbranch polysemy, innerbranch polysemy,
homonyms, homograph, homophone, total synonym, partial
synonym, antonym.

7.1 Polysemy in terminology
Polysemy is the capacity for a sign or signs to have multiple
related meanings. In terminology, polysemy is treated quite
differently from the way it is treated in lexicography. Terminology
is based on the principle that one designation corresponds to one
concept, but this univocal relationship does not always occur in
practice. The semantic value of a term is established solely on the
basis of its relationship to a specific conceptual system. Identifying
a term as belonging to a special subject field involves placing it in
a specific conceptual system. In spite of this principle, in a single
special subject field there can be identical terms with different
meanings. Their independent conceptual status may be justified by
the fact that they belong to different branches of the same field.
When a word has one and only one meaning, it may be
called univalent (or monosemic), and when it has two or more
meanings it is multivalent (polysemic or polysemous); a
multivalent (polysemous) term that has only one meaning within a
given discourse community can be called unequivocal, whereas
when it has several meanings in such a community, it is properly
called equivocal. An unambiguous use of an equivocal term may
be achieved where writers supply contextual clues to show which

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