Two-Word Combinations As English and Lithuanian Terms of Building and Civil Engineering/Statybos Ir Civilines Statybos Terminus Reiskiantys Dvizodziai Junginiai Anglu Ir Lietuviu Kalbose (Report)

Introduction Terminology is the most important characteristic of specialist communication. Special-subject language is always specified by the lexicon of this subject which is represented best by terms. Namely, terms "differentiate special languages from the general language and also the various special languages from one another" (Cabre 1999: 45). On the other hand, subject-specific communication among specialists is not very different from general communication. In both cases communicators must know how to select the necessary words for certain situations and to find grammatically correct and proper linguistic forms of their expression. It is constantly emphasized that "terms are the linguistic representation of concepts" (Sager 1990: 57), i.e. each term has a certain linguistic form. However, special-subject communication will fail if one of its participants lacks the knowledge, (or understanding) of specific words, or terms, which are the most informative in a special field. It is impossible to retrieve information from a text if one does not know the terms, relative to the subject of the text. Thus, terms are always associated with the domain of specific knowledge and information. A term, unlike other words, "directs the mind to the essential quality of the thing, phenomenon or action (Galperin 1977: 76), making the subject-matter communication between specialists more effective and precise. Then the exchange of information concerning the subject is achieved without great efforts.