Semantic Relations between Words in Naval Architecture and Maritime Languages

Abstract

The present article aims at identifying the semantic relations that occur between words in naval architecture and maritime languages. For this purpose several specialized dictionaries as well as various textbooks and specific naval architecture documents were explored. Both the naval architecture and maritime field-specific lexis consist of few genuinely ‘unique’ words and of a large number of items, not ‘unique’ in and by themselves, which have migrated from everyday language to become ‘technical’ and
‘field-specific’ through the role played by polysemy, metaphor and homonymy. An interesting aspect of these two specific language fields is the presence of doublets or two signifiers for only one signified.