European Union Terminology Unification - Directions for the Contrastive Study of Two Slavic and Two Non-Slavic Languages (Bulgarian, Polish, Modern Greek and English)

Abstract

This study attempts to characterize terminology unification in the European Union legislation, regarding both content and form. It analyzes terms related to the thematic field of environmental law in four official EU languages: two Slavic (Bulgarian and Polish) and two non-Slavic (Modern Greek and English). Different types of relations between the languages under comparison suggest possible directions for further comparative study. The comparison aims to identify differences and similarities in the componential structure, formal-grammatical structure, word formation structure, form variantivity, origin and formal status. The study may also testify to the presence of linguistic convergence processes in the multilingual European Union.