EFFECTIVENESS VS. EFFICIENCY: AN ANALYSIS OF VALENCY AND COLLOCABILITY IN A TECHNICAL CONTEXT

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Abatract. The article presents the results of a lexico-syntactic analysis of valency and collocability of English words, related to one semantic group: effectiveness and efficiency . The aim of the research was to study the ability of these words to syntactically and lexically contact with other words, taking into consideration certain difference between their lexical meanings. The objectives included determining semantic variations and analysis of word classes in the left and right contexts. The material, 177,144 words, comprised 700 article titles and abstracts from seven international journals with geological and petroleumrelated specializations. Methods of study involved continuous sampling, classification, and analysis of lexical meanings of relevant words. It was found that the frequency of effectiveness was 40% higher than that of efficiency. Both of them had similarities in syntactic valency: they occurred in identical syntactic structures, however, with different rates of occurrence. The difference is the most obvious in such syntactic structures as N(E)+of+N - characteristic of effectiveness, and V+A+N(E) - specific to efficiency. A typical example of effectiveness was the effectiveness of the proposed method , while that of efficiency - improve production efficiency . Effectiveness collocated more often with method-related notions, whereas efficiency - with processes. The gained data correlate with the definitions: effectiveness has a wider semantic field (which explains a higher rate of its occurrence) and is oriented towards result, while efficiency implies process and has an additional technical meaning. The data can be used in the practice of teaching English as a second language for students with technical specializations and technical translation.

About the authors

Yulia A Filyasova

Saint-Petersburg Mining University

Author for correspondence.
Email: phill.yield@gmail.com

Candidate of Philology, Associate Professor, Department of Foreign Languages

21st Line, 2, Vasilievsky Island, St. Petersburg, Russia, 199106

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Copyright (c) 2019 Filyasova Y.A.

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