UDK 811.111’373.421

The Role of Synonyms in Business English
 

Summary: The aim of this paper is to address the phenomenon of synonymy in the business register of the English language. Although in general lexis synonymy is considered to be the main indicator of vocabulary abundance, in technical terminologies, most of the linguists take it as a defect, as it violates the basic rule that a technical term must be monosemous and precise.
In business English vocabulary, synonymy is a widely-spread phenomenon, as a result of the large inflow of loanwords into the English language, over the past centuries. An upward tendency has been noticed in the formation of acronyms and abbreviations; these categories of synonymous pairs are easily interchangeable.
Such tendencies indicate the need for language economy. We hope that this short analysis will enable the readers to better understand the problem of ambiguity caused by the existence of synonymy in the business vocabulary of the English language.