The work is dedicated to the study of Ukrainian police terminology as a formed organized system. The dissertation substantiates the theoretical foundations for studying police terminology in Ukrainian linguistics, in particular, the definition of the unit "police term" was proposed; it provides a comprehensive analysis of the formation paths of police terminology in the system of professional language: identifies and describes the stages of its development from the emergence of Ukrainian society to its current form as the National Police of Ukraine. The dissertation offers a multifaceted characterization of police terminology, including the identification and description of lexical-thematic groups, the clarification of grammatical features of the term complex according to traditional analysis strategies, and the description of paradigmatic relations within the police terminology system. It presents the concept of the "Dictionary of Modern Ukrainian Police Terms," outlining general approaches and principles for its creation and including sample dictionary entries.
Based on the analysis of scientific (monographs, dissertations), science reference (encyclopedias, dictionaries, reference books, specialized manuals), and normative-legal (legislative texts, Criminal and Civil Codes of Ukraine, normative documents) sources of military and legal terminology, a file of terms used in police service activities has been compiled.
The identified term units confirm the systematization and organization of police terminology, and the methods of their processing demonstrate the regularities in the development of professional language in the police field as an integral part of the terminological vocabulary of the Ukrainian language.
The work includes both diachronic and synchronic analysis of Ukrainian police terminology, as well as its general and specific features in the context of its role in law enforcement.
A definition of a police term is proposed, and the conditions for classifying a unit as a police term are substantiated, specifically its codification in sectoral dictionaries and use in performing specific professional duties, as well as its presence in relevant official and sectoral texts. The research establishes that police terms possess both general linguistic characteristics common to all terms and specific sectoral features.
It is established that police terminology has its roots in the period of the formation of early society and is linked to the need to regulate relations within the social system. The boundaries and characteristics of the main stages in the formation of police terminology are outlined, with a summary indicating that with each new historical phase, police activities have changed, transformed, and been enriched with new term units. Each period, even the less productive ones, has unique sources of formation and development trends. It is noted that with the official establishment of the police as a law enforcement body, a qualitatively new stage in the formation of the term complex serving this sphere of activity began, continuing to the present day.
The work presents the theoretical basis for distinguishing thematic and lexical-semantic groups of lexical units based on paradigmatic connections, favouring thematic grouping of Ukrainian police terminology, which demonstrates its integrity as a system.
A classification of the law enforcement term complex based on thematic and lexical-semantic differentiation is proposed. The formed terminological groups represent the spheres of administrative structure and functional activities of law enforcement agencies. The degree of their material support and characteristics of their affiliation with the police, including the New Ukrainian Police of the 21st century, are defined.
It is confirmed that the derivational processes of new term units are carried out according to the laws of the Ukrainian language and general strategies for the formation of terminological vocabulary.
It is determined that the most productive methods of creating police terms are morphological, morphosyntactic, and lexical-semantic. The presence of a significant number of multi-component terms reflects the current tendency towards the specification of terminological concepts, the absence of more concise constructions in the given linguistic field, and, thus, a lack of brevity. The work documents multi-component police terms quantitatively expressed in constructions ranging from two to ten components. The largest group consists of two- and three-component terms formed on the basis of subordinate relationships. The most productive structural model for creating two-component terms is the combination of adjectives with nouns. In contrast, among three-component terms, it is the combination of nouns with adjectives and nouns.
