The relevance of this research is determined by the following factors.
1. The starting point is the nomem, which is recognized as a model object of analysis within the general theory of modern nomination, since it remains a new nominative category open to research.
2. The emergence of a vast number of compressives (univerbs, abbreviations, etc.) in speech requires their detailed investigation, which consists in identifying these units at a certain level, constructing models of their reproduction and consolidation in speech and language, organizing the typology of such units, etc.
3. Determining the nominative status of various classes and groups of compressives will help establish relevant models and tactics of nomination of this type in Slavic and Indo-European languages in general. This is extremely important, since the units under study constitute one of the relevant arrays of innovations in these languages.
4. The onomasiological description of the models of reproduction and functioning of compressives is also relevant for the fields of applied linguistics – computer linguistics, translation theory, and machine translation – since determining the peculiarities of speech nomination and identifying the mechanisms of lexical condensation will make it possible to develop tactics for creating computer languages as well as improve the accuracy of traditional and machine (computer-assisted) translation practice.
The purpose of the research is to determine the nominative status of compressives and to carry out the structural and onomasiological modelling of these units, which are implemented as shortened verbal equivalents of word combinations and individual words and are therefore functionally and semantically identical to them.
The scientific novelty of the research is determined by the modelling of the processes of univerbation (univerbalization, univerbization), abbreviation, lexicalization, nominalization, and other phenomena of modern nomination presented therein, as well as by the development of criteria for the typological analysis of the homonymy of compressives of different etymology.
The theoretical significance of the research lies in the fact that it contributes to the development of modern theories of nomination and word formation. The dissertation proposes classifications of compressives from the standpoint of their structural-semantic and onomasiological status. The processes of compressive formation resulting from the transformation of word combinations into words while preserving their semantic component are interpreted as processes of forming doublets of these word combinations. This interpretation is based, first, on the definition of the basic nominative unit, the nomem, understood as an abstract linguistic entity uniting formally interconnected but structurally different speech units, including words, combinations of words, and word combinations, on the basis of their lexical, grammatical, and semantic (nominative) identity realized through semantic identity or semantic variability. Second, it is based on the differentiation between the phenomena of external motivation (the motivation of one nomem by another) and internal motivation (the motivation of speech modifications by the nomem itself) of linguistic units.
The most original aspect of the theory is the description of multicomponent nomems. The study demonstrates that the transition from an official name to its colloquial compressed form is not chaotic process but a systematically structured sequence. However, until now, this phenomenon has been examined primarily within the field of Ukrainian linguistics.
The practical significance of the research lies in the fact that its results may be used as theoretical material for academic disciplines related to the problems of onomasiology, semantics, lexicology, synchronic and diachronic word formation. The developed models of word combinations transformation into univerbs and/or abbreviations may be applied in machine translation systems and in the process of electronic search systems improvement.
