CORE BUSINESS TERMINOLOGY IN LANGUAGE AND SPEECH: SYSTEMIC CHARACTERISTICS AND ADHERENT CONNOTATIVENESS

The present article revisits the concepts of term and terminology which at the systemic level are generally known to be devoid of any connotations. The study of a number of corpora-based business dictionaries demonstrates how core business terms are conceptualized and categorized within terminological systems as such. No connotations are observed in the dictionary entries for the core business terms venture capital (VC), venture capitalist, venture-capital firm and venture-capital company selected for in-depth study and description. The situation changes dramatically when one turns to extended business-related media texts in which the reality of the world of business is confronted and exposed whereby the terms under analysis are shown to gradually acquire and display adherent connotations — either positive or negative. The material assembled and researched in the article brings the English language learners and the Business English students closer to what is going on across industries when it comes to venture capital, venture capitalists, venturecapital firms and venture-capital companies. English-based media discourse thus gives access to English as English through the authenticity of language in functional use related to real-life agents, enterprises and events