The Meaning of Words in the Building Structures Field: A Case Study of Comparing Conceptual Meanings with Lexical Meanings

Abstract

This research aims to identify by exposing differences in meaning in words/terms used in the field of civil engineering, especially in building structures field, between existing meanings according to civil engineering field and in general meaning words (based on KBBI). The method used in this study is a descriptive qualitative method. This research was preceded by a literature study to obtain research data. The data source of research is a list of words / terms in in SNI 032847 reinforced concrete, SNI 1729 steel, SNI 1726 earthquake, and SNI 1727 loading. Each word / term on SNI is equipped by its meaning based on the meaning in the civil engineering field. The outcomes of this study, obtained several terms in the field of building structures that have conceptual meaning and lexical meaning, such as base words tendon, diafragma, partisi, and suffixes words like, tulangan, kebakaran, sambungan. The conceptual meaning of these terms has more specific meaning towards the subject of building structure than its lexical meaning. Yet, both conceptual meaning and lexical meaning have similarities to the concepts it is used for. Thus, it can be noted that the use of vocabulary /term in a field has a special meaning according to the field, initially refers to a common concept first before being interpreted in a more particular field.