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@article{209030,
        author = {Dr.TS Praveen Kumar},
        title = {Language as a Catalyst for Change: An Empirical Study on Vocabulary Adaptation Across Diverse Professions},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2026},
        volume = {13},
        number = {5},
        pages = {334-337},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=209030},
        abstract = {Within the contemporary interconnected global economy, linguistic proficiency serves as a fundamental pillar of professional identity and socioeconomic advancement. This empirical study investigates the critical transition from colloquial English to specialized occupational registers among final-year undergraduate students in Hanamkonda, Telangana. Employing a mixed-methods, descriptive-empirical research design, the investigation quantifies the "Lexical Gap" and "Semantic Shift" that manifest when standard terminology assumes precise technical definitions across diverse industrial domains. Primary data, derived from structured interviews with 20 practicing professionals and a Vocabulary Awareness Test (VAT) administered to 50 undergraduate seniors, reveals a significant discrepancy between students perceived linguistic confidence and their actual operational mastery of technical vocabulary. The findings indicate that while service-oriented interpersonal sectors, such as hospitality and healthcare, allow for greater lexical flexibility, technical-precision fields, including banking and law, necessitate a level of semantic rigor frequently omitted from current academic curricula. The paper concludes by proposing targeted pedagogical interventions and structural reforms in higher education aimed at transforming linguistic competence from a barrier to employment into a robust catalyst for career mobility.},
        keywords = {Professional English, Lexical Gap, Semantic Shift, Registers, Symbolic Capital, Employability, Higher Education.},
        month = {October},
        }