WEEK 3 Lecture notes

The relation between Terminology and other language sciences and related domains
(terminography, ontology etc.)
- Initially, Terminology claimed to be an independent discipline (cf. Traditional
Terminology, Felber, 1984) (This claim was later disputed by e.g. Sager, 1990,
Temmerman, 2000). In fact, Terminology has gradually become rather an
interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary discipline. It has been linked to a range of
(sub)disciplines, from Lexicology, Semantics, Cognitive Linguistics, Sociolinguistics,
Communication, to Philosophy and Language Planning. (Thelen, 2015)
Terminology and Linguistics: Lexicology and Lexicography
Words - units of reference
The goal of lexicology – to construct a model of the lexical component of a language which:
- includes speakers' implicit knowledge of words and their use
- systematic and appropriate mechanisms to connect the lexical component with the other
grammatical components
- the speakers’ capability to create new units by following systematic structural models.
Issues of interest to the lexicologist/lexicographer:
- pronunciation
- etymology
- morpho-semantic behaviour: countability, transitivity etc.
- meaning
Terminology and lexicology
closely related fields:
- both deal with words
- both have a theoretical and an applied side
- both are concerned with dictionaries.
No total overlap!
The goal of Terminology/Terminography:
- to collect the terms of a particular domain
- to reflect the standardization of the terms of a specific, specialized domain
- to achieve precise and unambiguous professional communication
distinctive elements:
(a) the domain;
(b) the basic unit;
(c) the purpose;
(d) the methodology.
General dictionaries - classified according to the following criteria and contain the following
information:
a. sources for the information: a selection of various source materials, most of which are
written
b. choice of entries: the most usual forms
c. form for entries: e.g. the lexeme
d. order of entries: e.g. alphabetical
e. information accompanying each entry: grammatical category, definition, semantic uses
determined by the field of usage or by change of meaning processes, examples illustrating
usage
f. primary purpose: e.g. descriptive
g. type of reader: e.g. reasonably educated speaker
h. purpose of the dictionary: e.g. increasing the competence of the user and/or resolve
linguistic vacillations or gaps
special' dictionary - variations of structure and content:
a. the sources: e.g. a dictionary of the languages used by one author.
b. the choice of entries: e.g. a dictionary of physics; a basic dictionary, if the criterion
for selection is the extension of a form; a dialect dictionary.
c. the nature of entries: e.g. a dictionary of collocations or fixed expressions.
d. the order of the entries and the arrangement of the information: e.g. a thesaurus.
e. the type of specific supplementary information that systematically accompanies the
entry: e.g. the origin and evolution of the word (etymological dictionaries), geographic
varieties (dialect dictionaries), etc.
f. the social function it aims at: e.g. a dictionary of standard usage.
g. the target group: for example, a school-age dictionary.
h. the specific uses aimed at: e.g. a dictionary for editors and technical writers; a
bilingual dictionary for translation (Cabrí & Lorente 1991).

from Mariëtta Alberts, “Lexicography versus Terminography”, AFRILEX-reeks/series 11: 2001)

Terminology and NLP: these systems need the two kinds of data found in terminological
databases: linguistic data and world knowledge data.
Terminology and AI: knowledge acquisition and knowledge representation (in terminological
databases and terminological knowledge bases).

Knowledge Acquisition: the Terminological Knowledge Base does contain stable conceptual
elements. From them, individual reasonings understandable by each member of the community
may be elaborated because they are expressed with recognised terms of the domain.
(Anne Condamines. Terminology : new needs, new perspectives *. Terminology, International
Journal of Theoretical and Applied Issues in Specialized Communication, John Benjamins
Publishing, 1995.)

Ontology - emerged from philosophy, now used extensively in artificial intelligence AI

- the philosophical study of being in general, or of what applies neutrally to everything
that is real. (Enc Britannica)
- in a knowledge representation system the term ONTOLOGY refers to all concepts in
a particular domain
- the need to define and segregate terms by domain; a top-level domain—chemistry or
engineering—provides only a vague and imprecise indication of the field of
application.
The key role of an ontology - to identify areas of knowledge, associate these areas of knowledge
with other areas, and demarcate these areas with key terms
example: fatigue measurement in: aeronautics, engineering, metallurgy, metallography, materials
testing, physics
example: Protégé Ontology Editor
Terminology and translation
Translation - a process aimed at facilitating communication between speakers of different
languages. Multilingual terminological activity supports technical translation.
Types of Terminology
- Systematic Terminology aka Theory-oriented Terminology
- Ad-hoc Terminology aka Translation-oriented Terminology
Not to be confused with Translation Studies!

(The interaction between Terminology and Translation or Where Terminology and Translation
Meet, 2013)