Introduction to terminology 6/7

Ch.4
Terminology in practice: Terminography

Haphazard vs systematic

The foundations of terminological practice

•Terminography involves gathering, systematizing and

presenting terms from a specific branch of knowledge or
human activity.

•Terminography must abide by language rules.

• Without meeting the condition of complete respect for its

structure, terminographical
work can never occur.

Theoretical principles

1. Terminographers must not be confused with translators.

2. Terms for a special language glossary must be collected from

real texts and not invented or created by terminologists.

3. Terminographers can always gather the terminology

specialists use to communicate with each other regardless of
whether it is the most rigorous or appropriate or whether some
designations are the best way to refer to a concept or not.

4. Terminography is guided by the facts that terms are

indivisible units with form and content that the form and
content of terms tend towards an unambiguous relationship.

Mono semantic: the fact of having only a single meaning;

absence of ambiguity in a word.

International standards

•There are guidelines published as standards for unifying

designations and concepts in
terminological theory and practise and for the methods to be
applied for the presentation of terms and their respective data.

Materials used in Terminography

1. Reference works/materials, which provide information about

the various aspects of
project.

2. Specific documents, which constitute the material basis for a

project.

3. Support materials, which facilitate and complement work.

 Reference works/materials

•Reference works or reference materials are the documents

terminologists use to obtain background information on
theoretical, methodological, practical, or bibliographical aspects
on a certain subject.

There are four main types of documents depending on the

topic covered:

1. documents on documentation.
2. Documents on the special subject field.
3. documents on the topic.
4. documents on methods.

Documents on documentation

There are three main ways to obtain information on how

documentation should be done during a terminographic
process.

1. Consulting secondary sources (bibliographies) and tertiary

sources (i.e. bibliographies of bibliography).
2. Consulting document databases.
3. Consulting terminology management centres and subject
specialists