terms
can be defined as linguistic designations of specialized concepts. They are more
precise than non-terms and belong to systems of terms that correspond to concept systems.
Traditionally, terms are associated with nouns, even though adjectives, verbs, and adverbs
may also be terms. Term formation mainly follows the same rules as does general language
vocabulary. Characteristic to the terminologies are, however, high numbers of borrowings,
compounds, and abbreviations. According to handbooks, an ideal term is: (i.) logical and
self-explanatory, (ii.) harmonized with other terms within the same system, (iii.) complies
with the syntactic and morphological rules of the language; (iv.) capable of producing
derivations and compounds; (v.) as short as possible without affecting its clarity; (vi.) clearly
different from other terms, and preferably has no synonyms or homonyms, nor is
polysemous, nor has any orthographic or morphological variations; and (vii.) accepted by
users. In practice, however, these requirements cannot always be met. Research interests
have extended to LSP phraseology (e.g., to browse the WWW), non-verbal signs of
concepts and acceptance of neologisms.
