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Nuopponen, Anita & Nina Pilke (2010). Ordning och reda.
Terminologilära i teori och praktik. Stockholm: Norstedts.
Available in online bookstores, e.g. Adlibris, Bokus.
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Nuopponen, Anita (2003). Terminology. In: The International
Encyclopedia of Linguistics, Second Edition. Oxford University
Press. Ed. William Frawley. Bellow is a preliminary version for
this article:
Nuopponen, Anita (2003). Terminology. In
The International Encyclopedia of
Linguistics, Second
Edition. Four volumes. Editor in chief William Frawley.
Oxford University Press.
T[erminology] S[cience] (often abbreviated to
terminology) is an interdisciplinary study of the principles
and theoretical bases of concepts, concept systems and the
designations of the concepts in scientific, technical and other
professional fields. Its origin lies in the efforts to solve
professional communication problems resulting from the
internationalization of commerce, technology, and science in the
20th century. A variety of practice-oriented terminological
activities consists of: t[erminology] w[ork] (terminography,
terminological lexicography), terminology standardization,
terminological information and documentation, terminology planning
and terminological training. In general language use, the
term terminology normally refers to the set of (technical)
terms on a specific topic or in a specific field.
Terminology is also used to refer to TS, the theory of
terminology, or terminological research, or to any of the practical
activities applying its findings. The term terminology science is created according to the model of the
German terms Terminologiewissenschaft
and Terminologielehre. It is widely used in international contexts
even though English native speakers frequently reject the
word science, and prefer, e.g., ‘terminology
studies.' Wright and Budin (1997) have introduced the term
terminology management
to cover “any manipulation of
terminological information,” i. e., practically all of the activities listed
above. |
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Early on, many scholars and other specialists
came to realize the importance of using accurate terminology in
their fields, and e.g., Linnaeus (1707-1778) and Lavoisier
(1743-1794) created systematic nomenclatures for their respective
fields. By the end of the 19th century, international rules had
been established for botany, medicine, chemistry, etc. Different
kinds of cooperative terminological activities appeared as a result
of the industrial revolution. TS was established by the Austrian
engineer Eugen Wüster (1898-1977), whose doctoral dissertation
“Internationale Sprachnormung in der Technik, besonders in
der Elektrotechnik”was
published in 1931. He brought together theories and methods from
several disciplines, such as linguistics, logic, ontology, and
information science. Linguistics, especially lexicology and
lexicography, had created a foundation for describing general
language vocabulary, but was not yet sufficient to cope with
L[anguage for] S[pecial] P[urposes] or their vocabularies. The
basic axioms of the general theory of terminology are: (i.) TW
starts from a concept (cf. lexicography) and its goal is to delimit
the concepts clearly from each other; (ii.) concepts and terms are
seen as separate units; (iii.) emphasis is on a synchronic view;
(iv.) concepts and terms can only be studied in their relation to
the related concepts and terms; and (v.) organization of
terminological entries is systematic or thematic instead of
alphabetic. It was also seen as necessary to manipulate the lexical
resources used in special fields consciously. |
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The basic elements of TS and TW are objects (of
reference), concepts, the characteristics of concepts, concept
relations and systems, terms and other concept presentations
(definitions, LSP phrases, non-verbal representations), and the
relations between concepts and terms (e.g., synonymy, polysemy,
mononymy, homonymy, equivalence). As an interdisciplinary field, TS
encounters certain problems when it comes to its own terms and
concepts, since it has borrowed many them from various fields and
adapted them to its specific needs.
2.1 Object - concept -
characteristics
In TS concepts are often defined as units of
thought formed by abstraction or as units of knowledge. Concepts
consist of characteristics, based on properties observed in a
(material or immaterial) object or in its relation to other
objects. An analysis of the characteristics of a concept is needed
for delimiting a concept from its superordinate concept and its
coordinate concepts as well as from its own subordinate concepts.
Characteristics can be divided into intrinsic and extrinsic ones.
The intrinsic characteristics are based on the properties of an
object in itself, e.g., material, consistency (of a substance,
chemical), structure, quality, form, color, size, quantity, form of
existence, etc. The extrinsic characteristics are based on
properties that can be observed when an object is seen in its
relation to other objects, e.g., sequence, age, duration,
frequency, location, reason, cause, purpose,
aim.
2.2 Concept relations and
systems
TS emphasizes that concepts are not discrete
elements, but related (concept relations) to others; together they
form networks of concepts (concept systems). In TW, an analysis of
concept systems is used to provide an overview of a special field,
to delimit concepts, to define them, to form new terms and to
evaluate existing and competing terms, as well as to structure
systematic glossaries and other systematic representations. Graphic
representations (e.g., tree diagrams, bracket diagrams) are often
used to visualize the concept system(s). Concept relations and
systems can be classified into logical and ontological. Sometimes
logical concept systems are called taxonomies or typologies. The
ontological concept relations and systems are based on the
relationships observed on the object level, e.g., whole-–part
and part–-part, object–-location, simultaneous or
consecutive events, cause-–effect, effect-–effect,
object–-material, object–-origin,
activity-–agent, sender–-object –receiver
–channel, object-–representation,
etc.
2.3 Definition
In TS and TW it is generally acknowledged that it
is not enough to collect lists of terms and their equivalents in
different languages; rather, definitions are needed. An ideal
definition describes the contents of a concept (intension) and
distinguishes it clearly from neighboring concepts (see 2.1). A
definition also provides a link between the concept and its
designation(s). Unambiguous definitions are seen to be a
prerequisite for high-quality terminology. For practical TW there
exist rules for definition writing. Definitions are also an object
of basic terminology research, e.g., different types of
definitions, definitions of concepts referring to actions and
events, and non-verbal definitions.
2.4 Terms
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.
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Terminological concept analysis consists of: a)
extracting the concepts and terms and preliminarily ordering them;
b) analyzing the characteristics of the concepts; c) analyzing the
relationships between the concepts and establishing a concept
system representation; and d) connecting the terms to the concepts,
and vice versa, including detecting synonymy, polysemy and
homonymy. Concept analysis can be applied to just one concept and
its terms and equivalents in another language (ad hoc analysis), or
for projects designed to cover a larger area of mono- or
multilingual terminology. Terminological concept analysis is not
used only for compiling terminological vocabularies and data bases,
but it can be applied to any description of the terms and concepts
of a field. |
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T[erminology] w[ork] “is concerned with the
systematic collection, description, processing and presentation of
concepts and their designations” (ISO/FDIS 1087-1:2000) and
thus covers the whole process of producing terminological products
containing the mono-, bi- or multilingual terminology of a special
field. Its purpose can be descriptive or prescriptive. The process
of TW consists of organizing the work, delimiting and sub-dividing
the field, collecting source material, terminological concept
analysis, definition-writing and preparating for publication
(terminography). Terminology work is carried out in subject
fields, usually by groups of experts. There are national (e.g.
terminology centers), international (e.g. Infoterm, Termnet) and
regional organizations, associations, etc., involved in TW on its
different levels. Their functions vary much, e.g., creating new
terminology, compiling terminological vocabularies and term banks,
coordinating and consulting for terminological projects,
disseminating terminological information, training subject field
specialists in terminology work, etc. Many companies also pursue
their own TW to improve their internal and external communication.
One special form of TW is terminology standardization
intended to unify or harmonize concepts and concept
systems and to achieve agreement on unambiguous concept
designations in a given field, either in a single language or in
several languages. In 1952, a committee was founded in ISO (the
International Organization for Standardization) to coordinate the
international standardization of technical terminology and to
define principles for this work.
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Since the 1970's, terminologists have seen the
usefulness of computers for terminology work. Terminology database
development began with custom made termbanks developed by
terminology centers, governmental agencies, industrial companies,
or universities. Later followed terminology software for individual
terminologists or translators, and terminology databases integrated
into companies' information systems. A terminology database
contains structured information on terminology, e.g.,
classification, term-related information (recommended terms,
synonyms, abbreviations, full forms, pronunciation, grammatical
information, context, equivalents in different languages, field of
usage), concept-related information (definitions, relations,
pictures, figures), information source, etc. |
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Terminological methods have been applied in
language planning in different countries and language communities.
Especially in countries that have recently gained their
independence, the local languages have often received a new status
as a uniting factor. This has lead to intensified terminology work
in order to increase the lexical resources of the language in order
to cope with all the functions of a fully developed language.
Terminology work has been extended to minority languages and to new
special fields without earlier terminology in the local
language. |
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The objects of theoretical terminology research
are the basic elements of the theory, ways of analyzing and
presenting terminological knowledge, and methods of practical
terminological activities. Furthermore, special characteristics of
terminologies in individual languages or in given fields are
subjected to both synchronic and diachronic research. New impulses
are sought from other disciplines to enhance and develop the
theoretical foundation and methods. The differences in the
approaches to the theory often reflect the specific
terminology-related problems of the country or area. In many
countries, practical TW is in the foreground, while others cover
all the activities, including research into the theoretical
foundations of TS. Normative TW comprises the most visible part of
terminological activities, which is also why TS as a whole has
received a normative label and the descriptive use of
terminological methods is often forgotten.
As early as in the 1930s, Wüster was a
proponent of A[pplied] L[inguistics] and found it to be an ideal
location for TS. Its starting point is in real language-related
communication problems. Since the 1970's, TS has spread to many
universities where it is often situated directly under AL or
translation and interpreting, LSP or foreign language studies,
computational linguistics, or technical communication. Also theory
of science has its interest in TS. TS is often treated also as an
independent discipline. The interdisciplinarity offers the
prerequisites for achieving new insights into the nature of terms
and concepts as well as for creating new methods for solving both
theoretical and practical terminology-related problems in LSP
communication.
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Cabré, M. Teresa. 1998. Terminology: Theory,
methods and applications. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
ISO/FDIS 1087-1:2000. Vocabulary - Part 1
Principles and Methods.
Laurén, Christer; Johan Myking; &
Heribert Picht. 1998. Terminologie unter der Lupe. Vom
Grenzgebiet zum Wissenschaftszweig. Vienna:
Termnet.
Nuopponen, Anita. 1998. Begriffsbeziehungen und
Begriffssysteme. In Laurén; Picht; & Myking, pp.
164-185.
Picht, Heribert & Jennifer Draskau. 1985.
Terminology: An Introduction. University of Surrey,
Department of Linguistic and International
Studies.
Wright, Sue Ellen & Gerhard Budin, eds. 1997.
Handbook of Terminology Management. Amsterdam:
Benjamins.
Sager, Juan C. (1990). A Practical Course in
Terminology Processing. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Wüster, Eugen. 1959. Das Worten der Welt,
schaubildlich und terminologisch dargestellt. Sprachforum 60. 3/4:
183-203.
Wüster, Eugen. 1979/1985. Einführung in
die Allgemeine Terminologielehre und Terminologische Lexikographie.
2nd. ed. Copenhagen Business
School.
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On Terminology Science
