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.
