Essays on terminology

236 Pages·1995·19.213 MB·English

by  Alain Rey, Juan C Sager

ESSAYS ON TERMINOLOGY
BENJAMINS TRANSLATION LIBRARY
The Benjamins Translation Library aims to stimulate academic research and training
in translation studies, lexicography and terminology. The Library provides a forum
for a variety of approaches (which may sometimes be conflicting) in a historical,
theoretical, applied and pedagogical context. The Library includes scholarly works,
reference books, post-graduate text books and readers in the English language.
ADVISORY BOARD
Jens Allwood (Linguistics, University of Gothenburg)
Morton Benson (Department of Slavic, University of Pennsylvania)
Marilyn Gaddis Rose (CRIT, Binghamton University)
Yves Gambier (Institute of Translation and Interpreting, Turku University)
Daniel Gile (INALCO and ISIT, Paris)
Ulrich Heid (Computational Linguistics, University of Stuttgart)
Eva Hung (Chinese University of Hong Kong)
W. John Hutchins (Library, University of East Anglia)
José Lambert (Catholic University of Louvain)
Willy Martin (Lexicography, Free University of Amsterdam)
Alan Melby (Linguistics, Brigham Young University)
Makoto Nagao (Electrical Engineering, Kyoto University)
Roda Roberts (School of Translation and Interpreting, University of Ottawa)
Juan C. Sager (Linguistics, Terminology, UMIST, Manchester)
María Julia Sainz (Law School, Universidad de la República, Montevideo)
Klaus Schubert (Technical Translation, Fachhochschule Flensburg)
Mary Snell-Hornby (School of Translation & Interpreting, University of Vienna)
Gideon Toury (M. Bernstein Ch air of Translation Theory, Tel Aviv University)
Wolfram Wilss (Linguistics, Translation and Interpreting, University of Saarland)
Judith Woodsworth (FIT Committee for the History of Translation,
Concordia University, Montreal)
Sue Ellen Wright (Applied Linguistics, Kent State University)
Volume 9
Alain Rey
Essays on Terminology
ESSAYS ON
TERMINOLOGY
ALAIN REY
Translated and edited by
JUAN  SAGER
Introduction by
BRUNO DE BESSÉ

JOHN BENJAMINS PUBLISHING COMPANY
AMSTERDAM/PHILADELPHIA
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences — Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rey, Alain.
Essays on terminology / Alain Rey ; translated and edited by Juan  Sager ; introduction
by Bruno de Bessé.
p. cm. - (Benjamins translation library, ISSN 0929-7316 ; v. 9)
Collection of previously published material translated from the French.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
Contents: Origins and development of terminology -- Theoretical issues in terminology
-- A new era for terminology : from social aspect to theory — The concept of neologism and
the evolution of terminologies in individual languages ~ Terminologies : a challenge to
lexicologists ~ Applied terminology — Terminology and lexicography — Terminologies and
terminography — Description and control of terminologies — Linguistic and terminological
standardisations from the perspective of their legal status — Terminology in a general
language dictionary of French : le Grand Robert. 1. Terms and phrases. I. Sager, Juan C. II.
Title.
P305.R47 1995
418--dc20 94-45807
ISBN 90 272 1607 X (Eur.) / 1-55619-688-1 (US) (Hb; alk. paper) CIP
ISBN 90 272 1608 8 (Eur.) / 1-55619-689-X (US) (Pb; alk. paper)
© Copyright 1995 - John Benjamins B.V.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any
other means, without written permission from the publisher.
John Benjamins Publishing Co. • P.O.Box 75577 • 1070 AN Amsterdam • The Netherlands
John Benjamins North America • P.O.Box 27519 • Philadelphia, PA 19118 • USA
Contents
Editor's Note ix
Abbreviations xi
Acknowledgements xiii
PREFACE: Alain Rey, A Paradoxical Terminologist
by Bruno de Bessé l
INTRODUCTION: The Scope of Terminology 7
1. ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT OF TERMINOLOGY 11
1.1 The history of words a nd ideas: Nomenclature 11
1.2 Terminology 15
1.3 Observations on the scope of the subject 17
1.3. J The classical period in Western Europe
(17 th- 18th centuries) 17
1.3.2 Social engineering of language and technical-scientific
developments in the 19th century 18
1.3.3 Developments in the 19th and 20th centuries 20
2. THEORETICAL ISSUES IN TERMINOLOGY 23
2.1 The problem of the terminological unit 25
2.1.1 The lexical unit - unit of meaning 25
2.1.2 The name 26
2.2 The unit-sign system 27
2.2.1 Lexical field and paradigmatic relations 27
2.2.2 The denominational system 28
2.3 The concept in terminology 32
2.3.1 Concept in traditional terminology 3 3
vi ESSAYS ON TERMINOLOGY
2.3.2 The class 36
2.3.3 Concept and function 3 8
2.4 Definitions and terms 40
2.4.1 Definition and description 40
2.4.2 The place of the terminological definition 42
2.5 Conceptual systems and classes of objects 43
2.5.1 Types of concept systems 44
2.5.2 Diversification of conceptual structure 45
2.6 Relationships relevant to terminology 47
2. .1 The relationship between knowledge and naming 47
2.6.2 The social condition of the terminological activity 48
2.6.3 Languages, cultures and knowledge 48
3. A NEW ERAFOR TERMINOLOGY: FROM SOCIAL ASPECTS TO THEORY 49
3.1 Characteristics of the past era 49
3.2 The functional content of terminology 50
3.2.1 Social functions 51
3.2.2 Linguistic functions 53
3.2.3 Cognitive and classificatory functions 54
3.2.4 The interaction of functions 57
3.3 Characteristics of the new era 59

3.3.I New functions 61
4.THE CONCEPT OF NEOLOGISM AND THE EVOLUTION OF TERMINOLOGIES
IN INDIVIDUAL LANGUAGES 63
4.1 The nature of neology 64
4.1.1 The linguistic nature of neologisms 64
4.1.2 The novelty in neologisms 68
4.2 Practical aspects 77
4.2.1 Lexical needs and language trends 11
4.2.2 Identification of neological needs 79
4.2.3 Study and evolution of neology 81
4.2.4 Intervention and planning 83
5. TERMINOLOGIES: A CHALLENGE  LEXICOLOGISTS 85
5.1 The pragmatic motivation of terminologies 85
CONTENTS vii
5.2 The theoretical basis of terminologies 86
5.3 Types of terminologies 87
5.4 Trends in the creation of terminologies 89
5.5 The relevance of terminologies for lexicology and lexicography 91
6. APPLIED TERMINOLOGY 95
6.1 Needs and aims 96
6.1.1 Three types of needs:
description, transmission, standardisation 97
6.2 The means of language and culture 105
6.2.1 Linguistic and conceptual means:
term creation and adaption 105
6.2.2 Judgements and attitudes 110
7. TERMINOLOGY AND LEXICOGRAPHY 113
7.1 The nature of lexicography 113
7.1.1 Dictionary - Lexicography 114
7.2 The nature of terminology 116
7.3 The elations between terminology and lexicography 118
7.4 The teaching of lexicography and terminology 121

8. TERMINOLOGIES AND TERMINOGRAPHY 125
8.1 Lexicology - lexicography 125
8.2 The meanings and fonctions of terminology 126
8.3 Terminology - terminography 129
9. DESCRIPTION AND CONTROL OF TERMINOLOGIES 135
9.1 Terminography 135
9.1.1 The nature of terminography 135
9.1.2 Procedures and methods 138
9.1.3 Terminographic tasks 144
9.1.4 The creation of files 150
9.1.5 Organisation of terminological description:
Nomenclatures 153
9.1.6 Terminological and terminographic products 154
9.2 Institutions and regulation 15 8
viiii ESSAYS ON TERMINOLOGY
9.2.1 Terminological control by subject field 159
9.2.2 Multilingual international cooperation 165
10. LINGUISTIC AND TERMINOLOGICAL STANDARDISATION FROM THE PERSPECTIVE
OF THEIR LEGAL STATUS 167
10.1 Language and norms 167
10.1.1 The definition of language 167
10.1.2 Language, languages and discourse 168
10.2 The linguistic norm 170
10.2.1 Forms of usage 170
10.2.2 The evolution of the norm 173
10.3 Linguistic standardisation, management and planning 176
10.3.1 A case study of standardisation 176
10.3.2 Conditions for standardisation 111
10.3.3 Steps in standardisation 178
10.3.4 Language planning 178
10.4 The field of action of standardisation 179
11. TERMINOLOGY IN A GENERAL LANGUAGE DICTIONARY OF FRENCH —
LE GRAND ROBERT 181
1 The nature and scope of the lexicographic discourse 181

2 Terms and words 182
3 Selection criteria and sources 185
NOTES 187
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND FURTHER READING 199
DICTIONARIES AND OTHER WORKS CITED IN THE ESSAYS 210
PUBLICATIONS BY ALAIN REY IN THE FIELD OF TERMINOLOGY 212
AUTHOR INDEX 215
SUBJECT INDEX 221
Editor's Note
The essays in this volume have been selected from Alain Rey's writings on the
subject of terminology with the intention of giving the English reader access to a
subject field to which Rey has made a distinctive contribution and which is much
neglected in the English-speaking world. Since these essays were originally writ­
ten for different types of publications, the texts have been edited to give a
greater thematic unity and adapted by making reference to developments in the
English-speaking world supported by appropriate examples. Since a number of
the essays were first presented orally in symposia or conferences, the texts were
further modified, with the author's approval, in order to render them suitable for
background reading in courses on terminology. The notes have also been ex­
panded to take account of the new readership, and a substantial bibliography has
been added to illustrate the philosophical, pragmatic and linguistic approaches to
terminology which underly Alain Rey's perception of the subject.
The topics covered by these essays range over the full theoretical back­
ground to the new discipline of terminology and also address some of the prob­

lems associated with the delimitation of the subject in relation to neighbouring
disciplines. They constitute an important complement and theoretical support for
the growing number of manuals and guidebooks concerned with practical as­
pects of terminology.
I wish to express my gratitude to Alain Rey for his constant advice and as­
sistance with problems of translation and editing. Bertie Kaal's support and en­
couragement have been invaluable in bringing this project to fruition. I am also
endebted to Andy Lauriston for providing many of the English examples, and to
Jon Wells for preparing the text for publication.