Terminology : applications in interdisciplinary communication

252 Pages·1993·22.464 MB·English

by  Helmi B Sonneveld, Kurt L Loening

TERMINOLOGY

TERMINOLOGY
APPLICATIONS IN
INTERDISCIPLINARY
COMMUNICATION
Edited by
HELMI B. SONNEVELD
KURT L. LOENING

JOHN BENJAMINS PUBLISHING COMPANY
AMSTERDAM/PHILADELPHIA
1993
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Terminology : applications in interdisciplinary communication / edited by Helmi B. Son-
neveld, Kurt L. Loening.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p.) and index.
1. Terms and phrases. I. Sonneveld, Helmi B. II. Loening, Kurt, 1924- .
P305.T443 1993
401.4--dc20 93-13089
ISBN 90 272 2131 6 (Eur.)/l-55619-487-0 (US) (alk. paper) CIP
® Copyright 1993 - 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 • 821 Bethlehem Pike • Philadelphia, PA 19118 • USA
CONTENTS
I Introduction 1
Helmi Sonneveld and Kurt Loening
II Terminological Equivalence and Translation 5
Reiner Arntz
III Neology and Phraseology as Terminology-in-the-Making 21
Silvia Pavel
1. The growth of Languages for Special Purposes (LSP) 21
2. Conceptual change 22
3. Correctness and acceptability 23
4. Motivational dynamics 24
5. Interactional dynamics 26
6. Structuring processes 27
7. Phraseology, neology and effective communication 28
8. Creativity and mimesis in terminology making 30
9. Notes 32
10. References 33

IV Terminology and Languages in Contact in Québec 35
Louis-Jean Rousseau
1. The linguistic context 35
2. The charter of the french language and language planning 35
3. Measures 36
4. Terminological methodology at the office de la langue
française 38
5. The terminology market 39
6. Challenges confronting the terminological sector 40
7. Notes 41
8. References 41
V Choosing Headwords from Language-for-Special-Purposes
(LSP) Collocations for Entry into a Terminology
Data Bank (Term Bank) 43
Patricia Thomas
1. Terminology 43
2. Lexicography and terminography 44
3. Delimiting an LSP term 45
4. Collocation in LSP 47
vi Contents
5. Recommendations for placing LSP collocations 49
6. Phrases in LSP 55
7. Conclusion 66
8. References 67
VI Quality Indexing with Computer-Aided Lexicography 69
Ronald Buchan
1. Standardization and quality 69
2. Computer-aided indexing 70
3. Nasa's machine-aided indexing 70
4. Computer-aided lexicography 71
5. Nasa's computer-aided lexicography 72
6. Quality indexing using computers 74
7. References 75
VII Some terminological Problems of Translating Common Law Con­
cepts from English to French 79
David Reed
VIII Design of a multifunctional Lexicon 87
Eugenie Knops and Gregor Thurmair
1. Differences between terminological and machine lexica 87
2. Towards a multifunctional lexicon 89
3. Software aspects 106

4. References 109
IX Terminology and Language Planning 111
Jacques Mourais
1. Introduction 111
2. Historical sketch 113
3. Theoretical propositions regarding the place of termino­
logy in language planning 114
4. Socioterminology 121
5. Conclusion 122
6. Notes 122
7. References 123
Terminology Standardization in the Physical Sciences 127
Richard Strehlow
1. Introduction 127
2. Major concepts in science and engineering 128
3. Common concepts in science 131
4. The definition of scientific concepts 133
5. Terminology standardization 135
Contents
vii
6. Risks in terminology standardization 137
7. Conclusion and summary 138
8. Notes 138
9. References 139
XI Terminological Principles and Methods in the
Subjectfield of Chemistry 141
Ted Godly
1. Introduction 141
2. Chemical terms and the law 143
3. Naming of chemicals 145
4. Systematic nomenclature 149
5. Machine-handling of systematic nomenclature 151
6. The role of the IUPAC rules 154
7. The triumphs of triviality (anacribicity earns acclaim?) 158
8. The power and the problems of punctuation 159
9. System or serendipity (acribicity or anarchy?) 161
10. Notes 162
11. References 162
XII Terminology versus Artificial Intelligence 165
Paul Wijnands
1. Introduction 165
2. State-of-the-Art 166
3. The areas of difficulty 167
4. Terminology and artificial intelligence face the same problems 168
5. The urgency for termino-cognitive research 169
6. Multifunctional products 175
7. Conclusions 177
8. References 178
XIII Knowledge Archives 181
Toshio Yokoi
1. Introduction 181
2. Knowledge Archives 181
3. Technical background 182
4. From the viewpoint of lexical knowledge 186
5. Function and structure of the Knowledge Archives 187
6. Approaching knowledge representation media 190
7. Knowledge & ontologies understood by the Knowledge Archi­
ves 191
8. Knowledge documents to be considered 192
9. Towards common awareness 192
10. References 193
viii Contents
XIV Social Science Terminology: Basic Problems and proposed Solutions 195
Fred Riggs
1. The problem: Polysemy, synonymy, skepticism 195
2. The solution: an onomantic approach 203
3. Nomenclators 209
4. References 220
XV The use of Terminological Principles and Methods in Medicine 223
Willem Hirs
1. An adaptation of terminological principles for the de­
scription of the ICD 223
2. Terminological principles and the development of ICD-10 227
3. Conceptual analysis for a family of disease and health-related
classifications 234
4. Potential contributions of the WCC and other bodies to a
vocabulary, and final conclusion 235
5. Notes 239
6. References 240
Index 241
I
INTRODUCTION
Helmi B. Sonneveld and Kurt L. Loening
Topterm C.V., Amsterdam/Columbus Ohio
There is no question that the rapid exchange of information (in the broadest
sense of the word) and the effective management of large amounts of data for
various purposes, are the keys to a successful enterprise, or an up-to-date
center of learning. It does not matter in what field we are active today, the
easy accessibility of information is of utmost importance not only to be able to
advance in our field of interest, but also to be able to communicate our
findings and to discuss the results with others.
The importance of quick retrieval of sufficient and precise information has
not been left unnoticed by modern technology. New contributions in this field
are changing our world in many ways. An important result is our ability to
retrieve information within seconds from every corner of the earth. This in
itself has far-reaching consequen ces for the way in which the information is
handled. Together with our growing demand for information, the need for
effective and advanced information management systems has increased dramati­
cally, since the required information must be retrieved and handled quickly,
easily and preferably at low cost. Many online databanks exist which can
provide the public with many different types of information. In practice
however, the retrieval of information from these systems often entails
considerable problems. The possibilities of modern technology and the
exponential growth of available information lead among other things to great
difficulties in communication.
This is equally true in science and technology as in other fields of
endeavor, such as business, legal matters and government regulations.
Accuracy and unambiguity in scientific, technological and subject-field specific
terms are essential for the exchange of information and mutual understanding
between subject specialists. It is a paradox that in this age of increasing
specialization, science and technology are becoming more and more
interdisciplinary. In addition, rapid progress in science and methodology and in
the means of communication all require strict rules and a more rapid
standardization of the language. In order to be able to systematize information
to be entered in a database, or to analyze vast amounts of data retrieved from
various systems, the vocabulary of the subject fields in question needs to be
2 Helmi Sonneveld and Kurt Loening
controlled. 'Controlled' in this sense means that there is a great need for
vocabulary-development efforts that keep up with the developments in the
subject fields in question and which help to create consistent vocabularies. The
existence of termbanks and databanks make the use of good terminology or
nomenclature imperative if they are to function efficiently. Assistance in this
matter is given by the principles and methods of TERMINOLOGY and
computerized TERMINOGRAPHY.
Terminology is described as 'any activity concerned with the
systematization and representation of concepts or with the presentation of
terminologies on the basis of established principles and methods' (International
Organization for Standardization, Standard 1087). 'A terminology is a set of
terms representing the system of concepts of a particular subject field' (ISO
1087).
From the late nineteenth century onwards, naming principles were
developed in subject fields such as chemistry, zoology and botany, medicine
and mathematics. The era of industrialization put more emphasis on the
necessity of communication between different countries. This resulted in the
first efforts in the field of terminology and in particular, the standardization of
technical terminology and regulation of scientific terminology. In Germany,
Eugen Wüster put much effort into the development of terminological princi­
ples and methods. These principles and methods are still part of the basis of
terminology theory and practice as it is known today.
With the growing importance of communication, more time and effort

were directed at the development of (multilingual) vocabularies. At first, these
vocabularies were based mostly on linguistic theories. The purpose of these
vocabularies in most cases is the presentation of equivalents of terms in two or
more different languages, either with or without definitions. With the rise of
the computer, these vocabularies were entered into the computer and in a few
cases made available for the general public at low cost.
In the early seventies however, terminological research began to show that
the knowledge needed for its research was no longer based on linguistic
principles alone, but was essentially of a multidisciplinary nature. On the one
hand, terminology derived its knowledge from a number of established
sciences, such as informatics (knowledge engineering, artificial intelligence),
linguistics (semantics, lexicology, L.S.P., translation science), documentation
science, classification science, conceptology, and nomenclature. In other
words, in the discipline of terminology, the knowledge of very different and
heretofore separated subject fields was brought together. This synthesis, on the
other hand, finally resulted in a multidisciplinary subject field with its own
methods and principles capable of enriching those disciplines from which it
originally derived its knowledge as well as many others. These new
developments gave rise to terminology as a multidisciplinary field of study,
forming a basis not only for the mere preparation of alphabetical lists of terms,