Transcript Diapositiva 1 - Roma Tre University

What is a term?
A term can be considered the linguistic
representation of a concept within a specific field of
knowledge.
It can consist of a single word (monolexical
terminological unit/simple term), or of several words
(polilexical terminological unit/complex term).
Standardized terms are used to avoid or at least
reduce possible misunderstandings. In fact, it is
clearly defined what concept is represented by which
term, and what the definition of that concept is.
A concept is language independent, whereas a term
is language dependent. Though Table and tavolo are
different terms, they represent the same concept.
General language texts vs special
language texts
General language texts: words selected meaningfully
and combined logically to form everyday language
discourse.
Special language texts: terms=words assigned to
concepts used in special languages (subject-field or
domain-related texts)
Terms extracted from special language texts
represent a limited number of parts of speech:
nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, phraseological
material are combined with general language
connective material to produce subject-specific
discourse.
A concept can be represented by an existing term
in one language, but a second language may lack
the term for the same concept. For instance,
academic degrees are the result of varying
academic systems around the world. So the
concept can be understood, though a language
may have no corresponding term to represent it.
Clues to identify a term
•The word or combination of words is consistently
associated with the same concept, within a given
domain.
•The word or combination of words is consistently
used within a particular subject field.
•The combination of words is relatively lexicalized.
•The word or combination of words recurs in
documentation.
•The word or combination of words is set off by
typographical devices such as italics, boldface print,
or quotation marks.
•The word or combination of words is preceded by
words like known as, called.
Clues to identify a term
•Terms are generally nouns, but they may also be
adjectives, verbs, adverbs, or derived phrasal
compounds.
•The word seems to have a specific meaning within
the subject field and is not part of the general
vocabulary.
•The word or combination of words may have
synonyms or abbreviations.
•The word or combination of words is used in
opposition to or in contrast to another term.
•The word or combination of words tends to co-occur
repeatedly with the same noun, verb, or adjective
(collocates).
Clues to identify a term
•simple terms have a tendency to expand into
complex ones in order to designate more and
more subordinated concepts:
control →controller → graphics controller →
AGP30-compliant graphics controller
Clues to identify a term
•There is a stable association between a term and a
concept, a concept and a term.
•This stability may be called “degree of lexicalization”.
Its lack leads to cognitive fuzziness, as in polysemy
and synonymy.
•This stability is preserved in the single-concept
principle for recording terminological data (one
concept-one record).
•The single-concept principle implies that a
terminology record should deal with one concept
only and that all data relating to a given concept
should be consolidated on one record.
Phraseology and phraseology extraction
Information about the underlying concepts may
be found in the phraseologisms related to the
terminological unit.
Verbs may reveal some functions and processes of
a given concept;
co-occurring adjectives may reveal subordinated
concepts.;
Adverbs associated with a terminological verb
phrase may illustrate the specific manner in which
an action is performed.
Phraseology
Germanic and Slavic languages combine word elements in
abstract sequences
Front-wheel-drive/Rear-wheel-drive vehicle
Though each separate words can be defined independently, the
multi-word term designates one concept representing more
than the sum of its constituent parts.
Romance languages use explicit logical linking elements
(prepositions) to form multiword structures.
Veicolo a trazione anteriore/posteriore
Voiture à traction avant/arrière (or véhicule à propulsion)
Vehículo con tracción delantera/trasera (coll. propulsión trasera)
(Ref. Wright-Budin, Handbook of Terminology Management,
vol. 1)
Phraseology
A noun + verb statement may become a
terminological phrase
e.g. the dynamic system organizes itself = selforganizing dynamic system
(sistema dinamico auto-organizzato)
Collecting and recording co-occurrents helps
translators recreate authentic usage of specialized
terminology in a translated technical text.