Terminology. International Journal of Theoretical and Applied Issues in Specialized Communication - Volume 10, Issue 2, 2004

This paper proposes an experientialist model of terminological metaphorisation based on a combined terminological and experientialist approach to that phenomenon. The model is derived from the combination of the basic premises of the Concept Theory of Terminology and the Concept Theory of Experientialism, with establishing the common threads between the two theories and filtering out only those elements of experientialism that are compatible with basic principles of terminological analysis. A conclusion is drawn that a modern theory of terminology, which is assumed to be still in the making, should be constructed both on cognitive and terminological foundations. The theoretical assumptions are exemplified with a representative corpus of metaphorical mining terms.

This article describes how bilingual textual analysis — often a by-product of translation — can reveal complex conceptual relations which are not easily captured in conventional systems, even of a multidimensional kind. The data are taken from text extracts from an automotive handbook available in both German (original) and English (translation). The analysis reveals differences in the way concept relations can be modeled, according to the type of generic and specific features revealed by the terms and phraseological structures in text. It is concluded that some concepts may require more subtle models of description which cannot be met even by multidimensional systems and that the lexemes used to label conceptual systems do not necessarily map onto textual representations of the domain. Some implications for standardisation and specialist translation are discussed, and Toft’s distinction between real and conceptual systems, as well as static and dynamic systems, is suggested as a possible way forward for capturing the dynamic conceptual relations revealed in text.

Corpus analysis is today at the heart of building Terminological Knowledge Bases (TKBs). Important terms are usually first extracted from a corpus and then related to one another via semantic relations. This research brings the discovery of semantic relations to the forefront to allow the discovery of less stable lexical units or unlabeled concepts, which are important to include in a TKB to facilitate knowledge organization. We suggest a concept hierarchy made of concept nodes defined via a representational structure emphasizing both labeling and conceptual representation. The Conceptual Graph formalism chosen for conceptual representation allows a compositional view of concepts, which is relevant for their comparison and their organization in a concept lattice. Examples manually extracted from a scuba-diving corpus are presented to explore the possibilities of this approach. Subsequently, steps toward a semi-automatic construction of a concept hierarchy from corpus analysis are presented to evaluate their underlying hypothesis and feasibility.

Although centred on the specific terminological field of foreign place names within the particular context of the Galizan language, this paper is also concerned with the much wider issues of methodological coherence in neology and corpus planning on the whole and the impact on non-standardised languages, particularly in highly prescriptive settings, with potential consequences for status planning.

An essential feature of all languages is that, through their agency, the universe of human experience is being disintegrated (= resolved into elements) and transformed into concepts. There are, consequently, as many universal systems as languages exist. The logical and ontological relations prevailing among concepts may be considered to be relevant criteria for translation. With a view to this and other applications it is desirable that concepts and their relationships be studied and that they be accessible for reference in the form of systematized dictionaries and vocabularies. Technical Committee 37 “Terminology” of ISO is concerned with either aspect and this paper discusses the theoretical and practical issues involved.