COURSE 5

Lexicology and terminology, terminography and lexicography

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What do they have in common?

Deal with words (terms?)

Are concerned with records (such as dictionaries) Have a

Theoretical side Applied side

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Linguistic features:

Same graphic system / alphabet Same phonological system Same morphological system Same syntactic rules Same sentence types Basically what is different is frequency

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The domain:

Lexicology = all the words in a language Terminology = words belonging to a a specific field (physics, genetics etc.) or a specific activity (business, sports etc.)
terminology / terminologies

lexicology

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General language lexical items (all parts of speech represented): one, and, where, got, she, eat, magpie etc. Specific lexical items belonging to a common area between general language and special language: idea, word, sentence, acid, line, bone, organism, system etc. - not specialized enough to be terms Lexical items specific to specialized texts: adenosine triphosphate, recrystallization, synecdoche, dezoxyribonucleic acid etc.

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The basic unit:

Lexicology = words Terminology = terms => a word of a special domain = term

NO SPECIFICITY HERE! BUT Similar: same formation processes ex. derivation Greek prefix - thermometer Different: frequency look up for words in general vocabulary with the Greek prefix thermo-

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The designation (in terminology) acts as a synthesis of the definition. A designation is a representation of a concept by linguistic or non-linguistic means. For the purposes of this standard, designations are categorized as: terms designating general concepts; appellations designating individual concepts; symbols designating both individual and general concepts. It should be noted that not all symbols are designations. (ISO FDIS 704)

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Exercise Read the following text, then answer the questions on differentiating between words and terms. A stout branched glabrous herb that is native to Eastern Asia and sometimes cultivated for its rhizomes which are used as a carminative, its stalk is used as a substitute for onions. Question 1: Is glabrous a word or a term? Question 2: Is sometimes a word or a term? Question 3: Is rhizomes a word or a term? Question 4: Is used a word or a term? Question 5: Is carminative a word or a term? Question 6: Is substitute a word or a term?

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What is different?

The domain The basic unit The purpose The methodology

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Pragmatic aspects: users

General language all speakers Specialized (sub)languages: specialists

General language all situations often to socialize, not to transmit information Specialized (sub)languages: to transmit (specialized) information (ex. seminars, conferences, labs etc.) General language: any topic in daily life (express feelings, give orders etc.) Specialized (sub)languages: to transmit (specialized) information

Pragmatic aspects: situation

Pragmatic aspects: topics

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The objectives

Lexicology:

the speakers lexical competence Identify lexical units

Terminology: !does not attempt to explain the terminological behaviour of experts! (ap. Cabre, 1999:36)

Standardize form and content

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Sources: Lexicography:

samples of the speakers discourse (oral, written) Only specialized documents (oral, but mainly written)

Terminology:

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Methodology: lexicography:

Works from theoretical hypotheses Analyses samples of the speakers discourse Looks for terms to fill in a previously established conceptual schema

terminology:

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semasiogical process lexicography word concept term

terminology onomasiological process

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Points of comparison Methodology: lexicography: terminology: nature material Objective Terminology Looks for terms to fill in a previously established conceptual schema Lexical discipline vocabulary To encode Lexicography Analyses samples of the speakers discourse

Lexical discipline lexicon To decode

nomenclature
Units identified Features analyzed

Specific
Terms (simple, complex, phrases) Semantic features revealed in context A single concepts Terminology record Terminology file

Global/general
Single words, highly lexicalized All semantic features (homonymy, synonymy etc.) All meanings Dictionary entry Dictionary

Definition Key information medium End product

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Can you separate the underlined words into their word elements and define each element? First think about how you would separate each word and give the meaning of each word element.

Word element
hematologic venicupuncture leukocytes thrombocytes

Meaning

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Word element hematologic HematoLogic venipuncture Leuk(o)cytes Thromb(o)cytes Meaning Blood Related to the study of Vein puncture White cell Clot cell

venicupuncture

leukocytes

thrombocytes

Consider the following text:

A battery, which is actually an electric cell, is a device that produces electricity from a chemical reaction. Strictly speaking, a battery consists of two or more cells connected in series or parallel, but the term is generally used for a single cell. A cell consists of a negative electrode; an electrolyte, which conducts ions; a separator, also an ion conductor; and a positive electrode. The electrolyte may be aqueous (composed of water) or nonaqueous (not composed of water), in liquid, paste, or solid form. When the cell is connected to an external load, or device to be powered, the negative electrode supplies a current of electrons that flow through the load and are accepted by the positive electrode. When the external load is removed the reaction ceases. A primary battery is one that can convert its chemicals into electricity only once and then must be discarded. A secondary battery has electrodes that can be reconstituted by passing electricity back through it; also called a storage or rechargeable battery, it can be reused many times.

Explain what kind of term is each / how it is formed in the following set: Battery; b. primary battery; c. rechargeable; d. Liquid; e. when What other terms can you identify? What are the term formation processes? Consider one (sub)field of an area of knowledge you are interested in and list at least one term example for each of the term formation processes discussed.