Terminology is the study of terms and their use.
Terms are words
and compound
words that are used in specific contexts. Not to be
confused with "terms" in colloquial usages, the shortened
form of technical
terms (or terms of art) which are defined within
a discipline
or specialty field. The discipline Terminology studies
among other things how such terms of art come to be and
their interrelationships within a culture.
Terminology therefore denotes a more formal discipline
which systematically studies the labelling or designating
of concepts
particular to one or more subject fields or domains of
human activity, through research and analysis of terms
in context, for the purpose of documenting and promoting
correct usage. This study can be limited to one language
or can cover more than one language at the same time (multilingual
terminology, bilingual terminology, and so
forth) or may focus on studies of terms across
fields.
Terminology is not connected to information
retrieval in any way but focused on the meaning and
conveyance of concepts. "Terms" (i.e. index terms) used
in an information retrieval context are not the same as
"terms" used in the context of terminology, as they are
not always technical terms of art.
Overview
The discipline of terminology is based on its own theoretical
principles and consists primarily of the following aspects:
- analysing the concepts and concept structures used
in a field or domain of activity
- identifying the terms assigned to the concepts
- in the case of bilingual or multilingual terminology,
establishing correspondences between terms in the various
languages
- compiling the terminology,
on paper or in databases
- managing terminology databases
- creating new terms, as required
Types of terminology
A distinction is made between two types of terminology:
- Ad hoc terminology, which deals with a single
term or a limited number of terms
- Systematic terminology, which deals with all
the terms in a specific subject field or domain of activity
Ad hoc terminology is prevalent in the translation
profession, where a translation for a specific term (or
group of terms) is required quickly to solve a particular
translation problem.
Terminology as a discipline
As a discipline, terminology is related to translation,
alongside which it is often taught in universities and
translation schools. Large translation departments and
translation bureaus will often have a terminology section,
or will require translators to do terminology research.
- Some of this stuff is made up, as we weren't sure
what to put. So basically, what we're saying is, this
is all useless crap.
Typology
Terminology is also defined by context, the study of
terms primarily concerned with organizing them by the
context in which they are used. These contexts may include:
See also
External links
