ARCHIVÉE 2.1.2. Guiding Principles of Terminology Research

 

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Lexicology is the study of the history, the form and the meaning of words according to a word-to-meaning approach. This is known as the semasiological approach.

Lexicography is the recording of this information in dictionaries.

In contrast, terminology research is said to take a concept-to-term approach. It studies specialized knowledge structures in order to identify and define concepts belonging to a given subject field, before proceeding to the inventory and analysis of the terms used to label a specialized concept, their form, their relationships with one another and their usage status among specialists of that subject field. This onomasiological approach is the defining principle of terminology research.

The other principles that govern terminology research are:

  • Rules for structuring knowledge based on classification systems (documentary and others)
  • Rules for building concept systems by means of various representations (trees, diagrams, networks, etc.)
  • Rules for defining concepts by means of selected characteristics
  • Rules for term identification, collection, formation and usage
  • Rules for recording terminological information based on the single-concept principle

The following table sums up the differences between terminology and lexicography. (DUBUC/KENNEDY 1997:134)

POINTS OF COMPARISON TERMINOLOGY LEXICOGRAPHY
Nature Lexical discipline Lexical discipline
Material Vocabulary Lexicon
Objective To encode To decode
Nomenclature Specific Global
Units identified Terms, simple or complex words, phrases Mainly single and highly-lexicalized words
Features analyzed Semantic features revealed in context All semantic features
Definition A single concept All meanings
Key information medium Terminology record Dictionary entry
End product Terminology file Dictionary