Terminology: Encyclopedia II - Terminology - Typology

Terminology - Typology

Terminology is defined by context, the study of terms primarily concerned with organizing them by the context in which they are used. These contexts may include:

• Technical terminology
• Military terminology
• Political terminology
• Scientific terminology

Terminology - 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

Terminology - 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 - 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.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Typology", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki