Terminology

1
Terminology

• The labelling of new concepts as precisely and as
  unambiguously as possible.
• terminology is the study and field of activity
  concerned with the collection, description,
  processing and presentation of terms, i.e.
  lexical items belonging to specialised areas of
  usage of one or more languages.

2
Language for Special Purposes

• LSP is prmarily a vehicle for the transfer of
  scientific and technological or other vatrieties
  of sectorial information.
• LSP texts consist of appositely labelled terms
  bound together by appropriate lexis from the
  general vocabulary words stock.

3

• Lexical items representing a term can exist in
  the general language, but they are regarded as
  distinct from general lexical items.
• The same lexical item may appear in different
  fields , but with a distinct terminological
  function.
• e.g. enlargement
• General language ampliamento
• Medical language ingrossamento
• Photography ingrandimento

4
General lexis v Terminology

• Contextual and co-textual clues are often
  required to understand a textual message in
  general language.
• Clues should be virtually superfluous in LSP
  texts.
• While dictionaries provide synonyms for lexical
  items, glossaries and technical glossaries
  dispense with this aid to comprehension.

5
Useful online dictionaries

• Yourdictionary.com
• (http//www. yourdictionary.com) offers thousands
  of dictionaries,encyclopaedias, and numerous
  other linguistic resources in many languages.
• 2 important portals for translators
• Translators home companion
• (http//www.lai.com/companion.html)
• Foreignword.com
• (http//www.foreignword.com/)

6
Online dictionaries cont.

• OneLook
• (http//www.onelook.com)
• This allows users to search definitions and
  translations simultaneously in over a thousand
  on-line dictionaries and glossaries.

7
Useful Italian reference sites

• La Sitoteca-Biblioteca delle opere di
  consultazione e degli strumenti per la ricerca
  terminologica e lessicale in Internet
• (http//www.edigeo.it/Sitoteca/sitoteca.php)
• Dienneti-Risorse e materiali
• (http//www.dienneti.it/risorse/dizionari.htm)
• Alterego-Dizionari On Line
• (http//www.alteregoitalia.com/italiano/dizionari_
  on_line.htm)
• Larchivio delle risorse di Biblit, portale
  dedicato alla traduzione letteraria
• (http//www.biblit.it)

8
Useful sites for researching on-line glossaries

• Mutlilingual
• (http//www.multilingual.ch)
• Term-minator
• (http//www.term-minator.it)

9
Terms basic forms

• Translators tend to use, technical dictionaries,
  specialised dictionaries and multilingual
  subject field glossaries for terms
• New terms in translation can take different
  forms
• A translation that enters the terminology stock
• The foreign term is preferred (loan)
• A calque of the foreign term is preferred
• Translators need to know when the above solutions
  comprise the accepted term and when they are not
  acceptable.
• On other occasions, the terminology is in a state
  of flux, with some term users preferring one form
  of a term to another.

10
What aspects of term formation are illustrated by
following translations of GERD?

• http//esofagite-da-reflusso.iannetti.it/REFLUSSOE
  SOFAGEO/MALATTIADAREFLUSSO/MALATTIADAREFLUSSOGASTR
  OESOFAGEO/
• http//acidreflux.dunway.com/html/italian_translat
  ion.html

11
Identifying Term formation

• Common patterns used to form English terms are
• Affixation (the addition of a prefix, suffix)
• e.g. supermarket, hyperstore, megastore.
• e.g. hardware, software, shareware, freeware
• Compounding (noun strings)
• e.g. battery charger, press blow process, glass
  mix feeder,
• Adjective/participle/ noun compounds
• nerve endings self-centring vice, single cell
  battery.
• Abbreviation
• e.g. CAD, LED, VDU, VCR,

12
Lexical Density

• lexical Density is the ratio of lexical words
  (meaning-bearing words) to function words in a
  text.
• As the information load is heavier in technical/
  Sectorial texts they are held to demonstrate a
  high level of lexical density.
• They are term-dense, that is, there is a high
  ratio of technical or sectorial terms to ordinary
  lexical words and functional language.

13
Equivalent effect in term dense texts

• The translator should strive to create the same
  effect on the TL audience as the original writer
  created on the SL readership.
• Measuring lexical density can provide a parameter
  in assessing whether the translator has achieved
  the right register and balance of technical
  expression.
• Taylor p. 39

14
Dictionary Use

• Specialised dictionaries, encylopaedias,
  glossaries and source material in book and
  online form are essential for translating
  terminology and term-dense text.
• Translators also rely heavily on conventional
  monolingual and bilingual dictionaries for
  decoding lexical density of general language .

15
Frequent areas of ambiguity in general lexical
words

• Aspects of general language that have to be
  handled with particular care in translation are
• Morphology including information on irregular
  forms, prepositional constructions, spelling and
  pronunciation
• Hynonymy identical words referring to different
  referents.
• e.g. porto, sentence (Taylor p.41)
• Polysemy words having multiple but related
  meanings
• e. g. politica, economia
• homography words with the same spelling but
  different pronunciation and meaning and often
  belonging to different word class)
• e.g. review, record.

16
Sample sentences and markers.

• The latest generation of dictionaries have shown
  increasing concern to use markers that help
  translators understand whether a lexical item is
  being used technically, familiarly, ironically
  etc.
• An example from Taylor
• Cook the books
• By looking under the head word cook, the
  translator would find that it means falsificare i
  registri, but would also find that it is familiar
  ( and would hence look for similarly familiar
  solution.)

17
Dictionary use Taylor

• to cook A vti V(DD) VDforIN cuocere,
  cuocersi, cucinare to cook a meal cucinare un
  pasto to cook sbs goose (slang) sistemare qn
  per le feste, mettere i bastoni fra le ruote a
  qn, rompere le uova nel paniere a qn she cooks
  for the whole family cucina per tutta la
  famiglia how long does this fish take to cook in
  quanto tempo si cuoce questo pesce?
• B vt VD ( to doctor) falsificare, truccare to
  cook the books falsificare o truccare i libri
  contabili, (fig) cambiare le carte in tavola to
  cook the evidence falsare o inquinare le prove
  the results have been cooked! i risultati sono
  stati truccati!
• C vi V(IN) in forma progressiva ( to brew,
  slang, fig) bollire in pentola to be cooking
  with gas (a) avere grande successo agire o
  pensare correttamente (b) suonare musica con
  grande ispirazione whats cooking? cosa bolle in
  pentola?, cosa succede?

18
Dictionary markers continued

• to cook st up pv
• 1 (coll) architettare/inventare qs he cooked up
  an incredible story inventò una storia
  incredibile.
• 2 cucinare qs rapidamente.

19
Dictionary use markers

• Sospètto1 a 1 (che desta diffidenza) suspicious,
  dubious, fishy (di origine sospetta) suspect,
  questionable, dubious, doubtful circostanze
  sospette suspicious circumstances funghi
  sospetti dubious mushrooms un funzionario
  sospetto di corruzione an official suspected of
  corruption merci di provenienza sospetta goods
  of dubious origin un rumore sospetto a
  suspicious noise una storia sospetta a fishy
  story essere tra le persone sospette to be
  under suspicion questa tosse è sospetta this
  cough is suspicious non ho visto niente di
  sospetto I havent seen anything suspicious
• 2 ( losco) shady, shifty, equivocal,
  questionable, dubious, murky comportamento
  sospetto equivocal behaviour un luogo sospetto e
  malfamato a shady, disreputable place

20
Dictionary use - markers

• Sospètto2 nm 1 ( diffidenza/dubbio) suspicion,
  distrust, mistrust, misgiving destare i sospetti
  di qn to arouse sbs suspicions essere al di
  sopra di ogni sospetto to be above/beyond
  suspicion considerare qs con sospetto to
  regard/to view st with suspicion guardare qn con
  sospetto to look askance at sb cè il sospetto
  che lincendio sia doloso there is a suspicion of
  arson il suo gesto mise in sospetto la polizia
  his action aroused the suspicions of the police

21
Dictionary markers

• 2 ( sentore) suspicion, misgiving, hunch, idea,
  intuition avevo il sospetto che cercasse di
  ingannarmi I had a hunch he was trying to trick
  me ho il sospetto che non stia bene I fear he is
  not well.
• Sospètto 3 nm ( quantità minima) suspicion,
  touch, hint tè con un sospetto di latte tea with
  just a touch of milk.

22
Dictionary use markers General English
language dictionary

• damage 'damijnoun1 physical harm caused to
  something in such a way as to impair its value,
  usefulness, or normal function. unwelcome and
  detrimental effects the damage to his
  reputation was considerable.2 ( damages) a sum of
  money claimed or awarded in compensation for a
  loss or an injury she was awarded 284,000 in
  damages.

23
Dictionary use markers in general English
dictionary

• verb trans. inflict physical harm on
  (something) so as to impair its value,
  usefulness, or normal function the car was
  badly damaged in the accident as adj. (
  damaged) damaged ligaments as adj. (
  damaging) extreme heat can be very damaging to
  color film. have a detrimental effect on the
  scandal could seriously damage his career.
• PHRASES what's the damage? informal humorous used
  to ask the cost of something. DERIVATIVES
  damagingly 'døm?d???li adverb ORIGIN Middle
  English from Old French, from dam, damne loss
  or damage, from Latin damnum loss or hurt
  compare with damn .

24
Dictionary markers advanced learner dictionary

• damage   verb T to harm or spoil something
  Many buildings were badly damaged during the war
  .It was a political scandal which damaged a lot
  of reputations.   
• damage noun U harm or injury Strong winds had
  caused serious damage to the roof. Recent
  discoveries about corruption have done serious
  damage to the company's reputation. The doctors
  were worried that he might have suffered brain
  damage.
• damaged   adjective harmed or spoilt They're
  selling off damaged goods at reduced prices. Both
  the cars involved in the accident looked badly
  damaged.
• damaging   adjective causing harm Many chemicals
  have a damaging effect on the environment. These
  are very damaging allegations.
• www.dictionary.cambridge.org