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Social and Behavioral Sciences
Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 63 (2012) 85 - 92
The 4th Edition of the International Conference: Paradigms of the Ideological Discourse 2012
On Romanian Technico-Scientific Terminology
Oana Cenac a *
a Junior Lecturer, PhD, "DunareadeJos", University of Galati, Romania
With this paper, we shall debate on some general aspects which characterize the Romanian technico-scientific terminology. The study of terminology comprises several sciences: linguistics (regarding terminology as a variant of lexicology from which it adopts methods of analysis), logic, documentation, communication, sociology, informatics etc. Terminology is required to offer useful elements of analysis concerning the structure of terminologies, the relationship between name and the referential world, the controlled or corrected formation of neologisms, the terminological regularization, the spreading and the naturalization of terms. The formation of systems of terms in various fields of knowledge is in direct connection with the development of science, with the improvement of the system of scientific and technical notions. Another important issue related to the scientific terminology is the etymology of the words used internationally which are part of it. An important aspect that we are going to debate upon is the manner in which archaisms and regionalisms reflect in the present technico-scientific terminology. At the same time, we shall deal with the issue of defining scientific terms / concepts and the strategies employed in their building._
© 2012 The Authors.PublishedbyElsevier Ltd.Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Dunarea de Jos UniversityofGalati
Keywords: Scientific terminology, term - concept relationship, extension and intension of terms.
1. Introduction
Scientific terminology represents a lexical block that designates specialized notions from the field of science and technology. Simultaneously, terminology is defined as the science of terms which it studies in point of the linguistic and socio-psychological mechanisms of their emergence, evolution and spreading [1]. The study of terminology comprises several sciences: linguistics (regarding terminology as a variant of lexicology from which it adopts methods of analysis), logic, documentation, communication, sociology, informatics etc. Terminology is required to offer useful elements of analysis concerning the structure of terminologies, the relationship between name and the referential world, the controlled or corrected formation of neologisms, the terminological regularization, the spreading and the naturalization of terms [2]. The formation of systems of
* Oana Cenac, Tel.: +40 744108692. E-mail address: oanacenac@yahoo.com.
ELSEVIER
Abstract
1877-0428 © 2012 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Dunarea de Jos University of Galati doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.10.015
terms in various fields of knowledge is in direct connection with the development of science, with the improvement of the system of scientific and technical notions.
The discrepancy between term and notion and the original incorrect elaboration of terms is the cause underlying the presence of negative elements in the field of terminology. The elements that make up the various terminologies (lexemes, paralexemes, syntagmatic terms) have certain structural characteristics: 1. The content of a technical term is strictly delimitated depending on the notion it denotes; 2. The combinative possibilities in a context are determined by the relationships accepted by the designated notions. The figurative use of these is inconvenient and not recommended; 3. Technical terms are, in general, monosemantic words hence the strictly delimitated character of the meaning blocks the stocking of new meanings for the same lexeme. The polysemy of the lexical components of the terms must be avoided; nevertheless it is accepted when the meanings belong to some fields that remove ambiguity; 4. Synonymy is not recommended in general and specialized technical terminology as it poses the danger of forming some diversified vocabularies within the same field, which leads to semantic differentiations generating confusions. Contrary to this, a language must be characterized by clarity, accuracy and precision. Yet, there are cases when it is necessary to render as many nuances of the same notions as possible and when one of two terms is the short form of the other (Ex. generator electric and electro-generator); 5. Homonymy is not recommended for the same reasons. In addition, homonyms have the disadvantage that, in relatively similar contexts, they cannot be precisely identified and defined [3].
The importance of technical terms in communicating ideas imposed a series of serious efforts for the organization and unification of specialized terminology. Thus, numerous specialized dictionaries have been published, catalogues, vocabularies, and other studies in which the terms are discussed, defined and arranged in series. [4], [5].
The first problem that arises related to the scientific terminology is the etymology of the scholar words used internationally which are part of it. These terms differ from language to language almost only in point of phonetics (their written forms being identical or very similar in most of cases).
ex. (Romanian) geografie, (Neo-Greek) geographia, (Latin) geographia, (Italian) geografia, (French) geografie;
(Romanian) fonem, (Italian) fonemo, (French) phoneme.
2. Romanian Technico-Scientific Terminology in the Old Romanian language
On the lexical level, the clash between the new and the old takes various forms: older words change their meaning and become part of the new denominative system; some disappear or lose their technical meaning, entering another semantic field. From the end of the 18th century and up to around 1860 the process of formation, expanse and improvement of specialized terminology in several branches of science began. As J. Byck [6] and Gh.Chivu [7] remarked some technical and scientifical terms emerged even as early as the 17th century in Dimitrie Cantemir's writings. Numerous writings devoted to geography, linguistics, philosophy, medicine, mathematics have been preserved from the period in-between 1640-1780. Geographical texts (Geografia Ardealului, Povestea tarilor a imparatiilor cate-s in pamantul Asiei) and linguistic ones (the copy of the translation of Gramatica slavoneasca by Meletie Smotritki) were predominant. The first authentic philosophical work, the translation of J. Flavius's work Despre ratiunea dominanta included in Biblia de la Bucure^ti and in 1698, Divanul by Dumitrie Cantemir were added to these. The first scientific texts devoted to the history of the Romanian people appeared in the same period and related to this, we can refer to Dumitrie Cantemir's Hronicul vechimei a romano-moldo-vlahilor, C. Cantacuzino' Istoria Tarii Romane^ti and Miron Costin's De neamul moldovenilor and Istorie de craiia ungureasca. The translation of medieval scholarly works started around the year 1750. In connection with this, we can mention the two parts of the first Romanian handbook of medicine: Meste^ugul doftoriei meste^ugul doftoricesc. Two Romanian grammars were printed (Macarie's and Dumitrie Eustavici) and the first textbook devoted to mathematics was printed in 1777 - Ducere de mana catre aritmetica sau socoteala.
Whether geographic or linguistic texts, medical or philosophical, they all are characterized by their use of a specific vocabulary. Thus, the terms typical to linguistic writing, formed, as a rule, through loan translation,
refer to orthography, phonetics, morphology, syntax, poetics, which are considered to be component parts of grammar.
E.g. injugare - conjugation; cadere - case; neam - gender; zalog - voice; incheiere - agreement etc.
The terminology introduced in Ducere de mana catre aritmetica sau socoteala has two components (simple, native and learned) found in all the specific semantic fields.
E.g. aritmetica, tifra, cercare, reductie, inmultire, divide, multiplica,factor,produs, suma and so on.
The terminology used in historical writings was little particularized and always specific. E.g. hronolog, alemani, elini, valahi, norod, hatman, dachi so on and so forth.
At a morphological level, the occurrence of third person singular (especially used with impersonal reflexive pronominal forms) and first person singular (the editorial we) verbal forms became predominant in the texts with a technical character, as well as the occurrence of second person singular verbal forms (sometimes even plural) having a generic value:
Ex. "Ia racii, pune-i a moiu in otet sa stea doua - trei ceasuri, apoi scoate-i de-i pune intr-o tingire, puindu-le otet o parte §i doua parti de apa §i o ceapa mare intreaga, §i-i fiarbe, decii pune-le §i cimbir curat si taiat marunt, sare §ipiper". (Cartea intru carea se scriu mancarile)
Take the crayfish, let them sit in vinegar for two or three hours, then take them out and put them in a pan, add one part vinegar and two parts water and a whole onion, and boil them, and also sprinkle clean fine-cut thyme, salt and pepper. (The Book of Food) (my translation).
At a syntactical level - the implied and impersonal character of the subject and the ellipsis of the verbal predicate are frequently at use. The presence of the two main parts of sentence is compulsory to ensure precision and clarity of expression. In technical writings, sentences have a simple structure, obtained through coordination, while, in scientific writing, sentences are more complex and are made up of several subordinate clauses. The main sentences are, regularly, declarative and those interrogative or rhetorical (from philosophical writings) are characteristic of scientific texts. Among the subordinate clauses the temporal and conditional clauses are most frequent in technical texts where the moment or the condition for the fulfillment of an action is indicated, while the attributive clauses are specific to scientific writing.
Regionalisms and archaisms have a special place in Romanian technico-scientific terminology. In the new edition of Lexiconul tehnic roman, letter C, Lucretia Marej makes up the following classification:
1. Terms considered to be regional: ex. baie§ime (geography) "territory in which salt-mines and mineral water are to be found"; bdta (mineralogy) "a piece of wood that you stuck the explosive with into the opening ofthe mine; bri^ca (pisciculture ) "fishing rod"; ciunget (forestry) "a forest ofdried trees" etc.
2. Terms that appear as regionalisms or as folk terms in general dictionaries (DEX , DN etc) ex. albet (forestry) "the brighter part of a piece of wood" ; babana (zooculture) "old sheep"; codina (textile industry ) "wool of inferior quality"; trascau ( alimentary industry ) "strong brandy" .
3. Terms that are not recorded in DEX but that appear in other dictionaries (DA, Scriban) ex. ciulinet (pisciculture) "a layer of mud"; gardagiu ( pisciculture ) "specialised fisherman in the maintnance of fishermen's closings"; suhoc (technical) "barbed needle"(in Scriban's dictionary the regional variant is suvac ) etc.
Consequently, we can speak of different stages of infiltration of folk words in technico-scientific language. First, the word which is part of the rural technical terminology of a certain area is adopted by the general terminology of a particular field and later introduced to other related technical fields. Then, general dictionaries and lexicons record words from the cultivated technical literature. At this stage, a folk word can become a literary language word.
Ex. capistere "trough" - first used in Ardeal and then adopted by the alimentary industry field.
3. Definition in scientific terminology. Types of definitions.
In specialized languages, the concepts are explained by definitions that must identify the concept with a unique extension and intension. Approaching this matter Dorina Chi$ [8] points out the following types of definitions:
The relational definition - that describes the relationship between the defined term and another term, considered to be known or which has previously been defined. It takes into consideration the affiliation relationships (Sahara
- Saharan), cause-effect relations (irradiation - result of exposure to radiation), antinomic relations (dry -lacking humidity), synonymic relation (earth flow - gliding)
The conceptual definition is based on the intension of the term. From all notional characters only the pertinent ones are selected. It actually gives the distinctive characteristics and attributes and, at the same time, a classification is outlined, by stating the proximate genre and the specific difference.
The stipulating definition - the informed agent suggests for the defined term a theoretically new meaning that does not depend on a previous use. It is an instrument through which artificial languages, specialized languages of sciences and codes with special uses are created. It is also used in notarial documents (ex. the contract) by means of which a momentary convention is established (ex. "The legacy consists, in the present case, of the building at no...")
The ostensive definition is a variant of the extensional definition which uses an iconic model or even the referent to illustrate the meaning of a term.
At a structural level, terminological definitions fall into three categories: generic definitions (used to mark the genre/species relation between two notions); partitive definitions (used to mark the whole / part relation); categorial definitions (point out the relation between a notion and a category of thought or class of objects). When writing the definition, the terminologist must not forget that the sentence he uses must be clear and concise, usually made up of a subject (the concept to be defined), a copulative verb (most often 'to be') and its subject complement which represents the definition proper. The definition must be correctly formulated, not go beyond a sentence, must not be circular or in the negative and must not contain metalinguistic forms ("a verb that describes ....," "a word that means... "). Last but not least, a definition must take into account the audience it addresses.
4. The nature of the technico-scientific terms
The linguistic character of terminological units is complex. A term can have the form of a free morpheme, of a word made up of several elements assembled according to the morphosemantic laws of language (compound words) or of a collocation (components that are more or less free with a cohesive degree smaller than that of compound words but which acquire a lexical status by virtue of their function of designating an unique concept. The abbreviated forms (sets of initials, acronyms) are morphological and syntactical variants. Hence, from a formal point of view terms can be:
- Simple terms -made up of a single word
E.g. (informatics) (Romanian) calculator; (English) computer; (French) ordinateur; (German) computer
E.g. (physics) (Romanian) spectrofotometru; (English) spectrophotometer; (French) spectrophotometer;
(German) spektrophomettre
- Complex terms -made up of several words
E.g. (navigation) (Romanian) §lep cufundulplat = (English) flat bottom barge = (French) chaland afond, plat Simple terms can be considered generic elements or collocations with a zero determiner: ex cheie - a simple term that takes, in the technical field, the form of the word "cheie"- polysemantic through one of its meanings and that can be considered as designating a generic notion, analyzable in subnotions that correspond to the terms cheie articulata, cheie cu opritor, cheie cu arc, cheie cu robinet, cheie franceza, cheie tubulara, cheie universala, etc. In English technical terminology, the same polysemantic term is translated as follows: locking key, keyston, arch key, ring-back key, cut-off key etc.
As regards the syntactic character, the terms are, most often, nouns, more rarely, adjectives, sometimes, verbs, in exceptional cases, adverbs and elements of relation.
Proper nouns play an important role within technico-scientific terminology. In a strict sense, a proper noun denotes an individual concept whose extension is a unique object. Under this heading terminologies list the following:
1. Names of institutions and organizations: Ex. (Romanian) Curtea Europeana, (English) European an Court of Justice, (French) Cour de Justice Europeenne
2. Names of prizes: Ex. (Romanian) Premiul Uniunii Artistilor Plasiici, (English) Nobel Peace Prize, (French) Palmed'Or
3. Names of scientific phenomena: Ex. Saturn, Harley's Comet
4. Names of trade- marks: Ex. Tylenol, Nike, Kleenex
Non-linguistic signs appear frequently in specialized texts, with a substitutable or additional function. Symbols are very useful as the information is directly transmitted, the visual representation of concepts operating independently of a certain language. The following principles lie at the basis of the formation and use of a symbol: to be easily recognized and interpreted, to be monosemantic in a specific context, to be easily reproduced, to allow combinations with other types of signs and symbols.
Symbols are classified in iconic and abstract depending on the degree of the similarity between the symbol and the object. In the case of iconic symbols their visual form suggests the object expressed. E.g. symbols used to designate sports activities:
In the case of abstract symbols, the visual resemblance is less apparent or was completely lost. The characters that replace mathematical symbols, characters within the field of logics and some other current symbols are considered to be abstract symbols. Ex: £ etc.
The alphanumeric codes: are combinations of letters and digits that do not represent a word or an abbreviated form of a term. They are classified as abstract symbols: the formulae, inventory numbers, series of various types of objects from a production process are considered to be part of this category. Ex. C2H5OH (ethylic alcohol), A4 (paper size 210*297mm).
5. Ways of creating technico-scientific terms
Built on Neo-Greek, Russian or German elements, starting with the second half of the 19th century, the Romanian specialized terminology was under strong Romanic influences (especially French), which determined massive barrowings. Since then and up to this day the number of the scientific terms has increased impressively [9]. It is well known that the vocabulary of a language can be expanded in two ways: by internal means -forming new words starting from the already existent words and by external means - borrowing words from other languages. As regards the loan two attitudes were manifested: the first refers to the exaggerated opposition concerning foreign words (a form of manifestation of the purism) and the second refers to the tendency of using neologisms even when the language already has a corresponding term. This temptation to use neologisms can be explained as it is the case with any other current scientific terminology: firstly it is a matter of quickness and easiness as a neologic term has from the beginning the advantage of being adopted as a specialized term benefiting from the high reputation of the entire field it makes reference to, while the terms that are formed by internal means as well as the translated ones have to cope with a further resistance needing a longer period so as to become established specialized terms; secondly, there is another explanation of a psychological nature as the specialist has the feeling that using the foreign language is the condition ensuring the accuracy and comprehensiveness of his work [10].
Internal means of forming words: a characteristic of scientific terms is the great number of compound and derived terms. Both processes are used since they favour a logical synthetic operation. Affixation: endotermic, sublingual, transfigurare etc.
To express a quantity: (noun)hipertensiune, semiconductor, (adj.)extrafin, hipofosfric, ultrasensibil; (vb)supraincalzi etc.
To express negative qualities: (noun) dezechilibru, incompatibilitate, neagresiune; (adj.) impropriu, descompus, nepoluant; (vb) dezintegra, destabilize etc
Compounding is the process of making up some new words with a unitary meaning from two or more words that lost their morphological and semantic individuality. The nature of the component elements can be reflected in the spelling of the formed words (in the case of compounding through parataxis) but there is not a rule in carrying out the process which is frequently done through fusion. Both processes happen to work especially in the case of neologisms for example ciber-spatiu / ciberspatiu etc.
Allomorphic(allogene) compounding deserves a special attention as it the process preferred when forming new terms, first as a means of overcoming the linguistic barriers and secondly as a process of synthetic combination (adopted from the Greek language). The order of the constituents is regressive (determiner/determinated) inappropriate for Romanic languages in which the determiner comes after the determined (progressive order) ex. electromagnetic, bibliofilie, ortografié, claustrofobie, discoteca etc.
In the formation of terminology the compounding process operates in the class of nouns and adjectives. Different relations are possible between the components of a compound term:
a) The determiner is an apposition of the determined element, a definition of the basic term by means of an additional one reduced in point of its meaning to an essential feature that expresses a quality or a function of the former. This pattern generates series of the type (Romanian) problemá-cheie, cuvánt-cheie; (French) usine-pilote etc.
b) The determiner is an attribute of the determined element in a one-sided dependence relationship. It can be
adjectival (ex. current alternative / continuu; (English) compact-disc, high definition etc) but also nominal and can express destination, material, affiliation in:
❖ Structure formed by fusion:
Ex. Eurovision < europeenne + television; autoroute<automobile + route
❖ Structure formed by juxtaposition
Ex. (English) joy-stick, web banking; (French) zone franc, antenne radio.
❖ Prepositional structures
Ex. tablou de comanda, banca de date, societate de consum etc.
A rule has acquired prominence in science according to which compound and derived terms have to be made up of elements having the same origin. Thus four classes have been established:
(a) Greek compounds from Greek elements that denote specialized notions.
Ex. cosmografie < (Greek) cosmographia; fotografíe < (French) photografie ,(Greek) photos(= lurnina) + graphein (= a scrie)
(b) Latin compounds from Latin elements
Ex. calorifer < (French) calorifere < (latin) calor (=caldura) + ferre (= a purta)
(c) Compounds from Latin and Greek elements
Ex. coxalgie < (French) coxalgie < (Latin) coxa (=coapsa) + (Greek) algos (=durere)
(d) Compounds of Latin and Greek elements and words from modern languages (it is the category most poorly represented)
Ex.acetonemie < (French) acetone (=acetona) + (Greek) haima (=sange)
Abbreviation is a process that applies when the length of a term is inconvenient. This solution is practical in point of conciseness but it involves difficulties in communicating through loss of precision, of denominative transparency of the term. The types of forms obtained through abbreviations are: Shortening - is obtained by the removal of a part of the letters that make up the word E.g. Adjectiv - adj
The set of initials - abbreviation formed by reducing to initials a complex term or a proper name (that denotes social organizations, businesses etc)
E.g. United Nations -UN, light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation - laser
The acronym: formed by joining the initial syllables of the words that make up a complex term or a proper name E.g. radio detecting and ringing-radar, compact disc read only memory CD- rom
Clipping - formed by omitting one or more syllables of the term. This process prevails in a familiar register of specialized communication
E.g. parachute - chute, prefabricated house - prefab et cetera.
Ellipsis the short form of a complex term or proper name resulted from the selective use of just some of the component elements
E.g. (serviciu) personal, International Group of Twenty-four on International Monetary Affairs - Group of Twenty-four
External means of forming words: adopting foreign terms calls for two processes: the loaning proper and the loan translation. The loaning proper (direct loaning) when the term is adopted as such from the source language and, if such be the case, adapted (phonetically, graphically, and even grammatically integrated) to the system of the adopting language.
E.g. (English) - (Romanian) dumping, walkman, play-back, cocktail, web, hard/software etc;
(English) - (Romanian): bull-doser - bulldozer. The loaning proper involves various stages of adoption and adaptation: from the stage of xenisms (characterized by intact preservation of the original spelling and by the graphic marking using inverted commas or italics) up to the stage of total integration having the morphosyntactic signs of this integration. In the case of xenisms terms that are very recent emerge such as feed -back, focus, pro - drop but also terms which have been present for several decades: perfectum, singularia tantum, pluralia tantum, mise en relief etc. Classifiers have been used for their morphosyntactic inclusion. In the case of nouns, the classifying role frequently rests upon the article (ex. Focus-ul este semnificativ; prin intermediul feed-back-ului etc) and in the case of singularia tantum nouns the preferred form is that of the generic masculine / neutral gender form. The adaptation process often involves variation of form listed after a slash.
E.g. diafazic / diafasic; isomorphism / izomorfism; conector / conectiv; codificare / decodaj etc. Like in every day language, free variation is removed through the semantic specialization and differentiation of the variants. E.g. derivare (internal means of forming words) / derivatie (in the generative syntax); formalism (the name of a linguistic approach) /formalizare (a feature of modern linguistics). The loan translation: the literal translation of the component elements of a foreign term.
E.g. (English) Trojan horse - (Romanian) cal troian; (English) coaxial cable - (Romanian) cablu coaxial; (English) compact-disk - (French) compact disque - (Romanian) compact disc etc.
A closer analysis reveals the existence of a partial loan translation resulted from the translation of the suffix and of a total loan translation - structural loan translation resulted from the rendering of the internal structure of the word (ex. neacuzativ, neanalizabil etc.)
We can also speak of a syntagmatic loan translation obtained by translating each component of a collocation (ex. structura de adâncime < (English) deep-structure) and semantic loan translation - representing the transfer of additional new meanings, obtained through literal translation to the old words from the language (ex. cap translated into (English) as head - (French) tête; insula translated (English) island, (French) ilot etc).
6. Instead of conclusions
The complexity of the aspects presented throughout this paper is a proof of the fact that scientific language, unlike everyday language which develops spontaneously on the basis of some rules that the speakers are unaware of, is elaborated in such a way that there is a correspondence, more or less firm between the component elements of the notions and those of the terms that express those notions. The logic character of scientific terminology comes from the possibility of creating it on the basis of the analysis and synthesis of some words and linguistic elements; so that any educated man, without being a scientist, could create new terms through synthesis.
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