Compounding

Compounding is certainly one of the most productive methods for the creation of new terms. The process takes different forms in different languages. Compounds are formed from several elements which are grouped in various combinations.

• N + N (vacuum cleaner);

• V + N (spin drier);

• N + V (carwash);

• V + V (spindry);

• Adv/Adj + V (overdrive, deepfreeze);

• Part. I + N (revolving door);

• Part. II + N (reinforced concrete);

• Adj + Part. I (deep-freezing);

• Adj + Adj (blue-grey);

• Adj + N (blacksmith, radial tyre);

• Adj as specified element (Germ. erzreich – erzarm);

• Adj as specifying element (fine-toothed)

• Adj +Part (deep-rooted);

• Numerals + other elements (biplane – bifocal);

• Abbreviations in compounds (Rh-factor), especially productive in LSP, does not present a high degree of transparency.

• Some languages offer additional possibilities, e.g. pronouns and prepositions may be introduced as elements for compounding (in-flight, in-service, on-the-job).

To form compound and complex terms, some languages (German and Slavic languages) combine word elements in abstract sequences, whereas others (Romance languages) use explicit, logical linking elements (prepositions) to form multiword structures.

7. Neologisms. Reasons for creating neologisms. Neologisms acceptance.

Neologisms are new words or new meanings assigned to existing words created to name new concepts when necessary. Certain principles should be respected to improve their chances of acceptance.

Sense neologisms (or semantic neologisms) do not involve any change to the form of the term. They result from:

• expansion (extending the meaning of a term by giving it a new meaning, as in a shift from the concrete to the abstract or from the abstract to the concrete);

• metaphor (e.g. backbone of a network);

• conversion of a grammatical category (e.g. preliminary, from Adj to N);

• adoption from another subject field (e.g. virus, inoculate and other virology terms adopted in the field of computer security).

Morphological neologisms are new word forms created through a variety of processes, including:

• derivation (digital – digitize);

• composition (cyberspace, nonbiodegradable, webcast);

• compounding (database management system);

• blending (email from electronic mail, simulcast from simultaneous broadcast);

• acronymy (AIDS, CD-ROM);

• borrowing (Découpage).

The acceptance of neologisms depends on such factors as their brevity, their handleability and ease of retention, their potential for derivation or productivity. But the most important factor is the motivation: the term should reflect the characteristics of the concept it designates.

The reasons for creating the neologism may be stylistic (e.g. vision-impaired instead of blind), technological (e.g. intelligent personal assistant for the new pocket computer connected to the Internet), social (e.g. gender-neutral position titles) or functional, so called because a new way of designating the concept is dictated by the situation in which communication is needed.

8. Identifying terminological units (single-word and multiword terms, expressions, symbols, formulas, acronyms, initialisms, set-phrases, free-formed combinations, collocations, etc.).

Newcomers to terminology frequently err by assuming that only single-word or at most compound words can be regarded as terms. Actually terminologists record a range of different kinds of terminological units during terminology management, i.e. during terminology activities.

Terms occur as single words (Eng. machine, Germ. die Maschine) and as compound and multiword terms (Eng. sewing machine, Germ. Nähmaschine). The choice of either a single-word or a multiword term depends on language-specific conventions. In some cases, a single word exists in one language, where another requires a multiword term. The multiword term designates one concept that potentially represents a greater whole than the sum of its constituent parts each of which can be itself a single-word term.

Beyond the multiword term, terminologists also find phraseological units.

Some combinations of several nouns constitute free-formed combinations (e.g. cars and trucks). They are not considered multiword terms or even set phrases. Other formulations (e.g. gold and foreign currency reserves, stocks and bonds) occur so frequently together that they may be regarded as truly multiword terms or set phrases. Sometimes it is not easy to decide whether this kind of combination is a discrete term. One way to tell is to determine whether the combination in question corresponds to an obvious single or multiword term in another language.

9. Usage labels of the term.

The main usage labels found in large terminology data banks are grouped into several categories:

• sociolinguistic labels (the level of language of the term may be customary, scientific or jargon, the term may be deprecated, standardized or officially approved);

• geographic labels (the term may be specific to a particular country or region);

• temporal labels (the term may be obsolete, archaic or a neologisms);

• origin labels (the term may be preferred by a given company or in a certain subject field for reasons of originality in commercial competition);

• frequency label (the term may be used frequently, less frequently or rarely).

10. The role of context in Terminology. Functioning of terms in the text.

Contexts are important to terminology with respect to the relationship of a term with its field of application. The context embodies the discourse bearing the term. In general, it includes the sentence in which the term is found but may sometimes extend over two or three sentences, if not an entire paragraph. It is the presence of conceptual features relevant to the term that determines the extent of the context. The context thus plays a double role: it first provides living proof that the term is used in the field of reference and then allows a conceptual content to be associated with the term being studied. The second role is more important. It makes it possible to determine the specific relationship between a term and its subject filed through concept identification. For the terminologist, the context is the key to the concept. The three components forming the archway through which terminological analysis must pass are: term + concept + subject field.

Establishing terminological usage. Since terns actually exist only in instances of specialized discourse, contexts are of capital importance in terminological research. They establish the link between the term and the field in which it is used. It is thus from contexts that the vocabulary that forms the basis of all terminological research is drawn since it is in the context that we can recognize the subject field specificity of a term (in meaning and possibly also in form) or the degree to which a term belonging to another field is associated with the subject field.

Associating term and concept. Once terminological usage has been established, the association between a term and its concept will be achieved primarily through conceptual analysis of contexts. This analysis will govern the way in which concepts correspond in bilingual or multilingual terminology. The initial matching is not between terms, but between the concepts labelled by terms. The equivalence of terms cannot be established until it is reasonably certain that a source-language concept is essentially the same as a target-language concept.

Often concepts in different languages correspond only partially according to various logical relations: generic-specific, abstract-concrete, cause-effect, etc. Where partial correspondence occurs it is essential to determine the exact extent to which concepts correspond, for this in turn determines the extent to which the source-language term can be rendered by a target-language term.

11. Requirements of an ideal term.

The term must be well motivated. The motivation of a term should be self-evident, the term should be logical and to a high degree self-explanatory. The march of progress may mean that an originally well-motivated term may lose its motivation. As a general rule, the term persists unmodified even though the concept may have undergone radical changes (e.g. Germ. Drehstahl – Drehmeissel. The element "Stahl" =steel no longer corresponds to the facts of the paralinguistic reality since this instrument is today manufactured from other materials; the form has not been modified to keep pace with technological developments.).

The motivation of a term must maintain its relationship with that of other terms within the same system.

Whether a term is perceived by the language user as well-motivated or otherwise depends on the user's information level; users familiar with classical etymology will readily recognize motivations.

The term should be systematic.

The formation of the term must be in accordance with the syntactic rules of the language.

The term must be potentially productive of derivations (e.g. Germ. telefon, telefonist (in), telefonisch, Telefonat).

The term must avoid pleonasm (Eng. guerrilla warfare – guerrilla means itself a special kind of warfare). This type of pleonastic formation generally occurs through a lack of linguistic knowledge.

The term should not contain superfluous elements. This may occur when the generic term and the specific term form a new term (e.g. quartz mineral – quartz is a mineral).

The term should be as short as possible without adversely affecting its clarity.

The term should preferably not have synonyms, homonyms or polysemous terms.

The term should preferably not present orthographical or morphological variations (e.g. US theater, center – GB theatre, centre).

Each of these rules and norms is founded upon observation and investigation. Their practical value is not under discussion. It should be remembered, however, that they are not all applicable at once or in all possible combinations. In creating, analysing or evaluating a term these recommendations should be borne in mind, and a pragmatic and realistic decision reached which takes account of sociolinguistic factors which determine a possible rebuff for the user, consideration of the difficulties and advantages connected with the revision of a terminology which though defective is well established; the degree of "internationalness".