Some Specifics of Technical Term Definitions and Interpretation

PDF: http://izv-oifn.ru/images/2017-1/60–68-latuу.pdf
Absract: The article compares and analyzes the terms’ definitions aimed at a specialist and a non-specialist in the field, the inappropriateness of indiscriminant approach to defining terms in terminology and philological dictionaries, the distinctive features of these two types of definitions. We consider the existing approaches to understanding the nature of the concepts under discussion and their usefulness in interpreting the meaning of terminological units. To resolve the problem of improper definitions, we analyze some functional, semantic and structural features of the definitions of technical terms available in the State set of Standards (so called GOSTs) and in terminological dictionaries, as well as the definitions aimed at general readership and presented in non-specialized sources. We describe the cases when the lay and professional definitions intersect, we also look at the information units informed by such definitions targeted at different audiences and encompassing both common and scholarly/ scientific knowledge.
Keywords: technical term, strict definition, definition/interpretation, systematics, concept, meaning, semantics, structure.
Category: Vol 76, NO 1 (2017)
Pages: 60-68
Department: Materials and Notes
Author: Maxim N. Latu
Information about the author: Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor of Western European Languages and Cultures Department, Director of the Research Center of Applied Linguistics, Terminology Studies and Linguistic Cognitive Technologies at Pyatigorsk State University, 9 Kalinin Ave., Pyatigorsk, 357532, Russia laatuu@yandex.ru

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