Space-terminology and its recent developments : results of a descriptive and prescriptive activity
- Paper number
IAC-08.E7.1.5
- Author
Dr. Danielle Candel, Université Paris Diderot (Paris 7), France
- Year
2008
- Abstract
The enrichment of lexicon, associated with the continuous advances in science and technology, can be observed through terminology. While general vocabulary is usually compiled in standard dictionaries, specialized terms are to be found in more restrictive and selected terminologies ; the first are supposed to describe usages and be more descriptive, the latter are supposed to give recommandations, in a more prescriptive way, on how one should speak or write. In order to examine the case of Space terminology, one may look at a variety of collections of words gathering usages during these 50 last years : a general language dictionary, a specialized one, and the official terminology lists published nowadays in France. These lists of terms and definitions, resulting from the official Space Terminology Committee in France, are related to the Cilf-Dictionary and to the "IAA Multilingual Space Dictionary". This allows to identify some characteristics of the development of Space terminology, by comparing this specific field to other technical and scientific fields studied in the official Terminology Committees in France ; it is to be done over a period of ten years. We will analyse several information types characterizing dictionaries and discuss issues such as the domain or the subdomain of the word, its morphology, its definition, its synonyms, its degree of specialization. The aim of this paper is to show how Terminology Committees proceed and in which way they succeed in orienting word choices and definitions, in orienting language development, maybe even language usage. Finally, we will focus on the fact that observation and description on one hand, and prescription on the other hand, very often overlap : this might be one of the important parameters to be taken into account while merging the lists into an international program such as the "IAA Multilingual Space Dictionary".
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
(absent)