KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONS OF THE CONFERENCE will be given by our guests from Poland and from abroad:

Prof. Pascaline DURY (Université Lumière Lyon 2, FRANCE)

Prof. dr hab. Sambor GRUCZA (Uniwersytet Warszawski, POLAND)

Dr Patricia RODRÍGUEZ-INÉS (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, SPAIN)

Prof. dr. Frieda STEURS (KU Leuven, BELGIUM/ Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, THE NETHERLANDS)

ABSTRACTS OF KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONS

► Prof. Pascaline DURY (Université Lumière Lyon 2, FRANCE)

Title: The diachronic dimension as a tool for analyzing boundary blurring in terminology

Abstract

The communication will aim to address two key issues that have not been given sufficient attention in terminology research: the increasing blurring of boundaries between specialized fields over time and the use of diachronic analysis to help terminologists and translators better understand the growing encroachment of domains and their terminologies.
The corpus-based diachronic study of specialized concepts and terminologies show that specialized domains are not strictly divided but rather that they become more and more intertwined over time.
This was shown by Resche (2013), for example, who traced the evolution of the term „economics” and highlighted the disciplinary connections that the field of economics has developed over time with neuroscience and physics. This is also described by Fries (2016) in her study of the metaphors in the field of nanotechnologies, in which she shows that this domain has been built by borrowing concepts and terms from disciplines as varied as engineering sciences, biotechnology, computer science and cognitive sciences.
In the wake of the work carried out by these two authors, and using the results taken from the study of a diachronic corpus (1940-2017), I will show how the field of textile has increasingly been using concepts taken from the field of medicine in order to describe the properties of fibres and how, consequently, textile terminology has become somehow „medicalized”, both from a lexical and a semantic point of view (for instance with terms like „coagulation process”, „antimicrobial properties of cotton fabrics”, „plasma modifications of polylactide nonwovens”, „antibacterial cotton textiles”, etc.), as well as morphological (with the more and more widespread use of the suffix -scopy for example, as in „cottonscopy”).
Other examples will be taken from the analysis of a diachronic corpus on pharmacology (1993-2017), and will be used to describe the growing conceptual and terminological intertwinning of pharmacology with the field of genetics and engineering, away from the more traditional fields with which it was previously associated, such as chemistry or anatomy. This blurring of boundaries translates in the use of a new set of terms referring to the notion of networks („IPN”, „microfluidic network”, „functional vessel network”) and the notion of complex structures („siRNA transfection complex”, „polyplexed plasmid DNA”, „DNA duplex”, „self-delivering platform”, „fibrin scaffold” or „tissue-like architecture”).
In the last part of the paper, and taking into account the examples analyzed, I will consider the nature of the term and the importance of its epistemological value.

► Prof. dr hab. Sambor GRUCZA (Uniwersytet Warszawski, POLAND)

Title: Terminologia – jej przedmiot i cele poznawcze

Abstract (in Polish)

Polska nazwa „terminologia” oraz jej odpowiedniki w innych językach używane są nie tylko w sposób wieloznaczny, ale także bardzo niekonsekwentny. Po pierwsze nazwy tej używa się zarówno na określenie terminologii ogólnej (teoretycznej), jak i szczegółowej, zajmującej się konkretnym zbiorem terminów. Po drugie nazwy „terminologia” używa się zarówno na określenie pewnej dziedziny nauki, jak i na określenie pewnej dziedziny praktyki (normalizującej). Po trzecie nazwy „terminologia” używa się zarówno na określenie leksykalnej części języków specjalistycznych, czyli ich leksykonu, jak i na określenie pewnego znormalizowanego zbioru wyrazów, czyli terminologii. Jednym z celów rozważań, które zostaną podjęte w referacie jest dalsze uściślenie znaczenia wyrażenia „termin”, czyli próba udzielenia odpowiedzi na pytanie, jaki jest status ontologiczny tego, do czego odnosi się wyrażenie „termin”, jak istnieje to, co się tak nazywa oraz na pytanie, czym są, a czym nie są obiekty określane jako „terminy”, czyli co się w nich zawiera, a co nie zawiera. W głównej części podjęta zostanie próbę opisu ogólnego przedmiotu oraz zadań poznawczych terminologii. Szczególną uwagę poświęcę jej zadaniom diagnostycznym i stosowanym, ponieważ pierwsze wyznaczają punkt wyjścia, a drugie ostateczny cel nowoczesnej terminologii. Najważniejszym zadaniem diagnostycznej terminologii jest bowiem pozyskanie wiedzy dotyczącej aktualnego stanu rzeczywistości wyróżnionej jako termin/ terminy. Natomiast najistotniejszym zadaniem stosowanej terminologii jest udzielenie odpowiedzi na odnośne pytania natury aplikatywnej, czyli na pytania o możliwości udoskonalenia badanych składów terminologicznych i umiejętności posługiwania się nimi, a także na pytanie o możliwości usprawnienia specjalistycznych dyskursów, tzn. posługiwania się terminami.

► Dr Patricia RODRÍGUEZ-INÉS (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, SPAIN)

Title: A non-expert dealing with terms in specialized L2 translation: a perfect storm

Abstract

Everybody’s intuition about language fails when it comes to specialized topics that do not fall within their field of expertise. When faced with a text from a specialized field in which they lack expertise, an individual may find translating it into their mother tongue practically as difficult a task as translating it into a foreign language.
So, when is it time for us to stop trusting our intuition and prediction skills?
Based on examples of both native and non-native speakers using their intuition with and without success, it will be shown that the key usually lies in combining internal and external support (i.e. “thinking” and documentation resources) to make decisions related to terminology.
Sometimes even specialized resources are not entirely reliable, leaving translators in doubt as to whether to trust their intuition, their cognitive resources or a supposedly specialized resource, or none of them. Again, combining all the above is usually the way to proceed, and electronic corpora are hard to beat when it comes to checking the actual usage of terms. For the purpose of this presentation, however, maybe the concept of electronic corpora should be broadened to encompass any text repository liable to offer relevant, useful linguistic information. Examples will be provided.
A last point will be made in relation to translator training, as translation trainees need to acquire instrumental competence, but not to be applied automatically but discerningly (Rodríguez-Inés, 2014; Rodríguez-Inés & Fox, 2018).
References
Rodríguez-Inés, P. (2014). “Using corpora for awareness-raising purposes in translation, especially into a foreign language (Spanish-English)”. Perspectives. Studies in Translatology, 22(2): 222-241. Pre-print available at https://ddd.uab.cat/record/137964/  
Rodríguez-Inés, P.; Fox, O. (2018). “Reconciling institutional and professional requirements in the specialised inverse translation class – a case study”. Meta, 63(1): 47-71. Available at https://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/meta/2018-v63-n1-meta03890/1050514ar/

► Prof. dr. Frieda STEURS (KU Leuven, BELGIUM/ Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, THE NETHERLANDS)

Title: The Center of Expertise for Dutch Terminology

Abstract

The Dutch language area has a longstanding tradition in cooperation in the field of terminology. Since the eighties, different partnerships and commissions existed, all under the umbrella of the Union of the Dutch language. A cooperation agreement existed on the topic “Terminology and Education”, there was a commission for terminology (Coterm) that was responsible for the strategic planning for Dutch terminology, and an association for Dutch Terminology, NL-Term was founded. Gradually, the idea developed that a central information hub was needed to bring together all the information on Dutch language for professional use and to make this available to everyone, both specialists and the general public. Since 2016, The Dutch Language Institute in Leiden (INT) is responsible for the development and hosting of all language material for Dutch. Whereas formerly, only the standard language was researched and collected, the new linguistic paradigm includes all language varieties and as such also professional language, regional languages and dialects. It seemed a logical step to also host the Center of Expertise for Dutch Terminology (ENT) at the INT. The main task of the ENT is to provide all kinds of information, products and services related to terminology. Next to making all the information available, ENT also works on a number of research projects in specific domains: legal and medical language and the terminology used in higher education. These three domains all have their specific challenges: in the case of the legal language we are confronted with different legal languages in the Netherlands and Belgium referring to the different legal systems. In the medical domain, we can see differences in register when using particular medical terms, from highly scientific nomenclature to more popular terminology. In the field of higher education, a huge confusion can be witnessed due to the use of English terms with a large number of different translations in the Netherlands and Belgium. In my lecture, I will present the information that is made available by the ENT. This also includes specific software tools for terminology work. Finally, some of our research projects on  terminology will be touched upon.