When populating a terminology asset like a termbase or a glossary, i.e. selecting final terms from a list of automatically extracted term candidates or selecting term suggestions directly from a work environment, a question often arises: what exactly is a term? If a selection made by two or three different people is compared, the differences can be quite remarkable.
For many years, terminology has mainly been an academic discipline; therefore, there is no simple answer to the question. There are many different approaches, as well as academic discussions about the topic. Although it is probably a good idea to have a person in charge of your terminology who is also aware of those discussions and approaches, you most likely need quite a pragmatic answer.
Keeping things simple, we could say that a terminological unit is a word or a multiword lexical compound with a unique meaning framed in a certain domain of specialised knowledge. So, for instance, ‘ribonucleic acid’ in Chemistry, ‘transonic flow’ in Aerodynamics, and ‘adpositional phrase’ in Linguistics are clearly terms.
However, when it comes to managing the terminology of a given company, you will encounter many entries that don’t contain terms as mentioned above, but other ‘words’; that is to say, other lexical items. Somehow everyone knows which terms are needed, yet it seems complicated to define their scope objectively. Discussions, for instance in a terminology circle, usually include a lot of ‘I think that…’ and ‘in my opinion…’, therefore it appears to be a subjective matter. But it shouldn’t be like that, and it isn’t.
In my experience, there are two main reasons for this confusion. The first one lies in the need to have a proper terminology policy. Such a policy should first describe the different stakeholders of terminology in the organisation, along with a clear statement of their terminological requirements. A proper analysis of those requirements, together with the systems receiving that terminology (Authoring Tools, CAT tools, Life Cycle Management Systems, etc.) provide, among other things, a solid basis to accurately establish the types of lexical items to be included in the terminology asset.
The second reason for this confusion lies in historical developments related to the expansion of terminology from industry standards, scientific knowledge exchange and international organisations to corporate environments. Let’s say briefly that one of the consequences is the shift away from nodes of specialised knowledge in a given domain (proper terminology) to the management of controlled languages in a given business organisation (special lexicography). But again, we could go back the first point: a substantiated terminology policy would contain the exact purposes and goals of such a management; therefore making the processes easier.
As a conclusion: a term is a lexical item as defined in your terminology policy – a lexical item that serves the purposes and goals of your organisation.
If you need support to start or redirect a terminology management concept for your company, do not hesitate to contact me.