Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
ISKO 2010
TERMINOLOGY AS
ORGANIZED KNOWLEDGE
Boyan AlexievNancy Marksbury
Outline Terminology as Organized Knowledge ISKO 2010
Introduction
Theoretical and Methodological Premises of KO
Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to Terminology
Commonalities Between KO and Terminology
Conclusion
Introduction Terminology as Organized Knowledge ISKO 2010
Why look at Terminology as Organized Knowledge?
Overlaps between IS and T: both solve communication problems in special languages both make use of common info management tools (keywords, indexes,
thesauri, etc.) both benefit from modern database storage and retrieval systems
Terminology management today is knowledge-based: knowledge-rich contexts extracted for constructing definitions and
acquiring domain knowledge lexical knowledge patterns used for automatic term extraction
Aim Terminology as Organized Knowledge ISKO 2010
Aim of paper:
Exploring possibilities to integrate KO and T research methods in a knowledge-oriented approach to terminography
Premises Terminology as Organized Knowledge ISKO 2010
Definitions of KO
description, indexing and classification of documents (KOS) how knowledge is socially organized (broader meaning within IS)
Four KO paradigms in terms of interpretation of concept formation:
Empiricism - concepts corresponding to sensations Rationalism - simple concepts inborn, complex concepts defined from
simple ones Historicism - concept formation affected by traditions and social
communities Pragmatism – concepts formed by people’s practical activity
Theoretical and methodological premises of KO (1)
Premises Terminology as Organized Knowledge ISKO 2010
Theoretical and methodological premises of KO (2)
Modern and Postmodern Theories of KO Modern view of the world: neutral and objective (positivist view) Task of classification: mapping and representing this world of ideas Research and thinking in KO focused on rules and guidelines for creating
classification systems (e.g. thesaurus building) Post-modernism: KO an active construction of reality and a particular view of
the world Semantics of words revealed in use (discourse community) KO = social construction, so KOS more transparent and effective Pragmatic view: KO deals with human needs and interests
KO units: K elements (concept characteristics), K units (concepts), larger K units (concept combinations), K systems
Premises Terminology as Organized Knowledge ISKO 2010
Theoretical and methodological premises of KO (3)
KO methods: scientific and bibliographic
Fundamental scientific methods of KO related to basic paradigms: Empiricism (observations and inductions): Classification by statistical
generalizations based in “similarity” Rationalism (pure reason, deductions): Classification based on logical,
universal divisions Historicism: Classification based on historical or evolutionary development
(taxonomies) Pragmatism: Classification based on specific values, policies, goals
KOS and Semantic Tools
Approaches Terminology as Organized Knowledge ISKO 2010
Theoretical and methodological approaches to T(1)
General Theory of Terminology: Priority of the concept; precision of concepts; univocity of the term; A concept – universal, i.e. independent of cultural differences Communication problems from inter-/intra-lingual synonymy Solution – standardization
A Model of Knowledge for Terminology: A multidimensional space with intersecting axes (conceptual
primitives=characteristics) A concept identified uniquely by references to its coordinates along each axis Language – a discrete medium (finite items) → the value of a concept with
respect to a given axis defined as a range (set of points) An idealized K structure is assumed to be determined by the social norm
(synthesis of the collective view).
Approaches Terminology as Organized Knowledge ISKO 2010
Theoretical and methodological approaches to T(2)
The Sociocognitive Approach to Terminology: Only few categories can be clearly delineated; Categorization results from the interaction between language and the mind -
the world is (partly) in the human mind; Concepts = units of understanding often not clearly delineated, have prototype
structure, experiential rather than objective; Only clear-cut concepts can be submitted to standardization;
The Communicative Approach to Terminology: TU multifaceted: units of knowledge, units of language, units of communication Model – theory of doors: TU approached from the concept (cognitive), from the
term (linguistic) and from the situation (communicative) TU identified in specialized discourse = an organized K structure – could be
represented by a conceptual map
Approaches Terminology as Organized Knowledge ISKO 2010
Theoretical and methodological approaches to T(3)
Conceptual corpus-based approach TKB organizes concepts into networks of relations Identifying conceptual relations/CR in running text Search for CR by linguistic patterns
Lexico-semantic corpus-based approach Linguistic aspects of term: collocation behavior, argumental relations, etc.
The Termontography Method Sociocognitive T theory and methods combined with ontological methods Initial framework of categories and relationships with domain specialists (top-down) Ontological analysis → categorization framework – a template for K extraction from
corpus Eliciting culture-specific K and categorizations from texts The new K confronted with the categorical frame (bottom-up analysis) Results entered in a termontological database for terminographic purposes
Commonalities Terminology as Organized Knowledge ISKO 2010
Commonalities between KO and Terminology (1)
Semantic similarities and terminological discrepancies Empirical investigation searching the word ‘knowledge’ in terminology papers
(37 contexts retrieved) and the term ‘term’ in KO papers (14 contexts retrieved)
Terms with the same meaning in KO and T show useful collaboration
Terminological discrepancies: unnecessary homonymy e.g. ‘keyterm’
Similar Theoretical Underpinnings Both KO and T are all about concepts and conceptual relations
Both influenced by post-modernism
Hence shift towards pragmatic, historical and phenomenological approaches in KO, and mixed onomasiological and semasiological approaches in T
Commonalities Terminology as Organized Knowledge ISKO 2010
Commonalities between KO and Terminology (2)
Similar Research Methods Practically all KO methods are applicable to modern T practices:
KO Method Terminology Application Area
KOS (ontologies, thesauri, glossaries, concepts maps)
Specification and visualization of relationships between terms
Computer-based, text-based, word frequency based methods
Corpus-based terminology processing
Empirical methods Term and concept relation extraction
Rationalistic methods (logical divisions) Identifying hierarchical relations between terms
Historical interpretation of division of disciplines
Explaining cultural variations in classifications and multilingual terminology
Pragmatic approach based on specific values and goals
Explaining socio-cultural variations in concept formation and term phraseology, e.g. concrete cures (E) but concrete matures (B)
Conclusions Terminology as Organized Knowledge ISKO 2010
Conclusions
Both KO and T influenced by the post-modern epistemological understanding of the world: cultural creation, not objective reality;
A tendency in both KO and T towards a domain-specific approach: classifications and TK items organized from the specific perspective of the respective discourse community;
Combined KO and Terminology research methods would lead to strengthening the collaborative links between specialists in the two fields bringing about the development and improvement of their theoretical, methodological and practical achievements.
Contact Terminology as Organized Knowledge ISKO 2010
Questions?
BoyanAlexiev, Ph.D.University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and GeodesySofia, [email protected]
Nancy MarksburyPalmer School of Library and Information ScienceC.W. Post , Long Island University, New [email protected]
