Terminology: A Practical Approach

Collection

Auteur

Robert Dubuc
Adapted by Elaine KENNEDY, with the collaboration of Catherine A. Bowman, Andy Lauriston and Shirley Ledrew.

Infos

198 pages / novembre 1997

ISBN

Papier	978-2-920342-30-9 25,95 $

This book takes a practical approach to terminology: it treats special language as living language used by people in real-life situations to communicate with one another. It describes natural language in all its diversity and disorder, and the challenges inherent in studying it.

This work is also practical in the approach it takes to terminological research. After defining terminology as we know it today, establishing it as an independent discipline, and laying down the fundamental principles that govern the practice, the book guides the reader through the stages of term and suject-field research, outlining methods of terminological analysis and parameters for recording terminological data. It points up the importance of using original-language documentation, delves into the role of standardization in English terminology, and discusses the use of new computerized applications in the field.

The practical sections are punctuated by more theoretical sections, which examine the nature of the relationship between term and concept, describe time-honored methods of definition, provide a typology of synonyms, and define the processes of term formation in modern English.

This English version of Robert Dubuc’s Manuel pratique de terminologie is very much an adaptation. There are two main reasons for this. First, the use of original-language documentation is a fundamental principle in terminology, so a textbook on the subject could hardly be a translation. Second, many aspects of terminological work are different in English. Most of the chapters have been researched in English-language sources–when possible–published primarily in the United States and Great Britain, and included in the bibliographies. All of the chapters cover, by and large, the same material as the original French, but the ideas have been organized and discussed as they are presented and treated in English sources.

Elaine Kennedy is a Certified Terminologist with a BA in English Literature and an MA in Translation. She has studied and worked with Robert Dubuc, taught terminology and written various articles on the subject.

Robert Dubuc a été, pendant près de trente ans, l’animateur du Comité de linguistique de la Société Radio-Canada. Dans le cadre de son enseignement de la traduction et de la terminologie à l’Université de Montréal de 1969 à 1995, il a développé une démarche pédagogique axée sur des exemples concrets et des applications pratiques. L’auteur est membre d’honneur de l’Ordre des traducteurs, terminologues et interprètes du Québec et a participé à la Commission de terminologie de l’Office de la langue française. En juin 1997, l’Université d’Ottawa lui a décerné un doctorat honorifique. Il a reçu le Mérite de la langue française 2001 de l’Office québécois de la langue française.