Научно-техническая революция и проблемы терминологии физики

МОКСЛО КАЛБОС КУЛТУРОС ИР ТЕРМИНОЛОГИЈОС ПРОБЛЕМОС LIETUVIŲ KALBOTYROS KLAUSIMAI, XXIV (1985) ИГОРЬ ЕВТИХИАНОВИЧ ОЖИГОВ THE SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTION AND PROBLEMS OF PHYSICS TERMINOLOGY The scientific and technological revolution (STR) is a global, complex, multistage, multifaceted phenomenon in the life of humanity, affecting people’s fundamental interests. The STR is unfolding under historical conditions in which two socio-political and economic systems have taken shape. At this stage, relations between the socialist world and the capitalist world have been considerably exacerbated by the ideologues of capitalism, chiefly through the efforts of representatives of the U.S. military-industrial complex. The main features of the STR became clearly apparent around the middle of the 20th century. From a historical perspective, the STR is characterized by ever faster rates of development in the economy, industry, science, and technology. New branches and fields of knowledge are emerging (space science, semiconductors, quantum crystals, liquid crystals, ultrahigh-purity substances, substances with an ordered magnetic structure, fiber optics, integrated printed circuits, surface materials, superconductors, polymers, and others). The work and intellectual activity of individuals and society as a whole are becoming more intensive. Relations between states are becoming much closer. International ties are growing at every level. The exchange of ideas is increasing. At the same time, states and nations are developing unevenly, and the levels they have attained differ. Industry is shifting to automated and continuous-flow production lines, and robotics is being developed and implemented. Production management and social activity are increasingly carried out using electronic equipment, computers, automated control systems, and computer-aided design systems. New branches of science and technology are emerging at the intersection of disciplines (bionics, biophysics, biochemistry, molecular biology, industrial microbiology, and others). Complex challenges and global problems are arising (the use of solar energy, environmental protection, forecasting). This entire process is accompanied by a large volume of translations of technical, scientific, and other texts. Yet every language has its own rules, traditions, and methods in terminology and term formation. 107 Under these conditions, specific challenges concerning scientific and technical terminology arise in communication and in the language of science. Let us list some of them. 1. Developing a unified conceptual framework and terminology for issues relating to the STR, which would help facilitate the expansion of international cooperation. 2. Further improving the conceptual framework and terminology concerning philosophical issues of the STR, from the perspective of constructive work by progressive scholars in all countries and, in particular, with regard to production and scientific activity in our country; taking into account the need to criticize “technological determinism,” which leads to the bourgeois philosophical conception of the convergence of society, as well as “technological pessimism,” which leads to unwarranted criticism of science and technology 1. 3. Organizing productive, continuous, large-scale work by terminology bodies at every level, in keeping with their status (through the Academy of Sciences, the State Standards authority, information and research institutes, higher education institutions, translation organizations, editorial offices, publishers, libraries, and others). 4. Raising terminological awareness among the scientific and technical intelligentsia and fostering a conscious, active attitude among the general public toward terminology studies, translation from foreign languages, and related matters. 5. Systematizing terminology in the fundamental fields and standardizing terminology in the applied and industrial fields of science and technology. Terminology should be normalized in these fields with due regard to their interconnection and interdependence, and in a defined sequence 2. Founded 50 years ago, the USSR Academy of Sciences Committee on Scientific and Technical Terminology (hereafter, CSTT) is engaged3, in particular, in systematizing terminology in the fundamental fields of physics. Terminology in theoretical mechanics and thermodynamics has been systematized. Similar work on quantum mechanics and the quantum theory of solids is nearing completion. Systematization of terminology in other fields of physics is planned. Drawing on experience gained in the CSTT’s scientific commissions and analysis of new terminological material appearing in scientific journals and monographs on physics, we can draw some conclusions and formulate problems that arise in connection with the systematization of terminology. 1 См.: Марксистско-ленинская теория НТР.— Вопросы философии, 1974, № 2, с. 3—14. 2 See: Ozhigov, I. E. “On Planning Work to Systematize Scientific and Technical Terminology.” In: Problems of Developing and Systematizing Terminology in the Academies of Sciences of the Union Republics. Moscow, 1983, pp. 122–126. 3 See: Sidorov, V. I., and Kandelaki, T. L. “Methodological Aspects of the Terminological Work of the USSR Academy of Sciences Committee on Scientific and Technical Terminology.” Voprosy jazykoznanija, 1983, no. 2, pp. 3–8. 108 It is advisable to organize terminology first and foremost around key topics containing concepts and terms that serve as source elements in other terminological systems. The selection of key topics is facilitated by compiling a “tree of sciences” (as applied to terminology). Using the “tree” makes it easier to establish the sequence and plan for carrying out work on the organization of terminology. Many new terms are characterized by a lack of brevity. They are cumbersome and wordy. Short forms of terms and abbreviations are not used widely enough. For example: the anomalous redshift of quasistellar objects, the KREL model in the theory of chemical bonding in crystalline solids, the total bond energy in covalent crystals with a significant ionic fraction. A notable feature of terminology at the present stage is the ever-increasing influx of unjustified foreign borrowings, especially Anglicisms, for example: bootstrap, driver, decimation, pinning, scaling, etc. The analysis showed that some physicists who translate uncritically and en masse introduce and use foreign borrowings. Foreign borrowings that have appeared in our publications thereby gain support and spread more readily, even when they are unsuccessful. There are also quite a number of “centaur” terms, for example: grand unification, rough variables, breath states in perovskites, a model of a system with off-diagonal long-range order. In fields of knowledge where visualization is inadequate or concepts are structurally complex (elementary particles, statistical physics), emotionally vivid terms are used, for example: devil’s staircase, beauty, charm, etc. One measure proposed to overcome difficulties in developing the terminology of physics is to promote a shift from passive to active term creation. To this end, concise handbooks of instructions and recommendations on term creation should be prepared and widely distributed among the technical intelligentsia. In our view, such handbooks of recommendations on term creation should not consist merely of summaries of existing fundamental methodological and instructional works. They should also contain a system of rules, generalizations, and working techniques applied to specific material, especially since new terms are introduced primarily in fields of knowledge and terminological systems that have not yet been subjected to organization. Another aspect of contemporary terminology problems in connection with the scientific and technological revolution is taking into account and skillfully combining heuristic and conservative tendencies in terminological systems4. 4 See: Ozhigov I. E., Pakhomov A. S. On Some Issues of Information Support for Research Work and Teaching Activities 109 An ordered terminology system preserves (conserves) knowledge at a certain stage and is a repository for the use of knowledge. It also serves as a kind of tool for investigating the system of concepts and possesses heuristic properties within its scope. Individual concepts are discovered, emerge, take shape, and give rise to new terms that logically take their place in the terminology system. Consequently, a developed (ordered) system of terms, being a consistent verbal representation of the system of concepts, not only facilitates the process of thinking and the practical application (in industry, etc.) of knowledge at a given stage, but also contributes to the further development of science and technology and the transition to a new stage in cognition. At the same time, the conserving and heuristic tendencies may play a negative role at a certain stage, since they express a traditional approach to scientific problems. This occurs, for example, in “dead-end situations” in the development of science, when the foundations of the system of concepts and its corresponding system of terms must be revised. Also to be noted as an undesirable phenomenon in the language of science are instances of the unjustified use of precise physical and mathematical terms in other fields of knowledge, for example: algorithm, dissipation, set, rigorous proof, state function, etc. by the example of terminology work in physics.—In: All-Union Conference “Problems of Information Support for Fundamental and Applied Scientific Research in the Light of the Resolutions of the XXVI Congress of the CPSU”: Abstracts of papers and presentations. Moscow, 1982, part 1, pp. 146—149.