5-oji tarptautinė mokslinė konferencija „Moksliniai, administraciniai ir edukaciniai terminologijos lygmenys“

doi.org/10.35321/term30-10 5th International Scientific Conference “Scientific, Administrative and Educational Dimensions of Terminology” 5th International Scientific Conference “Scientific, Administrative and Educational Dimensions of Terminology” RAMUNĖ VASKELAITĖ Institute of the Lithuanian Language ORCID id: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6063-9699 The Terminology Centre of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language has been organizing international conferences for a long time. Initially, they were held on various topics and only gradually acquired a single common title. The event was first held under this title in 2015, and this year’s event can already be considered the 5th International Scientific Conference “Scientific, Administrative and Educational Dimensions of Terminology”. It took place on October 19–20 in Vilnius, at the Institute of the Lithuanian Language, but papers were also presented and attended remotely, with participants connecting by computer from different countries. Over the two days of the conference, several dozen papers were presented. This year there were nearly 40 papers, and even more presenters, since some papers were collaborative, prepared by several researchers. The countries represented by the participants showed that the conference’s geographical reach is expanding: in addition to researchers from Hungary, Georgia, Latvia, Poland, Spain, and other countries, who participate actively, this year papers were also presented by terminologists from Canada, Brazil, and Colombia. The presentation by Canadian speaker Marie-Claude L’Homme set the tone for discussions focused on the scientific dimension of terminology. This invited speaker, who conducts research at the University of Montreal, drew attention to the phenomenon of polysemy, or multiplicity of meaning, which is particularly relevant in terminology and, as her presentation suggested, is becoming increasingly so: the same word denotes related things, but has different meanings depending on the context or situation, as, for example, the adjective žaliasis (English 210 Ramunė Vaskelaitė 5-oji tarptautinė mokslinė konferencija „Moksliniai, administraciniai ir edukaciniai terminologijos lygmenys“ green), which, not only in English, is both an adjective denoting a colour and a word carrying a particular environmental connotation. The examples provided by the speaker showed that in English this problem is compounded by the formal identity of parts of speech characteristic of the language. For example, plant, which can mean both the act of planting (e.g. plants) and replanting (e.g. a forest), can be either a noun or a verb. After considering possible ways of addressing the increasingly pressing problem of polysemy, M.-C. L’Homme proposed turning to the theory of semantic roles developed by Charles Fillmore, the founder of semantic role theory, and presented a methodology elaborated in the course of the FrameNet project. The problem of polysemy was also touched upon, incidentally, in a presentation by Eugenia Mincu and Dorina Macovei, representatives of Moldova State University. None of these conferences is complete without attention to two other phenomena inseparable from the functioning of terms: variation and synonymy. As is well known, in the Lithuanian terminology tradition they are distinguished from one another, whereas in foreign terminology, often based on corpus data, these phenomena are generally studied without emphasizing the distinction or by applying other classification criteria. Thus, without emphasizing the difference between synonyms and variants and also including differences related to concepts, the issue of variation at this conference was considered by invited speaker Pilar León Araúz, who came from Spain. Drawing on two terminological resources, this researcher from the University of Granada highlighted the fact of terminological diversity increasingly revealed by multilingual databases, as well as the fact that reality is conceptualized differently across languages and cultures, although for a long time terminology was dominated by the view that concepts are independent of linguistic differences. Cross-linguistic differences related to both terms and concepts were also revealed in a paper prepared by Beatriz Curti-Contessota and Talita Serpa, representatives of Brazil participating in the conference for the first time. Presenting the paper, Beatriz Curti-Contessota examined terms regulating marital relationships and also drew attention to differences in terminology that arise within a single language. This time, the phenomenon of synonymy was examined by Asta Mitkevičienė and Sigita Rackevičienė. Both presented their papers in English and approached the phenomenon from different perspectives. A. Mitkevičienė, a researcher at the Terminology Centre of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language, whose work focuses on theoretical questions concerning terminological synonymy, drawing on research by Sabela Fernández-Silva and data from two Lithuanian terminology dictionaries, raised the issue of semantic differences among synonyms Terminologija | 2023 | 30 211 (in English, semantic distance) question. Focusing on compound synonymous terms (e.g., emotional stability and emotional constancy; depersonalized data and anonymized data), she proposed distinguishing synonymy with maximum, minimum, and intermediate semantic differences, based on the lexical differences between a term’s constituent parts. Thus, the relationship between a term’s lexical features and synonymy was examined. Sigita Rackevičienė, a researcher at Mykolas Romeris University who studies cybersecurity terms, together with Liudmila Mockiene and Andrius Utka, examined the results of a survey based on synonymy in this field. The survey asked different groups of term users which synonymous terms they would be inclined to prefer. The study, based on the names of 10 concepts and involving 588 respondents representing different groups, revealed varying tendencies. Most respondents seemed inclined to use English-origin terms for familiar concepts (e.g., spam, hacker, or phishing), but for other concepts, students, for example, would adopt a term from English, whereas respondents who had completed their studies would prefer a compound term replacing the foreign word. It was concluded that clarity and precision of a term are most important to all respondent groups, while brevity is not necessarily so. English, in which a particularly large number of metaphorical terms are created, and the multilingual context make not only synonymy and variation, but also metaphorization, or metaphorical terms, prominent terminological concerns. Given that such terms occur in all languages, and drawing on the concept of conceptual metaphors, there is often a tendency in terminology to shift perspectives on this issue as well. For example, at the conference, Réka Sólyom, who sought to identify conceptual metaphors in Hungarian law, noted the principle of unambiguity generally emphasized in traditional terminology, yet was herself inclined to agree with studies asserting that conceptual metaphors help us understand technical language. However, Kätilin Järve from Brussels, who studied how pure metaphors are conveyed in European Union (EU) legislation and in the IATE term base used by its translators, confirmed her hypothesis, based on terms translated into Italian and Estonian, that metaphors tend to be lost in translation. Therefore, at least in these languages, the terminology of legislation as conveyed is not as metaphorical as in English. As she pointed out, metaphors understood by many countries or cultures (e.g., Trojan horse) are not replaced with non-metaphorical expressions in translated texts. 212 Ramunė Vaskelaitė 5-oji tarptautinė mokslinė konferencija „Moksliniai, administraciniai ir edukaciniai terminologijos lygmenys“ Orsolya Hedvig Kardos, representing the Council of the European Union, also revealed the direct efforts being made to take account of differences between countries and cultures when translating EU legislation. As noted, a distinction is made between concepts specific to EU law, universal concepts, and concepts specific to each country. Incidentally, translation and the appropriate rendering of equivalents are popular topics at these conferences, and thus continually relevant. This year, they were also considered by other presenters. Maria Crina Herteg from Romania, drawing on a corpus of translated texts, identified factors that could ensure that translators, who often know less about terminology than specialists in the relevant field, can render it appropriately. Meanwhile, Maria-Cornelia Wermuth from Belgium, drawing on the ontology-based medical nomenclature system SNOMED CT (in English, Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine – Clinical Terminology), which aspires to global reach, revealed the principles guiding the translation of medical ontologies and the difficulties encountered. As became clear, their translation is guided by various guidelines, terminological principles, and ISO standards. However, Barbara Heinisch from Austria, who argued that terminology databases should be oriented more toward diverse users, not only terminologists, observed that following terminological principles or ISO standards alone is not enough for this purpose. Another presenter, Gunnhildur Stefánsdóttir from Iceland, compared two term bases being developed in this country, renowned for safeguarding its own language. One is the Icelandic Term Bank, developed at the Árni Magnússon Institute, named after an Icelandic philologist and historian, and arising from efforts by the public and official institutions to safeguard the Icelandic language; it is inseparable from the tradition of terminological work. The other is the term base of the Terminology Centre of Iceland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs, which arose from the need to translate the terms of EU legislation into Icelandic. Alvydas Umbrasas, a researcher at the Institute of the Lithuanian Language and head of the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language’s Department for Replacing Foreign Words with Lithuanian Equivalents, presented the Lithuanian term base—the Term Bank of the Republic of Lithuania—and noted that the law establishing it was adopted shortly before Lithuania joined the EU. Maria Onyshchuk, a presenter from war-torn Ukraine, analyzed corpora, that is, how a corpus enables the analysis of military medicine terms, while representatives from Hungary used a corpus to examine terms related to the pandemic in Russian and German, a phenomenon that occurred on the eve of war. Marek Łukasik from Poland drew attention to a technology newer than term bases or corpora, only recently put to use—ChatGPT—in a presentation he read expressively. Terminologija | 2023 | 30 213 Each conference reveals that countries are actively seeking ways to improve traditional, reliable tools for terminological data and terminological work—term dictionaries. This year, these efforts were particularly evident in presentations prepared by researchers from Georgia. One presented an illustrated aviation terms dictionary (Marine Osadze, Natela Muzashvili, Robert Khachidze, Vazha Kelikhashvili); another discussed a forthcoming dictionary of ecclesiastical terms while examining distinctive Georgian ecclesiastical terms shaped by various influences (the Byzantine Empire, Russia) (Lia Karosanidze, Linda Giorgadze). There was also another presentation by Georgian terminologists, which argued that an appropriate technical terms dictionary cannot be prepared without first resolving accumulated terminology problems (Manana Erkomaišvili, Nino Dateshidze). Dalia Gedzevičienė, representing Lithuania (Law Institute of the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences), turned to the Dictionary of International Words, considering whether it can be regarded as a source of legal terminology. Latvian presenters focused directly on the terminological planning of their own country. A joint presentation by Daces Šostaka, Juris Borzovs, and Jānis Zuters revealed how efforts are being made to facilitate the work of Latvia’s Terminology Commission, which provides Latvian equivalents for non-Latvian terms but faces an influx of non-Latvian terms from ISO standards and other sources. A joint presentation by representatives of French and Polish universities (François Berkmans, Maxence Bigerelle, Michal Wieczorowski), drawing on a specific domain of term use—film surface terminology—and comparing it with ISO standards, argued that at least in this field the terms in those classification systems are used very little and do not provide precise information; it therefore proposed the need for a new classification system. One presenter at the conference, however—Axel Emert from Germany—discussed in detail ISO 5127, the standard governing information and documentation terminology, and regarded it as having brought about the harmonized terminology used in the field today. The educational dimension of terminology was also much discussed at this event. Ricardo Eito-Brunas from Spain, who has participated in it several times before, presented this year a terminology course recently introduced for students at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. In their presentation, representatives from Hungary (Andrea Barta, Katalin Fogarasi, Éva Katalin Varga) described how the terminology course taught to medical students had been expanded: students are provided with the latest authentic medical documentation as a primary source. A group of presenters from three countries (Irene Arto Escuredo, Maria Bruno, Maria Carmen Staiano) spoke 214 Ramunė Vaskelaitė 5-oji tarptautinė mokslinė konferencija „Moksliniai, administraciniai ir edukaciniai terminologijos lygmenys“ about how the European Parliament-initiated Terminology Without Borders project is being implemented to teach terminology, while a project by speakers from Colombia focused on the educational level revealed that international business students are taught terminology by involving them in compiling a dictionary (Juan Carlos Díaz Vásquez, Sergi Casals Rispau). In a presentation by Infoterm representatives Blanca Stella Giraldo Perez and Christian Galinski, the concept of microlearning (English: microlearning) was introduced, and its links with terminology were discussed, while IgorIs Kudashevas, who teaches a course in terminology management (English: terminology management) at the University of Tampere in Finland, recounted how surprised his students are to learn that the shoemaker goes barefoot—terminologists, at least in Finland, have still not precisely defined the terms terminology management, terminological work, terminography. Thus, the conference addressed all the proposed dimensions of terminology, as well as anticipated and unanticipated aspects. One presentation, delivered by invited speaker Maria Teresa Zanola of Italy, who teaches at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, raised further dimensions and aspects, such as the economic aspect: because products need to be properly described and specified, terminology ensures product quality, while terminological resources enable effective communication. But this speaker placed particular emphasis on the cultural and historical aspects, drawing also on the famous history of Florence: terminology and terminological resources reveal knowledge about language and society, its distinctive character, and traditions past and present; by analyzing terminology or terminological resources, one can discern links between the development of thought and the development of language and vocabulary. The importance of the historical aspect was also evident in the aforementioned presentation by Georgian scholars on ecclesiastical terms, while the history of terminology itself was analyzed in Ágota Fóris’s presentation. It surveyed the development of terminology in Hungary from its very beginnings. The organizer of this international conference, a member of its scientific committee and director of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language, Albina Auksoriūtė, also looked back into history: she discussed the method of term formation used by Jurgis Ambraziejus Pabrėža, one of Lithuania’s most prominent nineteenth-century educators, who wrote a scientific botanical work, Taislius augyminis, at the Franciscan monastery in Kretinga. The method involved terminologizing ordinary folk words. She revealed that the work first collected and presented plant names used in everyday speech. Only a few terms were formed through metaphorization; J. A. Pabrėža’s distinctive method of term formation was widely employed—plants were named after pagan deities and mythological beings (e.g., austėja, Terminologija | 2023 | 30 215 gardūnytis, klemalis, saliavas). Regina Kvašytė, representing the Šiauliai Academy of Vilnius University and the Latvian Language Institute of the University of Latvia, also directed attention to the past; she likewise delivered her presentation in the Lithuanian-language section of the conference. She conveyed the enthusiasm with which various terminology dictionaries were compiled in Latvia during the first half of the twentieth century, including by the Terminology Commission operating there. The other presentations delivered in the Lithuanian-language sections, to summarize them, were mostly concerned with terms and groups of terms, and thus with the scientific dimension of terminology. In her presentation, Jurgita Mikelionienė (Kaunas University of Technology) sought to bring diminutives into the discourse on terminology. As she pointed out, diminutives are widely studied as a feature of fiction or spoken language, but hardly ever as terms. Lina Rutkienė, a researcher at the Terminology Centre of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language, also gave an innovative presentation in terms of its subject: drawing on terms from architecture and construction, she discussed as an object of terminology terms formed through conversion to nouns, and highlighted both the varied circumstances in which they arise and their varying degrees of nominality. Another researcher at the same Terminology Centre, Aušra Rimkutė-Ganusauskienė, chose to discuss a relatively little-studied group of terms—eponymous terms—and focused on eponyms in clothing, such as makintošas, rišelė, gibsonai, Jėzaus sandalai, Brauno diržas, and so on. Palmira Zemlevičiūtė revealed the changes currently affecting depresija, a term generally considered to belong primarily to the field of medicine, while the author of this overview presented a study focused on macroeconomic terms. The guests had the opportunity to continue getting acquainted with Lithuania at the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania. Received 2023-11-20 Ramunė Vaskelaitė Institute of the Lithuanian Language P. Vileišio g. 5, LT-10308 Vilnius Email [email protected] 216 Ramunė Vaskelaitė 5-oji tarptautinė mokslinė konferencija „Moksliniai, administraciniai ir edukaciniai terminologijos lygmenys“