Jungtinė Lietuvių kalbos instituto ir Lietuvių terminologijos forumo konferencija

Joint Conference of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language and the Lithuanian Terminology Forum RITA DEDONIENĖ Directorate-General for Translation of the European Commission On 1–2 June 2017, the joint conference of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language and the Lithuanian Terminology Forum (LTF) was held in Vilnius for the second time. The conference consisted of two parts: the first day was devoted to discussing theoretical and scholarly issues in terminology, while the second focused more on practical topics. On the first day, the international scholarly conference “Scholarly, Administrative and Educational Levels of Terminology” was held at the Institute of the Lithuanian Language (5 Vileišio St.), while on the second day the annual (seventh) LTF conference took place in the conference hall of Seimas Building III (53 Gedimino Ave.). The conference was organized by the Terminology Centre of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language, the Coordination Group of the Lithuanian Terminology Forum, the Lithuanian Language Department of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Translation (DGT), the Office of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language, the Lithuanian Language Unit of the Directorate-General for Translation of the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union, and Infoterm (International Information Centre for Terminology). The scholarly conference was opened, and the welcome address was delivered, by Prof. Dr. Jolanta Zabarskaitė, Director of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language. She emphasized the importance of conferences discussing theoretical and practical aspects of terminology for language development and everyday usage. According to J. Zabarskaitė, lexicologists name the world, while terminologists create it by defining concepts and developing new terms. The presentations that followed were delivered in English by two invited speakers—Prof. Rute Costa of NOVA University Lisbon and Dr. Christian Galinski of Infoterm. Prof. R. Costa spoke about the role of texts in studying terminology and described the methods of terminology work at NOVA University Lisbon. According to the speaker, specialized texts are the most effective means of mutual understanding and communication within a community of specialists; they reveal not only established concepts and their relationships, but also disciplinary debate reflecting the development of concepts, which makes texts very important in terminology work- Terminologija | 2017 | 24 195 work. She also emphasized the role of the subject-field expert in creating concept maps, and the importance of the connection between terminology and other fields, such as linguistics, computer science, knowledge engineering, and computer engineering. The next invited guest, Dr. Ch. Galinski, gave a very interesting presentation entitled “The Internet of Things: Myths and Reality.” The speaker surveyed terminology issues related to the Internet of Things and emphasized the pace of change brought about by it. He mentioned terms for the digital world that are currently in frequent use, such as e-banking, e-purchases, e-health, and offered many interesting examples and facts about smart and connected devices and their impact on society, business, communication, and language. For example, the growing popularity of 3D printers is reducing the need to store goods, since a desired product (item) can be “printed” on such a printer precisely when it is needed. However, many issues concerning the Internet of Things and cyberspace remain unresolved—data security, privacy, trust in cyberspace, cybercrime, and so on. Nevertheless, according to the speaker, the Internet of Things without content is merely technology; it is therefore essential to discuss the quality of content, information, and data, their interpretation, and their flexible, decentralized management. It seems that the main challenge now is to cope with the abundance of information and name new phenomena, while less attention is being paid to the development of terminology as a field of study and the evolution of theoretical thought. After the invited guests’ presentations, work continued in four sections: two sections ran in parallel at any one time, so participants had to choose the presentations that interested them most. And there was certainly plenty to choose from: more than 20 presentations were delivered. Their authors were specialists from Lithuania and guests from Latvia, Estonia, Belarus, Poland, the Kaliningrad region, Georgia, the Netherlands, Austria, Croatia, Portugal, Spain, and even distant Colombia. The range of topics was broad, from analyses of theoretical issues in terminology to studies of the distinctive features of professional language. The first section addressed the specific features of terminology work. For example, Peep Nemvalts, a guest from Estonia, spoke about teaching terminology at Tallinn University and the management of Estonian terms. According to the speaker, one of the most important indicators of a term’s functionality is univocity, although polysemy cannot always be avoided. The speaker illustrated this statement with the example of the term terminology. Jan Roukens, a speaker from the Netherlands, surveyed the European Commission’s terminology policy from 1992 to 1999, while Viačeslav Ščerbin of the Centre for Systems Analysis and Strategic Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus spoke about the need to strengthen links between Belarusian industrial enterprises and science 196 Rita Dedonienė Jungtinė Lietuvių kalbos instituto ir Lietuvių terminologijos forumo konferencija cooperation among institutions in the fields of information exchange and terminology, compile reference works on the latest areas of science and industry, and improve professional language, since a comprehensive context for a term can be found only in specialized monographs and specialized encyclopedias. The second session focused more closely on theoretical aspects of terminology. Markas Paura (Vilnius University) presented the idea of an expanded term entry. In addition to standard data, a term entry could provide various kinds of supplementary information, for example, about the formation of the term, its historical development, and its place in a system of hierarchical relations. This would have educational value and help give meaning to terminographic research. Jurgita Mikelionienė (Kaunas University of Technology) examined aspects of appellativization in terminology. The speaker illustrated this method of creating names for concepts with numerous eponymous terms from various fields and discussed the motivations behind their emergence. Violeta Černiauskaitė (Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania) surveyed the work and directions involved in the formation, study, and standardization of librarians’ professional vocabulary. Nijolė Bliūdžiuvienė (Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania, Vilnius University) discussed issues concerning the explanation of concepts and the proposal of new terms in dissertations in the fields of communication and information sciences. The session concluded with a presentation by Egidijus Zaikauskas (European Commission). In his presentation, he examined the functions of term metatags in translations: they can indicate a term’s novelty, exotic character, metaphorical nature, relationship to language norms, and so on. The afternoon sessions focused primarily on the professional language of specialized fields, the management of their terminology, and specific research. A number of presentations in the third session addressed methodological issues in terminology management and research. Ivana Šutej of the School of Dental Medicine at the University of Zagreb presented FARMANA, a multilingual pharmacological term database being developed to organize Croatian pharmacological terminology and ensure its more consistent use. The terms included in this database are collected from the most important pharmacology publications. Blanca Stella Giraldo Perez (“Infoterm”) also examined questions concerning the methodology and pragmatics of compiling a terminology glossary. Elena Logunova (Kaliningrad State Technical University) discussed the application of frame semantics methodology in terminology and a study, using this methodology, of economic terms used in online forums. Aleksandra Makowska (University of Łódź) investigated terms in microelectronics, telecommunications, and computing on the basis of specialized corpus data. Anita Butāne of the Latvian Language Institute at the University of Latvia spoke about the creation of botanical terms: very often, terms are simply translated from other languages. Terminologija | 2017 | 24 197 For example, the Latin term Helianthus (< Greek helios ‘sun’ + anthos ‘flower’) is likewise rendered in many other languages as “sun flower” (because of its visual resemblance) or “a flower that turns toward the sun”—Lithuanian saulėgrąža, Latin solsequium, Italian tornasole, German Sonnenwende, Russian solncevo-rot; and also German Sonnenblume, English sunflower, Latvian saulgrieze and saulespuķe. In Latvia, specialists in the field often consider literal translation to be the main way of creating botanical terms, and note that many such terms follow the Latin or other-language model. Following the Latin example, a plant’s name corresponds to its scientific name, but popular or traditional plant names are lost. Guest from Colombia María Cecilia Plested-Alvarez (University of Antioquia) discussed the challenges subject experts face in practical training for terminology work: they find it difficult to distinguish terminology from lexicology, a word from a term, and to understand how concepts are defined. She presented the practical training process: from finding concept definitions, creating definitions for new concepts, and creating terms to name them, to harmonizing terminology through validation seminars. The fourth session began with a presentation on the automatic identification of Lithuanian terms and collocations. Erika Rimkutė (Vytautas Magnus University) surveyed a collaborative project aimed at developing a methodology for studying fixed word combinations. Dr. RasUolė Vladarskienė of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language surveyed issues concerning the scope, management, and actual use of creative-industry terminology. As technology becomes increasingly pervasive throughout the 21st century, creativity is emerging as a particularly important competency for the modern employee. The term creative industries has emerged and gained popularity, denoting a very broad concept encompassing a field of activity where business, communication, technology, culture, and art converge. Because of the field’s diversity, its terminology is managed very unevenly: for example, the core terms of traditional art forms are fairly well organized, several well-prepared dictionaries have been published, and standardized terms are provided in encyclopedias and scholarly literature; however, the situation is more difficult for communication-related terms, where online dictionaries and glossaries are especially widespread and often offer jargon or professional slang to denote specialized concepts used in narrow contexts. Several presentations were devoted to information technology and computing terminology. Dr. Albina Auksoriūtė of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language gave a presentation on synonymy and the development of information technology and computing terms. Dr. Robertas Stunžinas (Institute of the Lithuanian Language) examined metaphorical computer- 198 Rita Dedonienė Jungtinė Lietuvių kalbos instituto ir Lietuvių terminologijos forumo konferencija terminology. Attention was also paid to public attitudes toward the Lithuanianization of information technology and computing terms: Asta Mitkevičienė (Institute of the Lithuanian Language) investigated public attitudes by drawing on online discourse—discussions, comments, and blogs (2004–2015). To sum up the presentations from the first day, two aspects could be singled out: 1) terminologists are increasingly moving into translation; more and more needs to be translated, and the expression of concepts in various languages must also be harmonized; 2) trends in information technology and computing terminology, and public attitudes toward them. The presentation by A. Mitkevičienė of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language mentioned above offers grounds for optimism: despite certain attitudes and the evident need for terminology education, almost no one now questions the need to seek Lithuanian terms. As Dr. R. Vladarskienė summarized the work of the sections at the end of the conference, “it was a broad and comprehensive look at the past, present, and prospects of terminology. One presentation complemented or continued another—a true gathering of like-minded people.” In conclusion, it should also be noted that the first part of the joint conference provided an excellent introduction to the meeting on the second day of the conference. On the second day, the Lithuanian Terminology Forum (LTF) conference took place, bringing together nearly 150 terminologists, translators, editors, and specialists from EU and Lithuanian institutions and academic establishments. A small group of colleagues from the Council of the EU and Lithuania’s Permanent Representation to the EU also participated via a video link with Brussels. The conference opened with a welcoming address by Irena Degutienė, Deputy Speaker of the Seimas, who emphasized the importance of ensuring that legal acts are written in correct, fluent Lithuanian. Speaking after her, LTF Chair Arūnas Butkevičius (European Commission) reviewed what the LTF had accomplished over the past year and what terminology work it planned to undertake. Rita Dedonienė (European Commission) briefly described the conference “Scientific, Administrative and Educational Levels of Terminology,” held the previous day at the Institute of the Lithuanian Language. This year’s LTF conference presentations focused on two main topics: issues concerning Lithuanian legal terminology, and terminology related to online security and data protection. Presentations on legal terminology were given by Dr. Alvydas Umbrasas (the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language and the Institute of the Lithuanian Language), Dr. Haroldas Šinkū- Terminologija | 2017 | 24 199 nas (Vilnius University) and Dr Sigita Rackevičienė (Mykolas Romeris University). Arnoldas Judinas (Communications Regulatory Authority), Dr M. Paura (Vilnius University) and Dr Sigita Stankevičienė (European Commission) spoke about threats in cyberspace and the terminology of this field. After lunch, conference participants discussed current issues in terminology in three workshops. 1. Terminology of EU and Republic of Lithuania legislation on data protection and security in the information space (led by Dr S. Rackevičienė and Vitalija Špokienė). Workshop participants discussed the current state of legal terminology and emerging needs. What research, dictionaries or terminology databases are most lacking for lawyers, translators and editors today? In view of the needs of different groups, it should be noted that there is a shortage of bilingual and multilingual legal terminology dictionaries; French and Polish dictionaries are particularly lacking. It would also be very useful to compile comprehensive dictionaries for individual areas of law, such as European law and related fields. Everyone agreed that today’s users need reliable dictionaries, professionally compiled and tailored to specific needs. Special computer programs can be used to compile such dictionaries, facilitating the search, selection, sorting, presentation and analysis of terms. Computer-assisted terminography opens up many new opportunities and methods, but existing resources must also be used wisely. For example, legal terms accumulated in the Lithuanian Terminology Bank and the IATE terminology database should be regularly managed, updated and further expanded. Clearly, the management of legal terminology is very important and responsible work, since concepts that are understood and designated consistently are not only the concern of terminologists or subject specialists, but also a foundation for the quality of the work of society’s institutions. 2. The present and future of Lithuanian legal terminology (led by S. Stankevičienė and Inga Rimkevičienė). The workshop began with an overview of recently adopted and forthcoming EU and Republic of Lithuania legislation and a brief summary of the terminological difficulties encountered in translating, drafting or transposing it into national law. The question was raised as to which new Lithuanian terms are already needed or will soon be needed. The discussion, which began slowly, picked up when participants turned to specific terms. There was much discussion of possible Lithuanian equivalents for the term computer hygiene proposed by ENISA. Participants considered whether the term computer hygiene would be suitable and sufficiently clear, and whether other terms containing the element hygiene might emerge—in other words, whether a system of such concepts would take shape. It was agreed that such a term could be used when discussing recommendations for safe computer use 200 Rita Dedonienė | Jungtinė Lietuvių kalbos instituto ir Lietuvių terminologijos forumo konferencija intended for private individuals, but it is difficult to imagine using it when discussing legal security requirements. There was also a brief discussion of Lithuanian equivalents for other data and information network security terms, such as data localization, data harvesting, and so on. It was noted that there is no shared concept for addressing the problem posed by such new metaphorical terms, and that terminologists at various institutions could discuss the issue and perhaps reach agreement. 3. Metaphor in information technology terminology (led by Dr R. Stunžinas and Dr M. Paura). At the outset, R. Stunžinas proposed discussing new cybersecurity and computer protection metaphors borrowed from English, e.g.: ransomware, crimeware, scareware, greyware, blended malware, dumpster diving, and others. Participants discussed whether metaphors should be abandoned or whether the concepts should instead be designated using non-figurative terms. Some new metaphors may cause confusion. For example, the English element host can designate both a main device (host computer – main computer) and an object that can be infected (host application – an application that can be infected). The English term host, used with computer, would designate both the main computer and a computer that could be infected. M. Paura presented a host of metaphorical terms denoting malware: victim, target, payload, infection, carrier. In his view, if the main computer security terms are metaphorical, related terms may also be metaphorical. The lively discussion among workshop participants showed that the problem of transferring metaphorical meaning from one field of science to another is particularly important in rapidly changing computing. The closing remarks at the conference were delivered by Dr Daiva Vaišnienė, Chair of the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language. She highlighted the importance of terminologists’ work for the smooth administration of institutions and the state as a whole. She also stressed the need for well-compiled terminology dictionaries in various fields and for properly functioning terminology databases that are regularly maintained and updated, such as the Republic of Lithuania Terminology Bank and IATE. Received 2017-11-14 Rita Dedonienė Europos Komisija Bâtiment T2 02/C004, 1-7 Boulevard Pierre Frieden, L-1543 Luxembourg, Luxembourg E. paštas [email protected] Terminologija | 2017 | 24 201