Terminology Standards in the Aspect of Harmonization for International Term Database

Terminology Standards in the Aspect of Harmonization for International Term Database VALENTINA SKUJINA, ILZE IRENA ILZINA, ANDREJS VASILJEVS, JURIS BORZOVS Terminology Commission at the Academy of Sciences of Latvia Riga Information Technology Institute Tilde INTRODUCTION After joining the European Union every facet of social, political and scientific life in Latvia had to meet the claims of globalization and had to adjust to them. Terminology was not an exception. Terminologists in the multilingual society of EU had to meet the challenge of creating a common platform for main players in the field of terminology and to represent the abundance of terms encountered in every area of everyday life. Communication and interaction on international level has become a “must", the changing of messages with other languages is a rather commonplace happening. Nevertheless the messages have to transfer information in such a way that the receiver may interpret it correctly and without mistakes. Necessity of establishing conformance between terms in multilingual communication and corresponding data exchange requires the standardization of term structure and creating of multilingual database. This is a rather urgent problem and has not to be put off for a long time. It is the main purpose of launching a project EuroTermBank of creating European digital content for the global networks — Collection of Pan-European Terminology Resources through Cooperation of Terminology Institutions to promote linguistic diversity in the information society. Participants of the project are from institutions of different countries: Germany, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia. Latvia is also the coordinator of the project. At the very beginning of the project we have stated, that the development process of terminology in different countries is rather scattered and Terminologija | 2006 | 13 17 there is no unification of it. This paper offers some conclusions of Latvian experience [11] and marks some ways for problem solving. EuroTermBank project involves a hierarchy of different tasks and topics, and every step of the project needs coordination and harmonization with other project participants. In the area of standardization we distinguish three sets of problems where international harmonization is needed: — the general regulations for term and their definition creating; — the selection of multilingual terms and the evaluation of their quality in subject field term dictionaries and international standards; — the coding of terminological material and technical processing for multilingual database input. The harmonization also may be classified on different levels. — To arrange the terminology process on national and international level all the partners have to come on terms about uniform methodology principles for ensuring compatibility of terminological resources. Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in collaboration with other EU partners have already made their contribution, it is time to implement them. — For multilingual database a basic unified core of terms has to be developed which may be supplemented by equivalent terms in different languages. One language — for standardized terms and definitions — is advisable as the main language. — The design of data categories, data structures and exchange formats came to light as well as the necessity of digitalization and modification of terminological resources according to harmonized structural and technical requirements. GENERAL REGULATIONS FOR THE CREATION OF TERMS AND THEIR DEFINITIONS General regulations for the creation of terms and their definitions are internationally standardized by International Organization of Standardization (ISO). As it is defined in ISO 1087-1:2000 [3], the term is “verbal designation of a general concept in a specific subject field”, and the definition is “representation of a concept by a descriptive statement which serves to differentiate it from related concepts”. Besides, the nature of definitions and definition writing is regulated by ISO 704 [1], ISO 860 [2], ISO 10241 [4], and described in terminology theory [10]. 18 Valentina Skujina et al. | Terminology Standarts in the Aspect of... As our main aim is to establish the harmonization aspect of multilingual databases, let us consider the difference between the two concepts — harmonization and unification. Latvian terminologist E. Drezen had explained and specified the concept of unification in his book "Internationalization of Scientific-technical Terminology” [8] in 1936. And for many years the unification of concepts and terms was on the top of attention both on a national and international level, for instance, the multilingual term base IOUTN in Warsaw at the end of 20th century was based exactly on the principle of unification. Let us compare the content of the both terms — unification and harmonization — using Oxford Dictionary. Unification and Harmonization in Comparison unification harmonization (Oxford Dictionary) (Oxford Dictionary) unification — the act or an instance of harmonize — (2) (often followed by with) unifying; the state of being unified; bring into or be in harmony; unify — reduce to unity or uniformity; harmony — (2) an apt or aesthetic arunity — (1) oneness; being one, single, rangement of parts; or individual; being formed of parts that (3) agreement, concord. constitute a whole. Conclusion: Unification is different from harmonization. The main essence of it we can express with the word uniformity, but the main goal of harmonization is to reach concord, that means coordination, proportional adequacy, appropriate meaning, and prevention of discrepancies. General regulations of harmonization process are internationally standardized by ISO 860. According to this standard the harmonization process is as follows: — Harmonization starts with a comparison of the involved concept systems in terms of number of concepts, relations between concepts, depth of structure and type of characteristics leading to the construction of harmonised concept systems. — All the concepts must then be analysed by comparing the definitions. Terminologija | 2006 | 13 19 If the definitions differ, it must be decided whether the difference is relevant or irrelevant. If relevant, it means that there are indeed two or more different concepts involved that must be defined and placed in the concept system. — The essential (named also as “defining") characteristics for the harmonized concepts have to be established. — When the concepts are harmonized, the terms can be harmonized taking into account the differences and similarities between languages, the tradition of term formation in the subject field and in a given language as well as the already established terminology. The terms concept harmonization and term harmonization are playing important role, and they are included in the standard of terms and definitions ISO 1087: concept harmonization (3.6.5) term harmonization (3.6.6) Activity for reducing or eliminating Activity leading to the designation of one minor differences between two or more concept in different languages by terms concepts which are already closely rewhich reflect the same or similar charlated to each other. acteristics or have the same or slightly different forms. NOTE: Concept harmonization is an integral part of terminology standardization. By creating multilingual databases these harmonizing aspects are rather urgent and important — to coordinate, to prevent discrepancies, to reach mutual adequacy between concepts and terms. In short, we do not need to unify, but according to peculiarity of every language try to harmonize the multilingual terms for the database. From these definitions we may deduce, that at the concept level it is important to define more exactly concepts, which are closely related to each other, preventing possible differences. At the same time language systems are different, and at the term level not always it is possible to express the same concept with similar designation. Nevertheless for definition creating and term-building it is important to express the essential characteristics of 20 Valentina Skujina et al. | Terminology Standarts in the Aspect of... the concept by terms in different languages. This is a fundamental request by creating transnational databases and establishing their practical usability. The formal similarity of the corresponding terms in different languages, of course, is welcome. What do we mean by essential characteristics of a concept? In the theory of terminology just as in logic we distinguish the necessary and the sufficient characteristics for accomplishing the task of classification of every concept and term in a definite subject field concept and term system. The place of a concept in a definite concept system is determined by vertical (for superordinate or subordinate concepts) and horizontal (for two or more subordinated i.e. coordinated, adjacent concepts) characteristics. For example, in a horizontal aspect we cannot announce as an essential characteristic for the concept ‘tree’ the concept ‘green leaves’, because also bushes and caulescent plants do have leaves. How would it be possible to characterize a tree or the concept of all trees? It could be characterized by being a perennial plant, but it differs from other perennial plants by having a wood-fibre trunk and a crown. Two following schemes are given to illustrate the concept and term analysis and system creating process taking into account vertical and horizontal characteristics. Figure 1. Concepts divided on the base of vertical characteristics Superordinated ‘a plant’ ‘a furniture’ concept t t t Subordinated/ Superordinated ‘a tree’ ‘a chair’ concept t t t Subordinated ‘a conifer’ ‘an arm-chair’ concept Terminologija | 2006 | 13 21 Figure 2. Subordinated concepts divided on the base of horizontal characteristics ‘a plant’ ‘a tree’ ‘a bush’ ‘a caulescent plant’ (‘with a trunk’) (‘with a bough’) (‘with a stalk’) ‘a chair’ ‘a bed’ > ‘a table’ (“for sitting’) (‘for sleeping’) a (‘for eating’) Classification of concepts according the appropriate vertical and horizontal characteristics is the way of creating the definite concept system from corresponding concept field in any subject field and language. For better comprehension of the concepts and terms concept field and concept system let us compare both definitions given in ISO 1087: concept field (3.2.10) concept system (3.2.11) Unstructured set of thematically related | Set of concepts structured according to concepts. the relations among them. On the term level the different elements of terms are field and system. On the definition level the essential characteristic which separates the concepts included into terms is connected with structuring: term-element field is assigned to a set without definite structure, the term-element system — to a structured set. Essential characteristic which should be mentioned in both cases is the notion of thematically related concepts. In the second definition it is implicitly included in the combination of words according to the relations. By creating multilingual database the necessity of coming to a unified basic term core in the main language (the pivot language) is a must. Afterwards it may be expanded by equivalents of other languages, so representing a cluster of the term in different languages. This core should be represented in the pivot language, the essential characteristics of the term being represented in the definitions. 22 Valentina Skujina et al. | Terminology Standarts in the Aspect of... ORGANIZATIONS WHOSE STANDARDS ARE USED TO CREATE LATVIAN ICT SUBJECT FIELD TERMS As an example of selection of multilingual terms and the evaluation of their guality in branch terminology let us consider problems of harmonization and standardization in ICT subcommission of Terminology Commission of Latvian Academy of Sciences (TC of LAS). First of all, we have to understand the concept of a term, to check main (essential) characteristics and to develop egual definition of a concept. All the multilingual terminologists have to consider, explore and follow some common source model of terms. As several organizations in different branches have developed recommendations and standards of terminology including also vocabularies and glossaries of terms, this task may be facilitated. Let us mention only some of these organizations, as their standards we have used to create Latvian ICT terms. — The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) — an international standard organization dealing with electrical, electronic and related technologies. Some of its standards are developed jointly with ISO. — The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) — a leading developer of international standards that underpin many of today's products and services, particularly in telecommunications, information technology and power generation. With an active portfolio of nearly 1,300 standards and projects under development, they are the central source for standardization in a broad range of emerging technologies. — The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) — an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from national standards bodies. The organization produces world-wide industrial and commercial standards, the so-called ISO standards. — Nevertheless many ICT companies, creators of hardware and software, are developing their own standards which sometimes are rather widespread and at the very end get the status of national branch standards. — Multilingual international databases are also essential support for term creating. Terminologija | 2006 | 13 23 IF THE TERM IN SOURCE LANGUAGE IS POLYSEMANTIC ... Databases of standard terminology terms are given in several languages, but in ICT Latvian terminologists prefer to work with the English databases and create definitions of terms according to them. Nevertheless even in one language the same term in different applications may have different meanings. Before starting the task of international harmonization of a term we have to fix the branch of its application and search out if it is used in other branches as well. The explanation of the keyword security the three of mentioned standard organizations represent as 1) in computer science — the existence and enforcement of techniques which restrict access to data, and the conditions under which data may be obtained; 2) in electricity — the ability of an electric power system to suitably respond to disturbances arising within that system, including both local and widespread disturbances and the loss of major generation and transmission facilities; 3) in ordnance — measures taken by a command to protect itself from espionage, observation, sabotage, annoyance, or surprise; a condition which results from the establishment and maintenance of protective measures which ensure a state of inviolability from hostile acts or influences; protection of supplies or supply establishments against enemy attack, fire, theft, and sabotage. In these cases one and the same English term security regardless of different definitions in different subject fields (computer science, electricity, ordnance) expresses the same basic concept, and therefore it is possible on the base of this concept to appropriate one term as equivalent in Latvian too — drosiba (at least, in main meaning of this word). Not always the same term in Latvian will cover all the meanings of an English (source) term, because rather often one term describes different entities. Sometimes there is one corresponding Latvian term, sometimes for one English term different Latvian terms are created. The term record is used: 1) in computer data processing — a collection of data items arranged for processing by a program; 2) in a database — (sometimes called a row) is a group of fields within a table that are relevant to a specific entity; 24 Valentina Skujina et al. | Terminology Standarts in the Aspect of... 3) in Virtual Telecommunications Access Method, IBM's proprietary telecommunications access method for mainframes and part of its Systems Network Architecture (SNA) — the unit of data that is transmitted from sender to receiver. For the first and second case the corresponding Latvian term is ieraksts, for the third case — bloks. The term frame is used: 1) in telecommunications — data that is transmitted between network points as a unit complete with addressing and necessary protocol control information; 2) in film and video recording and playback — a single image in a sequence of images that are recorded and played back; 3) in computer video display technology — the image that is sent to the display image rendering devices. In the first case frame is translated into Latvian as kadrs, in the other cases as ietvars. Sometimes different branches of terminology having developed independently and having used different source languages even by explaining the same meaning of a term, use different Latvian equivalents of it, and the use of them justify by the long-time usage of the very term. This case may be illustrated by translation the English term reliability, which in ICT usage is translated as uzticamiba, according to its definition: reliability is the ability of a system to perform and maintain its functions in routine circumstances, as well as hostile or unexpected circumstances. In power sector the same term is used drosums. This situation illustrates that before term harmonization on international level the first harmonization step — general regulations of term and their definition creating should be done on national level in a target language. EUROTERMBANK - INTERNATIONAL PROJECT FOR TERMINOLOGY CONSOLIDATION Consolidation and harmonization of terminology data on international level has been the main task of EuroTermBank project 0. EuroTermBank goal is to collect, harmonise and disseminate terminology resources in new EU member states. 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B-rpersux, Heobxomuma nocrosHHas pabora Hal ycoBepuieHCTBOBaHUEM HM 06HOBIIEHHeM TEpMHKHO/JIOTHUeCKON 6a3bI JaHHBIX HA KAX/IOM U3 S3BIKOB. Gauta 2006-11-13 Valentina Skujina Terminology Commission at the Academy of Sciences of Latvia Akademijas lauk. 1, Riga, LV-1050, Latvia E-mail: [email protected] lize Ilzina Riga Information Technology Institute Kuldigas iela 45b, Riga, LV-1083, Latvia E-mail: [email protected] Andrejs Vasiljevs Tilde Vienibas gatve 75a, Riga, LV-1004, Latvia E-mail: [email protected] Juris Borzovs Riga Information Technology Institute Kuldigas iela 45b, Riga, LV-1083, Latvia E-mail: [email protected] 32 Valentina Skujina et al. | Terminology Standarts in the Aspect of...