Markas Paura. THE SEMANTIC FIELD OF THE CONCEPT COMPUTER VIRUS. DOCTORAL DISSERTATION. Vilnius: Vilnius University, 2014, 246 pp.

ROBERTAS STUNŽINAS

Institute of the Lithuanian Language

On December 12, 2014, at Vilnius University, Markas Paura defended his doctoral dissertation, The Concept of Computer Virus Semantic Field (scientific advisor Prof. Nijolė Maskaliūnienė, PhD).

In his dissertation, M. Paura seeks to develop a Lithuanian microsystem of the term computer virus and examines 177 terms in the computer virus field. The dissertation consists of an introduction, three main sections, conclusions and recommendations, lists of resources (26 entries) and references (95 entries), 22 appendices, and 8 dendrograms. The appendices (over 260 tables) present third-level terms related to those examined in the main sections of the dissertation, together with their equivalents in various languages.

The introduction states that this is a new and relevant study. After analyzing the online computer-threat glossary “Threat Explorer” produced by antivirus software developer “Symantec Corporation,” the author observed that many English names for types of computer viruses have no Lithuanian equivalents. In addition, he found that “in Lithuanian print and online publications, the concept of computer virus is insufficiently differentiated, and the terms used to convey it are often conflated with other concepts belonging to the field of computer security and the terms denoting them

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<...>” (p. 6). The study is relevant because Lithuanian computer-virus terminology has hitherto been investigated only fragmentarily, with most attention devoted to the correctness of term forms rather than the accuracy with which they describe the content of the concepts they denote.

The first main section presents the understanding of the principal terminological concepts used to analyze the object of study. The second section describes the concept of computer virus, its characteristics, and its relationship to other concepts used in computer virology, such as worm, Trojan horse, macrovirus. The third section examines and describes the microsystems of terms related to the concept of virus in English, French, and Lithuanian. Existing Lithuanian term definitions are refined or new ones proposed as needed. The hyponyms of the term computer virus are classified according to the concepts they denote; terms denoting generic concepts are discussed first, followed by those denoting specific concepts. The 22 appendices to the dissertation present Lithuanian and other-language terms related to those examined in the main sections, along with their synonyms and variants. The 8 dendrograms show how individual parts of the microsystem of the term computer virus could be represented according to particular distinguishing features.

In his conclusions, M. Paura states that the identified semantic paradigmatic relations help construct a classification scheme for the term virus, which clearly shows the relations among terms in the subject field of computer virology. In addition, the new method of analyzing terminological data about concepts applied in the dissertation (top-down analysis) revealed the possibility of studying conceptual systems. The author also found that most terms in this field arose through internal borrowing from fields such as medicine, biology, law, military affairs, and psychology. He further notes that terms in the virus semantic field vary considerably and that there are many synonyms. In his recommendations, the author suggests taking into account that the core concept of the microsystem, virus, is of non-Lithuanian origin, and therefore resources from languages other than Lithuanian should also be used to create terminology in this field. He points out that matters concerning conceptual content should not be neglected, proposes refining existing conceptual systems, and recommends subdividing Lithuanian computing terminology more finely.

2 1 2 Robertas Stunžinas

M. Paura’s dissertation, The concept computer virus semantic field, is a well-considered and carefully prepared, topical scholarly work. It is a significant contribution to Lithuanian terminology, and an interesting and useful work for computing specialists, translators, and the public.

Received 2015-09-02

Robertas Stunžinas

Institute of the Lithuanian Language

5 P. Vileišio St., LT-10308 Vilnius

Email: [email protected]

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