Terminology Events in Moscow

ALBINA AUKSORIŪTĖ

Institute of the Lithuanian Language

In 2008, several events of importance to terminology took place in Moscow. On May 23–24, an international symposium, Terminology and Knowledge, was held at the V. V. Vinogradov Russian Language Institute. The event was organized by the Terminology Center, established at the V. V. Vinogradov Russian Language Institute in September 2007 and headed by Dr. Habil. Sergei Shelov. As stated on the Terminology Center’s website, its goals and objectives are: scholarly research into terminology, specialized vocabulary, and the language of science and technology; scholarly research into Russian language culture in professional fields; preparation and publication of normative terminology collections for scientific purposes; development of terminology databases; assistance in preparing normative scientific terminology and specialized-language dictionaries; expert review of normative terminology dictionaries and standards; and cooperation with other research institutions and international organizations (IIFT, AEFT, Infoterm, Nordterm).

Eighteen scholarly papers were presented at the symposium. Most of the speakers came from Russia; four papers were delivered by guests from Germany, Ukraine, Finland, and Lithuania. The papers can be divided into four thematic groups. Terminology resources and the classification of specialized vocabulary were examined in three papers: Taras Kiyak from Kyiv spoke about the linguistics of professional languages and terminology; Prof. Dr. Habil. Vladimir Leichik examined general typology and the multidimensional classification of specialized vocabulary; and the author of this article surveyed Lithuanian terminology resources, discussing not only terminology dictionaries published in Lithuania but also terminology databases and banks.

Most of the scholars (Larisa Aleksieyeva (Perm), Jelena Golovanova (Chelyabinsk), Larisa Manerko (Ryazan), Serafima Nikitina (Moscow), Valentina Novodranova (Moscow), Tamara Pristaiko (Dnipropetrovsk)

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and Margarita Bondarchuk (Kyiv)) presented papers on problems in cognitive terminology.

Questions of terminography and the formalized representation of knowledge were discussed in three papers. Heribert Picht from Bremervörde spoke about non-verbal graphic objects and the representation of concepts in the humanities; Igor Kudashev, who works in Kouvola (Finland), together with Irina Kudasheva, examined the modelling of logical concept schemes in terminology dictionaries; and Dr. Habil. Sergei Shelov, head of the Terminology Center at the V. V. Vinogradov Russian Language Institute, presented the terminology knowledge base WinTerm and provided an overview of linguistic and computational results.

Papers in the fourth group analyzed the terminology of specific scientific fields. Jelena Nikulina and Valentina Ikonikova (Moscow) spoke about terminological variation in the US legal terminology system; Larisa Ratsiburskaya (Nizhny Novgorod) and Galina Ivanova (Kirov) discussed variation and synonymy in the metalanguage of morphemics and word formation; and Nadezhda Ryabtseva (Moscow) addressed the role of linguistic terminology in organizing and formalizing knowledge to be translated.

The symposium was interesting and useful. Representatives of various Russian terminology schools participated, discussions were extensive, and participants proposed organizing a larger international terminology conference in Moscow.

In 2008, the entire second week of August was devoted to international terminology events. From August 11 to 15, the annual meetings of Technical Committee 37 of the International Organization for Standardization, “Terminology and other language and content resources,” and its subcommittees were held at the Academy of Labour and Social Relations in Moscow; various draft standards and other standardization documents were considered. It was decided to move the secretariat of Technical Committee 37, “Terminology and other language and content resources,” from Vienna to China, and to hold the committee’s 2009 annual meetings in Bogotá, the capital of Colombia.

On August 12, the ninth session of the General Assembly of the International Information Centre for Terminology Infoterm was convened in Moscow. It presented the Infoterm report for 2007 and the auditors’ report for 2007; approved the 2009 budget, the Infoterm work programme for 2009–2012, the work plan for 2008–2009, and the Infoterm Executive Council; and discussed other matters concerning its activities.

The international conference Terminology and Information Interactions—Knowledge and Content Management took place on August 16. Some of the conference papers addressed terminology standardization: Key-Sun Choi (Korea),

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D. Chapin (Great Britain), R. Pohn (Austria), H. J. Kockaert (Belgium); R. Weissing presented the International Organization for Standardization’s database, while A. K. Melby discussed the structure of TBX terminology databases. Two papers were delivered by representatives of Infoterm: Ch. Galinski spoke about terminology on the web—its accessibility, dissemination, and development there—while A. Drame considered the development of strategies for terminology planning and management. Several papers at the conference were presented by Russian scholars: three authors—V. Galkin, A. Kozlov, and S. Grinev—surveyed the theory and practice of terminology standardization in Russia; V. Novodranova discussed the main principles for compiling a dictionary of international morphemes, that is, morphemes of Greek and Latin origin used in Russian; V. Leichik and E. Nikulina analyzed the term, concept, and correlation between a term and what it denotes and expresses from a cognitive perspective; S. Shelov discussed definitions of terms in normative dictionaries; A. Goryachev presented the terminology services provided by the Microsoft corporation in connection with localization.

In her paper, L. Ryčkova from Belarus examined the situation of the Belarusian language and terminology in Belarus, revealing the influence of Russian and English on the Belarusian language and terminology. In a jointly prepared paper, I. Kudaševas and I. Kudaševa, who work in Finland, analyzed the characteristic features of terminology dictionaries intended for translators.

The conference Terminology and Information Interaction – Knowledge and Content Management covered several topics, with scholars from various countries discussing current issues and emerging problems in terminology.

Received 2008-12-19

Albina Auksoriūtė

Institute of the Lithuanian Language

5 P. Vileišio St., LT-10308 Vilnius

Email: [email protected]

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