Professional Development Courses

Summer Professional Development School for Young Terminologists of the Baltic States

ROBERTAS STUNŽINAS

Institute of the Lithuanian Language

On September 4–8, 2006, professional development courses in terminology organized under the project “Developing the Capacities of Lithuanian Scientists as Lithuania Integrates into the European Union Infrastructure” Summer Professional Development School for Young Terminologists of the Baltic States were held at the Institute of the Lithuanian Language. The course lecturers were Lithuanian and foreign scholars; participants included employees of Lithuanian and Latvian research and government institutions, lecturers, doctoral students, and students.

The professional development courses were opened and most of the course sessions were taught by Professor and Academician S. Grinev-Griniewiczius of the Białystok University of Finance and Management. The lecture series Logical, Semantic, and Onomasiological Aspects of Terminology began with fundamental questions of terminology: the concepts of terminology, terminological vocabulary, and term; the relationship between terminology science and other disciplines; and the role of terminology in an expanding scientific community. The professor introduced the principal theorists of terminology and identified the main directions in terminology work and terminology management. Other parts of the lecture series addressed terminological vocabulary and its place in language, the most important features and characteristics of terms, and the genetic, structural, semantic, and functional typology of terms. Discussing the place of nomens in terminology science, the speaker also described other units of specialized vocabulary: prototerms, professionalisms, terminoids, preterms, and quas terms.

In the parts of the lecture series devoted to logical aspects of terminology, S. Grinev-Griniewiczius discussed the conception, types, categories, and relations of scientific concepts, and mentioned the most characteristic errors in defining scientific concepts. Addressing the semasiological aspects of terminology, he emphasized the possible semantic mismatches between the concepts denoted by terms and lexical meanings, briefly discussed term synonymy and its types, and mentioned other terminological phenomena—paronymy, polysemy, and homonymy.

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Discussing the onomasiological aspects of terminology, the lecturer described the structural types of terms and listed the types and subtypes of specialized nomination. He highlighted the role of the oldest layer of specialized vocabulary in the formation of terminological systems and identified semantic, morphological, and syntactic methods of term formation. Term borrowing and adaptation were also discussed. Concluding the lecture series, S. Grinev-Griniewiczius briefly introduced topics in semiotics as they relate to terminology and spoke about a new branch of linguistics, anthropolinguistics.

The history of Lithuanian terminography was discussed by Dr. J. Klimavičius, senior research fellow at the Institute of the Lithuanian Language. The terminologist emphasized that for a long time terminographic work had been carried out by individual enthusiastic intellectuals, mostly botanists. Organized terminography began with discussions of neologisms for terms by specialists who had gathered around Jonas Jablonskis in Voronezh, in the rear during the First World War, and with the establishment of a school of terminology. Dictionary of Contemporary Lithuanian (1954) ushered in a decade of major terminographic output. During the years of the Second Republic of Lithuania, a genuine breakthrough in terminography began, with around 200 dictionaries and glossaries published. A major impetus was provided by the State Language Use and Development Programme for 1996–2005. Documents on the preparation and approval of terminological dictionaries were adopted. Several major multilingual terminological dictionaries were published. J. Klimavičius emphasized the marked imbalance between quantity and quality. For now, terminographic work is not considered scientific, and its planning, organization, and coordination have not been institutionalized. The heyday of terminographic work remains out of sight.

V. Žalkauskas, senior research fellow at Vilnius University, spoke about tools for terminology management and the principles of creating terminological databases. The lecturer briefly described possible approaches to terminology management in MS Word, MS Exel environments, discussed the largest terminology databases in Lithuania and abroad, and outlined the main database management systems. The lecturer devoted most of the time to the MS Access database creation program. After identifying the main advantages of this system, V. Žalkauskas discussed and demonstrated the stages involved in creating a terminology database.

N. J. Matulevičienė, senior specialist at the Ministry of Culture and lecturer at Mykolas Romeris University, spoke about general matters of copyright in terminology work. The lawyer described the concept of copyright, the objects it does and does not protect, and the subject of copyright; introduced the general provisions on intellectual property; and identified the sources of copyright. She explained the concept of a copyright agreement and identified the main copyright

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and other types of contracts. Speaking about copyright in terminological work, N. J. Matulevičienė emphasized that the criteria for protecting the results of terminological work are originality, the result of creative activity, and an objective form of expression. The lecturer listed the special legal protection provisions for database creators (sui generis).

The cycle of qualification courses concluded with a lecture by the Vice-Rector of the Institute of Languages and Cultures, Habil. Dr. S. Šelov, on Conceptual fields and conceptual structure in terminology. Having introduced the concepts of semantic terminology structure and conceptual fields, the lecturer spoke mainly about problems of precision in conceptual fields. The lecturer illustrated issues relating to conceptual fields and conceptual structure in the terminologies of various fields with the terminology data management program WinTerm.

The participants in the qualification courses were presented with certificates. It is hoped that such regional terminology training courses for the Baltic countries will become a tradition and will also be organized in the coming years.

Received 2006-12-04

Robertas Stunžinas Lietuvių kalbos institutas P. Vileišio g. 5, LT–10308 Vilnius E. paštas [email protected]

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