In:Theoretical Perspectives on Terminology: Explaining terms, concepts and specialized knowledge
Edited by Pamela Faber and Marie-Claude L'Homme
[Terminology and Lexicography Research and Practice 23] 2022
► pp. 197–216
Chapter 9Cultural Terminology
An introduction to theory and method
Published online: 14 June 2022
https://doi.org/10.1075/tlrp.23.09dik
https://doi.org/10.1075/tlrp.23.09dik
Abstract
The aim of Cultural Terminology is not the international harmonization of multilingual terminologies but the appropriation of knowledge and know-how by a specific speaker community rooted in its culture. Cultural Terminology puts the human being at the center of the terminological process. The human being, both as an individual and a community, is a cultural being who constantly creates culture through a mechanism of appropriation of the new as they learn and explore their environment. An in-depth analysis of this mechanism reveals the concept as an idealized mental representation, culturally motivated in its perception. Each concept can be perceived from several viewpoints called percepts. A precise methodology is outlined for terminology works and finally some examples of application are mentioned.
Keywords: Cultural Terminology, appropriation, culture, language planning, concept, percept, denomination
Article outline
- 1.Introduction: Origin and purpose of Cultural Terminology
- 1.1A Terminology for development
- 1.2The dynamic process of appropriation
- 1.3From reconceptualization to naming
- 2.Basic principles of Cultural Terminology
- 2.1Historicity
- 2.2Base of experiences and knowledges
- 2.3Memory
- 2.4Appropriation of the new
- 2.5Growth of the culture
- 2.6Culture
- 3.Conceptualization, naming, and cultural perception
- 3.1Meaning and concept in denomination
- 3.2Concept and object class
- 3.3Denomination and cultural perceptions
- 3.3.1Diversity in the observation of reality
- 3.3.2Polysemy and prototypical organization of meaning
- 3.3.3Concepts and the signified or percepts
- 4.Methodology in Cultural Terminology
- 4.1The socio-professional framework
- 4.1.1The scale
- 4.1.2The sector
- 4.1.3The target
- 4.2Data collection
- 4.2.1Establishing the source
- 4.2.2Establishing the target
- 4.2.3Sources of information and documentation
- 4.3Establishing the equivalents
- 4.3.1Perfect equivalents and quasi-equivalents
- 4.3.2Identification of concepts without equivalents
- 4.3.3Processing variants
- 4.1The socio-professional framework
- 5.Conclusion
Notes
Cited by (4)
Cited by four other publications
Cabezas-García, Melania & Teresa Fuentes-Pineda
2025. La asimetría conceptual en la traducción del medio ambiente. Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics 38:2 ► pp. 629 ff.
Diki-Kidiri, Marcel
2025. Cultural terminology. In Terminology throughout History [Terminology and Lexicography Research and Practice, 24], ► pp. 409 ff.
L’Homme, Marie-Claude
2024. Managing polysemy in terminological resources*. Terminology. International Journal of Theoretical and Applied Issues in Specialized Communication 30:2 ► pp. 216 ff.
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