The terminologists' concept system

 

The semiotic triangle (see figure 1.2)  is known to most linguists, describing the relation between an object -- items as they `are'-- the realisation or perception of the object by humans, and the sign that is used for denoting the perceived object. The terminologist calls the `sign' a term and the realisation of an object is called concept. 

 
Figure 1.2: Schematisation of a semiotic triangle  

Essential for the terminologists' point of view is the concept.  Objects are classified according to their concepts and their relations connecting each other. This is a fundamental difference between lexicography,  which is collecting signs and structuring them with reference to lexicographic standards  (such as alphabetical sorting) and terminography,  which is collecting concepts and sorting them by their relation. The latter sorting-process is idealised. This will be discussed in section  2.3.

 
• Characteristics of concepts
• The terminologists' additional dimension to the semiotic triangle
• Relations in a concept hierarchy

Thorsten Trippel
Fri May 21 13:04:11 MET DST 1999