2. Terminology, a new practice

As with any relatively new concept, terminology is subject to change, which depends on the theorists and specialists that practice it. The first reason for change derives from the relationship that terminology has with its preceding disciplines, especially with semantics, lexicology and lexicography. Some people believe that terminology is nothing more than a new perspective adopted by these older disciplines. Terminology is currently seen as an art or practice rather than as a science. Even though it has a well-defined aim, namely to satisfy the expressive needs of its users, its working methods are mainly empirical. Theoretical research and the refinement of the processes of recognition, analysis and creation of terms must improve before terminology can be placed among the sciences deriving from linguistics.

If one agrees with Dubuc one must acknowledge that there are a variety of views as to the nature of terminology, its purpose, and its position within the complex panorama of the sciences. In Dubuc's opinion, the theory of terms and the practice of terminology lead to different positions. One can identify the two extremes: one position claims that terminology is a separate discipline with its own theory, while the other claims that terminology owes its theoretical assumptions to other, more consolidated disciplines.

The latter position is taken by Sager, who, although not granting terminology a full independent status, acknowledges that the field has theoretical foundations upon which terminological practice is based.

There is no substantial body of literature which could support the proclamation of terminology as a separate discipline and there is not likely to be. Everything of import that can be said about terminology is more appropriately said in the context of linguistics or information science or computational linguistics. We see terminology as a number of practices that have evolved around the creation of terms, their collection and explication and finally their presentation in various printed and electronic media. Practices however well-established, do not constitute a discipline, but there is no denying a long history of methodologies which themselves require theoretical underpinnings to justify their distinctive nature. Disciplines establish knowledge about things and as such are justified in their own right; methodologies are only means to an end, in the case of terminology, how to do things.

Defined as the process of compiling, describing, processing and presenting the terms of special subject fields in one or more languages, terminology is not an end in itself, but addresses social needs and attempts to optimize communication among specialists and professionals by providing assistance either directly or to translators or to committees concerned with the standardization of a language. This more pragmatic, applied view of terminology is more attuned to the requirements of contemporary society where epistemological reflections have given way to more pragmatic attitudes.

Dealing with real communicative needs in the fastest and most effective way has replaced both thought about the principles behind terminological issues and about the ways to address these issues.

The reasons for this change in direction can be attributed to a series of changes that have occurred in scientific disciplines and in society itself. We have moved from specialists' concerns about the ''right form'' (i.e., the standard form) of the first third of this century, when Greek and Latin roots were preferred, to a more pragmatic and functional approach. This change has been brought about by the new approaches in theoretical linguistics, which have abandoned prescriptive grammar, by the growth of language policies aimed at addressing situations of language conflict, and by the leading role terminology has come to play in non-European countries like Canada, and within Canada, in Quebec. In addition, the enormous advances in computer science have altered not only the work carried out by large institutional bodies, but also that of individuals.

Even Sager, who does not believe that terminology is a separate discipline because it does not have its own epistemology, recognizes the importance of separate principles and methods suited to the purposes terminology processing wants to achieve: facilitating communication among specialists, or the self-assertion of technologically non-dominant languages by means of suitable intervention in and planning of language usage.