Multilingual Terminology: Does the Dictionary Model Apply?

Ann Lawson
Institute für deutsche Sprache
Mannheim, Germany
e-mail: lawson@ids-mannheim.de

Laurent Romary
Equipe DIALOGUE Lorraine
CRIN - CNRS & INRIA
Nancy, France
e-mail: laurent.romary@loria.fr

Our paper will approach some of the issues surrounding the applicability of the traditional lexical/lexicographic approach to terminology management in the bi- and multilingual field. After a summary of basic issues in electronic multilingual lexicography, we will examine them more closely in the framework of terminology.

Hierarchical, sequential and associative relations will be discussed in the terminological context, as well semantic relations such as synonymy and polysemy.

We then go on to describe in a case study the work of a project dealing with the organisation of and access to specialised terminology in the field of hydrography. One of the main aims of the project is to standardise and encode a trilingual printed dictionary and make it available on the World Wide Web. The experiences of the project and the problems encountered will be outlined.

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