Concept systems and frames: Detecting and managing terminological gaps between languages

Issue title: Concept Systems and Frames in Terminology

Guest editors: Rossella Resi and Pius ten Hacken

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Resi, Rossella^{; *}

Affiliations: Department of Translation Studies, Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck, Austria

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author. E-mail: rossella.resi@uibk.ac.at.

Note: [] Accepted by: Pius ten Hacken

Abstract: This paper examines the concept of “terminological gaps” and strives to identify suitable methods for dealing with them during translation. The analysis begins with an investigation of the contended notion of gaps in terminology based on empirical examples drawn from a German-Italian terminological database specifically designed for translation purposes. Two macro categories of gaps are identified, conceptual and linguistic level gaps, which only partially correspond to previous observations in the literature. The paper uses examples to explore the advantages of ontological representations for detecting conceptual terminological gaps and identifying appropriate translation strategies. However, limitations are also observed and an attempt is made to resolve these using a frame-based approach. A frame-based analysis reveals that while certain designations may appear to refer to convergent conceptual units with matching distinctive features, differences also emerge due to the way the two language systems build designations. Examples from the corpus make it evident that a frame-based approach is helpful for identifying both kinds of terminological gaps, and then resolving them during translation. An important presupposition for this approach is that larger units of analysis need to be addressed rather than just terms themselves. There is confirmation of the existing idea that methods embracing entire segments or paragraphs as units of investigation are preferable during translation, and this is also seen to apply in terminological studies.

Keywords: Terminological gap, ontological representation, frames, specialized translation, translation strategies

DOI: 10.3233/AO-230046

Journal: Applied Ontology, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 47-71, 2024