In the information age we have more accessible data than ever before. At the same time there is undoubtedly a greater information need than ever before. We can distinguish between at least three types of information needs: communicative, cognitive and operational. Dictionaries will normally focus on one or more communicative functions, encyclopaedias normally on cognitive functions, user guides and manuals focus on operational functions. To perform such functions, we need reference books containing the necessary data. This is a main topic both in metalexicography and in terminography. Far less observations have been made to the no less important question: How and especially how quick can the user get access to the data ?

The theory of terminology has evolved considerably in recent years, responding on the one hand to new challenges in specialised communication and profiting on the other from new trends in general linguistics. The general theory of terminology, which used to be concerned largely with matters of standardisation, has given way to a more open approach, firmly set in the sphere of linguistics which is better equipped to account for the various scenarios used in scientific and technical communication. The communicative theory of terminology is a linguistic approach which studies terms simultaneously as units of language, of cognition and of social function. The article discusses the theoretical basis of this approach, and its suitability for describing terms and its empirical value in accounting for the diversity of the data but without foregoing the possibility of treating terms from other points of view.

The aim of this paper is to focus on the necessity of a double marking-out when doing the semantic analysis of the data of a corpus. The first mark lies in the situation in which texts are produced and the second one lies in the interpretation of the texts. In both cases, the author suggests to use the notion of 'genre' (textual 'genre' and interpretative 'genre') in order to classify and categorize situations. The issue is exemplified by the problem of the building of terminologies according to a particular interpretative 'genre'. The paper shows how textual 'genre' influences the functioning of conceptual relations patterns (e.g. the preposition avec is used to spot a meronymic relation). It demonstrates that this kind of analysis may help to refine the descriptions initially made by introspection.

Three major aspects of terminology work can be analysed: terminology applied to standardisation, translation and information. These aspects come from the three principal moments of terminology development in this century. This article deals with the growing importance of terminology in information sciences and data processing.

This article aims to show that the furthering of african languages as a means of information and education makes it necessary that these languages be 'instrumentalised', i.e. supplied with all the tools that are indispensable for their development (orthographic nomalisation, a grammar, dictionaries and so forth). Of these tools the terminological enrichment plays a central role. However, this terminological activity has to be conducted in a sociological and cultural context whose specificity in a certain sense puts constraints on the methodology. This is illustrated by the translation of the Declaration of Human Rights in sängo, one of the official languages in the Central African Republic.

Brain-imaging techniques can be applied in specialized language research to provide insights into how specialized concepts are represented, and processed in the brain. The fMRI study described in this paper focused on general and specialized lexical units and the perception of semantic meaning by expert geologists and non-geologists. The subjects performed semantic matching tasks and made decisions in regards to general language words and specialized terms designating specialized tools and familiar household utensils. The linguistic processing of specialized terms was found to be modulated by the individual’s previous experience with the objects. These results strengthen the hypothesis that when performing a domain-specific task, experts activate different brain systems from novices. This provides data regarding which brain systems are involved in cognitive processes.

In the framework of humanitarian mediation, multilingual communication has a strong cultural component. This article begins by situating the Other in a global fashion, and then goes on to view ways in which a balance of perception can be established between those involved by working out a precise, rigorous diagnosis to shed light on the conceptions, feelings and intentions of all concerned, illustrated by several examples. Amongst the tools used, mention should be made of distancing, decentring, intercultural competence and Natural Semantic Metalanguage.

Online tourist guides are information tools communicating destination image and specialised knowledge at the same time. They feature a large variety of lexicographic structures including word lists, articles, conceptual schemes, indexes and registers, search options on keywords, internal and external cross references etc. This is by no means surprising in so far as what is needed is effective data access in order to extract information – precisely in the same way as in lexicography. The functional thesis we defend in this article is that lexicographisation in a user perspective can improve the access process. Taking œnotouristic online guides as a case in point, we will examine different user situations leading to consultation, in particular the need for experiential information, in which users simply wish to improve the conditions of their œnotouristic experience. We will then formulate theoretical proposals aimed at ensuring better interaction of lexicographic functions, data presentation and access possibilities.

Relational adjectives are a key component of specialized language in French as well as many other languages. The use of relational adjectives as a substitute for a prepositional phrase follows the principle of economy in language, but it is also a characteristic of specialized discourse: French physicians will use expressions like “cancer mammaire” or “infarctus myocardique” where the layman uses “cancer du sein” or “infarctus du myocarde”. After studying morphological, syntactic and semantic aspects of relational adjectives, we attempt to identify some of the factors that seem to induce the use of relational adjectives instead of prepositional phrase complements, based on examples drawn from an eight-million-word corpus of medical research articles; variation in the use of the adjectives coronaire and coronarien is also studied.

This paper presents concepts and systems for multilingual terminological and textual knowledge codification, representation, validation, management and sharing structured around the notion of genre. These systems operationalize the different stages of the ‘virtuous knowledge cycle’ within a dynamic, multilingual specialized web-dictionary and a multilingual, genre-based corpus of medical texts genre hierarchies or systems. The knowledge cycle approach mirrors ‘real life’ working processes and allows for repeated conversions of knowledge between its tacit and explicit forms, allowing knowledge to codify and spiral up from the individual to the collective level at corporate, ‘community of practice’. The paper reports on the results of the implementation of these concepts and systems in general and the web-dictionary in particular within the Danish health care, pharmaceutical, medical device and translation sectors which technologically have been fused into one collective ‘knowledge cluster’ and it discusses the opportunities for research and business that spring from fusion of language and health technologies.

The harmonisation of the laws of Member States in various areas of private law constitutes an important element of the European Union integration process. The principal legislative mechanism used to achieve this harmonisation is the directive. Effective harmonisation of national laws can only be achieved if the Community legislation is applied in the same way in the different national legal systems. Many of the challenges in ensuring a harmonised application of community legislation are connected to issues of legal language. Amongst other examples, this paper will use the European directive on product liability (la responsabilité du fait des produits défectueux) as an illustration of the various language issues raised and the solutions available to ensure an effective level of harmonisation. This will be done through a study of the English and French versions of the directive, and by considering the experience of the implementation of the provisions of the directive in French and English law.

The tasting reviews in professional wine magazines are often written in accordance with recognized tasting steps and specific vocabulary. This article introduces, first of all, the process of wine tasting and formation of wine terminology. Then we analyze reviews of three wine magazines with the help of previous research results and a wine language dictionary (Dictionnaire de la langue du vin). We could reexamine the composition and the ‘degree of technical nature’ of words in the reviews. In the end, we propose several avenues worth exploring.

In order for their content to be exploited to the fullest, true electronic dictionaries must store data using underlying structures and categories. Specialised terminology dictionaries, especially multilingual ones, can strongly benefit from a design where the data is organised into highly granular categories and structured following a monosemic ‘spoke-hub’ model. A representation consistent with the ISO 16 642 standard (TerminologicalMarkup Framework, 2003) would be a very appropriate way to implement this model. However, using XML markup that meets this standard set by the International Organization for Standardization is not a guarantee of the data’s quality or interoperability.