Ingrid Meyer

Towards a new generation of terminological resources: an experiment in building a terminological knowledge base

This paper describes a project to construct a terminological knowledge base, called COGNITERM. First, we position our research framework in relationship to recent developments in computational lexicology and knowledge engineering. Second, we describe the COGNTTERM prototype and discuss its advantages over conventional term banks. Finally, we outline some of the methodological issues that have emerged from our work.

Concept analysis and terminology: a knowledge-based approach to documentation

The central concern of terminology, a component of the general documentation process, is concept analysis, an activity which is becoming recognized as fundamental as term banks evolve into knowledge bases. We propose that concept analysis can be facilitated by knowledge engineering technology, and describe a generic knowledge acquisition tool called CODE (Conceptually Oriented Design Environment) that has been successfully used in two terminology applications: 1) a bilingual vocabulary project with the Terminology Directorate of the Secretary of State of Canada, and 2) a software documentation project with Bell Northern Research. We conclude with some implications of computer-assisted concept analysis for terminology.

Knowledge Management for Terminology-Intensive Applications: Needs and Tools

This paper addresses the problem of how to provide support for the acquisition, formalization, refinement, retrieval — in other words, for the management — of the knowledge required for producing high-quality terminology. This problem will become increasingly significant as term banks evolve into knowledge bases. Knowledge management for terminology-intensive activities is complicated by two factors: 1) the importance of encyclopedic as well as lexical-semantic knowledge, and 2) the wide spectrum of working environments in which terminological activities can be carried out, from terminology as a distinct specialization at one end of the spectrum, to terminology as practised in documentproduction at the other. In the first two sections of the paper, we briefly analyze each of the two complicating factors. In the third section, we describe the terminological support that is currently available and under development in a knowledge management tool, CODE, which is being used to build a prototype, knowledge-based term bank, COGNITERM, designed to be useful across a spectrum of terminology-intensive environments.

The role and design of computer studies in a research-oriented translation program

With increasing human-machine interaction in the professional translators work environment, more and more translator training programs are launching translation-specific computer studies. This paper focuses on the research-oriented, as opposed to the practically-oriented, translation program. We argue that computer studies in such a program should prepare students for research at either the receiving or production ends of machine translation systems, both of which require linguistic, computational and translational expertise. We discuss some general considerations for the design of such computer studies, based on a seminar given in the M.A. Translation program at the University of Ottawa, Canada.