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The General Theory of Terminology: A Basis for

the Preparation of Classified Defining
Dictionaries
Article January 1983
DOI: 10.1353/dic.1983.0000

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Wolfgang Nedobity
University of Vienna
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The General Theory of Terminology: A Basis for the Preparation

of Classified Defining Dictionaries
Wolfgang Nedobity

Dictionaries: Journal of the Dictionary Society of North America, Number

5, 1983, pp. 69-75 (Article)
Published by Dictionary Society of North America
DOI: 10.1353/dic.1983.0000

For additional information about this article

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/dic/summary/v005/5.nedobity.html

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THE GENERAL THEORY OF TERMINOLOGY:

A BASIS FOR THE PREPARATION OF
CLASSIFIED DEFINING DICTIONARIES

Wolfgang Nedobity
Specialized languages are the tools for subject communication by which modern society conveys its achievements and experience from generation to generation and
from people to people. The specialized languages are
characterized by using clearly defined concepts to which
preferably unambiguous terms are assigned. The concepts
form systems of concepts in the individual subject fields.
Together with their assigned terms they constitute the respective terminology, which reflects the state of human
knowledge about the subject field in question. Terminologies have an influence on scientific, technical, and economic progress. Deficient terminologies endanger the information flow not only between people but from people
to machine and machine to machine as well. Therefore

the terminological problem has to be solved at the right

time before it causes an impairment of information flow.
At the beginning of the century, Eugen Wster realized
that unified standards and guidelines are necessary for
the solution of the terminological problem. In order
to provide a theoretical basis for such guidelines for

terminology work, he developed the General Theory of

Terminology. A first step in this direction was his thesis
with the title International Standardization of Technical
Languages (1931). In his later years he also gave a lecture
on this subject at the University of Vienna (Wster 1979).
The Essence of the General Theory of Terminology
Wster combined in his theory the findings of logic,
epistemology, linguistics, information science and various
other subject fields with the aim to create a workable and
69

70The General Theory of Terminology

practice-oriented basis for the ordered development and

documentation of subject vocabularies (Wster 1973).
He suggested that vocabularies should be presented in

a systematic or classified way. This is only possible if a

concept-oriented approach is chosen which outlines the
relationships between the elements of the vocabulary.
Thus research in the field ofconceptology is a prerequisite
for work in systematic terminology.
Conceptology: The Key to Efficient Terminology Work

In special languages meanings are formulated by

means of concepts and conveyed to others by means of
terms. Concepts refer to objects of the inner or outer
world. Individual objects can be as concrete as a stable
or as abstract as the pain one perceives. Concepts can
refer not only to things and events but also to properties and relations. A concept, however, is only a mental
construction derived from objects. In order to communicate that mental construction, a symbol is assigned to
the concept that represents it, usually a term in technical
communication.
What is found to be common in a set of individual ob-

jects is summarized or abstracted mentally and expressed

by a concept. In this way the concept is an element of
thinking which comprises the characteristics common to
a number of objects. The aggregate of characteristics of a
concept is called its intension. Every concept is a member of a class of concepts and can itself form a class of
concepts which are encompassed by it. The aggregate of
all subordinate concepts (species) on the same level of abstraction or of all individual objects which belong to the
concept in question is called extension. The aggregate of

all individual objects is also called class. The characteristics of concepts help us classify concepts and construct
systems of concepts (see Felber 1982:4).

Concepts are formed, not simply inductively, that is,

Wolfgang Nedobity71

through observation of environmental regularities, nor

simply deductively, through the application of already-

formed cognitive structures to events and objects, but

through the reciprocal interaction of cognitive structures

and environmental events. We develop concepts through

testing them against reality and we develop a knowledge

of the world through the elaboration of concepts and

conceptual systems (see Bolton 1977:10-14).
Classifying Concepts in Subject Vocabularies
In order to make subject terminologies accessible to
the users, they are published either as terminological
standards or simply as dictionaries.
In these publications the entries consisting of terms
and their definitions are arranged following the meaning
of terms (systematic order) or in alphabetical order of the
terms. Terminological standards and dictionaries can be
systematic or alphabetical. The systematic order is to be
preferred. If full classification is not possible at the time
of preparation, at least a broad classification for concept
groups should be attempted. In systematic terminological
publications, a diagram of concepts should precede the
vocabulary in classified order which is to be followed by
an alphabetical index. When classifying concepts it is necessary to observe certain rules and principles which are
laid down in Wster's General Theory of Terminology.
On the basis of this theory, a certain number of international and national standards have been issued which

guide subject specialists in constructing systems of concepts. The most pertinent one in this respect is ISO/R
919-1969 "Guide for the preparation of classified vocabularies (Example of method)".
Wster's Classification Theory
The main purpose of Wster's work in this field was
to create a classification for ordering of concepts in die-

72The General Theory of Terminology

tionaries (see Wster 1971:98). One of the principles that

Wster adhered to was based on the fact that order is the

basis of every well-managed life and occupation. He went

so far as to apply this principle also to language, in particular to subject vocabularies which are used by specialists
for unambiguous communication. For him classification
was the ordered way of associating or dissociating as well
as mentally arranging ideas which are expressed by our
minds in form of concepts. Thus a classification of concepts becomes the most powerful key to knowledge because if we arrange objects or more likely their concepts
in a definite order and fix this order in form of a sched-

ule, we can have a very good map or overview of a certain

field of knowledge.
Schedules display major subject relationships in a gradually unfolding general-to-specific order. In other words
their classification proceeds from concepts of great extension and small intension to concepts of great intension
and small extension.

In a logical system of concepts each class is said to be a

species of the one immediately above it in the hierarchical
chain and a genus in relation to the ones below. In an
ontological relationship one speaks of parts of an entity
or of local or temporal contiguity.
One can say that Wster adheres strongly to the idea
of the systematic listing or enumeration of concepts in a
classificatory map (in form of a scheme or a schedule). It
can thus be referred to as an enumerative classification.

The notation appears in form of terms, sometimes supplemented by reference numbers for quick location in the
system.

When building up hierarchies, however, Wster does

not apply the Aristotelian dichotomy using only one
characteristic at a time, but rather he determines a certain

type ofcharacteristic which is relevant to the whole system

ofconcepts. The relationships in a system of concepts can
be depicted by a number of lexicographical symbols. The

Wolfgang Nedobity73

main relationships are superordination, subordination,

co-ordination, and diagonal relations.

The Machine Tool: A Model of a Classified Defining

Dictionary

Wster also put his theory into practice. Under his

leadership, a dictionary covering the basic concepts for
the construction, operation, and use of machine tools
in general and of their principal component parts was
compiled and published (Wster 1968).
The dictionary was conceived as a pilot project for
the compilation of multilingual technical dictionaries
based on the standardized terminologies of the leading
industrial nations of the world. The project was initiated
by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
(ECE) on the recommendation of a Study Group of its
Industry and Materials Committee, following a proposal
put forward by the Delegation of the United States of
America in October 1950.

Concepts are arranged in the dictionary according to

their position in the Universal Decimal Classification
the only method of arrangement now used in the publications of any national standards organization in the world.
The concepts so arranged are then key-numbered consecutively, from 1 to 1,401, for purposes of permanent identification in any language in the world.
The key numbers also serve to facilitate cross-reference
between individual concepts in the dictionary, so that they
can be linked to form a coherent conceptual system. For
the first time in any dictionary it is made clear which
concepts are genera and which species one of another;
which is a higher aggregate ofsome other object and which
merely a part of something else.
The compilers sought an unusually high degree of accuracy in defining the exact meaning of technical terms
used in the three languages. During the work of construct-

74The General Theory of Terminology

ing permanently valid definitions for use in the dictionary,

several terms wrongly equated in existing interlingual dictionaries were detected.

Whenever a nationally-recognized standard term or

standard definition for a given concept exists in any
major language-area, that term or definition is used in the
dictionary in preference to any other, and the fact that it
is a standard is indicated by placing after it in the text a
symbol denoting the standardizing body. It can be stated
in general that standardized terminologies are the most
reliable sources for any compiler of a dictionary.
Conclusion

It is one of the major laws of the General Theory of

Terminology that the compilation of a classified defining
dictionary has to be preceded by the creation of a
system of concepts. This requires, however, a lot of
effort and subject knowledge. If terminographers are
competent in a field and willing to make that effort,
they can contribute considerably to the development of

certain disciplines by providing the tools for unambiguous

subject communication.
REFERENCES

Bolton, Neil. Concept Formation. Oxford: Pergamon

Press, 1977.

Felber, Helmut. Basic Principles and Methods for the

Preparation of Terminological Standards. Wien: Infoterm, 1982.
Wster, Eugen. Internationale Sprachnormung in der

Technik besonders in der Elektrotechnik [International

Standardization of Language in Engineering, Especially in Electrical Engineering]. Berlin: VDI, 1931.
--------. Machine-outil: Notions Fondamentales Dfinies et
Illustres [The Machine Tool. An Interlingual Die-

Wolfgang Nedobity75

tionary of Basic Concepts]. Vol. 2, Grundbegriffe bei

Werkzeugmaschinen. London: Technical Press, 1968.
"Begriffs- und Themaklassifikationen. Unterschiede in ihrem Wesen und ihre Anwendung" [Concept and Subject Classifications. Difference Between
Their Nature and Their Application]. In Nachrichten
fr Dokumentation, 22, no. 3 (1971): 98- 104, no. 4
(1971): 143-50.

'Die Allgemeine Terminologielehreein Grenzgebiet zwischen Sprachwissenschaft, Logik, Ontologie,

Informatik und den Sachwissenschaften" [The General
Theory of TerminologyA Border Field Between Linguistics, Logic, Ontology and the Subject Fields]. Linguistics, no. 119 (1973):61-106.
-----. Einfhrung in die Allgemeine Terminologielehre
und Terminologische Lexikographie [General Theory of Terminology and Terminological LexicographyAn Introduction]. 2 parts. Wien/New York:
Springer, 1979. (Schriftenreihe der Technischen Universitt Wien, vol. 8).