Course 6 Termino - Definition

Course 6
DEFINITION IN TERMINOLOGY
Definition in terminology
Definition is a problem in just about any field or activity that requires it. Why? - subject of theoretical interest among philosophers - logicians, mathematicians, lexicographers, thesaurus-makers, etc. Philosophers have debated whether meaning has to with the thing or with the word for the thing.
Definition :
A dictionary-style statement that describes the concept designated by a term. Its role:
states the essential and delimiting characteristics of a concept. => helps establish the textual match between languages
Definition
=> form: a statement

=> connects two entities:

The concept
The term ( = the designation of the concept)
Form: term IS A description of concept Definiendum = Definiens
DEFINITION The concept belongs to..? The term belongs to ...? => the two are (supposed to be) interchangeable in all contexts
We already know that a term is a
a word (simple term), multiword expression (complex term), symbol or formula that designates a particular concept within a given subject field.
But a concept is.?
A unit of knowledge abstracted from a set of characteristics or properties attributed to a class of objects, relations, or entities.
.
Characteristic 2 Characteristic 3 Characteristic 1
CONCEPT
Char. 4
Characteristic n
Characteristic 5 Characteristic 6
Functions of definition:
fixation of a concept (typically during first concept term assignment) explanation of a concept relating concepts (either for differentiation or similarity)
.
Melting point 0C Boiling point100C
liquid precipitation rain freezing rain drizzle freezing drizzle dew Water takes many different forms on Earth: water vapor and clouds in the sky; seawater and rarely icebergs in the ocean; glaciers and rivers in the mountains;
Colourless, tasteless, odourless
water
Acidity (pKa) = 15.74
Basicity (pKb) = 15.74 Molecular formulaH2O
WATER
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. Its molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state, water vapor or steam. Water covers 70.9% of the Earth's surface, and is vital for all known forms of life. On Earth, it is found mostly in oceans and other large water bodies, with 1.6% of water below ground in aquifers and 0.001% in the air as vapor, clouds (formed of solid and liquid water particles suspended in air), and precipitation. Oceans hold 97% of surface water, glaciers and polar ice caps 2.4%, and other land surface water such as rivers, lakes and ponds 0.6%. A very small amount of the Earth's water is contained within biological bodies and manufactured products.
WATER
Water on Earth moves continually through a cycle of evaporation or transpiration (evapotranspiration), precipitation, and runoff, usually reaching the sea. Over land, evaporation and transpiration contribute to the precipitation over land. Clean drinking water is essential to human and other life forms. Access to safe drinking water has improved steadily and substantially over the last decades in almost every part of the world. There is a clear correlation between access to safe water and GDP per capita. However, some observers have estimated that by 2025 more than half of the world population will be facing water-based vulnerability. A recent report suggests that by 2030, in some developing regions of the world, water demand will exceed supply by 50%. Water plays an important role in the world economy, as it functions as a solvent for a wide variety of chemical substances and facilitates industrial cooling and transportation. Approximately 70% of freshwater is consumed by agriculture. (Wikipedia)
WATER
Religion Water is considered a purifier in most religions. Major faiths that incorporate ritual washing (ablution) include Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Rastafari movement, Shinto, Taoism, Judaism, and Wicca. Immersion (or aspersion or affusion) of a person in water is a central sacrament of Christianity (where it is called baptism); it is also a part of the practice of other religions, including Judaism (mikvah) and Sikhism (Amrit Sanskar). In addition, a ritual bath in pure water is performed for the dead in many religions including Judaism and Islam. In Islam, the five daily prayers can be done in most cases (see Tayammum) after completing washing certain parts of the body using clean water (wudu).
WATER
Philosophy
The Ancient Greek philosopher Empedocles held that water is one of the four classical elements along with fire, earth and air, and as regarded as the ylem, or basic substance of the universe. Water was considered cold and moist. In the theory of the four bodily umors, water was associated with phlegm. The classical element of Water was also one of the five elements in traditional Chinese philosophy, along with earth, fire, wood, and metal. Water is also taken as a role model in some parts of traditional and popular Asian philosophy.
WATER
Literature Water is used in literature as a symbol of purification. Examples include the critical importance of a river in As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner and the drowning of Ophelia in Hamlet.
Define the following:

on can dog pencil definition What problems do you face?
Define PENCIL
Define: pencil
Made of a long thin wood casing + long, thin piece of graphite

The graphite core is black The casing is yellow The casing is made of birch wood At one end there is an eraser; At the other end, the graphite and casing have been sharpened to a point; It is used for writing or making marks
object = features concept = characteristics

Not all semantic features identifying a concept in selected documents are needed in order to create a definition for that concept. Essential features are intrinsic to that concept, in the sense that they distinguish it from another and their absence makes it indistinguishable from another. The necessary and sufficient characteristics of a concept, which enable us to distinguish it from all other concepts, are referred to as essential." (DUBUC/KENNEDY 1997:39)
term
Types of definition depend on:

the the the the
nature of the concept to be defined purpose of the definition information available requirements of the user
Establishing characteristics (essential / nonessential) = Establishing relations between characteristics Types of hierarchical relations among concepts
Generic-specific hierarchies (In generic-specific relationships, the characteristics of superordinate concepts (broader concepts) are inherited by subordinate concepts (narrower concepts). Partitive hierarchies (part-whole) (In a partitive relationship, there is no inheritance of characteristics between the whole and its parts.
Define : dog
Kingdom Subkingdom Superdivision Division Subdivision Class Subclass Order Family Genus
Define: Yucca Kingdom Plantae Plants Subkingdom Tracheobionta Vascular plants Superdivision Spermatophyta Seed plants Division Magnoliophyta Flowering plants Class Liliopsida Monocotyledons Subclass Liliidae Order Liliales Family Agavaceae Century-plant family Genus Hesperaloe Engelm. false yucca Species Hesperaloe parviflora redflower false yucca Variety Hesperaloe parviflora Engelmann's yucca
Definition by genus proximus & differentia (the next higher super ordinate concept and the specific distinguishing element) Also called analytical / Aristotelian definition Suitable to define nouns Analyzes their characteristics
Types of definitions:
Lexicographic vs. encyclopedic ~ terminographic Linguistic vs. ontological vs. terminological (Cabre, 1999:104) Definition by extension vs. definition by intension Other types: by synonymy, by exemplification, ostensive, functional, by paraphrase, stipulative etc. (see www.termium.gc.ca/didacticiel )
Example of definition by extension:
expenses include costs, charges and necessary outlays of every description; notice includes a demand, consent or waiver. (in legal texts - contracts)
business day means a day on which banks and foreign exchange markets are open for business in London and New York.
Example of definition by intension:
Lexicographic definition
Encyclopedic definition
(1) Taxonomical information (genus proximum) (2) Categorial/type information (e.g. sub-types) (3) Genetic-causal information (how it comes about) (4) Essential material properties (5) Other material properties (6) Functional information (what it is used for) (7) Dimension (e.g. weight, speed, length) (8) Word explanation (9)
Functions of the definition:
a. helps fixating a concept (typically during first stages of concept term assignment) b. explains the concept c. relates concepts (either for differentiation or similarity)
TEST Do all the objects X designated by the term belong to the class Y designated by the hypernym and do they have those characteristics? Are all the objects of the class Y with that set of characteristics X-s?
Exercise: Which characteristics of the above to include in a definition (of pencil, for ex.)? Assuming you have data for (2), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), and you are asked to write a onesentence definition making use of only three of these facets. Which would you choose? Why?
Non-Hierarchical Relationships (Associative Networks) In associative relationships, concepts are linked by spatial or temporal proximity and may share nonessential features. Such relationships include the following types:

producer-product: bake - bread action-result: presidential election - president elect action-tool: hammering - hammer container-contents: bottle - fruit juice cause-effect: humidity - mould opposites: winner - loser
Best practices for definitions:
Mind your defining vocabulary/entailed terms (the language should not be (unnecessarily) obscure : Mind definitional views: develop a concept system Front the definiendum and use a definitor or link to equate definiendum to definiens (X is a Y; X includes A + B) the definiendum should be expressed by the same part of speech as the definiens The definition of the concept should not contradict other definitions in the same concept system / field
Worst practices for definition (1):

circularity: using a concept (C1) while defining another (C2), when the definition of C2 involves use of C1 Example:
textile: a type of fabric that is woven fabric: a type of textile (cf. ISO 1995)
tautology: using several parts of the definiendum in the definiens Example:
uniform movement: movement that occurs uniformly (cf. ISO 1995)
Worst practices in terminology (2):

negation: defining by specifying what is absent Example: Health is not merely the absence of disease or infirmity (Note WHOs definition, which is acceptable: Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not not merely the absence of disease or infirmity) incompleteness: insufficient statement of characteristics Influenza is a viral infection (no differentiating characteristics? There are so many viral infections) multiple definitions: explaining more than one term in a definition
Exercise 1: Here are some definitions of medical concepts from THE MERCK MANUAL (1997). Which ones fit the above recommendation and which do not? Why? 1. Influenza (flu) is a viral infection that causes a fever, runny nose, cough, headache, a feeling of illness (malaise), and inflammation of the lining of the nose and airways.
2. Somatoform disorders is a relatively new term for what many people refer to as psychosomatic disorder. In somatoform disorders, either the physical symptoms or their severity and duration cant be explained by any underlying physical disease. Somatoform disorders include somatization disorder, conversion disorder, and hypochondriasis.
3. An intracranial hemorrhage is bleeding inside the skull. 4. The term psychosomatic disorder has no precise definition. Most often, the term is applied to physical disorders thought to be caused by psychological factors. However, no physical disorder is caused exclusively by psychological factors. Rather, a physical disorder has a necessary biologic component a factor essential for the disease to occur.
5. Paraneoplastic syndromes are the remote effects of cancer (most commonly lung and ovarian cancer) on many different functions of the body, often those of the nervous system. 6. Shy-Drager syndrome is a disorder of unknown cause in which many parts of the nervous system degenerate.
Exercise 2: Consider a term (of you own choice I suggest diabetes or inflation) Find 4 different sites and copy-paste the definitions: analyse and say what kind of definitions they are according to the criteria given list and then analyse the characteristics of the concept encoded in the definition how / why do they differ?
DEFINIENDUM DEFINITOR DEFINIENS
Genus
Distinguishing characteristics

Course 6 Termino - Definition

Diunggah oleh

Informasi Dokumen

Judul Asli

Hak Cipta

Format Tersedia

Bagikan dokumen Ini

Bagikan atau Tanam Dokumen

Opsi Berbagi

Apakah menurut Anda dokumen ini bermanfaat?

Apakah konten ini tidak pantas?

Hak Cipta:

Format Tersedia

Course 6 Termino - Definition

Diunggah oleh

Hak Cipta:

Format Tersedia

Course 6

=> form: a statement

We already know that a term is a

But a concept is.?

Colourless, tasteless, odourless

Acidity (pKa) = 15.74

Basicity (pKb) = 15.74 Molecular formulaH2O

Define the following:

Made of a long thin wood casing + long, thin piece of graphite

object = features concept = characteristics

the the the the

Example of definition by extension:

Example of definition by intension:

Functions of the definition:

Best practices for definitions:

Worst practices for definition (1):

tautology: using several parts of the definiendum in the definiens Example:

uniform movement: movement that occurs uniformly (cf. ISO 1995)

Worst practices in terminology (2):

Anda mungkin juga menyukai