Terminology research with lasting impact
More than two decades of research in terminology have had a lasting impact on knowledge communication and have notably led to the development of the first Norwegian portal for professional language and terminology.
Professor Gisle Andersen at the Department of Professional and Intercultural Communication (FSK) has carried out research in terminology that has had profound long-term impact for knowledge management, language standardization, knowledge communication and technology.
An academic discipline – and a resource
The studies by him and other researchers at FSK show why terminology research plays a crucial role in both societal and business contexts: Terminology is not only an academic discipline, but also a resource for language management and science communication.
References:
- Andersen, Gisle. Utilising heterogeneous language resources for term extraction in maritime domains (Terminology 2022)
- Andersen, Gisle; Gammeltoft, Peder. The Role of CLARIN in Advancing Terminology: The Case of Termportalen – the National Terminology Portal for Norway (Darja Fišer and Andreas Witt (eds.). CLARIN: The Infrastructure for Language Resources 2022)
- Andersen, Gisle, Gammeltoft, Peder; Gundersen, Kjetil. Termportalen – fra forprosjekt til fast finansiering [The terminology Portal: From pilot project to permanent funding]. (Nordterm 2021)
- Andersen, Gisle. Utilising heterogeneous language resources for term extraction in maritime domains (Terminology 2022)
- Díaz, José Luis Rojas. Perspectives on Phraseology from Lexicography, Terminology, and Translation: from Language for General Purposes to Language for Specific Purposes (Doctoral thesis, NHH 2022)
- Simonnæs, Ingrid. Terminologische Datenbanken als Verstehens- und Formulierungshilfe beim Übersetzen von Rechtstexten (Parallèles 2018)
- Patiño García, Pedro. Description and representation in language resources of Spanish and English specialized collocations from Free Trade Agreements (Doctoral thesis, NHH 2016)
- Andersen, Gisle; Kristiansen, Marita. Termportalen som infrastruktur for terminologi i Norge. (Terminologen 2015)
- Andersen, Gisle: Kristiansen, Marita. Towards a national portal for Norwegian terminology in the CLARINO project (Terminologen 2013)
- Andersen, Gisle; Kristiansen, Marita. Terminor og Termportalen – nye initiativer for norsk terminologisk infrastruktur. (Nordterm 2011)
- Andersen, Gisle. Evaluation of alternative association measures for extraction of terminology based on a large Norwegian corpus (SYNAPS 2011)
- Andersen, Gisle; Kristiansen, Marita. Towards a national infrastructure for terminology in the framework of the CLARA and CLARINO projects (SYNAPS 2010)
- Andersen, Gisle. Terminologi som språkressurs og forskningsinfrastruktur (NORDTERM 2008)
- Simonnæs, Ingrid. Rückblick und Überblick über Terminologie- und Fachsprachenforschung in Norwegen (Fachsprache 2007)
- Andersen, Gisle. Terminologi og samarbeidformer mellom næringsliv og UoH-sektoren (SYNAPS 2006)
- Andersen, Gisle; Breivik, Torbjørg. 2006. Språkteknologisk terminologiarbeid i et nordisk og europeisk perspektiv (NORDTERM 2006)
- Kristansen, Marita. The Multidisciplinary Nature of the Social Sciences. Investigating Disciplinary Autonomy in Organisational Behaviour by means of Terminological Analysis. Doctoral thesis, UiB/NHH (2004)
- Brekke, Magnar, Innselset, Kai; Kristiansen, Marita; Øvsthus, Kari. KB-N: Automatic term extraction from a knowledge-bank of economics (Proceedings from LRE 2006)
Externally funded projects coordination and participation
- CLARINO+; NFR, INFRASTRUKTUR, 2020-2023. Maritim ordbok. Funding: Kulturdepartementet, Nærings- og fiskeridepartementet, Språkrådet, Bergesens allmennyttige stiftelse, Stiftelsen Fritt ord, 2013–2023.
- CLARINO. NFR, INFRASTRUKTUR. Leader of WP7 Terminology Integration, responsible for NHH’s effort to develop a national infrastructure for terminology in Norway. 2012–201
By developing and standardizing specialized terms, this research ensures clear and effective communication across various fields, including economics and technology, medicine, law, and more. This clarity is essential for accurate knowledge dissemination, informed decision-making, and efficient operations, in education, business and politics.
The research has been done by members of FSK’s research group on Terminology, corpora and language resources, with Andersen as principal investigator and supervisor. The results of these efforts are utilised especially by governmental organisations and higher-education institutions, but also industries, e.g. in language technology.
Most significant impacts
The most significant direct and indirect impacts of these efforts at NHH are:
- Initiated and contributed directly to the establishment and operations of Termportalen, a national portal for terminology, and indirectly to securing its permanent funding from the Ministry of Education and Research (Kunnskapsdepartementet). Andersen was project manager for the pilot project in Termportalen and responsible for the development of the technical infrastructure.
- In 2022 Andersen and his team launched the NHH’s termbase. It contains 8,000 concepts in economics and business administration with terminology in English and Norwegian. Here you will find recommended terms, synonyms, definitions, usage examples, references to academic literature, and comments on technical terms in English, Nynorsk, and Bokmål.
- Raised general awareness in society of the role of specialized terminology as an important intangible asset that is central to maintaining Norwegian as a fully functional language.
- Produced language resources and made them generally accessible for utilization in language technology products via the National Language Bank and the CLARIN infrastructure.
- Advocated terminology in continuous cooperation with the Language Council, resulting in the prioritization in several governmental white papers and eventually to its legislation in Lov om språk (Språklova) (Language Act, ratified by Stortinget on 8 April 2021).
- Impacted terminology work and priorities among actors such as Universities Norway (UHR), Bergen municipality, Standards Norway and Digdir (Norwegian Digitalisation Agency).
The research underpinning the impact
According to General Director Åse Wetås, the Language Council has had a long and fruitful collaboration with NHH for many years. They were partners in 2016 and 2017 when the Council developed a guide for an effective use of both Norwegian and English in academia.
NHH is an excellent example of strong language awareness in academia. With their own term base, they are taking a very active and proactive approach, Wetås said.
The collective research efforts of FSK’s research group comprises work in different strands of terminology research, such as semi-automatic term extraction, domain modelling and disciplinary autonomy, analyses of term formation, neology and inventory, and principles, standards and technology for terminological infrastructures. The research has been performed within externally funded projects and through own basic funding.
The idea of a national portal for terminology has emerged and been gradually refined in a series of publications (list below). Most recently, two international publications (Andersen & Gammeltoft 2022; Andersen et al. 2021) document the technical architecture of Termportalen and of how it involves the entire “ecosystem” of stakeholders: from language resource owners, field experts, terminologists, language technologists and computer scientists, administrative and managerial staff, to several private and public actors and governmental authorities.