Abstract
While studying the state of contemporary Latvian terminography, it must be acknowledged that terminological dictionaries are issued very often. The present research examines 450 Latvian terminological dictionaries that have been published in the last 30 years. Terminological dictionaries represent 30–40 % of the entire Latvian lexicography. Their characterization has a wide variety, both in terms of the authors and publishers, in terms of language selection and in terms of target audience. In addition, there are dictionaries approved by the Terminology Commission and dictionaries that are not approved by any official institutions. There is a lack of studies on the habits and needs of term dictionary users. In addition, publications of criticism or analysis about the qualitative performance of such dictionaries are also rare and no criteria has been developed to fully analyse and evaluate the development of terminology’s theory and practice. In this article, the authors have focused on exploring the situation in order to clarify the main trends in the characteristics of the terminography of Latvia. This was done through interviews with representatives of leading publishers who confirmed that the publishing houses are losing interest in issuing terminological dictionaries and discussion with the Chairman of the Terminology Commission of the Latvian Academy of Sciences. The authors have identified the main issues in organising the terminology process and determined answers to specific questions: what determines the dictionaries’ choice and credibility factor; how is feedback sought after a new dictionary is issued; what alternatives exist in areas where terminological dictionaries have been missing for decades, etc. Finally, the study analyses the new Latvian National Terminology Portal, which has been in operation for two years, with an aim to provide information on terms and to allow everyone to participate in the process of creating new terms.
Highlights
The dictionary is an authoritative and accurate source of information
In Latvian terminology, it is necessary to update theoretical guidelines based on both the experience of terminology history and the experience of contemporary practice
It is not always possible to characterise the national terminology using world-wide known terminology conclusions, so it is necessary to develop criteria for a good terminological dictionary based on contemporary Latvian terminography resources
Summary
The dictionary is an authoritative and accurate source of information. Dictionary users generally consider it significant and reliable during any research process. Terminological dictionaries play an important role throughout the diversity of dictionaries, because terminology creates the scientific foundation in every language. Any scientific text is composed of approximately 15–20 % of terms 25), it can be said that the use of unified and accurate terminology in any field ensures scientific quality and transparency of the conceptual system. Given the diversity of content and form of contemporary dictionaries, it is not always clear whether each lexicographical publication pertains to terminography. Nowadays there is no well-defined understanding of which dictionaries are classified as terminological dictionaries or is text arrangement in entries still considered the main criterion. There are no certain principles for identifying terminological dictionaries (or dictionaries in general), the boundaries of dictionary typology are not distinct, so studies more and more often refer to them as terminological editions, not terminological dictionaries
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