Specific Subject Field Research Articles

Pedro Fuertes-Olivera (ed.). Specialised Dictionaries for Learners. Lexicographica Series Maior 136.

In the information and knowledge society, specialised dictionaries have come to play a more central role than ever. They are information tools designed to assist their users with specific data on the LSP of various subject-fields and on the knowledge representation of these subject-fields. In fact, specialised dictionaries are bound to play a role no less important than that of the so-called LGP-dictionaries, which traditionally have received disproportionate attention from metalexicographers. Admittedly, there has been an ongoing debate about the alleged theoretical and practical differences between terminography and specialised lexicography. This issue is convincingly dealt with in the introductory chapter of the book under review. However, we can only hope that the debate will give way to more important issues regarding the nature of specialised dictionaries. Whom should they be made for? For what purpose should they be made? What kind of information needs should they cater for? How can they simultaneously convey information on language and on the knowledge of a given subject field? How should they deal with culture-dependent subjects (e.g. business, law, politics, etc.) across languages? An issue which hitherto has been totally ignored is the pedagogical one. Millions of users are engaged in the process of learning a specific LSP or a specific subject field as a central part of their education or vocational training. How exactly should specialised dictionaries be designed to satisfy the needs of such learners? What should be the functions of such tools? Are they the same as those of learner’s dictionaries for LGP? The publication under review is the first one to give a comprehensive account of pedagogical LSP lexicography, and therefore we will examine whether the interested reader can get a fair answer to some of the major questions posed above.

Lexicography versus Terminography

Lexicography and terminography are specialised professions concerned with the compilation and editing of dictionaries. The lexicographer documents the words in the vocabulary of the general language whereas the terminographer documents the terminology of specific subject fields and domains. The terminographer works with a more restricted register than the general lexicographer, but from a holistic point of view, general lexicography and terminography are on a continuum where only the nature of the defined words or terms differs. The conceptual system of the sciences is more systematic and exact than that of the general environment. It is for this reason that nowadays the target group of a particular dictionary determines its format and content. A definition remains extremely important, since it describes the meaning of words and terms and serves to standardise the terms, especially in scientific and technical language. This article concerns itself with the similarities between lexicography and terminography, aspects regarding lexicography as a profession are outlined, followed by a discussion of terminography, and in conclusion attention is drawn to the differences between the two professions. Keywords: compile, conceptual system, descriptive approach, dictionary, domain, excerption, general lexicographer, lexicographer, lexicography, linguist, prescriptive approach, subject specialist, subject field, target group, term, terminographer, terminography, terminology, vocabulary, word

인문학자의 전자정보원 이용행태에 관한 연구

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to investigate the use of the elec tronic information resources of humanities scholars in Korea and propose the planning of academic library and information services to serve their needs. To collect data, a postal survey was conducted during th e period of November 2007 through January 2008. Out of 799 humanities scholars sampled from 25 universiti es, 132 responded with a completion rate of 16%. The major findings of this study are as follows: Firstl y, the majority of humanities scholars distribute their time equally between research and education, and conduct independent research. Secondly, they use, to a certain degree, electronic information resources larg ely in text format, and depend upon the electronic collection of their academic libraries. Thirdly, wit h the exception of a couple of sources of electronic journal resources, the electronic resources that these humaniti es scholars regularly use vary so widely that none could be considered to be a common resource. Fourthly , they value the convenience of accessing and using electronic resources, but worry about the quality and scope of the contents. It is suggested that academic libraries (1) become the gateway for the electron ic information that is available both inside and outside the library, (2) provide integrated search feature for and a ‘single sign on’ access to electronic resources, and (3) plan customized user education for specific subject fields in the humanities.키워드: 인문학자, 정보행태, 전자정보원이용, 대학도서관, Humanities Scholars, Information Behavior, Use of Electronic Information Resources, Academic Libraries

Health Sciences in India: a Scientometric Study

This paper attempts to assess the R&D activity and its output in Health Sciences in India for about three decades, 1970 to 2000. Statistical analysis has been carried out using SPSS and other relevant measures. The subjects like General Medicine, Pharmacology, and Biochemistry were identified to be the top ranked 3 sub-disciplines. Objectives have been examined by using the Activity Index (AI). AI for cross comparison has been computed as suggested by Frame, as it characterizes the relative research effort a country devotes to a specific subject field. India’s R&D emphasis is found to be on Biochemistry among the top three sub-disciplines as its AI is found to be 136 compared to General Medicine and Pharmacology with 109 and 87 as AI respectively. However, India’s published literature is quantitatively larger in General Medicine (6016) than in Biochemistry (1091). With the AI found to be more than 100 in General Medicine and Biochemistry, these two subfields seem to reflect higher activities than the world’s average efforts. Pharmacology’s AI is found to be lower than the world’s average efforts to this subfield.

A Guide to Graduate Study in Economics: Ranking Economics Departments by Fields of Expertise

Ph.D. programs in economics are ranked overall and by subject field. The results provide insight to students researching graduate programs in economics in specific subject fields. Results indicate that (i) differences in overall research productivity measures diminish as a university's rank declines; (ii) a university ranked highly in a particular subject field may be the result of a single, extremely productive faculty member; and (iii) many programs outside the traditional top 20 programs are ranked high in specific subject fields.

문헌정보학의 지식 구조에 관한 연구

This study was conducted upon the premise that index terms display the intellectual structure of a specific subject field. In this study, and attempt was made to grasp the intellectual structure of Library and Information. Science by clustering the index terms of the journals of the related academic societies at the Library of National Assembly - such as the Journal of the Korean Society for Information Management, the Journal of the Korean Library and Information Science Society, and the Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science. Through the course of the study, index term clusters were generated based on the linkage of the index terms and the frequency of co-occurrence, and moreover, time periods analysis was conducted along with studies on first-appearing terms, in order to clarify the trend and development process of the Library and Information Science. This study also analysed the difference between two intellectual structure by comparing the structure generated by index term clusters with the existing structure of traditional classification systems.

Domain analysis in information science

What kind of knowledge is needed by information specialists working in a specific subject field like medicine, sociology or music? What approaches have been used in information science to produce kinds of domain‐specific knowledge? This article presents 11 approaches to domain analysis. Together these approaches make a unique competence for information specialists. The approaches are: producing literature guides and subject gateways; producing special classifications and thesauri; research on indexing and retrieving specialities; empirical user studies; bibliometrical studies; historical studies; document and genre studies; epistemological and critical studies; terminological studies, LSP (languages for special purposes), discourse studies; studies of structures and institutions in scientific communication; and domain analysis in professional cognition and artificial intelligence. Specific examples and selective reviews of literature are provided, and the strengths and drawbacks of each of these approaches are discussed.

Multidimensional Classification of Concepts for Terminological Purposes

Terminology is the science concerned with the linguistic representation ofconcepts; it entails collecting, describing, processing, and presenting terms (Le. lexical items belonging to specialized subject fields) in one or more languages. Applied work in terminology is carried out in two modes: 1) punctual term research, concerned with a single concept-term unit; and 2) thematic term research, concerned with mapping out the conceptual structure of a specific subject field or subfield (as exhaustively as possible), and describing all the concept-term units that fall within it. For the purpose of this paper, we will focus on thematic term research as it has wider implications for classification and multidimensionality.