8 Work in the verbal plane: canons of terminology

Dr M P Satija

 

Structure

 

1. Verbal Plane

1.1 Nature of Language

1.2 Languages: A Paradox of Homonyms and Synonyms:

1.2.1 Synonyms

1.2.2 Homonyms

1.3 Causes of Duality of Language

1.4 Barriers

2. Vocabulary control

2.1 Organisational efforts

2.2 Work of Ranganathan

2.3 Language is living and dynamic

3. Terminology management

3.1 Ranganathan’s views

4. Canons for Terminology

4.1 Canon of Context

4.2 Canon of Enumeration

4.3 Canon of Currency

4.4 Canon of Reticence

4.5 Canon of Consistency

5. Summary

6. Glossary

7. Further Readings

8. Test Questions

 

 

LearningOutcomes

 

By reading this unit you will

  • Know the importance of terminology in scientific communications and in making library classification systems.
  • Understand the work of designing library classifications in Verbal Plane.
  • Know the applications of canons for terminology management.

 

1.   Verbal Plane

 

Work in the Idea plane is with pure concepts without specific and pucca names. An idea without a pucca name cannot be conveyed properly. If Idea plane is the message, verbal plane is its linguistic expression. Language is the dress of thought, said Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784). In this phase of classification work we give standardized and pucca names to the concepts arranged in arrays, chains and filiatory sequence in the Idea plane. Ideas are something airy in the mind. They cannot be well expressed and communicated without having their properly designated names. In this phase we dress the airy ideas in proper and visible garments of language of standard terms to handle them. It is important as ideas need some media for expression and communication. It is rightly said an idea expressed in proper words is worth thousands in the mind. No idea can be communicated by lingual means without apt words. In the field of sciences and all other technical subjects like art, accountancy, politics or literary criticism these standardised names for concepts are known as “terms”. And science of assigning terms to ideas is called terminology. Verbal plane deals with terminology management.

 

1.1   Nature of Language

 

No doubt language is a vehicle of thought. And also of social, academic, technical and research communication. Without it there could be no civilization, no progress, perhaps no art or science. Without a developed language we may not be able to think even? It is the human species which has developed a sophisticated communication system in the form of language. Without language there will be only animal living.

 

1.2  Languages: A Paradox of Homonyms and Synonyms:

 

But any language spoken by any community is both rich and poor. Many a time it fails to convey the thoughts properly due to its inherent inadequacies. There is always a dissipation of thought between the idea and the words to convey it. Too often we grope for proper words to express our feelings or ideas. It is vague and inadequate at best.

 

1.2.1  Synonyms:

 

It is rich in the sense that usually it has many words for a single concept, e.g., wages, pay, salary mean the same thing. Similarly, in Indian languages Suraj, Surya, Shashi, Dinkar, Prabhakar, Aditya all mean the sun. Lord Krishna has many names from Gopal, Girdhar, Goverdhan to Nandlal, Kanhiya, Murli Manohar, Keshav, Kunj Bihari to Sham, and many more. These are synonymous words. Different words having the same meaning are called Synonyms. Many linguistics and philosophers feel that, there are no absolute synonyms. Deemed synonyms have different shades of meaning. A good and gifted authors like Valmiki, Shakespeare or Homer know no synonyms. They use the proper word in the right context to create the right effect or feelings in the readers.

 

1.2.2     Homonyms:

 

It is poor in the sense that one word may denote more than one meaning : cricket is a popular game and also an insect. Bridge is a construction over a river, and also the name of game. Beas is a river and also a town in Punjab. Ganga is a great river, and also the name of many men and women in India. A word having more than one meaning is a called a homonym. In English there is hardly a word having only one meaning. It is said that the word “order” has 250 different meanings in the English language. Ranganathan finds five meanings of the word “classification”.Language being social is fettered to the layperson and hence moves slowly. But the imagination moves with a terrific speed. Therefore, ideas and words can never keep pace with each other. New theories, laws and inventions brought in by research need appropriate and distinct terms to describe and convey them. In social conversation, what cannot be conveyed by words is easily conveyed by bodily signs and cultural symbols.

 

1.3  Causes of Duality of Language:

 

Homonyms and synonyms grow naturally in all the languages depending upon culture and physical environment. A desert dweller has many words for sand. In India we have individual terms for different family relatives; whereas in English the term Uncle stands for many different relations. Indeed languages in social and cultural. These are vitally useful for the literary writers. They make the writings flexible, delicious, imaginative, playful and rich with aesthetic pleasure. Various interpretations give birth to creativity and imagination. One phrase ‘To be or not to be’ from Shakespeare’s play Hamlet has led to myriads of interpretations.

 

1.4   Barriers:

 

Linguistics, terminology, semantics are vital to classification and communication in every sense. Language, like classification, is the ultimate retrieval text. Paradoxically the very importance of language has lured many to reject systematic classification to favour the use of uniterms, keywords, subject headings and free text for information searching and retrieval. But the uncontrolled vocabulary filled with ambiguity, redundancy, and omissions makes the mess of the information retrieval. It has become a barrier to what it is supposed to facilitate. Synonyms and homonyms are a great barrier in professional communications; even harmful for legal and business transactions, science and research communication. These grow like weeds and make a language sloppy. Etymologists may find justification for this language phenomenon “they may even enjoy the semasiological pleasure given by it. But is is a source of trouble to most others. For, as a result, thought gets derailed along unintended lines leading to puzzles or at any rate waste of energy in retracing the steps and making the thought go along right lines” writes Ranganathan (Prolegomena, GA3). Homonyms and synonyms are classification wreckers. Use of uncontrolled vocabulary is disastrous for information retrieval, says Phyllis A. Richmond.

 

2. Vocabulary control:

 

In science communication we should be precise to the extent that one word should have one and only one meaning and vice versa. It means an ideal situation of one to one correspondence between concepts and terms. That is, language of any science and academic field of study and research should be strictly free of homonyms and synonyms. It has already been achieved to a great extent in natural sciences. Social sciences, including library and information science, are struggling for the standardization of terminologies in their disciplines. Maturity of a discipline of knowledge can easily be measured by its standardized terminology. Use of technical terminology in communication and indexing improves clarity and reduces its ambiguity. Ultimately it expedites all types of information exchange. Terminology management is essential for documenting and promoting consistent use of words.

 

2.1  Organisational efforts:

 

The 1980s was called the decade of languages. According to an estimate more than 10,000 tools exists for standardization of terms in various languages. Many countries have established their academies for purity and progress of language which also take up the work of terminology standardization. At the international level for technical terminology, the Technical Committee of the International Standards Organisation (ISO/TC37, established in 1952) is charged with the promotion of international standards for terminology management. It establishes methods and principles for terminology and other language tools. It promotes terminology management among national standards organization all over the world. TermNet, the International Network for Terminology was founded on the initiative of UNESCO with the aim to establish a network for cooperation in the field of terminology. In 1988, it was registered as a non-profit organization. It provides an international cooperative forum of global network. Apart from its products and services in the discipline of terminology, it organizes and hosts conferences and workshops. For creation of technical terminology in Indian languages, the Government of India under its Human Resources ministry established in 1961, the Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology (CSTT). It has done considerable work for the entire gamut of terminologies of sciences and social sciences in all Indian languages.

 

 

2.2  Work of Ranganathan:

 

S.R. Ranganathan always urged librarians to learn and use technical terminology of library science for research and communication in our field. He also advised librarians to learn the technical terminology of other subjects for better information retrieval and to provide satisfactory reference service to scholars of various subjects. Use of standard terminology or controlled vocabulary is essential in assisting users in their search of databases, OPACs or manual catalogues. These in the form of terminological databases also assist in human or machine translation. Ranganathan himself has developed a good number of terms across the length and breadth of library science. It was his method and style to define the terms adequately in the beginning of his research articles. He always used well defined technical terms in all his writings and has left a treasure trove of technical terms as a legacy for us. As chair of the Document Sectional Committee of the Bureau of Indian Standards (ISI:EC2) he produced glossary of cataloguing term (IS:796-1959) and glossary of classification terms (IS:2550-1963). Both are de facto his own creations. It is our bounden duty to use and further develop the LIS terminology coined by him.

 

2.3  Language is living and dynamic:

 

Language, including technical language, being a living and dynamic entity, keeps changing in many ways. New terms are coined to convey new concepts and theories, some old terms are deleted as they become obsolete with time; some of the terms even change their meaning over time. Meaning of a word may differ from discipline to discipline and across cultures; stages and dialects of a language prove this. In our discipline old terms such as open access, browsing, networks, etc have acquired different meanings in the electronic environment.

 

3. Terminology management:

 

Ranganathan has mostly dealt with choice (currency) and display (context) of terms in classification schedules. More important is the selection of terms for construction of a vocabulary. Elaine Svenonius has given the following principles for selection of terminology:

 

1. Literary warrant:

It means that terms for inclusion in the controlled vocabulary should be derived from published literature. In case of choice among synonyms the frequency of occurrence should be the criterion for inclusion in the terminology bank, or for designating as the preferred term.

 

2.Use warrant:

For making a terminology user-friendly common usage has become a deciding principle for selection of terms for vocabulary control. Though it is difficult to ascertain, yet users requests, and analysis of transaction logs of their searches in online databases are of great aid in this matter.

 

3. Scholarly usage:

Sometimes scholarly usage is favoured over common usage. But it is only essential when the IR is meant for advance researchers and practitioner of the specialized field.

 

   3.1  Ranganathan’s views:

 

Ranganathan (Prolegomena, GA5) has also laid down rules for organization of glossaries of technical terms. He writes “There should be an organized attempt to:

 

1 Delimit the vagueness of words and eliminate ambiguity;

 

2 Establish an agreed Standard Terminology free from homonyms and synonyms for each subject-field; and

 

3 Lay down methodology to coin new terms, when new ideas come into being or an old terms has to be replaced.”

 

4.  Canons for Terminology

 

Ranganathan not only himself coined many a new terms, he also formulated many principles for coining and display of terms for library classification system. As said earlier, the first and foremost quality of any terminology is to be free of homonyms and synonyms. Following are the canons he formulated in 1950 for the purpose of reducing to a minimum the number of radicals for use in the standard glossaries in different languages. “If these canons are followed”, he claims (Prolegomena, GA7) “terminology may to a large extent become internationally intelligible”:

 

·        Canon of Context

·        Canon of Enumeration

·        Canon of Currency

·        Canon of Reticence

 

4.1 Canon of Context

 

It lays down that the terms in the classification schedules be written and read in the context of the upper class. For example, instead of writing.

 

Single salts Double salts Complex salts We should write: Salts Single Double ComplexSimilarly in Psychology under the persons facet:

  • Child
  •  Male
  • Female

 

mean Child psychology, Male psychology, Female psychology respectively. For the brevity and simplicity of the schedules it is not necessary to repeat the upper link. Display of terms should be governed by the principle of hierarchical force. It gives context and meaning to orphan terms. This canon is meant both for the classificationist and the classifier. This common sense principle also applies in our daily routines. In the schedules every concept has to be read and interpreted in its environmental context. It satisfies the Law of Parsimony and keeps the schedule tidy and slim.

 

4.2    Canon of Enumeration :

 

Scope of terms or disciplines is never universally settled. Their connotation vary from time to time, even from classification system to classification system. For example, subject “Dynamics” is considered a part of mathematics by some, and of physics by others. As another example “Documentation” is part of library science in Colon Classification while in the Universal Decimal classification (UDC) it is an independent class. Whereas in the DDC the term itself does not exist. Further constitutional history is not part of political science or law but of history in the Colon Classification! Ranganathan has justified it. In such cases no one is wrong – as it is debatable. In such circumstances it is safe to delineate the scope by explicitly listing, i.e. enumerating, its subdivisions. It is a operational and pragmatic way to define the scope of subjects. In the schemes like the DDC, it is done by a plenty of notes attached to the verbal headings of every class number listed in the schedules. These notes are definitional and scope notes. These are ‘class here’ notes and ‘class elsewhere’ notes to bring out uniformity in deciding the scope of a class. Not only this, in 1982, the DDC publisher the Forest Press issued a Manual on the Use of the Dewey Decimal Classification prepared by John Comaromi. This manual has now been incorporated in the DDC introductory material in volume 1 to help uniformity and consistency in interpreting the scope of classes across the libraries. Manual is based on the practice of Dewey Section of the Library of Congress in assigning DDC numbers to some of the books acquired by the Library. The advise of this canon is: be explicit in determining the scope of classes.

 

4.3  Canon of Currency:

 

As already said terminology in any discipline is not static or frozen. It is always dynamic and moving. Some terms become obsolete with time. While new terms are born everyday. Even the old concepts get new meanings and an old concept may get a new term. Old terms may be used to denote new concepts. A classification system must always update its terminology using current terms with their explicit connotations. New editions of classification systems not only include new knowledge but also use current terminology. For example, in the DDC library science has become “Library and information science”; Home science has become “Home management”. It will not only help in efficient information retrieval but will also make our classification systems respectable in the eyes of scholars and subject specialists. This canon lays down: “Terms used to denote a class in a scheme for classification should be one current among those specializing in the subject field covered by the scheme”.

 

4.4   Canon of Reticence

 

It means that the terms that we use in the schedules of classification should neither be judgmental nor critical. The DDC 14th edition used the term “humbugs” for parapsychologists. In the DDC, the term Negroes was replaced by Blacks and ultimately to African Americans. As another example, one should not use the terms major or minor authors while dividing literary writers. It is not proper for librarians to categories authors so or be contemptuous of a subject believed by others. Literary historians may describe authors in such term. Even then they are on slippery grounds. The literary reputation of an author is never constant. It is changing even after his/her death. A classification system has to be sensitive to the all sort of feelings of the community at large. Hence a classification system should use current and neutral terms.

 

4.5 Canon of Consistency:

 

Another requirement is of consistency in the use of terminology, which Ranganathan seems to have omitted, though it is very much in accordance with his philosophy. It means form of a term should remain the same disregard of the usage or literary warrant. For example, if a controlled vocabulary has included terms “Group tests” “Intelligence tests” then if synthesis is needed then we should use “Group intelligence tests” instead of “Group intelligence testing”. No matter the literary warrant uses the latter compound term.

 

5.    Summary

 

In the verbal plane we assign standard terms to the concepts in the idea plane. Verbal plane gives concrete names to the airy concepts in the Idea Plane by clothing them in standardized terminology. A standardized, free of homonyms and synonyms, terminology is vital for any science communication and to serve as an indexing language for information storage and retrieval. Recall and relevance are the chief concern of any controlled vocabulary for information retrieval. In a schedule of classification terms should be current, and written and read in the context of the upper link. Their definition and scope can be best determined by enumeration i.e. by listing the subtopics. The terms used should be current and sensitive, not judgmental or critical, and their form should be consistent throughout a given system.

 

6.    GlossaryCanons:

 

Normative principles applicable to a branch of a subject, e.g. Canons of cataloging, Canons of classification.

 

Controlled Vocabulary:

A set of select terms, free of homonyms and synonyms, having their own syntax rules. It is also known as Indexing Language. Classification, thesauri, subject heading lists are all examples of CVs.

 

Homonym: A word having the same form, spelling but many different meanings. For example, cricket is a game as well as an insect. It is a case of many (things) – one (word) mapping between things and words.

 

Indexing Language: See Controlled Vocabulary

 

Planes of work: Three successive phases of work to divide the work of classification in three distinct Sectors called Idea, Verbal and Notational planes, respectively.

 

Postulational approach: Work of designing classification systems based on a pre- mediated theory in the form of normative principles, Canons, Principles, and Postulates.

 

Reticence: Non-critical; non-judgmental

 

Synonyms: Different words having the same or almost the same meanings. For example, Shut, Close. It is a case of many (words) – one (concept) mapping between words and meaning or things.

 

Term: A technical and standardized name given to a concept.

 

Terminology: A system of standardized names given to concepts and entities for unambiguous communication.

 

Vocabulary control: The process of formulating controlled vocabulary, authority list, thesaurus, etc. for terminology management.

 

7.    Further Readings

  • Krishan Kumar. 2004. The Theory of Classification. New Delhi: Vikas, pp.135-138.
  • Parkhi, R.S. 1972. Library Classification: Evolution of a Dynamic Theory, Delhi: Vikas, pp 52-101.
  • Ranganathan, S.R. 1967. Prolegomena to Library Classification, 3rd ed. Mumbai: Asia, pp. 143-216.
  • Satija, M.P. 2004. A Dictionary of Knowledge Organization, Amritsar: Guru Nanak Dev University, 248p.
  • Satija, M.P. 1978. Ranganathan: Method and Style. New Delhi: Kalyani Publishers, pp. 67-77.
  • Satija, M.P. 1993. “Ranganathan’s contribution to library and information science terminology : a historical perspective” Lucknow Librarian 25 (3/4) : 64-74.
  • Satija, M.   P. 2011. Theory and Practice of Subject Headings: The Sears List. . New Delhi: Today and Tomorrow,pp.55-64
  • Svenonius, Elaine. 1990 “Design of controlled vocabularies” Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science/ Ed by Allen Kent, etc. New York: Marcel Dekker, Vol 45, Supplement 10, pp.82-87.
  • http://www.iso.org/ http://www.iso.org/…/iso_technical_committee.htm?commid=48104
  • http://www.termnet.org

 

Learn More:

 

Module LIS/KOP – C/5(4): Work in the Verbal Plane

 

  1. Do you know
  • Language is not the only means of human communication, but a dominant one.
  • Language at its best is an imperfect tool to convey messages, thoughts and feelings.
  • These imperfections in ordinary languages are a boon for literary persons, poets, but a sort of hindrance for researchers, scientists, legal and business persons.

 

Points to remember

  • Technical terminology is a panacea for the ills of the ordinary language, though it makes the language dull and prosaic.
  • In science, academics, law and business we need a sort of controlled vocabulary which is free of homonyms and synonyms.
  • In information retrieval we need a controlled vocabulary for better relevance ratio of the output.
  • Lists of subject headings are tools for vocabulary control in information retrieval.
  • In all, one to one correspondence between concepts and their terms is at best a utopia.