Abstract
In this contribution Sapir’s idea (1926) that the ‘real world’ is to a large extent unconsciously built on the language habits of the group is endorsed. We bring some perspective to his credo with examples of new terminology that we observed in a number of recent English and French publications written by domain specialists in molecular biology. Language use and term formation are studied in molecular biology, a discipline that has known rapid progression over the last decades.
We zoom in on the emergence of recently coined English and French terminology in the domain of protein synthesis in eukaryotic cells that can be found in the discourse of molecular biology. A chain of developments in the history of molecular biology is regarded upon as a sequence in time. Several units of understanding (UoUs) (Temmerman 2000) concerning the presumed reality of protein synthesis in eukaryotic cells were developed within the reasoning framework of molecular biologists. We will see how the creative power of language functions in neology creation in discourse and how terminological variation facilitates and enhances and specifies the understanding of a presumed reality.
Conducting a textual analysis of some publications written by domain specialists we show how UoUs are expressed in both English and French and how new ideas are developed as innovative thinking and experimenting takes place in both linguistic communities developing their own terminology. We found that French had surprisingly little interference from English in the domain of molecular biology till a few decades ago. However, in recent years French-speaking molecular biologists borrowed and incorporated increasingly more English neologisms in what Sapir refers to as their ‘language habits’. We found many examples of English neologisms for which it appears to be difficult - if not impossible - to create a French equivalent. A number of examples explaining the hybrid language habits that French-speaking molecular biologists find themselves in are discussed in more detail. We illustrate interference from English as observed in French publications and illustrate how French authors struggle with secondary term creation in French. Either hybrid terminology (a mixture of French and English) emerges or loan words are introduced. This case study allows us to put secondary term creation by translators in perspective. We conclude with some thoughts on how translatable newly developed terminology is and in how far translators contribute to the development of the language habits in their target language.
We zoom in on the emergence of recently coined English and French terminology in the domain of protein synthesis in eukaryotic cells that can be found in the discourse of molecular biology. A chain of developments in the history of molecular biology is regarded upon as a sequence in time. Several units of understanding (UoUs) (Temmerman 2000) concerning the presumed reality of protein synthesis in eukaryotic cells were developed within the reasoning framework of molecular biologists. We will see how the creative power of language functions in neology creation in discourse and how terminological variation facilitates and enhances and specifies the understanding of a presumed reality.
Conducting a textual analysis of some publications written by domain specialists we show how UoUs are expressed in both English and French and how new ideas are developed as innovative thinking and experimenting takes place in both linguistic communities developing their own terminology. We found that French had surprisingly little interference from English in the domain of molecular biology till a few decades ago. However, in recent years French-speaking molecular biologists borrowed and incorporated increasingly more English neologisms in what Sapir refers to as their ‘language habits’. We found many examples of English neologisms for which it appears to be difficult - if not impossible - to create a French equivalent. A number of examples explaining the hybrid language habits that French-speaking molecular biologists find themselves in are discussed in more detail. We illustrate interference from English as observed in French publications and illustrate how French authors struggle with secondary term creation in French. Either hybrid terminology (a mixture of French and English) emerges or loan words are introduced. This case study allows us to put secondary term creation by translators in perspective. We conclude with some thoughts on how translatable newly developed terminology is and in how far translators contribute to the development of the language habits in their target language.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | New Horizons in Translation and Interpreting Studies (Full papers) |
Editors | Gloria Corpas Pastor, Míriam Seghiri Domínguez, Rut Gutiérrez Florido, Míriam Urbano Mendaña |
Place of Publication | Geneva |
Publisher | Editions Tradulex, Geneva |
Pages | 627-636 |
Number of pages | 10 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9782970073659 |
Publication status | Published - 2015 |
Event | 7th International Conference of the Iberian Association of Translation and Interpreting Studies (AIETI) - Malaga, Spain Duration: 29 Jan 2015 → 31 Jan 2015 |
Conference
Conference | 7th International Conference of the Iberian Association of Translation and Interpreting Studies (AIETI) |
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Country/Territory | Spain |
City | Malaga |
Period | 29/01/15 → 31/01/15 |
Keywords
- secondary term creation
- neologisms
- molecular biology
- spliceosome
- multilingual terminology
- snurp