Includes bibliographical references (pages 239-253) and index.

From principles of standardisation to a scientific study of terminology -- Terminology, a scientific discipline? -- The principles of the Vienna school for Terminology -- The first principle: the onomasiological perspective -- The second principle: concepts are clear-cut -- The third principle: concepts and terminological definitions -- The fourth principle: the univocity principle -- Fifth principle: the synchrony principle -- The limits that are posed on unprejudiced research in Terminology -- Traditional Terminology and Objectivism -- Traditional Terminology and Dogma -- Traditional Terminology and Standardisation -- Different schools of Terminology -- Recent criticism on traditional Terminology -- Juan C. Sager -- Peter Weissenhofer: relative definiteness and determinacy -- Britta Zawada and Piet Swanepoel -- M. Teresa Cabre -- Ingrid Meyer -- Socioterminology -- Kyo Kageura -- Conclusion: Terminology needs to widen its scope -- Towards sociocognitive Terminology -- New propositions for Terminology -- New propositions for an alternative Terminology -- Conceptualisation and Categorisation -- Naming -- Metaphorical models -- Methodology -- Data gathering -- The special language of the life sciences -- Document types and textual archives -- Archives and corpora -- Theoretical Foundations -- Hermeneutics -- Postmodernism and hermeneutics -- Relevance for the methodology of Terminology -- The semantic triangle -- The objectivist model of traditional Terminology in view of the semantic triangle.

"Based on an empirical study of categorisation and lexicalisation processes in a corpus of scientific publications on the life sciences, Temmerman questions the validity of traditional terminology theory. Her findings are that the traditional approach impedes a pragmatic and realistic description of a large number of categories and terms. Inspired by the cognitive sciences, she develops an alternative. The main principles of this new theory imply: a combined semasiological and onomasiological perspective; only few categories can be clearly delineated; form and content of definitions vary according to category types and user's requirements; synonymy and polysemy are functional in special language and a diachronic approach is unavoidable.

In a last chapter the author shows how the methods and principles of the alternative approach are applicable in terminography and how this is going to have an impact on software for terminological database construction." "This book will be valuable for specialists in terminology theory, practising terminographers and for anybody interested in special language, cognitive models and prototype theory."--Jacket.