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LECTURE 5
TERM CREATION: DERIVATION AND
CLUSTERING

5.1 The theory of term creation.
5.2 Derivation.
5.3 Syntactic and asyntactic clustering.

Key terms: primary term creation, secondary term creation,
derivation, compounding, clustering

5.1 The theory of term creation. Term formation is
influenced by the subject field in which it is carried out, by the
nature of the persons involved in the process of designation, by
the stimulus causing the term formation, and of course, by the
phonological, morpho-syntactical and lexical structures of the
language in which the new concept finds its linguistic expression.
Term formation is the process of naming the concepts required by
a particular special language community for the development of
cognitive processes and communication. J. Sager goes on to add
that term formation is a conscious activity which differs from the
arbitrariness of general word formation because term formation
requires a greater awareness of preexisting patterns and models,
and of the social responsibility for facilitating communication and
transmitting knowledge. For these reasons, it is often thought that
terms are not prone to variation.
The motivational processes of term formation can be viewed
in terms of the need to express emerging knowledge, both to assist
understanding and to ensure effective specialized communication.
This has inspired many terminology researchers to try to prescribe
rules for term formation. Such recommendations have been drawn
up by both national and international standards bodies (e.g. ISO
704.4 WD 1993), and are proposed in numerous terminology
manuals (e.g. Helmut Felber Terminology Manual (1984),

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