Paradigmatic Approach in Terminology Studies

This study is dedicated to the history of terminology studies, tracing its hundred-year development trajectory. It highlights that the definition of a term remains a subject of ongoing debate within terminological research. The article aims at identifying the reasons for changes in the scope of the concept “term.” It examines the interrelation between scientific progress and stages of development in terminology studies. Questions are raised regarding the application of new parameters for analyzing terminological processes. An overview of the evolution of scientific thought based on theoretical analysis of philosophy-of-science concepts is provided. Sociocognitive conditions underlying the formation of scientific paradigms — classical, non-classical, post-non-classical science — are investigated. A novel authorial conception of terminology’s evolution is presented, distinguishing three paradigms: traditional (prescriptive), cognitive-discursive (descriptive), integrative (prescriptively-descriptive). Dominant processes of term formation in these paradigms — divergent, convergent, divergent-convergent — are identified and substantiated. For the first time, an emerging integrative paradigm of terminology studies is described. The relevance of this investigation lies also in presenting a coherent conceptualization of the regularity governing changes in the scope of the notion “term” as related to salient term-forming processes characteristic of each paradigm.

paradigmatic approach, scientific paradigm, knowledge, term, terminology studies, divergent and convergent processes of term formation