SAPterm
• SAP’s Terminology Database
– Covers specialist terms related to SAP’s broad product range
• Purpose:
– Aid translation
– Provide definitions – glossary
– Prescriptive: Guide choice of terms to use in documentation,
presentations, etc.
terminology: “Set of terms representing the system of
concepts of a particular subject field.”
– International Standard ISO 1087, Terminology – Vocabulary
‘subject field’ is synonymous with ‘domain’
© 2005-2006 The ATHENA Consortium.
In the rest of this unit we will first use SAPTerm to explain informal semantics and then use
WordNet to show an example of more formal semantics and reasoning.
First, SAPTerm: SAPTerm is SAP’s terminology database covering specialist terms, the
terminology, related to SAP’s business software suite. Terminology as the ISO standard 1087 tells
us is “the set of terms representing the system of concepts of a particular subject field. SAPTerm
actually covers a range of subject fields as will be seen. Note that the term subject field. means the
same things as the word domain.
SAPTerm has a number of uses. It is used as an on-line multi-lingual reference work to lookup
translations for words. It contains definitions for key terms, and it prescribes the use of certain
terms for certain concepts in order to ensure accurate understanding and consistency of
documentation.
Note that terminology databases are not specific to SAP; many companies use them to improve the
quality of verbal communications, both inside and outside the company. Special emphasis is put on
terminology management in situations where companies can be held liable for faulty
communication.
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Terminology and Glossary Entries in SAPterm
As of
Jun 2005
Primary Development Languages
Languages
Term Entries
Of Which Glossary Entries
German
85,000
23,300
English
86,000
24,500
SAP Language Service (SLS) Languages
Language
Terms
Arabic
< 15,000
Bulgarian
39,000
Catalan
< 5,000
Chinese (Simplified)
80,000
Chinese (Traditional)
67,000
Croatian
46,000
Czech
71,000
Danish
55,000
Dutch
Finnish
60,000
67,000
French
69,000
Greek
66,000
Hebrew
73,000
Hungarian
66,000
Italian
70,000
Language
Terms
Japanese
76,000
Korean
69,000
Norwegian
58,000
Polish
77,000
Portuguese
67,000
Romanian
46,000
Russian
65,000
Serbian
39,000
Slovak
60,000
Slovenian
52,000
Spanish
68,000
Swedish
64,000
Thai
59,000
Turkish
64,000
© 2005-2006 The ATHENA Consortium.
This list shows the total number of entries in the individual languages in the SAPterm terminology
database.
As of June 2005 SAPterm contained 85,000 term entries in German of which 23,300 were glossary
entries. A term entry is an individual term and its translation into other languages. A glossary entry
has, in addition, a definition. A similar number of term and glossary entries can be counted for the
English language. Just as a comparison a standard English dictionary has about 200,000 words.
But, of course, the coverage is different. A dictionary covers general vocabulary, whereas SAPterm
covers specialist terms related to business and IT.
For cost reasons glossary entries exist only for English and German, and not all terms are
translated into all languages.
But, what is a term entry really?
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Concept, Object, Designation (term), and Definition
Concept
Definition
A one-piece, handheld phone that
includes battery
power
and may be used
without any
peripheral
power or antenna.
(Nokia)
Object
term is verbal
designation
Designations (terms)
Handy (DE)
cellular phone, cell phone (US) (two variants)
mobile (UK)
© 2005-2006 The ATHENA Consortium.
To understand what a term entry is, you need to understand the meaning triangle shown in this
slide. This triangle relates the concept, the object, the definition and the designations.
The concept is a unit of thought, a mental construct relating an object, real or imagined, with its
definition and its designations. This example shows one concept, whose meaning is given by the
definition. This example definition assumes that the concept of telephone/phone is understood. The
concept Handy is more specific than phone (a subclass of it) and is defined as a specialization of
phone.
A term is a linguistic designation of a concept, e.g. a word or a phrase. A concept can have other
types of designations, e.g., a symbol or icon. From now on I will just say term, instead of
designation, since I will always be talking about verbal designations in this course.
There can be multiple terms for the same concept. Different terms are used in different contexts,
e.g., language, country, industry, etc. This example shows the use of the terms Handy in Germany,
cellular phone in the US and mobile in England. The example also shows that there can be
variants of a term. In the US both cellular phone and cell phone are used to designate the same
concept. Abbreviations and synonyms are examples of types of variants.
As a first approximation, we can say that a term entry in SAPterm corresponds to one concept and
contains the terms for it, and, sometimes the definition.
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More on the meaning triangle
morning
star
evening
star
An example from Gottlob
Frege (1848-1925):
different terms
different concepts and
definitions
same object, the planet Venus
© 2005-2006 The ATHENA Consortium.
Before continuing with the discussion of SAPterm, I would like to say a bit more about the meaning
triangle, since it will be useful later in the course. The German mathematician and philosopher
Gottlob Frege (1848-1925) gave an interesting example of how the same object can be associated
with different terms, each of which has a different definition. The planet Venus can be defined as
either “a particular star that is seen in the morning, or a particular star that is seen in the evening.”
This situation corresponds to two meaning triangles, one of which uses the term morning star, the
other of which uses the term evening star. Notice that the concepts are different; they have
different definitions, the terms are different, but the object is the same, the planet Venus.
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SAPterm: Concept-oriented View
subject field: “Section of human knowledge, the border lines of which
are defined from a purpose-related point of view.”
– International Standard ISO 1087, Terminology – Vocabulary, 1990
‘subject field’ is synonymous with ‘domain’
Term
Context
Concept
Term
Context
(belonging to a
subject field)
Term
Context
Term
Context
© 2005-2006 The ATHENA Consortium.
I would now like to look at a SAPterm entry from a slightly different point of view, putting the
concept in the center, since every term entry corresponds to one concept. Recall our definition of
terminology as “the set of terms representing the system of concepts of a particular subject field”.
In a concept diagram as shown on this slide, we represent the concept by a circle and put the
subject field (or domain) it belongs to in parenthesis. The terms that designate the concept are
written in ellipses, in which we also note the context of the term
This slide shows that one concept can have different designations (terms) and that the term to use
for the concept depends on context attributes like language. Definitions can also be associated with
context attributes.
The next slide shows how the previous Handy example looks when represented in this conceptoriented way.
5
Cell Phone Example
Handy
Language: DE
Country: DE
Multiple terms
One concept
“One definition”
mobile
Language: EN
Country: UK
(telecommunications)
cellular phone,
cell phone
Language: EN
Country: US
© 2005-2006 The ATHENA Consortium.
Here you see the previous example related to the cell phone represented using a concept diagram.
The one concept has three different terms used in different contexts. The subject field of the
concept is telecommunications
We also see here that for English there are 2 variants, cellular phone and cell phone.
One of the main uses of terminology databases organized along these lines is to support the
translation of documentation.
Another use is to prescribe the use of some terms rather than others, e.g., we might mark “cell
phone” as an “invalid synonym”.
Another use is to choose the correct term and definition for the context. If, for example, a
documentation object links to a glossary entry, the appropriate term and glossary entry appears
based on the context filters set for that object (language, country, industry, and so on).
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© 2005-2006 The ATHENA Consortium.
This screen shot from SAPterm shows the user interface to the terminology database. Starting at
the top you can see that the user wants to translate from English to German, and that she wants to
search all components. In SAPterm the subject fields are the software components like PA-CM.
The term the user is searching for is cost element.
After the find button is pressed the results-list in the left-hand pane appears. This lists all the
entries, that is concepts, that match cost element. The subject fields are shown in parentheses. In
this particular example four term entries, that is concepts, were found.
After clicking on the entry cost element (RE), the right-hand pane appears. It shows that the
translation for cost element in German is Kostenart. Another thing that can be seen is that there are
variants for the English term, two abbreviations and one invalid synonym. Invalid synonym means
that in the subject field RE, the term charge code should never be used for this concept. This is an
example of the prescriptive nature of SAPterm.
7
Question 1.1
What would you do if you wanted to use a different term
for a concept in different releases of a product?
Choose one answer:
1. Create separate terminology databases for each
product release
2. Create different concepts in the same terminology
database with different subject fields.
3. Use a context attribute to differentiate the terms for
the different releases
© 2005-2006 The ATHENA Consortium.
This is an exercise to test your understanding of terminology databases, in particular, SAPterm.
Here is a multiple-choice exercise to test your understanding of terminology databases.
Read questions and three choices
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Answer 1.1: Release-Specific Terms
Funktionsbibliothek
Language: DE
Release: 3.0A - 3.1I
function library
Language: EN
Release: 3.0A - 3.1I
Concept
Function Builder
Language: DE
Release: 4.0A +
Subject area:
Component BC
(Basis Components)
Function Builder
Language: EN
Release: 4.0A +
biblioteca de funciones
Language: ES
Release: 3.0A +
© 2005-2006 The ATHENA Consortium.
The answer is THREE. Use a context attribute to differentiate the terms for the different
releases.
Context attributes are not limited to language and country. Here is a more complex example
showing how to preserve obsolete terms for internal reference and for customers working with
older SAP products.
Terms may also be added for special projects or industries.
In this example, the context attributes used are language and release. Note that, although the
German and English terms changed between releases, the Spanish term remains valid for all
releases.
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Which terms are of interest?
Common words/terms
Shared terms
Specialist terms
curettage
dermatologist
scalpel
blade
doctor
skin
© 2005-2006 The ATHENA Consortium.
One question that needs to be addressed in regard to terminology databases, is which terms to put
into them.
In general a terminology database will include the specialist terms from related subject fields, but
will not include common terms whose definitions are know or can be found in a general dictionary.
Studies have shown terminology is used consciously or unconsciously to define social relationships
between specialists in groups, in situations ranging from engineering teams to hobbyist meetings.
The resulting jargon can cause difficulties in understanding outside of this insider group,
represented by the inner ellipse in this slide.
Specialist terms/jargon are usually defined by writing definitions that use more common terms, for
example: curettage is a surgical procedure by a dermatologist for taking skin samples with a
scalpel .
A grey zone exists between the “commons” and the specialist areas. This grey zone contains terms
may be recognizable to or used infrequently by the general public. Specialist terms, by contrast,
are generally known only to a limited circle of experts.
It may be thought necessary to include definitions for some of the terms in the grey zone, e.g.,
dermatologist. (a doctor who treats skin conditions) or scalpel (a precision blade used by a doctor).
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System of Concepts
• “Structured set of concepts established according to the relations
between them…”
– International Standard ISO 1087, Terminology – Vocabulary
• Some types of relations:
• Hierarchic
• Generic (subclass, a bird is an animal)
• Partitive (part-whole, a tire is part of a car)
Note: Superordinate and subordinate can mean any kind of hierarchic
relation
© 2005-2006 The ATHENA Consortium.
Some of you may have noticed that there is an aspect of terminology which has not been covered
yet, namely, the meaning of system of concepts. ISO 1087 defines a system of concepts as a
“structured set of concepts established according to the relations between them.
This ISO standard also explains the types of relations, including the most common, which are the
two types of hierarchic relations: generic and partitive. A generic relation between two concepts
means that one is a generalization of the other, or looking at it from the other direction, one is a
specialization of the other, e.g., cell phone is a specialization of phone. This is the same as saying
that cell phone is a sub-class of phone or that phone is a super-class of cell phone.
Partitive means that one thing is a part of another, e.g. a wheel is a part of a car. Other types of
relations might exist between concepts, but we won’t go into them here.
Terminology databases tend not to distinguish between partitive and generic relations, using the
same word ‘subordinate’ to indicate that one concept is either a sub-class or a part of another. A
hierarchic relation in the other direction is called ‘superordinate’.
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SAPterm entry: superordinate term example
Main entry: cost element
Superordinate term:
chart of accounts
© 2005-2006 The ATHENA Consortium.
Here is an example of a SAPterm entry for cost element that says that its superordinate term is
‘chart of accounts’. This happens to be a partitive relation, but that is not specified. This shows one
of the differences between terminology databases and formal semantics. In formal semantics, the
most precise relation, part-of, would be explicitly specified to hold between the two concepts.
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Dictionary entry versus term entry
cardinal, the noun, has one entry in the
American Heritage® dictionary with
five senses:
1. a Roman Catholic high-church
official,
2. a color,
3. a bird,
4. a cloak
5. a type of number.
© 2005-2006 The ATHENA Consortium.
It is useful to understand the difference between a dictionary entry and a terminology entry. A
screenshot of a term entry is shown in the lower left to remind you that a term entry corresponds
to one concept, and lists the terms and variants of terms that designate that concept, as well as the
context in which each term is used, e.g., language, country, etc.
So what is the difference between a term entry and a dictionary entry? An example of a dictionary
entry for the word cardinal is shown on this slide. You may want to pause for a few minutes, read
it, and think about how it differs from a term entry.
In the American Heritage dictionary, cardinal has 5 senses, that is, five meanings. Each meaning
corresponds to a concept.
In contrast to SAPterm, dictionaries are descriptive, not prescriptive. An entry describes the
meanings shared by a community of language speakers over a period of time.
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Question 1.2
How would you represent the information in this dictionary entry
using concept diagrams?
cardinal, the noun, has one entry in the American
Heritage® dictionary with five senses:
1. a Roman Catholic high-church official,
2. a color,
3. a bird,
4. a cloak
5. a type of number.
Choose one answer:
1. As five concepts differentiated by context
2. As five concepts differentiated by subject field
3. As one concept
© 2005-2006 The ATHENA Consortium.
To make sure you understand the major difference between dictionary and term entries, you may
want to try this exercise.
14
Answer 1.2
The correct answer is two.
cardinal, the noun, has one entry in the American
Heritage® dictionary with five senses:
1. a Roman Catholic high-church official,
2. a color,
3. a bird,
4. a cloak
5. a type of number.
Cardinal
Language: EN
Country: US
(ornithology)
ornithology)
FIVE HOMONYMS
Cardinal
Language: EN
Country: US
(catholic
church)
church)
Cardinal
Language: EN
Country: US
(colors)
colors)
Cardinal
Language: EN
Country: US
(textiles)
textiles)
Cardinal
Language: EN
Country: US
(mathematics)
mathematics)
© 2005-2006 The ATHENA Consortium.
Each of the senses of the word ‘cardinal’ is a separate concept as this example answer shows. In a
terminology database the 5 entries would be differentiated by being associated with different
subject fields. Another way to describe this situation is to say that there are five homonyms, words
with the same spelling, but different meaning.
The word cardinal, with no other information given is ambiguous. It might have any one of these
five meanings or even another meaning from a specialist subject field.
15
Homonyms and Ambiguity
screw?
– In normal usage:
“A nail-shaped or rod-shaped piece with a spiral groove and a
slotted or recessed head designed to be inserted into material
by rotating (as with a screwdriver) and used for fastening
pieces of solid material together”
– In shipbuilding:
“A revolving device that drives a ship through
the water, consisting of two or more blades”
– In medicine:
“A threaded device used in bone surgery for
fixation of parts (as fragments of fractured bones)”
– In horse breeding:
“A worn-out horse”
© 2005-2006 The ATHENA Consortium.
Here is another example of homonyms and ambiguity. The noun screw has very different meanings
in different subject fields, ranging from a fastening device in everyday use, to a worn-out horse, in
the domain of horse breeding. Often, giving the subject field is enough to disambiguate a term, but
this is not always the case; in particular, some small common words, like, lot, have 20 or 30
different meanings, many of them related to the same subject field.
Another aid to disambiguation is an illustrative use of the term. In fact, it is mandatory in SAPterm
to link every concept/entry to a source document, which is a document that uses the term in the
intended sense.
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Summary of informal semantics
• Terms are the smallest units of communication
– terminology is the foundation of meaning
• Ambiguity (homonyms) can lead to misinterpretation
• Synonyms can contribute to mis-understanding or doubt
• Terminology management
– controls the use of synonyms (variants) by prescribing preferred
terms
– disambiguates terms through subject field and definitions
– enables accurate translation between languages
– sometimes gives information about relations between concepts
© 2005-2006 The ATHENA Consortium.
I will now summarize what we have learned about informal semantics by looking at SAPterm.
Terms are the smallest units of communication, so that terminology is fundamental to meaning
(semantics). Ambiguity and synonyms can disrupt communication, the first can lead to misinterpretations, especially between two people from different specialties or subject fields. The
second often raise doubts about their sameness if used indiscriminately for the same concept.
Terminology management improves the quality of communication by prescribing the use of one
term for one concept. It helps disambiguate terms by providing entries that list subject fields for
terms, give definitions of terms and link to source documents. The ability to specify the context of
terms also enables the association of terms from different languages, countries, etc. to a concept,
so that translations can be more accurate. Finally, sometimes terminology databases give
information about relations between terms, but not usually very precisely. Precision is left to more
formal semantics.
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