ADJECTIVES AS TERMS
LSP Vienna
8.7.2013
Kaarina Pitkänen-Heikkilä
University of Helsinki
TERM IN TERMINOLOGY
In the theory of terminology, a term is the name of a concept in a
specific subject field; the concepts represent the objects (or
referents) in real life (ISO 1087-1, Haarala 1981, Suonuuti 1997,
Nuopponen & Pilke 2010).
What are adjectives as terms like?
What kind of concepts do they refer to?
Do they have referents in the first place?
How should adjective terms be defined?
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ADJECTIVES
AND NOUNS
•
In the search for boundaries between the parts of speech, both semantics and
inflection have been used as arguments
•
Semantic difference is typically expressed as: nouns categorize, adjectives
characterize
•
Wierbicka 1986, 354:
Similar meanings may be encoded in one language in a noun, in another in an
adjective; for instance, Eng. male : female, Rus. samec : samka
Synonyms can differ in their part of speech status (round-circle, stupid-fool,
holy-saint)
Antonyms can differ in their part of speech status (grown up : child)
Adjectives can also categorize (also Warren 1984)
RELATIVE AND ABSOLUTE
ADJECTIVES
Relative adjectives
•
Describe a perceiving or measurable feature (beautiful, big, old, tall)
•
Are gradable and have degrees for comparison (big: bigger)
•
Can have intensity modifiers (fairly big, very big)
•
Are dependent on the referent of a head noun for meaning (small bear vs. big fly)
•
Often have an antonym (big : small, tall : short)
•
Are typically simplexes or other morphologically unmotivated adjectives
Hakanen 1973, ISK 2004, Kennedy 1999 (gradable, non-gradable)
Absolute adjectives (Hakanen 1973, ISK 2004, Kennedy 1999)
•
Describe features that the referents have or have not (living, commercial, wooden,
prehistoric)
•
Are non-gradable and have no degrees
•
Do not have intensity modifiers
•
Are independent of the referent of a head noun for meaning
•
Form non-gradable antonym pairs for two members (living: lifeless, commercial:
uncommercial) or series where each member excludes the others (wooden-metallicplastic)
•
Are typically denominal derivatives
•
(Classificatory adjectives occur mainly in attributive status; Warren 1984; Dixon
1999)
Kennedy 1999: the crucial difference between gradable and non-gradable adjectives is
semantic!
RESEMBLANCES BETWEEN ADJECTIVE
AND NOUN TERMS IN BOTANY
•
Adjectives are names for shape or structural type
•
For example, names of leaf shapes
sepivä (‘clasping the stem’, Eng. amplexicaul)
herttamainen (‘heart-shaped’, Eng. cordate,
Lat. cord- ‘heart’)
vastapuikea (Eng. obovate)
•
Names of corolla (‘the petals of a flower collectively’) types
perhomainen (‘butterfly-like’, Eng. papilionaceaus), huulimainen (‘lip-like’, Eng. labiate)
kellomainen (‘bell-like’, Eng. campanulate, Lat. campana ‘church bell’)
•
Adjectives and nouns can sometimes occur as synonyms as well
halophile, halophilic = organism that lives in high salt concentrations
RESEMBLANCES BETWEEN ADJECTIVE AND
NOUN TERMS IN BOTANY
•
Taxonomic units are often nouns in adjectival form
• yksisirkkaiset (Monocotyledons), koppisiemeniset (Angiosperms)
• Can be used as adjectives as well:
What are the examples of monocotyledon herbal plants?
•
Nouns are often descriptive in botany
• metaphors; e.g. various names of corollas such as
huuli (Eng. lip), kannus (Eng. spur), torvi (Eng. tube)
• expressive vocabulary
huiskilo ’someone who flails sth around’ (Eng. panicle,
Lat. panicula ‘tuft’)
ADJECTIVES IN PLANT MORPHOLOGY ARE
ALWAYS ABSOLUTE
•
As botanical terms adjectives are always absolute!
• They form non-gradable antonym pairs for two members (ruodillinen ’with
a leaf-stalk’ : ruoditon ’without a leaf-stalk’) and a series where one member
excludes the others (pitkulainen–soikea–pyöreä–suikea–puikea;
Eng. oblong-elliptic-round-lanceolate-ovate)
• They have a meaning that is independent of the head noun or context
• They never use degrees
• Intensity modifiers are components of the terms
matalaan mutkalaitainen (Eng. repand ’shallowly and unevenly sinuate’)
leveänpuikea (Eng. broadly ovate)
kapean vastapuikea (Eng. oblanceolate ’lance-shaped in outline’)
DEFINITIONS OF TERMS
ISO 704: 2009 Terminology work – Principles and methods
• An intensional definition includes the information that allows
one to recognize and differentiate the concept from other related
concepts
•
definitions contain the superordinate concept and a descriptive statement which
serves to differentiate it from related concepts
bract = a modified, often scale-like leaf subtending a flower or a group of flowers
bractlet = a bract subtending an umbellule
DEFINITIONS OF ADJECTIVE TERMS
•
Definition with another adjective or participle
•
Definition ”with a word or phrase that indicates the state or function of
an object” (e.g. being/occurring, of/relating to, having) (ISO 704: 2009, 23)
hienokarvainen (puberulent) ’covered with minute, short, soft, patent hairs’
aikaiseminen (protogynous) ‘applied to a flower shedding its pollen after the stigma
has ceased to be receptive’
varreton (acaulescent) ‘having no apparent stem above ground’
•
Adjective terms have sometimes been changed to a property name or
attributive phrase to simplify the definition
hienokarvaisuus (’soft hair’ + ’-ness’)
aikaisemisyys (‘early pistil’ + ‘-ness’, en protogyny)
varreton kasvi (’acaulescent plant, stemless plant’)
DEFINITIONS OF ADJECTIVE TERMS
IN BOTANY
•
Property names from botanical adjectives are semantically odd
•
Texts do not focus on characteristic but rather on classification; for example, they do not
describe
the ovateness, cordateness or amlexicaulness of a leaf (but is the leaf ovate, cordate or
amplexicaul?)
the puberulentness of a surface (but is the surface covered with soft or stiff hairs, is it
puberulent or hispid?)
→ the meaning of property names is gradable and too abstract for systematic
classification!
•
An attributive structure would be possible with classifying adjectives
•
cordate leaf, tubular calyx
•
However, in the systematic descriptions of species, adjectives typically occur in a predicative
status, not in an attributive status
”leaves cordate, acute, toothed; flowers drooping; calyx tubular or campanulate”
DEFINITION OF ADJECTIVE
TERMS IN BOTANY
• Challenging if the terms must always be defined by another
adjective
• There is a limited number of adjectival subordinate concepts and
synonymous adjectives (plant morphology has over a thousand
adjective terms)
• Definitions with phrases like having, being, with, without are
too complex in Finnish
• Sometimes methods are used that have excessive metatext and are thus awkward
– sellainen x, joka (‘the kind of x, which’)
– kuvaa x:ää, joka (’describes x, which’)
– x:stä, joka (’of x, which’)
•
In Finnish botany, terms have traditionally been defined by a nominal head word
•
x, joka… / x tai y, joka… (”x, which…/ x or y, which…”)
•
kaksikotinen = kasvi, jonka hede- ja emikukat ovat eri yksilöissä
(diodecious = a plant which has male and female flowers on separate plants)
•
sepivä = lehti, jonka lavan tyvi ympäröi vartta (Retkeilykasvio 1998)
(amplexicaul, clasping = a leaf the base of which is widened and clasps the stem)
•
•
Such definitions occur occasionally also in terminologies of other languages
•
allopatric = a plant which completes its life cycle within a year (Flora Nordica 2004)
•
wheel-shaped (rotatus) = a calyx or corolla, or other organ, of which the tube is very
short and the segments spreading (Lindley 1848)
Could this be an acceptable method to define adjective terms in botany?
•
Adjectives in botany are classifying and very similar to nouns
•
It is also important to include the object that the adjective describes in the definition
•
This has been done in the Bank of Finnish Terminology in Arts and Sciences because it
is tradition in Finnish botany, and because this method has also been recommended by
our expert group of botanists
CONCLUSIONS
•
Adjectives of plant morphology operate in a classificatory function
•
•
•
•
They are always absolute adjectives
They are very close to nouns; they name the structures
They cannot be changed to property names or attributive structures
Standards and guidelines of terminology work have meagre instructions for
defining adjectives and they are difficult to apply to Finnish
• Because of this, adjectival terms have been avoided in Finnish
terminological dictionaries
• In consequence of this semantically odd noun structures have been
produced that do violence to the terms and the domain
•
In botany it is very important to refer to the object which the adjective is
describing
hooded (cucullatus); a plane body, the apex or sides of which are curved inwards, so as
to resemble the point of a slipper, or a hood; as the leaves of Pelargonium cucullatum,
the spatha of Arum, the labellum of Pharus. (Lindley 1848: 353.)
→ I suggest the possibility of definitions (in Finnish) based on the nominal
head word in special fields with large numbers of classificatory adjective terms
REFERENCES
Dixon, R. M. W. 1999: Adjectives. – Keith Brown and Jim Miller (eds.), Concise encyclopaedia of
grammatical categories. Elsevier.
ISO 704: 2009: Terminology work – Principles and methods.
ISO 1087-1: 2000: Terminology work – Vocabulary – Part 1: Theory and application.
Lindley, John 1848: An Introduction to Botany. London,Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans.
Nuopponen, Anita – Nina Pilke 2010: Ordning och reda. Terminologilära i teori och praktik.
Nordstedts.
Pitkänen, Kaarina 2008: Suomi kasvitieteen kieleksi. Elias Lönnrot termistön kehittäjänä. [The
development of botanical Finnish: Elias Lönnrot as the creator of new terminology.] SKST
1164. Helsinki: SKS.
Pitkänen-Heikkilä, Kaarina (forthcoming 2013): Term formation in a special language: How do words
specify scientific concepts? – Pius ten Hacken and Claire Thomas (eds.), Meaning and
lexicalization of word formation. Edinburg University Press.
Suonuuti, Heidi 2001: Guide to Terminology. Nordterm 8. Finnish Centre for Technical Terminology.
Warren, Beatrice 1984: Classifying adjectives. Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis. Gothenburg studies
in English 56. Göteborg, Sweden.
Wierzbicka, Anna 1986: What's in a noun? (Or: How do nouns differ in meaning from adjectives?) –
Studies in Language 10(2), 353-389.