De la définition formelle du concept à la définition en langue du terme
From the Formal Definition of Concept to the Linguistic Definition of Term

Summary/Abstract: This article deals with the contribution of formal definition of concepts to the definition of terms in natural language in the context of the ontological turn of terminology. Ontology in the sense of knowledge engineering constitutes one of the most promising perspectives for conceptual terminology, for which a term is a verbal designation of a concept, and a concept a unit of knowledge. The contribution of ontology is not limited to the operationalization of terminology for IT applications. By making concepts explicit, i.e., by defining them in a formal language, ontology strongly impacts terminology, both in its principles and methods. Specifying concepts in a formal language allows guaranteeing “good” properties, such as the objectivity of definitions whose interpretation is governed by theory alone. The definition of terms in a natural language can then be considered as a translation of the formal definition of a concept. How these two types of definition are linked to each other remains to be clarified, and in particular whether it is possible to generate patterns of term definition based on formal concept definition. This will depend on the formal language which will be used, and on the underlying concept theory

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