Equivalence in bilingual lexicography: criticism and suggestions*

Abstract

Abstract:A reminder of general problems in the formation of terminology, as illustrated by the German Äquivalence (Eng. equivalence) and äquivalent (Eng. equivalent), is followed by a critical discussion of the concept of equivalence in contrastive lexicology. It is shown that especially the concept of partial equivalence is contradictory in its different manifestations. Consequently attempts are made to give a more precise indication of the concept of equivalence in the metalexicography, with regard to the domain of the nominal lexicon. The problems of especially the metalexicographic concept of partial equivalence as well as that of divergence are fundamentally expounded. In conclusion the direction is indicated to find more appropriate metalexicographic versions of the concept of equivalence. Keywords: EQUIVALENCE, LEXICOGRAPHIC EQUIVALENT, PARTIAL EQUIVALENCE, CONGRUENCE, DIVERGENCE, CONVERGENCE, POLYDIVERGENCE, SYNTAGM-EQUIVA-LENCE, ZERO EQUIVALENCE, CORRESPONDENCEAbstrakt: Äquivalenz in der zweisprachigen Lexikographie: Kritik und Vorschläge. Nachdem an allgemeine Probleme der Begriffsbildung am Beispiel von dt. Äquivalenz und dt. äquivalent erinnert wurde, wird zunächst auf Äquivalenzbegriffe in der kontrastiven Lexikologie kritisch eingegangen. Es wird gezeigt, dass insbesondere der Begriff der partiellen Äquiva-lenz in seinen verschiedenen Ausprägungen widersprüchlich ist. Sodann werden Präzisierungen zu den Äquivalenzbegriffen in der Metalexikographie versucht, die sich auf den Bereich der Nennlexik beziehen. Insbesondere der metalexikographische Begriff der partiellen Äquivalenz sowie der der Divergenz werden grundsätzlich problematisiert. In welche Richtung man gehen kann, um angemessenere metalexikographische Fassungen des Äquivalenzbegriffs zu finden, wird abschließ-end angedeutet.

Methodological bases for assigning terminological equivalents

“…The situation is, however, a little different in lexicography because despite the long interest in equivalence many metalexicographers assert that more thorough studies are still required. For instance, Wiegand (2002) argues that the concept of equivalence remains yet to be defined specifically for dictionary research and that it should be differentiated from the concepts of neighboring disciplines. AdamskaSałaciak (2010) seems to agree that this has not yet been fully accomplished in lexicography and Hartmann (2007: 3) notes that while there are now many more textbooks on lexicography available than ever before, "interlingual aspects are often ignored in them.…”