Centre for Research in Terminology and Translation

 

CRTT, Centre for Research in Terminology and Translation

The CRTT, with more than 60 researchers including over 40 postgraduates, focuses on the field of language engineering. Its programmes, national and international, include linguistic studies to elaborate tools for computer-assisted multilingual communication, especially in the techno-scientific world. These studies are based on methods which include an epistemological dimension and insist on the linguistic manifestations of knowledge construction.

Research is carried out on several languages, including Arabic, and several fields are addressed:
the linguistic study of textual corpora, especially scientific (ecology and biology),
the setting up of terminologies for use in electronic dictionaries,
lexicology, lexicography, and translation studies.

Teams/subjects/fields
1. Development of bilingual, computer-based dictionaries, upgradeable terminotics tools for online assistance for technical translation and writing in mother tongues and foreign languages.
This research topic integrates technological data acquisition developments and takes into account the various requirements of potential users. The works, which are based on the study of computer-based, purpose-specific language corpora, initially focused on French and English, now also comprise Arabic and Portuguese. New problematics have been introduced in favour of more varied goals (e.g. didactics of foreign purpose-specific languages) and a less homogeneous public. These linguistic diversification efforts are currently being carried out in knowledge fields (ecology and life sciences) on which the CRTT has focused its works, in cooperation with non-academic agents, within the scope of master's degrees and PhD's.

2. Development of parapraxis corpora (currently over 2,300 recordings). Parapraxes - which are gathered extensively in daily contexts - are input and integrated into a database, and available on the Internet for psycholinguists. Parapraxis classification criteria are defined, and the validity of the relevant conclusions is checked for other languages - in particular English - in a cognitive perspective.

3. Arabic epistemology and terminology. The evolution and passing on of knowledge and terminology are studied through a diachronic analysis of terms used in traditional Arabic grammar. The study, which is based on the acknowledgement of linguistic theorisation as appearing in the works of the very first Arabic grammarians, must lead to the creation of a hypertext terminological database.

4. Development of Arabic/French terminological database creation tools: experimentation in the field of optics.
This project, which is experimentally limited to optics, deals with both simple and complex terminological units, combined with an exhaustive range of specifiers. Once the list of specifiers has been established, the works are focused on developing a model of the input interface for the relevant, pre-processed terminological units.

5. Development and standardisation of bilingual, computer-based corpora (French/English, French/German) for purpose-specific languages. CRTT-INSA in Lyon. The project combines language engineering and LSP, the aim of which is to gather computerised LSP files and digitise specialised texts using OCR software. The files are then processed to guarantee their portability and automatic processing for linguistic studies (in particular collocation and phraseology) prior to processing the data and creating new tools within the scope of language engineering industries.
The corpora are encoded based on the recommendations of the relevant international authorities (Text Encoding Initiative and Standard Generalised Mark-up Language).
Based on joint methodology, the different fields that are dealt with concern:
- at the CRTT, the biomedical and pharmacological sector (French, German and English), and water ecology, in order to benefit from the synergy with the Bilingual Computer-based Dictionary projects (see 1 above),
- at the INSA (multidisciplinary and international engineering university) in Lyon, physical aspects of materials and electrical engineering. Other fields may be added as required by the various departments visited at the INSA.