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.
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Terminology and Glossary Entries in SAPterm
As of
Jun 2005
Language
Arabic
Bulgarian
Catalan
Chinese (Simplified)
Chinese (Traditional)
Croatian
Czech
Danish
Dutch
Finnish
French
Greek
Hebrew
Hungarian
Italian
© 2005-2006 The ATHENA Consortium.
Languages
German
English
Primary Development Languages
Term Entries Of Which Glossary Entries
85,000
86,000
23,300
24,500
< 15,000
39,000
< 5,000
80,000
67,000
46,000
71,000
55,000
60,000
67,000
69,000
66,000
73,000
66,000
70,000
SAP Language Service (SLS) Languages
Terms
Language
Japanese
Korean
Norwegian
Polish
Portuguese
Romanian
Russian
Serbian
Slovak
Slovenian
Spanish
Swedish
Thai
Turkish
Terms
76,000
69,000
58,000
77,000
67,000
46,000
65,000
39,000
60,000
52,000
68,000
64,000
59,000
64,000
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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.
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More on the meaning triangle morning star
An example from Gottlob
Frege (1848-1925): different terms different concepts and definitions same object, the planet Venus
© 2005-2006 The ATHENA Consortium.
evening star
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SAPterm: Concept-oriented View subject field: “Section of human knowledge, the border lines of which are defined from a purposerelated point of view.”
– International Standard ISO 1087, Terminology – Vocabulary, 1990
‘subject field’ is synonymous with ‘domain’
Term
Context
Term
Context
(belonging to a subject field)
Term
Context
Term
Context
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© 2005-2006 The ATHENA Consortium.

Cell Phone Example
Handy
Language: DE
Country: DE
Multiple terms
One concept
“One definition”
(telecommunications) mobile
Language: EN
Country: UK cellular phone, cell phone
Language: EN
Country: US
© 2005-2006 The ATHENA Consortium.
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© 2005-2006 The ATHENA Consortium.
SAPterm Screenshot
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© 2005-2006 The ATHENA Consortium.
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
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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
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.
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Which terms are of interest?
Common words/terms
Shared terms
Specialist terms curettage dermatologist scalpel doctor blade skin
© 2005-2006 The ATHENA Consortium.
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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.
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SAPterm entry: superordinate term example
Main entry: cost element
Superordinate term: chart of accounts
© 2005-2006 The ATHENA Consortium.
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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.
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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.
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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.
FIVE HOMONYMS
Cardinal
Language: EN
Country: US
Cardinal
Language: EN
Country: US
Cardinal
Language: EN
Country: US
Cardinal
Language: EN
Country: US
(ornithology)
Cardinal
Language: EN
Country: US
(catholic church)
(colors)
(textiles) (mathematics)
© 2005-2006 The ATHENA Consortium.
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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.
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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.
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