E-Tif: An Electronic Terminology Interchange Format

Abstract

This article begins by emphasizing the importance of terminology in this modern age of technical innovations and machine-based translation systems, establishing the need for a terminolgy interchange format, and distinguishing between lexicography and terminology. It then reviews previous attempts to establish terminology interchange formats and concludes with a forceful argument for a new system based on the TEI-based notions of elements and attributes.

Alan K. Melby is Professor of Linguistics at Brigham Young University. He is involved in translation, technical communication, and computational language projects. He is the CEO of Linguatech International, the Chair of the Translation and Computers committee of the American Translators Association, and a member of the editorial board of Machine Translation. He serves as Chair of the Terminology Workgroup of the Text Encoding Initiative, and as a member of the U.S. tag of ISO TC 37. He is an accredited translator (French to English).

This paper is based on work performed in the TEI work group on Terminology, whose members include Alan Melby, Brigham Young U. (chair), Sue Ellen Wright, American Translators Association and other affiliations, Greg Shreve, Kent State U., Gerhard Budin, Infoterm, and Richard Strehlow, ASTM and other affiliations.

Portions of this chapter appear in the following work: Melby, Alan, and Wright, Sue Ellen. 1995. “Terminology Interchange.” In: The Terminology Handbook, Sue Ellen Wright and Gerhanrd Budin, Eds. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.