Université de Montréal - Thèse sous forme numérique

51particular purpose in mind: ―Äquivalenzen zwischen lexikalischen Einheitenverschiedener Sprachen bestehen nicht an sich, so dass sie nur entdeckt werden müßten.Sie werden nicht objektiv festgestellt, sondern zu einem bestimmten Zweckhergestellt‖ 2 .We agree with Adamska-Sałaciak that explanatory equivalence, translationalequivalence and functional equivalence tend to be created, although they can always bediscovered if one uses corpora to identify equivalents, especially parallel corpora. Asfor cognitive and terminological equivalence, lexicographers and terminologists maywell wish to believe they discover equivalents that existed prior to being established,but it may happen that in the process of ―discovery‖ they identify several equivalentcandidates and then have to choose among them. This choice obviously corresponds toan intervention mechanism and the decision of the lexicographer and terminologist isthus a ―conscious act‖ like Hartmann puts it.2.2.2. Equivalence problemsEquivalence is not always easy to establish for two main reasons. Firstly, theorganization of concepts and designations inside and between languages often differs.This phenomenon is called anisomorphism. Secondly, connotations, or the feelingswhich speakers of a certain language connect with certain words may also be difficult todescribe and hence to compare between languages. This research is primarily interestedin the first problem as connotations usually play a less relevant role in terminologies.Yong and Peng (2007) explain that anisomorphism is most typically encounteredin cultural words, categorical words, encyclopaedic terms, and technical terms. Al-Kasimi (1977) presents seven possible differences that may exist between two related2 Our translation: ―Equivalence between lexical units of different languages does not exist in itself in thatit would have to be discovered. It cannot be determined objectively, but created for a particular purpose.‖