NEWS AND VIEWS: Lviv Polytechnic to host conference on terminology

by Jurij Dobczansky

Lviv Polytechnic University will host the Fourth International Conference on "Problems of Ukrainian Scientific and Technical Terminology" in Lviv on September 24-27.

The conference is being organized by the Committee on Standardization of Ukrainian Scientific and Technical Terminology in Lviv. Ukraine's Ministry of Education and the State Committee on Standardization, Metrology and Certification have authorized the Lviv committee to develop national terminological standards.

The committee's motto speaks for itself: "Those nations, whose computers will speak their language, will persevere." At a time of rapid technological change and nation-state building, it is imperative that Ukrainian specialists have a command of the appropriate Ukrainian terminology. More than merely resurrecting the linguistic milestones of the Ukrainization efforts of the 1920s, the task of de-Russifying today's Ukrainian technical language demands close cooperation between linguists and specialists from almost all disciplines.

Mindful of this, the conferences serve as a forum for the discussion of problems related to updating and developing authentic Ukrainian terminology. They have drawn together specialists from all parts of Ukraine, Europe and North America. Much of the current emphasis is on the development of Russian-Ukrainian glossaries, but considerable attention is being paid to multilingual and English-Ukrainian dictionaries in vitally important fields such as economics and military affairs. It is remarkable to see how much has been accomplished with meager financial support.

The committee has published collections of abstracts from each of the previous three conferences (1992, 1993 and 1994) and issues the annual Naukovo-Tekhnichne Slovo, which features articles and selected papers from past conferences. In addition to holding conferences, the committee issues a series of occasional topical papers called Terminolohichnyi Metelyk, and supports publication of specialized dictionaries.

The terminological conference is organized into six sections: 1) history and current developments in Ukrainian scientific and technical style, 2) theoretical foundations, 3) principles and methods of lexicography, 4) Ukrainian-language sport and military style, 5) formation and standardization of Ukrainian scientific and technical terminology, 6) computer-assisted dictionaries, terminological databases and publication systems for scientific and technical literature.

Applications and abstracts of papers indicating the appropriate section should be submitted by March 15 to the committee chairman: Volodymyr Perkhach, telephone/fax (0322) 72-25-20; Ukraine, 290646, Lviv-13, 12 Stepan Bandera St., Room 112. In the U.S. contact Stephan Ladyzhynsky: telephone, (860) 257-4089; fax, (860) 525-7823.

Jurij Dobczansky participated in the 1994 conference on "Problems of Ukrainian Scientific and Technical Terminology."

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, February 11, 1996, No. 6, Vol. LXIV

| Home Page |