Basic Scientific Terminology

1. Basic Scientific Terminology CTL 3352 Scientific and Technical Translation Ivan Yeung

2. 0 Basic Terminology • 0.1 Concept • the mental representation of an object • the basic element of a knowledge system • 0.2 Term • the expression of an object in language • 0.3 Definition • the description of the concept

3. 0 Basic Terminology • 0.4 Technical Terms • A form of any given language that is used by people involved in a specialism and that has a set of expressions that are used in a different or more specific way than in the common language

4. 1 Technical Language vsCommon Language • 1.1 technical terms are largely derived from common language • friction, motor, heart, plant, bone… • 熱、寒、風、濕… • 1.2 technical terms are more specific and precise • The leaves were blown yellow by the autumn wind arriving early. • Chlorophyll, the chemical responsible for photosynthesis, is found in leaves.

5. 1 Technical Language vsCommon Language • 1.3 some technical terms are used metaphorically • Light bulb • Glühbirne (glow pear) • 電燈泡

6. 2 Technical Term Formation • New terms are invented when there’s “lexical gap” between the SL and TL • “Alzheimer’s disease ”【醫】阿爾茨海默病 • “cerebellum” 【解】小腦 • “melamine” 【化】三聚氰胺 • “barrier island” 【地】堰洲島 • “Hemiptera” 【動】半翅目 • “calculus” 【數】微積分 • “Miranda” 【天】天衛五

7. 2 Technical Term Formation • 2.1 combining of lexical terms in compounds • carbon, oxygen → carbon dioxide • 2.2 borrowing of foreign words • cardiovascular disease, penicillin • 2.3 abbreviation • AIDS, ECG, MRI, DEHP • 2.4 notation • ∫, ∑, ♂, ♀. ∆x, ln(x)

8. 3 Etymology of Technical Terms • 3.1 Etymology • the study of the origin and the histories of words • Food for thought • What are the most important source for building scientific terms?

9. 3 Etymology of Technical Terms • 3.2 Greek and Latin Roots • many scientific terms were derived from Greek or Latin roots • arthr (o) - G - joint – arthritis • cephal (o) - G - head – cephalopoda • mega - G - large, enlarged – megacolon • aqua – L – water – aquaculture • albo – L – white – albino

10. 3 Etymology of Technical Terms

11. 3 Etymology of Technical Terms

12. 3 Etymology of Technical Terms

13. 4 Guidelines for making technical terms • 4.1 The term must be well motivated** • literal meaning matches the concept as understood in the overall system of concepts • eg, television, melanocyte • 4.2 the term should be as short as possible without adversely affecting its clarity

14. 4 Guidelines for making technical terms • 4.3 the term should not be polysemous and should have no synonyms* • care should be taken when translating terms containing a polysemous morpheme • Subcranial 顱下 • Sublingual 舌下 • Subculture 次培養菌 • Subgallate 次沒食子酸 • Subexcite 亞興奮 • Subchronic 亞慢性 • Subluxation 不全脫臼 • subinflammation 輕炎

15. 4 Guidelines for making technical terms • 4.4 the term should be systematic • heart disease, lung disease, liver disease vs disease of the kidney • carbon monoxide 一氧化碳 • carbon dioxide 二氧化碳

16. 4 Guidelines for making technical terms • 4.5 the term should be productive of any necessary derivations • oxygen → 氧 / 氧氣 • oxidize → 氧化 • oxidizing agent → 氧化劑 • oxidation → 氧化作用 • plastics → 塑料 • plasticity → 可塑性 • plasticize → 塑化 • plasticizer → 塑化劑 • plasticization → 增塑作用 / 塑化作用

17. 4 Guidelines for making technical terms • 4.6 the term should be formed in accordance with the syntactic rules of the language • 清膽瀉火湯 • → Clear Gall-bladder and Drain Fire Decoction* • → Gallbladder-Clearing Fire-draining Decoction

18. 4 Guidelines for making technical terms • 4.7 the term should be internally logical • 帶下青 • → green leukorrhea * • → green vaginal discharge • 礦物類中藥 • mineral herbs * • mineral medicines

19. 5 Biological Terminology • 5.1 Biological Hierarchy • Kingdom ─ Animalia • Phylum ─ Arthropoda • Class ─ Insecta • Order ─ Diptera • Suborder ─ Nematocera • Family ─ Culicidae • Subfamily ─ Culicinae • Genus ─ Aedes • Species ─ A. albopictus

20. 5 Biological Terminology • 5.1 Biological Hierarchy • Kingdom ─ 動物界 • Phylum ─ 節肢動物門 • Class ─ 昆蟲綱 • Order ─ 雙翅目 • Suborder ─ 長角亞目 • Family ─ 蚊科 • Subfamily ─ 家蚊亞科 • Genus ─ 伊蚊屬 • Species ─ 白紋伊蚊

21. 5 Biological Terminology • Food for thought • What is the importance of scientific naming? • 5.2 Binomial Nomenclature • binomial nomenclature is a standard naming convention used by scientists when referring to organisms • the scientific name of each organism is the combination of two names • the genus and the species

22. Food for thought Why is scientific naming important? Consider: English common name: Many-banded Krait 中文(俗)名*：銀環蛇 / 銀腳帶 (港)、雨傘節 (台) Bungarus multicinctus multicinctus 5 Biological Terminology

23. English common name: Point-scaled Pit Viper / Chinese Habu / Taiwan Habu / Formosan Pit Viper 中文名稱：原矛頭蝮 / 烙鐵頭 (港)、龜殼花 (台) Protobothrops mucrosquamatus 5 Biological Terminology

24. 5 Biological Terminology • 5.2 Binomial Nomenclature • binomial nomenclature is a standard naming convention used by scientists when referring to organisms • the scientific name of each organism is the combination of two names • the genus and the species

25. 5.2 The Hierarchy of Biological World

26. 5.2 The Hierarchy of Biological World

27. 5 Biological Terminology • 5.2 Binomial Nomenclature • certain rules should be observed • the scientific name must be in Greek or Latin language • genetic name should come first and must begin with a capital letter • the same name should not be used for two or more species under the same genus • the scientific name must be either underlined or written in italics • the name of the author who first described the species should be written after the specific name • e.g. Homo sapiens Linnaeus

28. End • Take a break

29. The flu viruses are a large family, each possessing a mere 10 genes encoded in RNA. • 流感病毒族群龐大，成員眾多，每個病毒只具有 10 個由 RNA 編碼的基因。 • time for fun~ • All of the 16 known groups originate in water birds, especially ducks and gulls. • 已知的 16 個病毒種群，全都源自水鳥，尤以雁鴨類和鷗類最為重要。

30. The virus is well adapted to their immune systems, and does not usually make them very sick. • 病毒對禽類的免疫系統適應良好，禽鳥通常不會病得太重。 • time for fun~ • This leaves the animals free to move around and spread the virus - just what it needs to persist. • 病禽可自由往來，傳播病毒，這正是病毒賴以持續的條件。

31. But every now and then a bird flu virus jumps to an animal whose immune system it is not adapted to. • 但禽流感病毒有時可轉移至其他動物，而病毒並不適應這些動物的免疫系統。 • time for fun~ • In chickens, a forest bird originally and not a natural host, it causes a moderate disease but can readilymutate to a more severe strain. • 在雞，一種樹林鳥，原來不是禽流感病毒的自然寄主。病毒引起雞的中度疾病*，但能輕易突變成為猛烈的品系。 • 雞本為林鳥，並非禽流感病毒的天然宿主。病毒在雞隻引起的疾病溫和，但能迅速突變成為猛烈的病毒株。

32. Just such a strain of H5N1 flu, named after its surface proteins, has been rampaging through large chicken farms in east Asia. • 因表面蛋白* / 表面抗原得名的H5N1流感病毒株，就曾經橫掃東亞的大型養雞場。 • But flu is at its most deadly when it first makes the jump to people, having had no opportunity to adapt itself to our immune systems. • 當流感病毒初轉移至人體時，由於沒有機會適應人類的免疫系統，最為致命。

33. H5N1 has continued to infect humans as the outbreak in poultry has raged, with an apparently high fatality rate. • 當禽流感在家禽中傳播越演越烈之際，H5N1 病毒繼續感染人類，造成頗高的死亡率。 • time for fun~ • It has so far has been hard to contract, and has not spread readily between people. • 到目前為止，人類不會輕易罹患禽流感，人與人之間的傳播亦不容易發生。

34. time for fun~ • If this viral strain should acquire that ability, it could become a lethalpandemic - the name for an epidemic that spreads worldwide. • 假如病毒獲得在人類之間傳播的能力，可以造成致命的全球大流行。 • That is what happened in 1918, when a virulent flu strain appeared in humans and killed 50 million people within a few months. • 1918 年就發生了一次這樣的大流行，致病力強大的病毒株在短短數月內讓五千萬人喪命。

35. There have also been two less catastrophic pandemics. The so-called "Asian" flu of 1957 caused between one and four million deaths, while 1968's "Hong Kong" flu - with about half the estimated deadliness of the Asian flu - caused one to two million deaths. • 此外，尚有兩次殺傷力較小的大流行。1957年，所謂的「亞洲型」流感導致一至四百萬人死亡；而1968年的「香港型」流感，造成的死亡人數為一至兩百萬，約為亞洲型流感的估計致死人數一半。

36. Both of these were human flu viruses which had recombined with bird flu viruses, rendering them unrecognisable to the human immune system. • 造成這兩次大流行的，都是和禽流感病毒重組的人類流感病毒，致使人類的免疫系統無從辨認它們。 • The 1957 strain was nearly released by accident in 2005. • 2005年，造成1957年大流行的病毒株險些意外地釋放出來。

37. Virologists generally agree that we are due for another pandemic. • 病毒學家一般相信，差不多是時候發生另一次大流行。 • 病毒學家普遍認為，另一次大流行將要來臨。 • A highly contagious virus with a 70% death rate is a terrifying prospect, particularly given the speed of modern international travel. • 一種具有高度接觸傳染性，能造成70%死亡率的病毒，加上現代化交通讓國際往來迅速，展望*相當可怕 / 發展堪虞。 • 一種具有高度接觸傳染性，發病死亡率高達70%的病毒，加上現代化交通讓國際往來迅速，發展趨勢堪憂。

38. Even if H5 does not trigger the next pandemic, its cousins H7 and H9 could. • 即使 H5 病毒沒引發下次的大流行，近似株H7 或 H9 也可能會。 • H7 is present in the same region and also infected large numbers of Dutch people in an outbreak in 2003. • H7 病毒見於 / 分布於同一區域，在2003年的爆發中感染了大量的荷蘭人。

39. Some scientists are not willing to wait and see. They are trying to breed contagiousness into H5N1 to see if it is likely to happen. • 有些科學家不願意呆等，嘗試透過病毒雜交，看看能否給 H5N1 病毒引進感染力。* • 有些科學家不願意枯等，透過病毒雜交試驗，以找出H5N1 病毒感染力會否增加。

40. Others are breeding replicas of the 1918 virus - from samples recovered from victims - to see just what made it so deadly. • 其他科學家從病人樣本複殖1918 病毒株，以了解是甚麼因素讓病毒殺傷力這麼大。 • But some feel that those experiments, because of the potential for escape from the lab, put us at as much risk as the natural evolution of the virus. • 但有人認為，由於病毒有可能從實驗室外洩，這些實驗帶來的風險，不遜於病毒自然演化而產生的危機。

41. End • See you next week