Special vocabularies consist in various forms, going from relatively small glossaries to very big explanatory dictionaries. Both these types explain in which meaning terms are used in a given language: a glossary tells in which meaning a given term is used in a given text, and e.g. a technical dictionary of the Dutch language gives the meanings in which terms are used in Dutch. In the former case a term has just one meaning, in the latter case more than one meaning for a term is no exception.
There are many unilingual special vocabularies that fall between these two extremes. Further there exist multilingual special dictionaries, e.g. a Dutch-English technical dictionary. The glossary and the big explanatory dictionaries have clearly a function to explain the meaning of terms. All other types can have the explanatory function, but also can have a prescribing function: which term to use for a given meaning. In this case the goal of making the special vocabulary is to diminish ambiguity. A good example of a prescribing vocabulary is a standard that contains a vocabulary. Another example is a thesaurus as used in information storage and retrieval.
The problem is that many special vocabularies halt between these two options: they want to
explain and to prescribe. This holds for unilingual special vocabularies but also for many
bilingual and multilingual special vocabularies.
Where the alphabetical form is adequate for a explanatory dictionary, it is open question if
this form is also the best for a prescribing vocabulary. In this paper the position that a
thesaurus in a situation where a user is looking for the best term to use for a given concept
or in a given context is more adequate.
What to do when both function are pursued? In this a case a mixed form can be adequate. In
this paper such a form will be proposed.
Final abstract, August 25, 2000