Les normes en terminologie: que faire des synonymes ?

Terminology as a scientific field is intrinsically associated with the issue of standards. But what is meant by “standard” in the context of Terminology? We need to distinguish between standardization, terminological standard, and linguistic standard. Besides, a standard is also a document that sets out principles and recommendations, such as ISO 704:2000 or 1087:1. In this paper, we shall also approach the issue of synonyms, which we have classified as discursive synonyms and terminological synonyms. This classification is useful to meet the needs of the double dimension of Terminology, i.e., conceptual and linguistic. The designations that occur in discourse do not always coincide with those that are proposed by standards or even those found in databases. Discursive synonyms depend on the discursive contexts in which they occur, while terminological synonyms are, by definition, absolute and denote a single and unique concept.