Economic Terms and Beyond: Capitalising on the Wealth of Notions : How Researchers in Specialised Varieties of English Can Benefit from Focusing on Terms

The book illustrates a diachronic, descriptive and contextual approach to terms that can be used by linguists to explore specialised fields, their culture, their past and current evolution, the history of the ideas that have shaped them. The example of the field of economics can be adapted and applied to any other specialised domain.

This book, which is aimed at researchers in specialised varieties of English, provides an illustration of how linguists can use terms, i.e. the expression of concepts in specialised fields, as entry points to explore any specialised domain, whether academic or professional, and to get acquainted with its history, its culture, and the evolution of the ideas that have nurtured it. Choosing the field of economics as an example, the author approaches terms from a diachronic, descriptive and contextual perspective, focusing on neonyms, metaphorical, ambiguous or indeterminate terms, as well as interface terms likely to underscore the evolving character of the domain. The analysis points out the role of terms as milestones highlighting key discoveries that have shaped scientific fields; terms can also be considered as barometers of the evolution of knowledge in a specific field and of a changing social environment. Whoever thought terms were only interesting for their definitions or for translation purposes will no doubt be surprised at the insights that can be gained from considering them from a different angle and for other purposes.