VII. Definition of Equivalence and Degrees of Equivalence [15]
As the standards for thesaurus construction acknowledge and the experience of the AAT residencies has confirmed, terms selected from more than one natural language vary in the extent to which they represent the same concepts. These variations can be seen as forming a continuum that ranges from exact matches or equivalence in meaning through partial or inexact equivalence to complete incompatibility or non-equivalence.
- Exact equivalence: The target language contains a term that is: a) identical in meaning and scope to the term in the source language; and b) capable of functioning as a preferred indexing term in the target language. These terms can be described as equivalent. On the AAT bilingual term sheet and the multilingual term tracking sheet the degree of equivalence is marked as "=" (e. g. , rosary = rosaire = salterio).
- Inexact equivalence: A term in the target language expresses the same general concept as the source language term, although the meanings of these terms are not precisely identical. Put another way, one may say that the term is one language denotes the same set of objects in another language, but the "membership" of the set may be slightly different or take a slightly different form. The AAT bilingual term sheet and multilingual term tracking sheet designate these matches as "+/-" (more or less). ISO 5964 states that although exact equivalence is not found, the terms represent the same general concept and may be seen as more or less equal in multilingual thesaurus development (e. g. , temple paien +/- ancient temple; atelier de fabrication +/- workshop; belvédère +/- gazebo).
- Partial equivalence: The term in the source language cannot be matched by an exactly equivalent term in the target language, but a near translation can be achieved by selecting a term with a slightly broader or narrower meaning. The AAT bilingual term sheet and the multilingual term tracking sheet indicate these terms with ">" if the meaning of the term in the source language is broader, or with "<" if it is narrower (e. g. , agenouilloir = kneeler < inginocchiatoio).
- Single-to-multiple equivalence: The concept in the source language is not recognized as a single term in the target language, but the concept to which the source language term refers can be expressed by two or more existing preferred terms in the target language. In some cases the term expresses a compound concept that might exist as more than one single descriptor in a thesaurus like the AAT but is precoordinated in other languages. This degree of equivalence is marked on the AAT bilingual term sheet and the multilingual term tracking sheet as "_+_. " (e. g. , ardoisière = slate + quarry).
- Non-equivalence: The target language does not contain a term that corresponds in meaning, either partially or inexactly, to the source language (e. g. , chaise à prie-Dieu = sedia inginocchiatoio = NE [in English]). Non-equivalence often occurs if one or more of the vocabularies used are narrower in scope than the other vocabularies. In this case non-equivalence may be replaced by adopting a loan term (refer to Section XI on loan and coined terms below). On the AAT bilingual term sheet and the multilingual term tracking sheet this degree of equivalence is marked as "X. " On the AAT bilingual term sheet the box "NO target equivalent" or "NO source equivalent" is also marked.
In some cases, as in the project to construct a multilingual thesaurus of religious objects, the participants decided not to use the "no-equivalent" designation for any term, since it was deemed imperative for access purposes for a name to be given to each object represented regardless of whether a name for the object existed in each language. In these cases, it was decided to use either loan or coined terms, depending on usage or felicity of phrasing for the concept (see Section XI below).
15. This section is based on ISO 5964-1985 (E), pp. 8-9.
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