"Open Sesame" - towards a Next Generation Terminology Management System

The existing diversity of languages for special purposes leads to their their commonly highly complex and thoroughly differentiated terminologies. Getting an overview has become almost impossible without appropriate terminology management systems. Existing terminology management systems cannot effectively accommodate regular changes, updates of or additions to multilingual terminologies. While the deficits are becoming more and more obvious, new perspectives are emerging at the same time. Those new perspectives include the integration of terminology bases, the revelation of partially overlapping domain-specific terminologies as well as an increased accuracy of linguistic modelling. The methodical framework is founded on a solid semiotic basis. Based on this novel trilateral model of a linguistic sign both the interconnectedness of terms within terminologies and the clear separation of domain-specific language use can be achieved. Its semiotic foundation as well as its possible application in an integrative approach to terminology elaboration and terminology use will be introduced in this article.