Context Matters

“Without context, words and actions have no meaning at all. This is true not only of human communication in words but also of all communication whatsoever, of all mental process, of all mind” [1].

The Communicative Theory of Terminology (CTT), in simple words, is essentially a comprehensive description of how and why terminological units appear in a particular context; and, how these units assist the interlocutors to effectively communicate. The goal of the CTT can be summarized in two main categories:

1. To produce formal, semantic and functional descriptions of the terminological units in vivo;
2. To explain their relations with the rest of the units of the linguistic system.