Akan terminology: English-Akan Linguistics and Media Glossary

Abstract

The book identifies terminology as the process of forming or creating, terms of a special subject discipline meant to satisfy the social, occupational and communicative needs of its users, specialists and professionals. There are two categories of terminology users namely the direct and the intermediary users. The direct users are the specialists in the specific subject field. The intermediaries are language professionals like translators, technical writers, and interpreters who need terminology to enhance their profession and to facilitate communication (see Cabré 1999:12). The book also discusses the following principles of terminology as a guide to the choice of terms harmony, brevity, economy, precision, appropriateness, transparency, purism, institutional acceptability, internationalisation and learnability. Terminology is a direct reflection of the state of a society’s sciences, industry, and economy. In our current study, the demand for Akan terminology is based on the need for the development, teaching, and learning of the Akan language. The process and methodology in the creation of Akan Linguistic Terminology involves the adoption of an original term with its original meaning, redefining existing terms and words, using indigenous descriptive expressions or derivations, adopting foreign terms, and preference of general vocabulary items.