Abstract:

Communicative Theory of Terminology (CTT) is developed at the beginning of the 1990s. In contrast to the traditional approach of terminology studies, it deems the terminology standardization on which the traditional approaches focus as only a part of terminology study. The CTT argues that the Terminology study should base on the communicative perspective and take into account two factors in terms of communication-communicators and the context of communication. Despite of the fact that the theory iswell accepted in Latin America and South Europe in the last 30 years and the fact that the founder of the theory was awarded Wüster Special Prize, most of the works under this theory are written in either Spanish, Catalan or French and thus have received little attention in Mainland China. This article starts from the origination of CTT, presents and its theoretical claims, features, objectives of studies, significance to terminological studies and problematic issues in terms of the application of CTT, with an intent of further promoting CTT in Mainland China.

Key words: communicative theory of terminology (CTT), communicative context, communicators, terms, terminography