Representing multiword expressions in terminology resources

Abstract Multiword terms are units that terminologists deal with in their everyday work. In terminology, the relevance of multiword terms is argued on the basis that they label concepts in knowledge structures. However, the identification of multiword terms in texts, their specific features when compared to other multiword expressions, and their representation in terminology resources raise many questions. This article examines some problems related to the traditional recording in terminology resources which basically consists in creating separate entries for multiword terms. It then compares two alternative approaches: 1. a lexical approach that records different kinds of multiword expressions as subentries; and 2. a construction-based approach that captures sets of multiword expressions as patterns. The two methods are illustrated with environment terms. The comparison shows that the construction-based approach is very promising as that it can prevent some of the shortcomings of the other ones. A proposal for its implementation is presented.